The influence of power structures on the destinies of Finnish and German special settlers in Murmansk Oblast

The article is devoted to such topical issues of ethnopolitical history as dekulakization of Soviet Finns and Germans and deportation on ethnic grounds. With the help of special settlers, the authorities solved the problem of labor shortage at the construction sites of the first five-year plans in remote regions, including Murmansk Oblast. It is noted that the dispossessed peasants constituted the largest group of special settlers in the area of apatite mining. The decision to send a family to special settlement was made by local authorities, and the decision to deport entire nations on ethnic grounds was made by the supreme power. Unlike the deportation of Finns and Germans in the 1940s, the process of dekulakization was performed according to the social criterion (liquidation of the kulaks as a class) rather than ethnic one. The article draws attention to the fact that the deportations were of a preventive nature, since the Soviet Finns and Germans were ethnically related to the nations that were waging war against the USSR. The article also provides examples of mobilization of Germans and Finns into the labor army. The instances of sending women with German ancestry to the Labor Army are pointed out. The deportation of Finns and Germans by order of the authorities had disastrous consequences for the preservation of those ethnic groups and their national culture. The article discusses the stages of deportation depending on the place of residence. Based on the interviews conducted by the author, it can be concluded that staying in Finland or Germany during the war years had an extremely negative impact on the future life of repatriates. The article analyzes the transformation of ethnic self-identity under the influence of state policy towards Soviet Finns and Germans. The main materials were interviews with the representatives of families with Finnish and German ancestry as well as their family archives.

Berdinskikh, V.A. Spetsposelentsy: Politicheskaya ssylka narodov Sovetskoi Rossii [Special settlers: political exile of the peoples of Soviet Russia]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2005. (In Russian)
Bugai, N.F., and A.M. Gonov, comps. “Po resheniyu pravitel'stva Soyuza SSR…” (Deportatsiya narodov: dokumenty i materialy) [“By the decision of the government of the USSR...” Deportation of the peoples: documents and materials]. Nalchik: El'-Fa, 2003. (In Russian)
Bugai, N.F., comp. “Mobilizovat' nemtsev v rabochie kolonny…” I. Stalin: sbornik dokumentov (1940-e gody) [“Mobilize Germans into labor columns...” J. Stalin: a collection of documents (1940s)]. Moscow: Gotika, 2000. (In Russian)
Bugai, N.F., comp. Iosif Stalin – Lavrentiyu Berii: “Ikh nado deportirovat'...”: Dokumenty, fakty, kommentarii. [Joseph Stalin to Lavrenty Beria: “They need to be deported...”: Documents, facts, commentary]. Moscow: Druzhba narodov, 1992. (In Russian)
Busyreva, E. “Cultural identity in families with “The Finnish Origin”, living in a Russian speaking environment (according to material of Murmansk region).” In Human and societal security in the circumpolar Arctic local and indigenous communities, edited by K. Hossain, J.M. Roncero Martín, A. Petrétei, vol. 1, 339–56. Leiden; Boston: Brill Nijhoff, 2018.
Busyreva, E. “La portée individuelle, communautaire et historique des archives familiales. Le cas des familles russes d’origine finnoise dans l’oblast′ de Murmansk.” Revue des études slaves, vol. 92, no. 1 (2021): 161–72. https://doi.org/10.4000/res.4082
Cherkaz'yanova, I.V. “Deportatsiya rossiiskikh nemtsev: psikhologicheskie posledstviya i vliyanie na grazhdanskuyu identichnost' i vnutrennii mir” [Deportation of Russian Germans: psychological consequences and impact on civil identity and inner world]. In Grazhdanskaya identichnost' i vnutrennii mir rossiiskikh nemtsev v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny i v istoricheskoi pamyati potomkov: materialy XIII mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii (g. Moskva, 21–23 oktyabrya 2010 g.) [Civil identity and the inner world of Russian Germans during the Great Patriotic War and in the historical memory of descendants: proceedings of the 13th international conference (Moscow, October 21–23, 2010)], edited by A.A. German, 77–87. Moscow: MSNK-press, 2011. (In Russian)
Chernova-Deke, T. “Deportatsiya i sud'by kavkazskikh nemtsev: tragediya 1941 goda” [Deportation and the destiny of Caucasian Germans: the tragedy of 1941]. In Grazhdanskaya identichnost' i vnutrennii mir rossiiskikh nemtsev v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny i v istoricheskoi pamyati potomkov: materialy XIII mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii (g. Moskva, 21–23 oktyabrya 2010 g.) [Civil identity and the inner world of Russian Germans during the Great Patriotic War and in the historical memory of descendants: proceedings of the 13th international conference (Moscow, October 21–23, 2010)], edited by A.A. German, 98–117. Moscow: MSNK-press, 2011. (In Russian)
Eikhel'berg, E.A. “Deportatsiya sovetskikh nemtsev: vzglyad iz Germanii” [Deportation of Soviet Germans: a view from Germany]. Vestnik Tyumenskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya, no. 2 (2012): 96–101. (In Russian)
Fleischhauer, I., and B. Pinkus. The Soviet Germans: Past and Present. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986.
