Peoples inhabiting Crimea. What peoples live in Crimea
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Our Motherland - Crimea
... There is no other country within Russia that would have lived so long and so intense historical life, involved in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all centuries of its existence ...
M. A. Voloshin
The Crimean peninsula is a "natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographical location and unique natural conditions since ancient times
was the crossroads of many sea transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "The Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, he connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar empire.
and played a significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabiting Europe, Asia and China.
Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago, humans first appeared on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. And from that time, in different historical eras different tribes and peoples lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, there were different state formations.
Many of us had to deal with the names "Tavrik", "Tavrida", which were and continue to be used in relation to the Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names is directly related to the people who can rightfully be considered a Crimean aborigine, since its entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" is translated as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called the local inhabitants that way, since they had a cult of the bull. It was suggested that the Crimean mountaineers called themselves some kind of unknown word, consonant with the Greek word for "bulls". The Greeks called Taurus mountain system in Asia Minor. Mastering the Crimea, the Greeks, by analogy with Asia Minor, called the Crimean Mountains Taurus. The people who lived in them (Taurus), as well as the peninsula (Taurica), on which they were located, received their name from the mountains.
Ancient sources brought to us scanty information about the ancient inhabitants of the Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurs, Scythians, Sarmatians. The main population of the Crimea, especially the mountainous part, the ancient authors call the Taurus. The most ancient people, recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes, were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennia BC, and some scholars consider the Taurus to be their direct descendants. Approximately in the VII-VI Art. BC. The Cimmerians were ousted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were ousted by the Sarmatians, while the remains of the Cimmerian, then Taurian and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they keep their ethnocultural identity for a long time. Around 722 BC NS. the Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in the Crimea on the Salgir River (within the boundaries of modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after this the basis of the population of the northwestern Crimea was made up of peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI - V centuries BC. BC, when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the Crimean coast.
The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks took place gradually. Inhabited mainly the sea coast, and in some places the density of the location of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes the settlements were in line of sight from one another. Ancient cities and settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the largest cities Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Feodosia; in the region of Western Crimea - with the main center Chersonesos (Sevastopol).
During the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people - the Karaites - appeared in Tavrika. Self-name: karai (one Karaite) and karaylar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym "Karaim" it is more correct to say "Karai". Their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs are of great interest.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists sees the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothill and mountainous Taurica. The settlement Chufut-Kale was a peculiar center.
With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Tavrika, a number of changes took place. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which was undergoing great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, Polovtsy, the Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and the Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, a mass resettlement of Armenians began. At the same time, Italians are actively rushing to the peninsula.
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev and his retinue adopted Christianity in Chersonesos. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with a Kiev prince at its head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Kaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in the Crimea ceased, and trade and cultural connections between Tavrika and Kievan Rus continued to exist.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. The mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of the Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Construction railroad v late XIX v. and the development of industry also caused an influx of the Russian population.
Now representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities live in Crimea, the main part is made up of Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and share in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. Small in number, but still noticeable in the culture of the small peoples of the Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks.
The centuries-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live in peace!
Anatoly Matyushin
I will not reveal any secrets
There is no ideal society
If the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.
Why is the world so restless
A lot of anger and all enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment
We would not slide into trouble.
Taking up arms is not the case,
For all the oppressed sorrow,
Do not try to remake others,
Can you just improve yourself?
In order to improve something,
I would like to convince people
The world would have gotten a little better
You just have to be friends together !!.
Date of publication: 03.08.2016
Due to its unique geographic location and unique nature, the Crimean peninsula has become home to many peoples since ancient times. Farmers found here fertile lands for themselves, which give good harvests, for merchants - convenient trade routes, nomadic pastoralists were attracted by mountain and flat pastures. That's why National composition The Crimean population has always been multinational and remains the same today. The population of the peninsula, including Sevastopol, is about 2.4 million people, but during the holiday season more than 2 million tourists come to Crimea. In 1783, after the Crimean Peninsula entered the Russian Empire, most of the Tatars and Turks left the peninsula and began to move to Turkey, but more and more Slavs are settling in Crimea, mainly Russians and Ukrainians.
