How was Stalingrad like before the Germans attack it?

Question

in terms of standard of living and development compared to major European and American and Russian cities.

Answer 1

Stalingrad was a major industrial center largely built during the first two Five-Year Plans, which meant eternal shortage of housing (a typical housing setup at the time was called "communal apartment"; an apartment would be shared by several families, one per room), underdeveloped infrastructure in residential areas, rationed food, and substantial (but poorly understood at the time) pollution.

The "plentiful grain farms" that the previous poster is alluding to were collectivized (i.e., converted from private to de-facto public ownership) during late 1920s and early 1930s, with much of the output confiscated by the government to feed the growing cities and to pay for industrial equipment being imported from Germany and the U.S., which led to a major famine in grain-producing regions in 1932-33.

Answer 2

Medium sized industrial city on the banks of the Volga. Trade and shipping center for the plentiful grain farms that stretched for hundreds of miles to the East. The Volga was a superhighway of commerce reaching from Moscow and Kubishyev to Persia.