Books on the "Russification" of the USSR-occupied countries?

[Lagami]

Hey,

I'd love to learn more about the "russification" of the countries that Stalin has taken under his control. The controlled immigration of Soviets into those countries to "destroy" the original countries culture if that's how one could describe it.

Are there any book suggestions about this topic? I'd love hearing witness stories by people who experienced this first-hand. I especially have a big interest in the baltic states with another extra focus on Estonia as I have personal connections to that country.

So far all I've found was a book by Zaur Gasimov called "Kampf um Wort und Schrift: Russifizierung in Osteuropa im 19.-20. Jahrhundert (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz - Beihefte)" in German. This one focuses only on how they tried to force the Russian language on the countries as it seems. I'd like a more general one looking at more points though.

I'd be extremely thankful if anyone could give me any suggestion!


PS: Obviously the Russification continued on even after 1945 but I still thought that this forum is the best place to place this topic in.

[Ivan Denisovich]

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum is something I think you will find interesting. There is also Stalin and Europe: Imitation and Domination, 1928-1953 by Timothy Snyder and Ray Brandon which touches this subject. Some info also could be found in Karol Modzelewski Zajeździmy kobyłę historii (We'll Ride the Mare of History) but as far as I know it is only in Polish.

[Art]

The controlled immigration of Soviets into those countries to "destroy" the original countries culture if that's how one could describe it.

The reports of coltrolled migration to destroy the culture were strongly exaggerated in the emigrant press. In particular the organized migration to Estonia in 1945-53 was calculated as 23 774 men. Total annual migration is estimated as 20 000 in 1945-49 and 10 000 in 1950-54. So organized migration was only a small part of the total, which was mostly driven by economical reasons, the famine 1946-47 played an especially prominent role.
From E.Zubkova "Pribaltika i Kreml" (Baltic and Kremlin), Moscow 2008 with reference to O.Mertelsmann "Der stalinistiche Umbau in Estland"
The same books discusses the language issues as well.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Art,

Are you saying that Soviet citizens had the right of private freedom of movement to decide where they lived and worked?

Cheers,

Sid.

[Sid Guttridge]

For a visual representation of population shifts in Eastern and Central Europe during the Soviet era I highly recommend:

Historical Atlas of Central Europe: Revised and Expanded Edition (History of East Central Europe) Paperback – 1 Aug 2002
by Professor Paul Robert Magocsi
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: University of Washington Press; Rev Exp edition (1 Aug. 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0295981466
ISBN-13: 978-0295981468

Cheers,

Sid.

[Art]

Are you saying that Soviet citizens had the right of private freedom of movement to decide where they lived and worked?

It's reasonable to call it "opportunities" instead of "rights". From the start of 1930 the internal migration in USSR was going in frantic pace, which is evident if you read several memoirs from that time. The attempts to regulate it administratively worked poorly and didn't work at all. Mukhin's book on Soviet aircraft industry or Yermolov's book on tank industry present informative illustration on failure of administrative control of workforce. The Estonian border (all the former western Soviet borders) was initially kept in the same closed state as before 1939 with border troops and traffic control points. According to Zubkova this barrier was removed in 1946, from that time it was not different from other Soviet regions.
It is worth to add that some population change was carried out under German occupation in 1941-44, the number of people relocated to Baltic republics was of the order of hundreds of thousands. A considerable number decided to stay there permanently.

[Karelia]

...
It is worth to add that some population change was carried out under German occupation in 1941-44, the number of people relocated to Baltic republics was of the order of hundreds of thousands. A considerable number decided to stay there permanently.

What population changes to Baltics are you referring to?

[Sid Guttridge]

Double post. See below.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Art,

I find it difficult to believe that, in a centralized police state like the USSR is supposed to have been, there was free movement of labour.

It seems improbable that there could have been any major population movements that were not either directed, sponsored, encouraged, or approved by the state.

Was the USSR that much less totalitarian than we are led to believe?

Cheers,

Sid.

P.S. I would reinforce Karelia's qestion. I know that several hundred thousand Germans were moved out of the Baltic States to German-occupied Poland in 1939-41, and that surviving local Jews followed in 1942-43, but I was unaware that the Germans sponsored any population movements into the Baltic States. Given Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian national sensibilities, it would seem a counter-productive exercise. Who were these people?

