Schmeisser and his brother Hans were interrogated for weeks by weapon expert teams of the American and British secret services. At the end of June 1945, American troops evacuated Suhl and all of Thuringia. One month later, the Red Army assumed control over the area, starting a civilian works project to manufacture weapons for the Soviet Union. By August 1945, the Red Army had created 50 StG 44s from existing assembly parts, and had begun inspecting their design. 10,785 sheets of technical designs were confiscated by the Soviets as part of their research. Schmeisser was one of 16 Germans for which a special department (no. 58) was created at factory number 74, later known as Izhmash. Schmeisser was appointed as one of the five designers of the group, together with Kurt Horn and Werner Gruner (both from Grossfuss) and Oscar Schink (from Gustloff), under the formal leadership of Karl Barnitzke (also from Gustloff). There is some evidence that Schmeisser was uncooperative with the Soviets; he received the most negative review by his Soviet handlers in this group of designers. In these Soviet reviews, Schmeisser was described as a "practical man", whose lack of formal training showed whenever he was presented with any design problems. Schmeisser worked in Izhevsk until 1952 when he and other German specialists returned to Germany. At short notice, his stay in the Soviet Union was extended beyond that of the other weapon specialists by a half year. He finally returned home on 9 June 1952. Schmeisser died on 12 September 1953, and was buried in Suhl. The 50th anniversary of his death was honored by a ceremony held in Suhl, as he is recognized as one of the most important technical designers of infantry weapons of the 20th century. There is a theory about participation of Hugo Schmeisser in the design and development of the Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle due to its undeniable similarities to the Sturmgewehr 44. There are two main reasons why this theory may not be true: First, the AK-47 was designed and first experimental specimen were produced at the factory No.2, located in the city of Kovrov, the same factory that hosted design bureau of Vasilij Degtyarov. Kalashnikov moved to Izhevsk only in 1948, when serial manufacture of AK-47 was ordered for troop trials. Second, when production of the recently adopted AK was transferred from the factory No.524 to the factory No. 74