Peoples who live in Crimea today
Representatives of 125 peoples live in Crimea today. According to the latest data, the most numerous people that exist in Crimea are Russians (58% of the population), Ukrainians (24%). But the Crimean Tatars themselves - 232.3 thousand people, 10.6% of the population, they belong to the indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula. They speak the Crimean Tatar language, are Sunni Muslims by religion and belong to the Hanafi madhhab. On this moment only 2% identified themselves as indigenous Tatars. Other nationalities make up 4%. Of these, the largest number of Belarusians - 21.7 thousand (1%), and about 15 thousand Armenians. In Crimea, there are also such national groups as: Germans and immigrants from Switzerland, who began to settle in Crimea under Catherine II; Greeks began to appear here even when the colony was founded on Kerch Peninsula in the South Western Crimea; as well as Poles, Gypsies, Georgians, Jews, Koreans, Uzbeks, their number ranges from 1 to 5 thousand people.
There are 535 Karaites and 228 Krymchaks. Also, people of such nationalities live in Crimea: Bashkirs, Ossetians, Mari, Udmurts, Arabs, Kazakhs and only 48 Italians. It is difficult to imagine a peninsula without gypsies, who from ancient times call themselves "urmachel", for many centuries they lived among the indigenous population and converted to Islam. They became so close to the indigenous Tatars that when the Crimean Tatar population was deported in 1944, the Roma were also deported. Because of its multinational population in Crimea, everyone has their own native language.
What languages do the peoples speak, what kind of people live in Crimea
Proceeding from the fact that the ethnic composition in Crimea is quite diverse, the question arises, what language does the population of the peninsula speak? With the latest events that are taking place on the peninsula, and the entry of Crimea into the Russian Federation According to the adopted Constitution, three state languages were proclaimed: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.
To easily rent a room in a hotel in Crimea, just go.
According to the latest survey of the population, 81% of the population named Russian as their native language, 9.32% indicated the Crimean Tatar language, and only 3.52% Ukrainian, the rest called Belarusian, Moldavian, Turkish, Azerbaijani and others. There is no less variety of religions on the Crimean peninsula: Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Greeks profess Orthodoxy, and the Crimean Tatars themselves are Sunni Islam, and together with them, Uzbeks and Tatars; also live Catholics, Jews, Protestants. Despite the fact that the population of the peninsula is multinational, all peoples live quite peacefully and amicably. There is enough space for everyone on this small peninsula, both tourists and new residents are always welcome here.
Crimea was, as it were, a long-awaited reward for those who, moving from the depths of Russia, managed to overcome the steppes burned by the heat. The steppes, mountains and subtropics of the South Coast - such natural conditions are not found anywhere else in Russia. However, in the world too ...
The ethnic history of Crimea is also unusual and unique. Crimea was inhabited primitive people Thousands of years ago, and throughout its history it constantly received new settlers. But since on this small peninsula there are mountains that, more or less, could protect the inhabitants of Crimea, and there is also a sea from which new settlers, goods and ideas could sail, and coastal cities could also give protection to the Crimeans, it is not surprising that some historical ethnic groups were able to survive here. There has always been a mixture of peoples, and it is no coincidence that historians speak of the "Tavro-Scythians" and "Gotoalans" living here.
In 1783 Crimea (together with a small territory outside the peninsula) became part of Russia. By this time, there were 1,474 settlements in the Crimea, most of them very small. Moreover, most of the Crimean settlements were multinational. But since 1783, the ethnic history of Crimea has changed radically.
Crimean Greeks
The first Greek settlers arrived on the land of Crimea 27 centuries ago. And it was in Crimea that a small Greek ethnos managed to survive, the only one of all Greek ethnic groups outside Greece. Actually, two Greek ethnic groups lived in Crimea - Crimean Greeks and descendants of “real” Greeks from Greece who moved to Crimea at the end of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Of course, the Crimean Greeks, in addition to the descendants of the ancient colonists, have absorbed many ethnic elements. Under the influence and charm of Greek culture, many Taurus were Hellenized. So, the tombstone of a certain Tikhon, a Taurus native, dating back to the 5th century BC, has survived. Also, many Scythians were Hellenized. In particular, some royal dynasties in the Bosporus kingdom were clearly of Scythian origin. The strongest cultural influence of the Greeks was experienced by the Goths and Alans.
Already from the 1st century, Christianity began to spread in Taurida, finding many adherents. Christianity was accepted not only by the Greeks, but also by the descendants of the Scythians, Goths and Alans. Already in 325, on the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, there were Cadmus, bishop of the Bosporus, and Theophilus, bishop of Gothia. In the future, it is Orthodox Christianity will become what united the diverse population of Crimea into a single ethnos.