[Lagami]

The controlled immigration of Soviets into those countries to "destroy" the original countries culture if that's how one could describe it.

The reports of coltrolled migration to destroy the culture were strongly exaggerated in the emigrant press. In particular the organized migration to Estonia in 1945-53 was calculated as 23 774 men. Total annual migration is estimated as 20 000 in 1945-49 and 10 000 in 1950-54. So organized migration was only a small part of the total, which was mostly driven by economical reasons, the famine 1946-47 played an especially prominent role.
From E.Zubkova "Pribaltika i Kreml" (Baltic and Kremlin), Moscow 2008 with reference to O.Mertelsmann "Der stalinistiche Umbau in Estland"
The same books discusses the language issues as well.

Well, I've been to Estonia 2 years ago and have seen the effects of that immigration with my own eyes. The country is extremely split between Russian language and culture and Estonian language and culture. Lots of Russians there don't speak Estonian and lots of Estonians don't speak Russian. But Russians still make a huge number of the population. There even are lots of villages in which they only speak Russian. Estonians are pretty upset about this from what I have heard.
I doubt something like that happens if the immigration was really just a small thing.

Thanks for the book suggestions so far!

[Karelia]

Sorry for the mess of lines, but I hope you get the picture. The shares of the different ethnicities in bold.

Nationality Census of 1934 (%) Census of 1989 (%) Census of 2000 (%)

1. Estonians 992 520 88.1 963 281 61.5 930 219 67.9
2. Russians 92 656 8.2 474 834 30.3 351 178 25.6
3. Ukrainians 92 0.008 48 271 3.083 29 012 2.1
4. Belarussians * * 27 711 1.769 17 241 1.3
5. Finns and Ingrians 1 088 0.1 16 622 1.061 12 195 0.89
6. Tatars 166 0.015 4 058 0.259 2 582 0.19
7. Latvians 5 435 0.5 3 135 0.2 2 330 0.17
8. Poles 1 608 0.14 3 008 0.192 2 193 0.16
9. Jews 4 434 0.4 4 613 0.295 2 145 0.156
10. Lithuanians 253 0.022 2 568 0.164 2 116 0.154
11. Germans 16 346 1.5 3 466 0.221 1 870 0.136
12. Armenians * * 1 669 0.106 1 444 0.105
13. Azerbaijani * * 1 238 0.079 880 0.064
21. Swedes 7 641 0.7 297 0.019 300 0.021
Other nationalities or nationality unknown 4 174 0.37 10 891 0.696 14 347 1.047

Total population 1 126 413 100 1 565 662 100 1 370 052 100

[Art]

P.S. I would reinforce Karelia's qestion. I know that several hundred thousand Germans were moved out of the Baltic States to German-occupied Poland in 1939-41, and that surviving local Jews followed in 1942-43, but I was unaware that the Germans sponsored any population movements into the Baltic States. Given Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian national sensibilities, it would seem a counter-productive exercise. Who were these people?

According to Zemskov in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia Soviet repatriation authorities registered 56 363 POWs and 227 044 civilian displaced persons. The latter seems to partly a result of Army Groups's policy of relocating civilians when retreating behind a "Panther" line. May be other reasons, I wasn't looking for it. According to the same article about 12 000 stayed in Latvia alone by 1.06.46. Article in Russian:
http://scepsis.net/library/id_1234.html

I find it difficult to believe that, in a centralized police state like the USSR is supposed to have been, there was free movement of labour

.
The measures to limit movement of labour in state enterprises (changing job simply speaking) were introduced only in 1940. The results, as I said, were not an unequivocal success. Even in wartime complains about employees leaving even key defense factories were widespread.
Sporadic efforts to control migration were made e.g. during the famine of 1933 but had a short-term effect only.
For English-language book on labor migration from country-side see "Stalin's peasants" by S.Fitzpatrick. The author's conclusion is that moving from village to work elsewhere was not a serious problem,which is not surprising judging from stats on urban population growth from early 1930s.
A large part of migration to Baltic especially in 1946-47 were "shopping tour" in search for food and manufactured goods. Many "tourists" returned to their homes then.

[Art]

For migration trends and stats n Estonia see an academic publication available for download here:
http://www.digar.ee/arhiiv/nlib-digar:43765