THE JOURNAL OF REGIONAL HISTORY V.6 No.3
Preservation of zemstvo traditions in Russian emigration in 1917–1939: The Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad (Zemgor)
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The article is devoted to the analysis of the activities of emigrant zemstvo organizations in the context of their preservation of the traditions of the pre-revolutionary Russian zemstvo. The Russian post-revolutionary emigration caused by the October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Civil War numbered up to two million refugees who settled mainly in the countries of Central Europe, Slavic countries, newly formed border states, and the Far East. Many of the former zemstvo officials of various levels who had significant experience in organizing humanitarian assistance to refugees and the wounded during the First World War and the Civil War also emigrated.
The article traces the continuity of emigrant zemstvo organizations, primarily the Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad and its branches, in relation to pre-revolutionary zemstvo institutions, such as the All-Russian Zemstvo Union. Russian emigrant organizations continued their former zemstvo activities, focusing on education (secondary and higher education), employment of Russian refugees (labor exchanges), medical care, and preservation of Russian culture in the new conditions, among other things, by means of organizing and holding the days of Russian culture as well as founding archives and libraries. To prove the idea of continuity of zemstvo organizations, the author considers the structure and composition of the Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad and its most significant offices in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The article is mainly based on the materials from the Russian Historical Archive Abroad (RZIA) stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Archives of the Prefecture of Police of Paris, and publications of the Zemgor.
The article traces the continuity of emigrant zemstvo organizations, primarily the Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad and its branches, in relation to pre-revolutionary zemstvo institutions, such as the All-Russian Zemstvo Union. Russian emigrant organizations continued their former zemstvo activities, focusing on education (secondary and higher education), employment of Russian refugees (labor exchanges), medical care, and preservation of Russian culture in the new conditions, among other things, by means of organizing and holding the days of Russian culture as well as founding archives and libraries. To prove the idea of continuity of zemstvo organizations, the author considers the structure and composition of the Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad and its most significant offices in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The article is mainly based on the materials from the Russian Historical Archive Abroad (RZIA) stored in the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Archives of the Prefecture of Police of Paris, and publications of the Zemgor.
Antropov, O.K. Otechestvennaya istoriografiya obshchestvenno-politicheskoi zhizni russkogo zarubezh'ya 1920–1930-kh gg. [Domestic historiography of the socio-political life of Russian diaspora in the 1920s–1930s]. Astrakhan: Astrakhanskii universitetntropov, 2012. (In Russian)
Aurilene, E.E., and I.V. Potapova. Russkie v Man'chzhou-Di-Go: “Emigrantskoe pravitel'stvo” [Russians in Manchukuo: “Emigrant Government”]. Khabarovsk: KhKM im. N.M. Grodekova, 2004. (In Russian)
Bakar, B. Esir Şehrin Misafirleri: Beyaz Ruslar. Istanbul: Tarichi, 2012. 2nd ed. Enlarged. 2015.
Bocharova, Z.S. Russkii mir 1930-kh godov: ot rastsveta k uvyadaniyu Zarubezhnoi Rossii [The Russian World of the 1930s: From the rise to decline of Russian diaspora]. Moscow: AIRO-XXI, 2014. (In Russian)
Gentshke, V.L., I.V. Sabennikova, and A.S. Lovtsov. Issledovateli Russkogo zarubezh'ya: biobibliograficheskii slovar' [The researchers of Russian diaspora: biobibliographical reference book]. Is. 3. Moscow: Direkt-Media, 2022. (In Russian)
Gentshke, V.L., I.V. Sabennikova, and A.S. Lovtsov. Russkoe zarubezh'e: materialy k bibliograficheskomu ukazatelyu [Russian diaspora: Materials to bibliographical index]. Moscow; Berlin: Direkt-Media, 2020. (In Russian)
Jovanović, М. Ruska emigracija na Balkanu 1920–1940. Beograd: Čigoja štampa, 2006.
Khisamutdinov, A.A. Po stranam rasseyaniya: istoriya rossiiskoi emigratsii pervoi volny v Kitae, stranakh ATR i Yuzhnoi Amerike v 1900–1970-e gg. [Round the countries of scattering: The history of Russian emigration of the first wave in China, Asia-Pacific countries, and South America in the 1900s–1970s]. 2 pts. Vladivostok: VGUES, 2000. (In Russian)
Kopřivová-Vukolovová, A. Střediska ruského emigrantského života v Praze (1921–1952). Praha: Národní knihovna – Slovanská knihovna České republiky, 2001.