The Byzantine Greeks and the Orthodox Greek-speaking population of Crimea called themselves "Romans" (literally Romans), emphasizing their belonging to the official religion Byzantine Empire... As you know, the Byzantine Greeks called themselves Romans and several centuries after the fall of Byzantium. Only in the 19th century, under the influence of Western European travelers, did the Greeks in Greece return to the self-name "Hellenes". Outside Greece, the ethnonym "Romei" (or, in the Turkish pronunciation "Uruma"), remained until the twentieth century. In our time, the name "Pontic" (Black Sea) Greeks (or "Ponti") has been established for all the various Greek ethnic groups in Crimea and all of Novorossia.
The Goths and Alans, who lived in the southwestern part of the Crimea, which was called "the country of Dori", although they retained their languages in everyday life for many centuries, they still had Greek as their written language. Common religion, similar way of life and culture, distribution Greek led to the fact that over time the Goths and Alans, as well as the Orthodox descendants of the "Tavro-Scythians" joined the Crimean Greeks. Of course, this did not happen immediately. Back in the 13th century, Bishop Theodore and the western missionary G. Rubruk met Alans in the Crimea. Apparently, only to XVI century the Alans finally merged with the Greeks and Tatars.
At about the same time, the Crimean Goths also disappeared. Since the 9th century, the Goths have ceased to be mentioned in historical documents. However, the Goths still continued to exist as a small Orthodox ethnos. In 1253 Rubruk, along with the Alans, also met the Goths in the Crimea, who lived in fortified castles, and whose language was German. Rubruck himself, who was of Flemish origin, of course, could distinguish the Germanic languages from others. The Goths remained faithful to Orthodoxy, as Pope John XXII wrote with regret in 1333.
It is interesting that the first hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Crimea was officially called the Metropolitan of Gotha (in the Church Slavonic sound - Gotfeysky) and Kafai (Kafinsky, that is, Theodosia).
Probably, it was from the Hellenized Goths, Alans and other ethnic groups of the Crimea that the population of the principality of Theodoro consisted, which existed until 1475. Probably, the Crimean Greeks also included Russians of the same faith from the former Tmutarakan principality.
However, from the end of the 15th and especially in the 16th century, after the fall of Theodoro, when the Crimean Tatars began to intensively convert their subjects to Islam, the Goths and Alans finally forgot their languages, switching partly to Greek, which was already familiar to them all, and partly to Tatar , which has become the prestigious language of the ruling people.
In the XIII-XV centuries in Russia were well known "Surozhans" - merchants from the city of Surozh (now - Sudak). They brought special Surozh goods to Russia - silk products. It is interesting that even in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" by V. I. Dal there are concepts that have survived until the 19th century, such as "harsh" (ie Surozh) goods and "harsh row". Most of the Surojan merchants were Greeks, some were Armenians and Italians who lived under the rule of the Genoese in the cities of the southern coast of Crimea. Many of the Surojan residents eventually moved to Moscow. From the descendants of the Surojan came the famous merchant dynasties Muscovite Rus - Khovrins, Salarevs, Troparevs, Shikhovs. Many of the descendants of the Sourojan people became rich and influential people in Moscow. The Khovrins family, whose ancestors came from the Mangup principality, even received boyars. WITH merchant surnames the descendants of the surozhan are associated with the names of the villages near Moscow - Khovrino, Salarevo, Sofrino, Troparevo.
But the Crimean Greeks themselves did not disappear, despite the emigration of the Surozhans to Russia, the conversion of some of them to Islam (which turned the converts into Tatars), as well as the ever-increasing Eastern influence in the cultural and linguistic spheres. Most of the farmers, fishermen, winegrowers consisted of the Greeks in the Crimean Khanate.
The Greeks were an oppressed part of the population. Gradually, the Tatar language and oriental customs spread among them more and more. The clothes of the Crimean Greeks differed little from the clothes of the Crimeans of any other origin and religion.
Gradually, an ethnic group "Urum" (that is, "Romans" in Turkic) was formed in Crimea, denoting the Turkic-speaking Greeks who preserved Orthodox faith and Greek identity. For the Greeks, who have preserved the local dialect of the Greek language, the name "Romei" has been preserved. They continued to speak 5 dialects of the local Greek language. By the end of the 18th century, the Greeks lived in 80 villages in the mountains and on the southern coast, about 1/4 of the Greeks lived in the cities of the khanate. About half of the Greeks spoke the Crimean Tatar language, the rest - in local dialects that differ both from the language Ancient Hellas and from spoken languages Greece proper.
