German Religious Organizations in the Kalmyk ASSR and Problems of their Registration by Governmental Authorities (Second Half of the 1950s-1980s)

The article examines the problem of registration and legalization of activities by the central and local government bodies in respect of the German religious organizations in the Kalmyk ASSR in the second half of the 1950-1980s. Once the German population returned to Kalmykia from places of deportation in the late 1950s, revival of Protestant organizations was initiated. Groups of Baptist, Pentecostal and Lutheran adepts appeared in the areas of compact settlement of Germans in Gorodovikovsky and Yashaltinsky districts. Since the second half of the 1960s Evangelical Baptists, the most numerous community as compared to other Protestant organizations, boosted their activities to get their groups registered by government bodies. Under various pretexts the republican and municipal authorities refused their registration and at the same time strictly prohibited them from conducting religious worship. And it was the central regulatory body - Council for Religious Faiths under the Council of Ministers of the USSR - that put an end to confrontation of the two sides by registering the largest Baptist organizations in the villages of Ulyanovka (Yashaltinsky district) and Vinogradnoe (Gorodovikovsky district) in 1969 - despite protests of the republican authorities. Their legalization was determined not only by internal but rather by foreign policy factors. No other Baptists were afforded registration in the 1970-1980s, while small groups usually numbering 6 to 15 members were incorporated into larger associations. During the late 1950-1980s there were five groups of Pentecostals in Kalmykia each numbering 7 to 35 members in various years. All of them were in the areas of compact settlement of Germans in Yashaltinsky and Gorodovikovsky districts. The Soviet authorities characterized Pentecostals’ religious doctrine as “pernicious” and those could not be subject to registration which resulted in their illegal operation in Kalmykia during the period under consideration. In the Kalmyk ASSR there were also two groups of Lutherans residing in Yashaltinsky and Gorodovikovsky districts. One of the groups (in Krasnopolye) was too small and had no chances to be registered, the other one (in Yuzhny, Gorodovikovsky district) was registered only in 1986 after some positive changes in the state religious policies had been promoted. The work has been written from materials of the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia, most of them have never been introduced into scientific discourse before.

state religious policies, Protestant organizations, Germans, Kalmyk ASSR

1. Belousov 2015a — Belousov S. S. Gosudarstvennaja vlast’ i ljuteranskie organizacii Kalmykii (poslednjaja tret’ XIX – nachalo XXI v.) [(Governmental Authorities and Lutheran Organizations of Kalmykia (the last third of the 19th century – early 21st century)]. Matly mezhvuz. nauch.-prakt. konf. “Nauchnaja osen’” (Proceedings of the Interacademic Conference — Scientifi c Autumn). Elista, Kalmyk State Univ. Publ., 2015, pp. 43–51 (In Russian).

2. Belousov 2015b — Belousov S. S. Pjatidesjatniki Kalmykii v gody sovetskoj vlasti [Pentecostals of Kalmykia during the Soviet Era]. Vestnik Kalmyckogo instituta gumanitarnyh issledovanij RAN (Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the RAS), 2015, no. 3, pp. 54–58 (In Russian).

3. Belousov S. S. Evangel’skie hristiane-baptisty v gody Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojny i poslevoennyj period (22 ijunja 1941 g. – 1956 g.) [Evangelical Baptists during the Great Patriotic War and in the Post-War Period (22 June 1941 – 1956)]. Vestnik Kalmyckogo instituta gumanitarnyh issledovanij RAN (Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanities of the RAS), 2014, no. 2, pp. 47–52 (In Russian).

4. Istorija evangel’skih hristian-baptistov v SSSR. 1989 [The history of Evangelical Baptists in the USSR. 1989]. Moscow, Vsesojuznyj Sovet Evangel’skih hristian- baptistov Publ., 1989, 688 p. (In Russian).

5. Kalinicheva Z. V. Social’naja sushhnost’ baptizma [The social essence of Baptism]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1972, 140 p. (In Russian).

6. Klibanov A. I. Religioznoe sektantstvo i sovremennost’ (sociologicheskie i istoricheskie ocherki) [Religious sectarianism today (sociological and historical sketches)]. Moscow, 1969, 274 p. (In Russian).

7. Kovalenko L. V. Oblako svidetelej Hristovyh dlja narodov Rossii v XIX–XX vv. [A cloud of witnesses of Christ for the peoples of Russia in the 19th – 20th cc.]. Moscow, CHS, 1997. 274 p. (In Russian).

8. Kryuchkov G. K. Velikoe probuzhdenie XX v. [The great awakening]. Moscow, Hristianin: MSC EHB, 2008, 512 p. (In Russian).

9. Kuksenko S. I. Konfessional’nye issledovanija istorii baptizma v USSR i SSSR [Confessional studies on the history of Baptism in the USSR]. Vestnik Sankt- Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta kul’tury i iskusstv (Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts). 2014, № 1 (18), pp. 184–187 (In Russian).

10. Lyalina G. S. Baptizm: illjuzii i real’nost’ [Baptism: illusions and reality]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1977, 175 p. (In Russian).

11. Mitskevich A. I. Istorija evangel’skih hristianbaptistov v SSSR [The history of Evangelical Baptists in the USSR]. Moscow, Vsesojuznyj covet evangel’skih hristian- baptistov Publ., 1989, 624 p. (In Russian).

12. Mitrokhin L. N. Baptizm: istorija i sovremennost’ (fi losofsko-sociologicheskie ocherki) [Baptism: history and contemporaneity (philosophical and sociological sketches)]. St. Petersburg, Russkij hristianskij gumanit. in-t Publ., 1997, 480 p. (In Russian).

13. Nikolskaya T. K. Russkij protestantizm i gosudarstvennaja vlast’ v 1905–1991 godah [Russian Protestantism and State Power in 1905–1991]. St. Petersburg, Izd-vo Evropejskogo un-ta v Sankt-Peterburge, 2009, 356 p. (In Russian).

14. Podberezsky I. V. Byt’ protestantom v Rossii [To be a Protestant in Russia]. Noscow, Blagovestnik Publ., 1996, 382 p. (In Russian).

15. Rudenko A. A. Evangelskie hristiane-baptisty i perestrojka [Evangelical Baptists and Perestroika]. Na putjah k svobode sovesti: sb. st. / sost. i obshh. red. D. E. Furman i o. Mark (On the paths to the freedom of worship: collection of articles / compiled and edited by D. E. Fuhrman and о. Mark). Moscow, Progress Publ., 1989, pp. 254–340 (In Russian).