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/ December 2023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.72.12.14
How to Cite:
Naboka, O., Zyza, M., Bublyk, O., Babichev, O., & Drobysheva, O. (2023). Mass deportations of native nations to ratify Stalin's
regime in 1940s. Amazonia Investiga, 12(72), 159-166. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.72.12.14
Mass deportations of native nations to ratify Stalin's regime in 1940s
Масові депортації корінних народів як засіб ратифікації сталінського режиму у 1940 х рр.
Received: November 1, 2023 Accepted: December 28, 2023
Written by:
Oleksandr Naboka1
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1678-9475
Mykola Zyza2
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9229-3116
Olga Bublyk3
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2280-7385
Oleksandr Babichev4
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4682-0971
Olha Drobysheva5
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0289-5317
Abstract
In the article highlighted the mass deportations of
Oirato-Kalmyks, Karachay-Balkars, Chechens,
Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and other native
nations had positive results for the totalitarian
Soviet regime. Deportations undermined the will
of the indigenous peoples to resist for several
decades, although it was continued by a small
number of passionaries who were ready to resist
Soviet power even while in camps. In general, by
relying on the social unconscious, the native
nations were forced to demonstrate loyalty to the
Soviet system, which was at the peak of its
power. At the same time, the basis of national
identity became an underlying distrust of
Moscow, a potential hostility that manifested
itself in conditions of its weakening. The
development of the national movements of the
native nations who were subjected to mass
deportations in the conditions of the systemic
crisis of the Soviet system in the 1960-s and
1980-s will be considered in the following
articles. The originality of the research lies in the
1
Doctor of historical sciences (Dr. Hab. in History), Professor, Department of History and Archeology, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko
National University (Poltava, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: B-7083-2019.
2
PhD in Historical Sciences, Honored Teacher of Ukraine, Associate Professor, Department of History and Archeology, Luhansk
Taras Shevchenko National University (Poltava, Ukraine).
3
PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Luhansk Taras
Shevchenko National Universit (Poltava, Ukraine).
4
PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of History and Archeology, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National
University (Poltava, Ukraine).
5
PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of History and Archeology, Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National
University (Poltava, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: AAT-4662-2021.
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fact that for the first time the mass deportations
of the indigenous peoples of the USSR were
comprehensively examined on the basis of the
introduction into scientific circulation of
interviews with their representatives.
Keywords: mass deportations, native nations,
Oirato-Kalmyks, Karachay-Balkars, Chechens,
Crimeans.
Introduction
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
2022 intensified discussions about the colonial
nature of the USSR and the Russian Federation
and possibility of decolonization. One of the
components of Russia’s policy toward the
conquered territories is the use of forced
displacement of the local population to gain more
control over them. Such cases can be found in the
temporarily occupied territories of modern
Ukraine, but examples of this policy also can be
found and much earlier. The most striking
example is the mass deportations of indigenous
peoples in the 1940s, which were carried out by
the Stalin’s regime for the equal purpose. At the
same time, this problem has received little
coverage in historiography, which for a long time
was in line with Soviet and Russian approaches.
The purpose of this article is to examine the mass
deportations of native nations in the USSR in the
1940s as a means of ratifying Stalin’s regime
from the perspective of modern approaches in the
discourse of decolonization.
Literature review
Besides the strong interest to the current problem
in historical science it can be stated that this topic
has hardly been studied. In particular, there is a
lack of comprehensive work that examines the
causes, implementation and historical results of
the Soviet deportation policy regarding of the
native nations. It also seems important to show
the Soviet campaign for the forced resettlement
of part of the Ukrainian population during the
period under study, in the context of Moscow’s
general policy against od the native nations under
its imperial control.
Considering the absence of such scientific works,
the source and historiographical basis of this
article were interviews with national figures
representing certain people who were subjected
to deportations by the Soviet totalitarian regime
(Prokhvesora 2022a, Prokhvesora, 2023a,
Prokhvesora, 2022b, Prokhvesora, 2023b,
Turbanova, 2017).
Based on an analysis of interview with
representatives of the native nations who
survived deportations by the soviet regime in the
1940’s to comprehensively cover the causes,
course and consequences of the policy of forced
resettlement by Moscow during the period being
studied.
Separate issues of the research topic were
considered in previous scientific articles
(Naboka, 2020).