In 1778, by order of Catherine II, in order to undermine the economy of the Crimean Khanate, Christians living in the Crimea - Greeks and Armenians, were evicted from the peninsula to the Azov region. As reported by A. V. Suvorov, who carried out the resettlement, only 18 395 Greeks left Crimea. The settlers founded the city of Mariupol and 18 villages on the shores of the Sea of Azov. Some of the evicted Greeks subsequently returned to Crimea, but most remained in their new homeland on the northern shore of the Azov Sea. Scientists usually called them the Mariupol Greeks. Now it is the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Today there are 77 thousand Crimean Greeks, (according to the 2001 Ukrainian census), most of whom live in the Azov region. Many of them came out prominent figures Russian politics, culture and economy. Artist A. Kuindzhi, historian F. A. Khartakhai, scientist K. F. Chelpanov, philosopher and psychologist G. I. Chelpanov, art critic D. V. Ainalov, tractor driver P. N. Angelina, test pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi , polar explorer I. D. Papanin, politician, mayor of Moscow in 1991-92. G. Kh. Popov - all these are Mariupol (in the past - Crimean) Greeks. Thus, the history of the most ancient ethnos in Europe continues.
"New" Crimean Greeks
Although a significant part of the Crimean Greeks left the peninsula, in the Crimea already in 1774-75. there were new, "Greek" Greeks from Greece. We are talking about those natives of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean Sea, who during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-74. helped the Russian fleet. After the end of the war, many of them moved to Russia. Of these, Potemkin formed the Balaklava battalion, which guarded the coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia with its center in Balaklava. Already in 1792, there were 1.8 thousand new Greek settlers. Soon the number of Greeks began to grow rapidly due to the unfolding immigration of Greeks from the Ottoman Empire. Many Greeks settled in the Crimea. At the same time, Greeks came from different regions of the Ottoman Empire, speaking different dialects, having their own peculiarities of life and culture, differing from each other, and from the Balaklava Greeks, and from the "old" Crimean Greeks.
Balaklava Greeks fought bravely in the wars with the Turks and in the years Crimean War... Many Greeks served in the Black Sea Fleet.
In particular, among the Greek refugees came such outstanding military and political figures as the Russian admirals of the Black Sea Fleet brothers Alexiano, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91. Admiral F.P. Lally, General A.I.Bella, who fell in 1812 near Smolensk, General Vlastov, one of the main heroes of the victory of Russian troops on the Berezina River, Count A.D. Kuruta, commander of the Russian troops in the Polish war of 1830-31.
In general, the Greeks served diligently, and the abundance of Greek surnames in the lists of Russian diplomacy, military and naval activities is not accidental. Many Greeks were city mayors, leaders of the nobility, city governors. Greeks were engaged in business and were abundantly represented in the business world of the southern provinces.
In 1859, the Balaklava battalion was abolished, and now most of the Greeks began to engage in peaceful pursuits - viticulture, tobacco growing, fishing. The Greeks owned shops, hotels, taverns and coffee houses in all corners of the Crimea.
After the establishment of Soviet power in the Crimea, the Greeks underwent many social and cultural changes. In 1921, 23,868 Greeks (3.3% of the population) lived in Crimea. Moreover, 65% of Greeks lived in cities. Literate Greeks were 47.2% of the total... In Crimea, there were 5 Greek village councils, in which office work was conducted in Greek, there were 25 Greek schools with 1,500 students, and several Greek newspapers and magazines were published. In the late 1930s, many Greeks fell victim to repression.
The language problem of the Greeks was very difficult. As already mentioned, some of the "old" Greeks of the Crimea spoke the Crimean Tatar language (until the end of the 30s there was even the term "Greco-Tatars" for their designation). The rest of the Greeks spoke in various mutually incomprehensible dialects, far from modern literary Greek. It is clear that the Greeks, mainly urban dwellers, by the end of the 30s. switched to Russian, retaining their ethnic identity.
In 1939, 20.6 thousand Greeks (1.8%) lived in Crimea. The decrease in their number is mainly due to assimilation.
