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Great Resettlement of Ukrainians to Crimea

The planned and mass resettlement of collective farmers and specialists from the mainland part of Ukraine to Crimea, organized by the Soviet authorities after the deportation of Crimean Tatars and other peoples in 1944, with the aim of rebuilding the peninsula's economy that had been destroyed by war and left neglected.

Overview

As a result of the forced expulsion of the Crimean Tatar population, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Armenians in 1944, the Crimean Peninsula found itself in a state of deep economic and agrarian collapse. The first wave of settlers from the russian hinterland failed to cope with the restoration of the economy. To save the peninsula's economy and simultaneously regulate the demographic and political situation, the Kremlin authorities initiated a mass, forcibly-voluntary resettlement of the Ukrainian peasantry. The migration process began at the end of 1944 and reached its greatest scale in 1949–1953, long before the official transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954.

The tradition of Ukrainian resettlements to Crimea for the economic development of the steppe lands dates back to the 19th century (in particular, the founding of the village of Novomykolaivka by Poltava settlers after the Crimean War of 1853–1856), but in the Soviet period it acquired a mass, state-organized character.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • First wave (end of 1944): deployment of the first echelons from mainland Ukraine. Settlers were allocated cash assistance and payments for the livestock they had left behind.
  • Resolutions of 1949–1950: the union government's Resolution No. 5530 of December 5, 1949, and the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR No. 3893 of December 29, 1949, provided for the resettlement of 1,000 families (~5,000 people) from Drohobych, Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia), and Chernivtsi oblasts. Vinnytsia, Kamianets-Podilskyi, and Kyiv oblasts were additionally involved to fulfill the plan. During the first half of 1950, 972 families (4,070 people) arrived in Crimea.
  • Conditions and escapes of settlers: due to unsuitable living conditions (settlement in cowsheds and farm buildings, lack of heating, drinking water, and electricity), part of the peasants fled back. From the Sudak district alone, as of October 1949, 83 of 169 families had fled, including members of the Communist Party.
  • Change of tactics in 1951 (resettlement of entire collective farms): in accordance with USSR Council of Ministers Resolution No. 1849 of June 1, 1951, and Ukrainian SSR Council of Ministers Resolution No. 1406 of June 13, 1951, resettlement of entire collective farms and brigades was launched instead of individual families. Ten-year loans (16–20 thousand rubles per family) were granted, and collective responsibility was introduced.
  • Dismantling and removal of villages: to eliminate the basis for the peasants' return, the authorities carried out the physical dismantling of village building structures (for example, the decision of the Kyiv Oblast Council of December 5, 1951, to dismantle the brigade of the Petrovsky collective farm in Rozvazhiv district and to drive the livestock on foot in the midst of a fierce winter).
  • Demands of the Crimean leadership: the chairman of the Crimean Oblast Executive Committee, Dmytro Polianskyi, in a letter to the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR, Demian Korotchenko, insisted on receiving settlers exclusively as entire collective farms and refused to accept 1,400 families from Zakarpattia.
  • Overall statistics (1949–1951): according to the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR, during this period 13,111 families (almost 52,000 people) were resettled from the Ukrainian SSR.
  • Historical significance: a decade of bleeding the Ukrainian countryside dry and the exhausting labor of Ukrainians in 1944–1954 revived Crimea. The colossal financial and human costs were borne entirely at the expense and with the resources of Ukraine.