Methodology
The article is based on special historical and
general scientific research methods, as well as
the principles of consistency and objectivity. The
authors chose a descriptive research design that
allowed to establish the chronology, content and
consequences of the deportations. At the same
time, elements of qualitative design (interview)
were used to collect data from representatives of
displaced indigenous peoples to obtain specific
examples and reveal the problem through the
vision of individual participants in the events or
their relatives.
Among the main historical research methods
were used the typological, comparative and
systematic. Based on the use of content analysis,
a detailed analysis of recent studies by Ukrainian
and foreign researchers was carried out. The
historical-comparative method was used to revise
some of the generally accepted views on the
peculiarities of interpreting and studying past
events in the Soviet Union and the countries of
the Soviet bloc in the 1940s, where the Stalinist
regime carried out mass deportations of native
nations. All these stages allowed to draw up an
objective picture of the course and consequences
of mass deportations to guarantee the quality of
study’s results.
Results and discussion
According to the famous activist of the Oirat-
Kalmyk people Batyr Boromangnaev in the
Naboka, O., Zyza, M., Bublyk, O., Babichev, O., Drobysheva, O. / Volume 12 - Issue 72: 159-166 / December, 2023
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1940’s about forty of the native nations were
subjected to forced deportation (Prokhvesora,
2023a). Among them are: Kabardian, Kumyks,
Avars, Dagestanis, Tavlins, Abazins, Ossetians,
Nogais, Russians, Dargins, Ukrainians, Laks,
Abkhazians, Lezgins, Azerbaijanis, Circassians,
Iranians, Tatars, Georgians, Gemrans, Adygeis,
Kyrgyz, Arabs, Svans, Turks, etc (Yakovlev,
2005).
Among these deportations four were total and
meant the eviction of the entire people from their
homeland. Among the are Karachay-Balkars,
Oirat-Kalmyks, Checheno-Ingush and Crimeans
(Prokhvesora, 2023a).
One of the first to experience mass deportation
was the Karachay-Balkar people whose
settlement territory was occupied by the
Germans in 1942 but in October 1943 it returned
again to the control of the Red Army. Due to the
anti-Soviet uprising which actually unfolded here
during the retreat of Stalin’s army upon its return,
Stalin gave the order to eliminate local
autonomy. Thus, by decree of the President of the
Supreme Council No. 115/13 of October 12th,
1943 the Karachay Autonomous Region was
liquidated and its native nations should be
resettled in other regions of the Soviet Union.
The territory of the former autonomy was divided
between neighbouring regions. It was to be
populated with “verified categories of workers”
(Yakovlev, 2005).
The implementation of this resolution was
carried out on November 2-5th, 1943. The
deportation was ensured by a military contingent
of 53 thousand soldiers. In the first days 34 trains
were forcibly sent to Kazakhstan, 2000 – 2100
people in each. All military personnel of
Karachay nationality were also removed from the
front and deported (Yakovlev, 2005).
The next were the Oirat-Kalmyks. As a
representative of people who experienced such a
tragedy in the past for Batyr Boromangnaev the
forced deportation of the Oirat-Kalmyks at the
end of 1943 is clearly genocide and a crime
against humanity the tragic legacy of which is not
yet fully appreciated by the international
community. “This is a real crime against
humanity, the same as aggressive wars, such as
the Second World War or the current war in
Ukraine. This crime has no statue of limitations.
I believe that the verdict regarding communism
should be made including into aacount these
crimes against entire nations” (Prokhvesora,
2023a), noted by Batyr Bromangmaev.
Modern activist Daavr Dordzhin called the
forced deportation of the Oirat-Kalmyk people “a
terrible point of collective memory for the
Oirats” (Prokhvesora, 2022b). Operation “Ulus”
(this is the name used in the NKVD documents
for the action to evict the Oirat-Kalmyks from
their homes) begn on one of the winter days of
December 1943. To implement it the leadership
of the NKVD involved about 4,000 soldiers who
were temporarily recalled from the front
(Maximov, 2004).
People began to be taken an masse and forcibly
from places they had inhabited for centuries and
sent to Eastern Siberia (a small part of the
deportees were also sent to Kazakhstan). The
Oirat-Kalmyks were mainly settled in Omsk,
Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and other
regions. Compact living was not allowed; only a
few families were accommodated in different
settlements.
