The 1957–1958 Reestablishment of Kalmykia’s Autonomy: division of territories with Astrakhan Oblast and return of the Native population. administrative and humanitarian aspects

Introduction. One of the main questions in restoring autonomies of repressed peoples in the south of the RSFSR in the late 1950s was the demarcation of borders and territorial delimitation between neighboring regions. There was a problem of returning deported populations to their native places of residence, including areas that were not territorially included in the newly established autonomies. For Kalmykia, such a question included the initiation of the return of territories of two former districts, the delimitation of land use borders, and the return of the Kalmyk population from places of exile to the indicated territories of Astrakhan Oblast. Historical Background. Despite the existence of a number of publications, including monographs, on the history of the restoration of Kalmykia’s autonomy in 1957, the problems of territorial demarcation from Astrakhan Oblast and the return of the Kalmyk population have been no subject of any special scientific study, although the question was and is relevant and debatable in the society. The article seeks to examine the problems in unity: in managerial and humanitarian perspectives. The objectives of the study are to scrutinize into administrative-managerial (analysis of actions and decisions of authorities at various levels) and humanitarian aspects (opinions of the Kalmyk population who wanted to return to their native places of residence, positions of the state and local authorities; statistics on displaced population reflected in official documents). Results. The paper concludes that the unresolved territorial and land dispute between Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast depends on, among other things, the unresolved issue of this dispute between Stavropol Krai and Astrakhan Oblast that had been emerged before the reestablishment of Kalmykia’s autonomy. The geographical factor also played its role, namely: the territories of the two Kalmykia’s former districts had access to the Volga and in some places adjoined the city of Astrakhan. However, the authorities of Kalmykia would appeal to the higher-level authorities of the RSFSR, offering arguments that certain portions of the Kalmyk population were thus forced to return to Astrakhan Oblast, as the territories as such being of great economic significance.

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