German, A.A. “Rossiiskie nemtsy v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny: vklad v Pobedu” [Russian Germans during the Great Patriotic War: Contribution to Victory]. In Grazhdanskaya identichnost' i vnutrennii mir rossiiskikh nemtsev v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny i v istoricheskoi pamyati potomkov: materialy XIII mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii (g. Moskva, 21–23 oktyabrya 2010 g.) [Civil identity and the inner world of Russian Germans during the Great Patriotic War and in the historical memory of descendants: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference (Moscow, October 21–23, 2010)], edited by A.A. German, 13–21. Moscow: MSNK-press, 2011. (In Russian)
Karkhu, E.G. Malye narody v potoke istorii: issledovaniya i vospominaniya [Small nations in the flow of history: research and memoirs]. Petrozavodsk: Izdatel'stvo Petrozavodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 1999. (In Russian)
Kiselev, A.A. “GULAG na Murmane. Istoriya tyurem, lagerei, kolonii” [GULAG on Murman. History of prisons, camps, and colonies]. Sovetskii Murman, October 6–30, 1992. (In Russian)
Musaev, V.I. Ingermanlandskiy vopros vo vzaimootnosheniyakh i vnutrenney politike Rossii i Finlyandii (konets XIX – nachalo XX vv.) [Ingrian Finnish issue in the relations and domestic policy of Russia and Finland (late 19th – early 20th centuries)]. Doctoral thesis, St Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2002. (In Russian)
Nyyssönen, J. “The Finnish presence on Murman coast – The era of Petsamo 1920–1944.” In In the North my Nest is made: Studies in the history of the Murman colonization 1860–1940, edited by A. Yurchenko and J.P. Nielsen, 197–238. St Petersburg: European University of St Petersburg, 2006.
Pinkus B., and I. Fleischhauer. Die Deutschen in der Sowjetunion. Geschichte einer nationalen Minderheit im 20 Jahrhundert. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1987.
Polyan, P.M. Ne po svoei vole... Istoriya i geografiya prinuditel'nykh migratsii v SSSR [Against their will... The history and geography of forced migrations in the USSR]. Moscow: O.G.I. – Memorial, 2001. (In Russian)
Razumova, I.A. “O dinamike sotsial'nykh granits: vlast' v vospominaniyakh podnevol'nykh truzhenikov” [On the dynamics of social boundaries: power in the memories of forced laborers]. Uchenye zapiski Petrozavodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, vol. 2, no. 43 (2021): 106–14. https://doi.org/10.15393/uchz.art.2021.591 (In Russian)
Razumova, I.A. “Semeinyi faktor integratsii istoricheskoi obshchnosti spetspereselentsev” [The family factor of integration of the historical community of special settlers]. Trudy Kol'skogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiiskoi Akademii nauk. Seriya: Gumanitarnye issledovaniya, is. 14 (2018): 14–28, https://doi.org/10.25702/KSC.2307-5252.2018.7 (In Russian)
Razumova, I.A. “Sozdanie i rekonstruktsiya obshchnosti: sluchai spetspereselentsev” [Creation and reconstruction of a community: the case of special settlers]. Uchenye zapiski Petrozavodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 8 (185) (2019): 102–10. https://doi.org/10.15393/uchz.art.2019.419 (In Russian)
Razumova, I.A. Potaennoe znanie sovremennoi russkoi sem'i. Byt. Fol'klor. Istoriya [Hidden knowledge of the modern Russian family. Everyday life. Folklore. History]. Moscow: Indrik, 2001.
Shashkov, V.Ya. “Spetspereselentsy” [Special settlers]. In Murman, Khibiny do i posle… [Murman, Khibiny before and after…], edited by G. Bodrova, 26–29. Apatity: Khibinskoe dobrovol'noe istoriko-prosvetitel'skoe blagotvoritel'noe obshchestvo “Memorial”, 2002. (In Russian)
Shashkov, V.Ya. Spetspereselentsy na Murmane. Rol' spetspereselentsev v razvitii proizvoditel'nykh sil na Kol'skom poluostrove (1930–1936 gg.) [Special settlers on Murman: the role of special settlers in the development of productive forces on the Kola Peninsula (1930–1936)]. Murmansk: Izdatel'stvo Murmanskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta, 1993. (In Russian)
Shashkov, V.Ya. Spetspereselentsy v istorii Murmanskoi oblasti: K 65-letiyu Murmanskoi oblasti [Special settlers in the history of Murmansk Oblast: To the 65th anniversary of Murmansk Oblast]. Murmansk: Maksimum, 2004. Accessed January 15, 2021. https://helion-ltd.ru/victor-shashkov/ (In Russian)
Shashkov, V.Ya. Spetspereselentsy v Khibinakh. Spetspereselentsy i zaklyuchennye v istorii osvoeniya Khibin (kniga vospominanii) [Special settlers in the region of Khibiny. Special settlers and prisoners in the history of the development of Khibiny (a book of memoirs)]. Apatity: Khibinskoe dobrovol'noe istoriko-prosvetitel'skoe blagotvoritel'noe obshchestvo “Memorial”, 1997. (In Russian)
Starostin, S.I. “Mass deportations and the system of special settlements in the Vologda Region in the 1930s–1950s.” Historia Provinciae – the Journal of Regional History, vol. 3, no. 1 (2019): 212–317, https://doi.org/10.23859/2587-8344-2019-3-1-4
Suslov, A.B. Spetskontingent v Permskom krae v kontse 20-h – nachale 50-h gg. XX v. [Special contingent in Perm Krai in the late 1920s – early 1950s]. Doctoral thesis, Ural State University named after A.M. Gorky, 2004. (In Russian)
Vakhtin, N.B. Yazyki narodov Severa v XX v. Ocherki yazykovogo sdviga [The languages of the peoples of the North in the 20th century: essays on the language shift]. St Petersburg: Dmitrii Bulanin, 2001. (In Russian)
Vavulinskaya, L.I. Spetspereselentsy i inostrannye voennoplennye v Karelii v seredine 1940-h – seredine 1950-h gg. [Special settlers and foreign prisoners of war in Karelia in the mid-1940s – mid-1950s]. Petrozavodsk: Karel'skii nauchnyi tsentr RAN, 2013. (In Russian)
Voionmaa, V. Kuriiripostia. Helsinki: Tammi, 1971.