Administrative-Legal Regime and Everyday Life of Exiled Kalmyk Settlers in 1944–1945: Official Documents and Eyewitness Accounts Analyzed
https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2022-60-2-292-309
Abstract
Introduction. The deportation during the Great Patriotic War is a most tragic page in Kalmyk history. Despite numerous publications, the history of the Kalmyk exile continues to arouse research interest. Goals. The article aims to analyze the administrative-legal regime and everyday life of exiled Kalmyk settlers in 1944-1945. Materials and methods. The study explores two sets of historical sources: 1) official documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (collections of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and its Fourth Special Department ), 2) private sources — memoires of former exiled settlers. The work employs systematic and interdisciplinary approaches, uses the historical legal and historical anthropological research methods. Results. Many documents attest to the harsh conditions experienced by Kalmyks in special settlement areas, adaptation difficulties, lack of necessary housing conditions, food and clothing, and other problems. At the same time, the documents narrate the desire of authorities (including NKVD bodies) to improve the situation faced by exiled settlers, solve problems of their supply and employment. The historical memory of Kalmyks contains imprints of the endured pecuniary burdens and psychological traumas, starvation and poverty, illnesses and deaths of beloved ones. However, the people retain hearty attitudes towards local residents who rendered them real help and support.
Keywords
ethnic deportation,
deportation,
Kalmyks,
everyday life,
historical memory,
oral history,
special settlement,
forced settlements,
Great Patriotic War
Supporting agencies: The reported study was funded by government assignment for Southern Scientific Center (RAS), project no. 122020100347-2 ‘Political and Sociocultural Processes across South Russia in Modernization Contexts, 17th to 21st Centuries’.
About the Authors
Alexander E. Epifanov
Moscow City University (16/10, Novokuznetskaya St., 119017 Moscow, Russian Federation)
Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Research and Development Center (8, Zoya & Aleksandr Kosmodemyanskie St., 125171 Moscow, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dr. Sc. (Law), Professor
Evgeniy F. Krinko
Southern Scientific Center of the RAS (41, Chekhov Ave., 344006 Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dr. Sc. (History), Chief Research Associate
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Review
For citations:
Epifanov A.E., Krinko E.F. Administrative-Legal Regime and Everyday Life of Exiled Kalmyk Settlers in 1944–1945: Official Documents and Eyewitness Accounts Analyzed. Oriental Studies. 2022;15(2):292-309. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2022-60-2-292-309
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