Liveblogging World War II: December 27, 1943
Elza‐Bair Guchinova: Deportation of the Kalmyks (1943–1956): Stigmatized Ethnicity:
On December 27, 1943, M. I. Kalinin signed Decree No. 115/144 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR entitled “On the liquidation of the Kalmyk ASSR and the formation of the Astrakhan oblast within the composition of the USSR.” The decree formulates the basis of the punishment:
In the period of occupation of the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR by German-Fascist invaders, many Kalmyks betrayed their Motherland, joined military detachments organized by the Germans for fighting against the Red Army, handed over to the Germans honest Soviet citizens, seized and handed over to the Germans livestock evacuated from collective farms in the Rostov oblast and the Ukraine, and, after the expulsion of the invaders by the Red Army, organized bands and actively opposed organs of Soviet power in the restoration of the economy destroyed by the Germans, perpetrated bandit raids on collective farms and terrorized the surrounding population.
The decree ordained that all Kalmyks residing on the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR were to be moved to other regions of the USSR and the Kalmyk ASSR was to be liquidated. Other points in the edict indicated a decision to divide the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR between the only recently created Astrakhan oblast, the Stalingrad oblast and the Stravrapol krai. This edict was not published, and neither was Resolution No. 1432–1425 of the Soviet of People’s Commissars adopted on December 28, 1943 and signed by V. M. Molotov, in which the fate of the deported nation was determined. In accordance with the decree, all Kalmyks living in the Kalmyk ASSR were relocated to the Altai and Krasnoyarsk krai and the Omsk and Novosibirsk oblasts. Among them 25,000 went to the Altai krai, 25,000 to the Krasnoyarsk krai, 25,000 to the Omsk oblast and 20,000 to the Novosibirsk oblast. Moreover, many Kalmyks found themselves in different regions of the USSR: the Far East, Taimyr, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. For the most part the resettlement of the Kalmyks was carried out in villages where the economy was based on animal husbandry or fishing.
Overall, nearly 120,000 Kalmyks were deported. On December 28, 1943, all residents of the republic who were Kalmyks by nationality were put into storage wagons heading east...