The most difficult and dramatic was the first year
in a new place. Suffering from hunger, Kalmyk
mothers were forced to make a terrible choice –
which of their children should continue to feed
and which should doom to death by starvation.
Possible death by starvation and general disorder
were the result among other things of the initial
lack of acceptance of the unwitting newcomers
by the local population who considered the
newcomers almost “cannibals”. Only after some
time when the Siberians were convinced that they
were dealing with ordinary people contrary to the
prohibitions they began to allow Kalmyk
families to take dead cattle for food and began to
share food and clothing.
It is noteworthy that the repressions also affected
Kalmyk front-line soldiers who were at the front
at the start of Operation Ulus. They were taken
and sent to their new places of residence under
the pretext that a special Kalmyk military unit
was supposedly being formed in the rear. Some
were told that this was happening in the Volga
region, others that it was in the Urals
(Prokhvesora, 2023a).
In total several thousand front-line soldiers were
sent to the distant, harsh rear, some of whom
were allowed to return to their families who at
that time were already in the Altai and
Krasnoyarks territories, the Omsk region or in
other regions of Siberia.
Some Kalmyk front-line soldiers most officers
had the opportunity to reach their once native
places through Stalingrad or Stavropol. But there
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a long-gone cold hearth was already waiting for
them and they were forced to continue looking
for their families in Siberia (Prokhvesora,
2023a).
A significant part of the privates and sergeants
were in the so-called. “Shiroklag” is on of the
GULAG camps. “My grandfather, he fought in
the Gorlovka motorized rifle division in eastern
Ukraine. He was raised, demobilized and sent to
Siberia where he died. He died in the
Shirokovsky camp so you understand, on April
9th, 1945” (Prokhvesora, 2022b), - notes Daavr
Dorzhin.
In total abut 15 thousand Kalmyk military
personnel were called from the front most of
whom were sent to the aforementioned
“Shiroklag”. According to Batir Boromangnaev,
Shoroklag was far from the only place where
Kalmyks were kept. In his opinion, Kalmyk
front-line soldiers were kept in at least 3 camps.
They participated in the construction of various
facilities, including the Shirokovskaya
hydroelectric power station. “Front-line soldiers
with medals and orders became prisoners of war
overnight” (Prokhvesora, 2023a), our guest
bitterly stated.
A lot of Kalmyks died at these Gulag
“construction sites if communism”. Many who
reached an extreme degree of exhaustion were
released to their relatives to die. Many did it
simply on the way. Some were lucky; upon
returning to their families, they were able to be
cured and fed (Prokhvesora, 2023a).
The Kalmyks were only rehabilitated in March
1956. According to statistics presented by Daavr
Dordzhin, approximately 20% of this indigenous
people perished as a result of mass deportation,
with some estimates reaching up to 50%
(Prokhvesora, 2022b). More than 90 thousand
Kalmyks were deported, and over 14 thousand
died on the way (Biurchiev, 2016).
According to activists, another fundamental
negative consequence is ethnocide – the effective
Russification of the indigenous people in their
new settlement. Daavr Dordzhin noted, "In
addition to physical destruction, an entire
generation of people grew up in Siberia without
knowing our language in schools. On a practical
level, the Russian language was imposed"
(Prokhvesora, 2022b).
Among the main negative consequences of the
forced deportation, activists point out, firstly, a
decline in childbirth from about three children
per woman before 1943 to around 1.5 children
after. Secondly, the deportation led to a low
knowledge of the national language in modern
Kalmykia, a situation further encouraged by
current authorities. Daavr Dordzhin mentioned
that, since 2017, learning the native language has
been voluntary and optional (Prokhvesora,
2022b).
Batyr Boromangnaev considers the forced
deportation of the Kalmyks as the apotheosis of
the long-standing and systematic destruction of
this indigenous people. He emphasizes that a
significant portion of the Kalmyks perished in the
20s and 30s. Painful losses were also suffered
during the Second World War, as part of
Kalmykia was occupied, and Kalmyks were
among the first people mobilized in the Soviet
Union. "When they deported us, they didn't
deport the entire population but what was left of
it: women, the elderly, and children," noted the
Oirat-Kalmyk activist.
