Country: Russia

Group: Kalmyk

Date Finalized: 11/22/22

Team: Hajer Rahee (lead), Jhanz Marco Garcia, Vianney Mancilla, Samuel Kniery, Zaida Arellano Reyes

Content Warning: Forced Labor, Forced Away

Approximate Time Period:  1771, 1931-1957

The Kalmyks were originally nomadic herders who originated from Mongolia. They settled along the lower Volga River and the northern shore of the Caspian Sea (Maksimov & Yastrzhembska, 2008; MRG, 2015). In the 1760s, Tsarist Russia incorporated the Kalmyk’s khanate (a political territory ruled by a Khan) as an ethnopolitical entity within their empire. The Russian administrators did not allow the Kalmyks any possibility of a Kalmyk ethnic statehood within the empire. From them on, the Kalmyks were subjected to many forms of discrimination subjected to them by the Russian empire. The first occurrence of the Kalmyks being forced away from their homes took place in 1931. From July to August of that year, the former Soviet State organized mass deportations of 1,100 Kalmyk families under the suspicion that they were kulaks (this term is used for peasants who were wealthy enough to own a farm and hire labor; they resisted Stalin during his time of rule). Not too long afterwards, on December 23rd of 1943, Soviet administrators issued an order for the deportation of the entire Kalmyk population to Gulags (labor camps) located in Siberia. This was done under the suspicion that the Kalmyks were collaborating with the Nazis (Chetyrova, 2011; MRG, 2015; Polian, 2004). According to a 1939 census, the Kalmyk population had a population of 134,402 (Polian, 2004). During the first deportation, 91,919 Kalmyks were transported from their homes (Polian, 2004). During the second sweep, 1,014 more Kalymks were forced away (Polian, 2004).

The current situation of the Kalmyks has lightened considerably. There is little current documentations of forced away discrimination, even in light of the ethnic and political tensions that remain in the area.

Data Quality: 3/3

Sources

  1. Chetyrova, L. B. (2011). The Idea of Labor Among Deported Kalmyks: Kalmyk Resilience Through Celebration in the Gulag. Mongolian Studies, 33, 17–31.
  2. Maksimov, K. N., & Yastrzhembska, A. (2008). Kalmykia in Russia’s Past and Present National Policies and Administrative System. Central European University Press.
    http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/asulib-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3137263
  3. MRG. (2015, June 19). Kalmyks. Minority Rights Group. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/kalmyks/
  4. Ochirov, U. B., & Vorobyova, V. N. (2020). Kalmyk Red Army Soldiers in Shirokovsky Forced Labor Camp: A Statistical Survey. Oriental Studies, 13(2), 330–357. https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2020-48-2-330-357
  5. Polian, P. M. (2004). Against their will: The history and geography of forced migrations in the USSR. Central European University Press. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb08629.0001.001