Deportation Deportation of the Crimean Tatars

ostensibly due collaboration axis powers during world war ii, collective guilt , punishment inflicted on ten nationalities soviet government, among them crimean tatars. many of these peoples punished being deported distant regions of central asia , siberia.

on 10 may 1944, lavrentiy beria recommended stalin crimean tatars should deported away border regions due traitorous actions. despite fact 25,033 crimean tatars fought in red army during world war ii, greater number 15,000 20,000 persuaded join self-defense units protected tatar villages , hunted down partisans. 8 crimean tatars awarded hero of soviet union prize. ignored majority of collaborators had been evacuated crimea retreating wehrmacht. per soviet sources, 20,000 crimean tatars had been evacuted retreating germans. several state officers claimed crimean tatars had stayed on peninsula had not betrayed soviet union. though volga tatars participated in collaboration in higher number crimean tatars, 35,000–40,000 volunteers fighting axis, avoided kind of collective punishment. many other nationalities nazi collaborators, numerous russians , jews, indicated people in occupied territories had been forcibly drafted.

the deported peoples transferred in sealed off railroad cars

stalin issued gko order no. 5859ss, envisaged resettlement of crimean tatars. deportation carried out in 3 days, 18–20 may 1944, during nkvd agents went house house collecting crimean tatars @ gunpoint , forcing them enter sealed-off cattle trains transfer them 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) away remote locations in uzbek soviet socialist republic. tatars allowed carry 500 kg of property per family. 8:00 on first day, nkvd had loaded 90,000 crimean tatars distributed in 25 trains. next day, further 136,412 persons boarded onto railroad cars. traveled in overcrowded wagons several weeks , plagued lack of food , water. estimated @ least 228,392 people deported crimea, of @ least 191,044 crimean tatars in 47,000 families. since 7,889 people perished in long transit in sealed-off railcars, nkvd registered 183,155 crimean tatars arrived @ destinations in central asia. majority of deportees rounded crimean countryside. 18,983 of exiles crimean cities.

on 4 july 1944 nkvd officially informed stalin resettlement complete. however, not long after report, nkvd found out 1 of units forgot deport people arabat spit. instead of preparing additional transfer in trains, nkvd boarded hundreds of crimean tatars onto old boat, took middle of azov sea, , sunk ship, drowning of people in on 20 july. did not drown finished off machine-guns.

uzbekistan, main destination of deported

officially, there not single crimean tatar left in crimea. deportation encompassed every person of crimean tatar descent, including children, women, , elderly, , had been members of communist party or red army. in march 1949, total of 8,995 former soldiers of red army of crimean tatar descent registered in special settlements. among these veterans, there 534 officers, 1,392 sergeants, , 7,079 soldiers. there 742 members of communist party of soviet union , 1,225 members of komsomol. according 1 russian witness of deportation, men still fighting @ eastern front, deportation awaited them @ end of war. humiliating war heroes; ilyas ablayev, instance, fought on various fronts in war , served in red army until may 1947, live in exile in region of tashkent.

during mass eviction, soviet authorities confiscated around 80,000 houses, 500,000 cattle, 360,000 acres of land, , 40,000 tons of agricultural provisions left behind crimean tatars. in addition, crimean tatars fired red army. besides 191,000 deported tatars, soviet authorities evicted 9,260 armenians, 12,420 bulgarians, , 15,040 greeks peninsula. collectively branded traitors , became second class citizens decades in ussr. among deported, there 283 persons of other ethnicities: italians, romanians, karaims, kurds, czechs, hungarians, , croats. during 1947 , 1948, further 2,012 veteran returnees deported crimea local mvd.

151,136 crimean tatars deported uzbek ssr; 8,597 mari autonomous soviet socialist republic; , 4,286 kazakh soviet socialist republic; , remaining 29,846 sent various remote regions of russian sfsr. when crimean tatars arrived @ destination in uzbek ssr, met hostility uzbek locals threw stones @ them, children, because heard crimean tatars traitors , fascist collaborators. uzbeks objecting because did not want become dumping ground treasonous nations. in coming years, several assaults against crimean tatars population registered, of fatal.

lavrentiy beria, chief of soviet nkvd

the mass crimean deportations organized lavrentiy beria, chief of soviet secret police, nkvd, , subordinates bogdan kobulov, ivan serov, b. p. obruchnikov, m.g. svinelupov, , a. n. apolonov. field operations conducted g. p. dobrynin, deputy head of gulag system; g. a. bezhanov, colonel of state security; i. i. piiashev, major general; s. a. klepov, commissar of state security; i. s. sheredega, lt. general; b. i. tekayev, lt. colonel of state security; , 2 local leaders, p. m. fokin, head of crimea nkgb, , v. t. sergjenko, lt. general. in order execute deportation, nkvd secured 5,000 armed agents , nkgb allocated further 20,000 armed men, few thousand regular soldiers. 2 of stalin s directives may 1944 reveal every aspect of soviet government, financing transit, involved in executing operation.

on 14 july 1944 gko authorized immigration of 51,000 people, russians, 17,000 empty collective farms on crimea. on 30 june 1945, crimean assr abolished , adjoined russian sfsr.

soviet propaganda sought hide population transfer claiming crimean tatars had voluntarily resettle central asia . in essence, crimea ethnically cleansed. after act, term crimean tatar banished russian-soviet lexicon, , tatar toponyms (names of towns, villages, , mountains) in crimea changed russian names on maps. muslim graveyards , religious objects in crimea demolished or converted secular places. during stalin s rule, nobody allowed mention nationality existed in ussr. went far many individuals forbidden declare crimean tatars during soviet censuses of 1959, 1970, , 1979. during soviet census of 1989 ban lifted.