Another people who underwent forced mass
deportation were the Chechens. The Chechen
writer, journalist, and human rights defender,
Mayrbek Taramov, shared the tragedy of the
Chechens, who were accused of collaboration
with the Germans in 1944.
As is known, on February 23, the day when
Imperial Russia honors its "defenders of the
fatherland," the mass deportation of the Chechen
people began in 1944, accused of collaboration
with the Germans, although, according to
Mayrbek Taramov, "the foot of the Germans did
not set foot on Chechen soil" (Prokhvesora,
2023b). It was a massive punitive military
operation against the half-million indigenous
people, involving about 100 thousand soldiers
demobilized from the front and another 19
thousand NKVD troops. The operation was given
one week to be carried out.
The main reason Chechens were among the
peoples completely evicted from their native
lands, as noted by Mayrbek Taramov, was not
collaborationism but a principled rejection of
Soviet policy in the region in the 20s and 30s.
Particularly resistant was the opposition to
collectivization. The war with Germany became
a convenient moment to finally deal with the
disobedient people. "Why did the eviction
happen without uprisings? Because the combat-
ready part of the population was sent to the front.
Who defended the Brest Fortress? About 400
Chechens and Ingush. This fact is also hushed up
today," (Prokhvesora, 2023b), - noted Mayrbek
Taramov.
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Another factor that played into Stalin's hands was
that during previous years, the intellectual elite
had been destroyed through repression,
especially the "alims" - Islamic spiritual leaders
and educators. A total of 10 thousand alims were
killed. They were replaced by Muslim clerics,
often simultaneously agents of Soviet
intelligence (Prokhvesora, 2023b). They
persuaded the people to submit to deportation.
During the forced resettlement, the Chechens
faced hunger, cold, disorganization, and
humiliation. Mass deaths began on the way.
According to Mayrbek Taramov's estimates, the
deportation claimed the lives of about half of the
Chechen people. During his years in exile in
Kazakhstan at the age of six, he barely survived.
He was saved by the recently invented drug at the
time, penicillin (Prokhvesora, 2023b).
As a talented writer and the author of several
books on the history and modernity of Chechnya,
Mayrbek Taramov left poignant memories of his
childhood in Kazakhstan (in the town of
Mikhaylovka, Jambul region) in the book
"Nothing is Forgotten, Nobody is Forgiven!"
Among other things, the publication includes a
story about how the hero's family's cow,
Chernushka, was abducted – the only nurse for
nine children. The search for the cow brought
together all local Chechens led by elders.
Gypsies living nearby also joined them. "The
tragic news instantly spread throughout the
village, and all Chechens from the same village
began to gather in our yard, led by the elders.
Gypsies from the camp in the valley also joined.
The elders suggested creating three groups of
people who should go in three directions. The
southern side was bordered by a river that the
cattle thief was unlikely to cross. Somewhere
after noon, messengers started returning. One of
the groups brought the stolen cow and the cattle
thief" (Prokhvesora, 2023b), the author noted.
In turn, the homes abandoned by the warm
previous owners were often resettled by other
unfortunate people – forcibly deported ones. It is
worth noting that Stalin mixed the indigenous
peoples of the Caucasus as he pleased. The
Kumyks – a Turkic indigenous people who lived
in separate areas of Chechnya, Ossetia, and
Ingushetia – were settled massively in place of
the Chechens. In April 1944, the Kumyks began
to be resettled in the villages from which the
Chechens had been expelled (Prokhvesora,
2023b).
April 1944 became tragic for another freedom-
loving indigenous people of Crimea – the
Crimean Tatars, also broadly accused by the
Stalinist regime of collaboration with German
Nazism. In the 1930s, Crimean Tatars were one
of the nations most systematically subjected to
repression, but the worst was yet to come. On
May 11, 1944, Stalin signed a special decree of
the State Defense Committee of the USSR No.
5859 titled "On the Crimean Tatars," which
envisaged the eviction of the indigenous
Crimeans under the pretext of their "betrayal of
the homeland" (Hrabovskyi, 2008).
The next day, Red Army units occupied the entire
territory of the peninsula, and on May 18, the so-
called "special operation" began, during which
191 thousand Crimean Tatars were deported
from Crimea in just two days. Their new,
unwelcome destinations were Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, the Mari Autonomous Republic, and
six other regions of Russia. The elderly, women,
and children were transported in freight cars, and
once again, the relocation was accompanied by
mass deaths (Hrabovskyi, 2008).