K'oseva, Ts. Bŭlgariya i ruskata emigratsiya 20-te–50-te godini na XX v. [Bulgaria and Russian emigration, the 1920s–1950s]. Sofia: Mezhdunaroden tsentŭr po problemite na maltsinstvata i kulturnite vzaimodeistviya, 2002. (in Bulgarian)
Kovalevskii, P.E. Zarubezhnaya Rossiya: Istoriya i kul'turno-prosvetitel'naya rabota russkogo zarubezh'ya za polveka (1920–1970) [Foreign Russia: History and cultural and educational work of Russian diaspora for half a century (1920–1970)]. Paris: Librairie des Cinq Continents, 1971. (In Russian)
Melikhov, G.V. Rossiiskaya emigratsiya v Kitae (1917–1924 gg.) [Russian emigration in China (1917–1924)]. Moscow: IRI RAN, 1997. (In Russian)
Moseikina, M.N. “Rasseyany, no ne rastorgnuty”: russkaya emigratsiya v stranakh Latinskoi Ameriki [“Scattered, but not broken”: Russian emigration in Latin America in 1920–1960]. Moscow: RUDN, 2011. (In Russian)
Popov, A.V. Rossiiskoe pravoslavnoe zarubezh'e: Istoriya i istochniki. S prilozheniem sistematicheskoi bibliografii [Russian Orthodox Diaspora: History and sources. With an appendix of a systematic bibliography]. Moscow: IPVA, 2005. (In Russian)
Pravovoe polozhenie rossiiskoi emigratsii v 1920–1930-e gody: cbornik statei [Legal status of Russian emigrants in the 1920s–1930s: A collection of articles], edited by Z.S. Bocharova. St Petersburg: Sudarynya, 2006. (In Russian)
Raev, M. Rossiya za rubezhom. Istoriya kul'tury russkoi emigratsii 1919–1939 [Russia abroad. History of culture of Russian emigration, 1919–1939]. Moscow: Progress-Akademiya, 1994. (In Russian)
Sabennikova, I.V. Russkaya emigratsiya (1917–1939): sravnitel’no-tipologicheskoe issledovanie [Russian emigration (1917–1939): comparative typological research]. 2nd ed. Moscow; Berlin: Direkt-Media, 2015. (In Russian)
Sabennikova, I.V. “Russkaya emigratsiya i sokhranenie natsional'noi pamyati” [Russian emigration and preservation of national memory]. Istoriya i arkhivy, no. 3 (2019): 29–39. (In Russian)
Serapionova, E.P. “Deyateli Prazhskogo Zemgora” [Activists of the Zemgor in Prague]. Slavyanovedenie, no. 4 (2015): 32−41. (In Russian)
Sorokina, M.Yu., comp. Myslyashchie miry rossiiskogo liberalizma: grafinya Sof'ya Vladimirovna Panina (1871–1956): materialy Mezhdunarodnogo nauchnogo kollokviuma, Moskva, 29–31 maya 2011 g. [Thinking worlds of Russian liberalism: Countess Sofia Vladimirovna Panina (1871–1956): Proceedings of the International Scientific Colloquium, Moscow, May 29–31, 2011]. Moscow: Belyi veter, 2012. (In Russian)
Aurilene, E.E., and I.V. Potapova. Russkie v Man'chzhou-Di-Go: “Emigrantskoe pravitel'stvo” [Russians in Manchukuo: “Emigrant Government”]. Khabarovsk: KhKM im. N.M. Grodekova, 2004. (In Russian)
Bakar, B. Esir Şehrin Misafirleri: Beyaz Ruslar. Istanbul: Tarichi, 2012. 2nd ed. Enlarged. 2015.
Bocharova, Z.S. Russkii mir 1930-kh godov: ot rastsveta k uvyadaniyu Zarubezhnoi Rossii [The Russian World of the 1930s: From the rise to decline of Russian diaspora]. Moscow: AIRO-XXI, 2014. (In Russian)
Gentshke, V.L., I.V. Sabennikova, and A.S. Lovtsov. Issledovateli Russkogo zarubezh'ya: biobibliograficheskii slovar' [The researchers of Russian diaspora: biobibliographical reference book]. Is. 3. Moscow: Direkt-Media, 2022. (In Russian)
Gentshke, V.L., I.V. Sabennikova, and A.S. Lovtsov. Russkoe zarubezh'e: materialy k bibliograficheskomu ukazatelyu [Russian diaspora: Materials to bibliographical index]. Moscow; Berlin: Direkt-Media, 2020. (In Russian)
Jovanović, М. Ruska emigracija na Balkanu 1920–1940. Beograd: Čigoja štampa, 2006.