During the Great Patriotic War, many Greeks died at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices from among the Crimean Tatars. In particular, the Tatar punishers destroyed the entire population of the Greek village of Laki. By the time the Crimea was liberated, about 15 thousand Greeks remained there. However, despite the loyalty to the Motherland, which was demonstrated by the overwhelming majority of Crimean Greeks, in May-June 1944 they were deported along with the Tatars and Armenians. A certain number of persons of Greek origin, who were considered according to the personal data to be persons of a different nationality, remained in Crimea, but it is clear that they tried to get rid of everything Greek.
After the removal of restrictions on the legal status of Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians and their family members who are in special settlement, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 27, 1956, the special settlers gained some freedom. But the same decree deprived them of the opportunity to receive back the confiscated property and the right to return to Crimea. All these years the Greeks were deprived of the opportunity to study the Greek language. Education took place in schools in Russian, which led to the loss of their native language among young people. Since 1956, the Greeks have gradually returned to Crimea. Most of the arrivals ended up on native land separated from each other, and lived in separate families throughout the Crimea. In 1989, 2,684 Greeks lived in Crimea. The total number of Greeks from Crimea and their descendants in the USSR was 20 thousand people.
In the 90s, the return of the Greeks to the Crimea continued. In 1994, there were already about 4 thousand of them. Despite their small number, the Greeks are actively involved in the economic, cultural and political life of Crimea, holding a number of prominent posts in the administration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, engaging (with great success) in entrepreneurial activities.
Crimean Armenians
Another ethnic group, the Armenians, has been living in Crimea for over a millennium. One of the brightest and most distinctive centers of Armenian culture has developed here. Armenians appeared on the peninsula a long time ago. In any case, back in 711, a certain Armenian Vardan was declared a Byzantine emperor in the Crimea. Mass immigration of Armenians to Crimea began in the 11th century, after the Seljuk Turks defeated the Armenian kingdom, which caused a mass exodus of the population. In the XIII-XIV centuries, the number of Armenians is especially large. Crimea is even called in some Genoese documents "maritime Armenia". In a number of cities, including the largest city of the peninsula at that time, Cafe (Feodosia), Armenians make up the majority of the population. Hundreds of Armenian churches were built on the peninsula, where schools existed. At the same time, some Crimean Armenians moved to the southern lands of Rus. In particular, a very large Armenian community has developed in Lviv. In Crimea, numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, outbuildings.
Armenians lived throughout Crimea, but until 1475 most Armenians lived in the Genoese colonies. Under pressure from the Catholic Church, part of the Armenians went over to the union. Most Armenians, however, remained faithful to the traditional Armenian-Gregorian church. The religious life of the Armenians was very intense. There were 45 Armenian churches in one Cafe. The Armenians were ruled by their community elders. The Armenians were judged by their own laws in accordance with their judicial code.
The Armenians were engaged in trade, financial activities, among them there were many skilled artisans, builders. In general, the Armenian community flourished in the 13th-15th centuries.
In 1475, Crimea became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, and the cities south coast, where the main Armenians lived, came under the direct control of the Turks. The conquest of Crimea by the Turks was accompanied by the death of many Armenians, the withdrawal of part of the population into slavery. The number of the Armenian population declined sharply. Only in the 17th century did their numbers begin to increase.
During the three centuries of Turkish rule, many Armenians converted to Islam, which led them to assimilation by the Tatars. Among the Armenians who preserved the Christian faith, the Tatar language and Eastern customs became widespread. Nevertheless, the Crimean Armenians as an ethnic group did not disappear. The overwhelming majority of Armenians (up to 90%) lived in cities, engaged in trade and crafts.
In 1778, the Armenians, together with the Greeks, were evicted to the Azov region, to the lower reaches of the Don. In total, according to the reports of A.V. Suvorov, 12,600 Armenians were evicted. They founded the city of Nakhichevan (now part of Rostov-on-Don), as well as 5 villages. Only 300 Armenians remained in Crimea.
However, many Armenians soon returned to Crimea, and in 1811 they were officially allowed to return to their former place of residence. Approximately one third of Armenians have used this permission. Temples, lands, city quarters were returned to them; in the Old Crimea and Karasubazar, city national self-governing communities were created, until the 1870s a special Armenian court operated.
The result of these government measures, along with the entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of Armenians, was the prosperity of this Crimean ethnos. The 19th century in the life of Crimean Armenians was marked by remarkable achievements, especially in the field of education and culture, associated with the names of the artist I. Aivazovsky, composer A. Spendiarov, artist V. Surenyants, etc. Admiral of the Russian fleet Lazar Serebryakov (Artsatagortsyan ), who founded the port city of Novorossiysk in 1838. Among bankers, shipowners, entrepreneurs, Crimean Armenians are also represented quite significantly.