The deportation of Crimean Tatars followed the
patterns of scenarios tested a few months earlier
in Kalmykia and the Caucasus. Upon arrival at
their destinations, the evacuees were given the
status of "special resettlers" and were placed in
special "ghettos" or "special settlements," where
leaving the territory was prohibited without a
special pass. The indigenous Crimean Tatars
were forced to work in logging, construction,
mines, and local collective farms. Demobilized
soldiers and officers returning from the Red
Army front also obtained the aforementioned
status. The incredibly harsh living conditions of
the deported people led to the death of
approximately half of those forcibly removed
from Crimea. The tragedy of the Crimean Tatars,
in which about 46% of the indigenous people
perished, received the name "Sürgün" (from the
Crimean Tatar "Sürgün" – "exile") (Hrabovskyi,
2008).
Simultaneously, the diabolical "Stalinist mixer"
was at work. In the fall of 1944, 64 thousand
collective farmers from Russia, Ukraine, and
Belarus were hastily settled in place of the
deported Crimean Tatars (Hrabovskyi, 2008).
As noted by the well-known Crimean activist
Ayder Muzhdabaev, the forced deportation of his
people in 1944 became a reliable "vaccination"
against any "charm" and longing for Soviet
times. It was the Crimean Tatars, allowed to
return to Crimea in the late 80s and early 90s,
who became staunch supporters of
independence, voting massively for Vyacheslav
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Chernovil in the first presidential elections in
Ukraine in 1991. It was the indigenous Crimean
Tatars who first opposed Putin's intentions to
annex the peninsula in 2014 (Prokhvesora,
2022a).
Next were the Ukrainian people, who, according
to a fairly reliable historical legend, Stalin was
ready to deport entirely but refrained due to the
sheer number of Ukrainians. They had already
experienced partial forced relocations in the early
1930s, during the height of forced
collectivization. In the late 1929 to spring 1930
period, about 200 thousand peasant farms were
dekulakized in the republic, with most owners
being resettled to remote areas of the USSR.
In the early post-war years, residents of the
recently annexed western regions, where the
support for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)
was strong, were subjected to deportations. In
these regions, the entire arsenal of methods
against the national movement, previously tested
in Chechnya, Kalmykia, or Crimea, was
employed. NKVD employees who had
previously participated in the deportation of the
aforementioned indigenous peoples were
involved in "solving" this issue (Ofitsinsky,
2021).
At the same time, the Stalinist national mixer was
actively at work, saturating rebellious territories
with loyal newcomers from the eastern regions of
Ukraine. These newcomers were attracted to
party work, the fight against nationalist partisans,
law enforcement, teaching, leadership roles in
rural areas, and industry. In eastern Ukraine,
existing and newly established educational
institutions and training centers worked to meet
the staffing needs.
In particular, the authors of these lines had the
opportunity to work for some time in a small
town in modern Luhansk region called
Starobilsk, known for operating a concentration
camp for Polish prisoners of war in 1939-1940,
captured during the "liberation campaign" of the
Red Army in the western Ukrainian lands.
Simultaneously, in 1940s, a teacher training
institute was opened in the historic building of
the former women's gymnasium, which trained
teachers primarily for the conquered territories
until 1954.
In turn, the training of agronomists to implement
Stalin's collective farm policy in the western
Ukrainian lands was the focus of the
Voroshilovgrad (Luhansk) Agricultural Institute.
Simultaneously, in the 1940s, a massive wheel of
mass deportations was set in motion, conducted
both directly by Soviet punitive organs and by
the corresponding structures of Soviet satellite
countries. The first to implement such methods
of combating the UPA was the pro-Soviet Polish
regime. In April 1947, Warsaw began the
implementation of Operation "Vistula," which
envisaged the mass deportation of Ukrainians to
the Greater Poland regions. These regions, due to
diplomatic border manipulations between the
USSR and the Polish People's Republic, found
themselves detached from the main array of
western Ukrainian lands. We are talking about
such regions as Lemkivshchyna, Nadsiannia,
Pidliashshia, and Khomshchyna. Since the
Soviet-Polish border was transparent for a long
time, these territories were used by the UPA as a
support base. The local population actively
supported the insurgents, who dealt sensitive
blows to both Soviet and Polish authorities. In
March 1947, the Polish government decided on
deportation.