Khisamutdinov, A.A. Po stranam rasseyaniya: istoriya rossiiskoi emigratsii pervoi volny v Kitae, stranakh ATR i Yuzhnoi Amerike v 1900–1970-e gg. [Round the countries of scattering: The history of Russian emigration of the first wave in China, Asia-Pacific countries, and South America in the 1900s–1970s]. 2 pts. Vladivostok: VGUES, 2000. (In Russian)
Kopřivová-Vukolovová, A. Střediska ruského emigrantského života v Praze (1921–1952). Praha: Národní knihovna – Slovanská knihovna České republiky, 2001.
K'oseva, Ts. Bŭlgariya i ruskata emigratsiya 20-te–50-te godini na XX v. [Bulgaria and Russian emigration, the 1920s–1950s]. Sofia: Mezhdunaroden tsentŭr po problemite na maltsinstvata i kulturnite vzaimodeistviya, 2002. (in Bulgarian)
Kovalevskii, P.E. Zarubezhnaya Rossiya: Istoriya i kul'turno-prosvetitel'naya rabota russkogo zarubezh'ya za polveka (1920–1970) [Foreign Russia: History and cultural and educational work of Russian diaspora for half a century (1920–1970)]. Paris: Librairie des Cinq Continents, 1971. (In Russian)
Melikhov, G.V. Rossiiskaya emigratsiya v Kitae (1917–1924 gg.) [Russian emigration in China (1917–1924)]. Moscow: IRI RAN, 1997. (In Russian)
Moseikina, M.N. “Rasseyany, no ne rastorgnuty”: russkaya emigratsiya v stranakh Latinskoi Ameriki [“Scattered, but not broken”: Russian emigration in Latin America in 1920–1960]. Moscow: RUDN, 2011. (In Russian)
Popov, A.V. Rossiiskoe pravoslavnoe zarubezh'e: Istoriya i istochniki. S prilozheniem sistematicheskoi bibliografii [Russian Orthodox Diaspora: History and sources. With an appendix of a systematic bibliography]. Moscow: IPVA, 2005. (In Russian)
Pravovoe polozhenie rossiiskoi emigratsii v 1920–1930-e gody: cbornik statei [Legal status of Russian emigrants in the 1920s–1930s: A collection of articles], edited by Z.S. Bocharova. St Petersburg: Sudarynya, 2006. (In Russian)
Raev, M. Rossiya za rubezhom. Istoriya kul'tury russkoi emigratsii 1919–1939 [Russia abroad. History of culture of Russian emigration, 1919–1939]. Moscow: Progress-Akademiya, 1994. (In Russian)
Sabennikova, I.V. Russkaya emigratsiya (1917–1939): sravnitel’no-tipologicheskoe issledovanie [Russian emigration (1917–1939): comparative typological research]. 2nd ed. Moscow; Berlin: Direkt-Media, 2015. (In Russian)
Sabennikova, I.V. “Russkaya emigratsiya i sokhranenie natsional'noi pamyati” [Russian emigration and preservation of national memory]. Istoriya i arkhivy, no. 3 (2019): 29–39. (In Russian)
Serapionova, E.P. “Deyateli Prazhskogo Zemgora” [Activists of the Zemgor in Prague]. Slavyanovedenie, no. 4 (2015): 32−41. (In Russian)
Sorokina, M.Yu., comp. Myslyashchie miry rossiiskogo liberalizma: grafinya Sof'ya Vladimirovna Panina (1871–1956): materialy Mezhdunarodnogo nauchnogo kollokviuma, Moskva, 29–31 maya 2011 g. [Thinking worlds of Russian liberalism: Countess Sofia Vladimirovna Panina (1871–1956): Proceedings of the International Scientific Colloquium, Moscow, May 29–31, 2011]. Moscow: Belyi veter, 2012. (In Russian)
Keywords:
October Revolution, Russian emigration, Zemgor, Zemstvo organizations, charity, refugees
For citation:
Sabennikova, I.V. “Preservation of zemstvo traditions in Russian emigration in 1917–1939: The Russian Zemstvos and Towns Relief Committee of Russian Citizens Abroad (Zemgor).” Historia Provinciae – the Journal of Regional History, vol. 6, no. 3 (2022): 1008–34, https://doi.org/10.23859/2587-8344-2022-6-3-8
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
ISSN 2587-8344 (Online)