On April 28, 1947, at four in the morning, Polish
punitive forces, consisting of about six divisions
and units of the Public Security Corps,
surrounded the areas where Ukrainian border
settlements were located. At the same time,
acting synchronously, units of the NKVD and the
Czechoslovak army closed their sections of the
border with Poland (Ryabenko (s.f)).
The eviction scenario was standard and likely
shaped based on the deportation experience of
colleagues from the Soviet NKVD. Polish forces
surrounded villages, informing the population of
immediate relocation. Gathering time ranged
from half an hour to four hours. After that,
Ukrainians, under armed escort, were sent to
assembly points where filtering took place.
"Unreliable" elements, primarily sympathizers of
the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), were
identified and immediately arrested. Registries of
the property of the deported were also compiled
(Ryabenko (s.f)).
Then, Ukrainians faced the journey to the deep
regions of Poland, at least a hundred kilometers
from the border. They were resettled in groups
that should not exceed 10% of the local Polish
population. The majority of the deported were
resettled in the northern or western regions of
Poland, which had previously belonged to
Germany and from which Germans were
expelled after the end of World War II.
Movements of the deported were monitored. In
case of unauthorized attempts to return to their
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homes, violators were placed in a "transit camp"
in Yavozhny. In total, about 140 thousand people
were deported during Operation "Vistula." In
Yavozhny, 3,936 people were held, including
823 women and 27 priests. As a result of torture
in the camp, 665 people were killed. Thirteen
Ukrainian villages were completely destroyed,
and one partially (Ryabenko (s.f)).
Operation "Vistula," which lasted until August
12, 1947, significantly undermined the
capabilities of the UPA to continue the struggle.
During its implementation, 2,800 insurgents
were arrested, and another 1,509 were killed. A
total of 1,178 bunkers and "krivoks" were
destroyed.
In the fall of 1947, Soviet punitive organs
decided to crush the insurgents by conducting
their own partial deportation of the Ukrainian
population from the western Ukrainian lands.
At the end of May 1947, Deputy Minister of State
Security of the USSR, Lieutenant General
Ogoltsov, and Minister of State Security of the
Ukrainian SSR Savchenko prepared a joint
appeal to the Minister of State Security
Abakumov, justifying the need for mass
deportations in western Ukrainian lands. The
initiative, aimed at striking a blow to the
"nationalist underground," was supported by the
Politburo on August 13, 1947. On August 22,
1947, Abakumov signed Order No. 00430 "On
the eviction of families of convicts, killed, and
those in an illegal position of active nationalists
and bandits from the territory of the western
regions of Ukraine" (Bazhan, 2013).
Preparation for this punitive action, named
"Zapad" (West), took two months and was
carried out in October 1947. In Lviv, the
operation began at 2 am on October 21, and in
the following two hours, Chekists interrupted the
sleep of thousands of peaceful people in villages
and towns in Galicia and Volhynia.
In general, the deportation was carried out in 2-3
days. In total, 26,682 families of "nationalists" or
76,192 people were resettled to Siberia, the
majority of whom were women (35,152) and
children (22,174) (Bazhan, 2013).
Conclusions
Mass deportations of indigenous peoples of the
USSR became an important mechanism for
overcoming their national consciousness and
identity. This repressive method of the imperial
totalitarian regime involved those peoples who
resisted Moscow the most in pre-war times:
Karachay-Balkars, Oirat-Kalmyks, Checheno-
Ingush, Crimeans and Ukrainians. The
weakening of Stalin's regime during his war with
Hitler's Germany was the cause of a new wave of
national liberation movements, which were
directed against collectivization, Soviet
repression, and the anti-religious company.
The described punitive operations had positive
results for the totalitarian Soviet regime.
Deportations undermined the will of the
indigenous peoples to resist for several decades,
although it was continued by a small number of
pensioners who were ready to resist Soviet power
even while in camps. In general, by relying on
the social unconscious, the indigenous peoples
were forced to demonstrate loyalty to the Soviet
system, which was at the peak of its power. At
the same time, the basis of national identity
became an underlying distrust of Moscow, a
potential hostility that manifested itself in
conditions of its weakening. These aspects will
be discussed in our next scientific articles.
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