The Crimean Armenian population was constantly replenished due to the influx of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire. By the time of the October Revolution, there were 17 thousand Armenians on the peninsula. 70% of them lived in cities.
The years of the civil war had a hard impact on the Armenians. Although some prominent Bolsheviks emerged from the Crimean Armenians (for example, Nikolai Babakhan, Laura Bagaturyants, etc.), who played big role in the victory of their party, but still a significant part of the Armenians of the peninsula belonged, according to Bolshevik terminology, to "bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements." The war, the repressions of all Crimean governments, the famine of 1921, the emigration of Armenians, among whom there were indeed representatives of the bourgeoisie, led to the fact that by the beginning of the 20s the number of the Armenian population decreased by a third. In 1926, there were 11.5 thousand Armenians in Crimea. By 1939, their number reached 12, 9 thousand (1.1%).
In 1944, the Armenians were deported. After 1956, the return to Crimea began. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 5 thousand Armenians in Crimea. However, the name of the Crimean city of Armyansk will forever remain a monument to the Crimean Armenians.
Karaites
Crimea is the homeland of one of the small ethnic groups - the Karaites. They belong to the Turkic peoples, but differ in their religion. Karaites are Judaists, and they belong to its special branch, the representatives of which are called Karaites (literally "readers"). The origin of the Karaites is mysterious. The first mention of the Karaites dates back only to 1278, but they lived in the Crimea several centuries earlier. Probably, the Karaites are descendants of the Khazars.
The Turkic origin of the Crimean Karaites has been proven by anthropological studies. Blood groups of the Karaites, their anthropological appearance are more characteristic of the Turkic ethnic groups (for example, for the Chuvash) than for the Semites. According to the anthropologist Academician V.P. Alekseev, who studied in detail the craniology (structure of the skulls) of the Karaites, this ethnos really arose from the mixing of the Khazars with the local population of the Crimea.
Recall that the Khazars ruled Crimea in the VIII-X centuries. By religion, the Khazars were Jews, not being ethnic Jews. It is quite possible that some of the Khazars who settled in the mountainous Crimea retained the Jewish faith. True, the only problem with the Khazar theory of the origin of the Karaites is the fundamental circumstance that the Khazars adopted orthodox Talmudic Judaism, and the Karaites even have the name of a different direction in Judaism. But the Crimean Khazars, after the fall of Khazaria, could well have moved away from Talmudic Judaism, if only because the Talmudic Jews had not previously recognized the Khazars, like other Jews of non-Jewish origin, as their co-religionists. When the Khazars converted to Judaism, the teachings of the Karaites were still being born among the Jews in Baghdad. It is clear that those Khazars who retained their faith after the fall of Khazaria could take the direction in religion that emphasized their difference from the Jews. The enmity between the "Talmudists" (that is, the bulk of the Jews) and the "nachets" (Karaites) has always been characteristic of the Jews of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars called the Karaites “Jews without sidelocks”.
After the defeat of Svyatoslav Khazaria in 966, the Karaites retained their independence within the borders historical territory Kyrk Yera - districts in the interfluve of the rivers Alma and Kachi and acquired their own statehood within a small principality with the capital in the fortress city of Kale (now Chufut-Kale). Their prince, sar, or biy, resided here, in whose hands was the administrative, civil and military power, and the spiritual head, the kagan, or gakhan, of all the Karaites of the Crimea (and not only of the principality). His competence also included judicial and legal activities. The duality of power, expressed in the presence of both secular and spiritual heads, was inherited by the Karaites from the Khazars.
In 1246, the Crimean Karaites partially moved to Galicia, and in 1397-1398, part of the Karaite warriors (383 families) came to Lithuania. Since then, in addition to their historical homeland, Karaites have constantly lived in Galicia and Lithuania. In places of residence, the Karaites used kind attitude surrounding authorities, retained their national identity, had certain benefits and advantages.
At the beginning of the 15th century, Prince Eliazar voluntarily submitted to the Crimean Khan. In gratitude, the khan gave the Karaites autonomy in religious matters,
Karaites lived in Crimea, not particularly standing out among the local residents. They made up the majority of the population of the cave city of Chufut-Kale, inhabited quarters in the Old Crimea, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Cafe (Feodosia).
The annexation of Crimea to Russia was the finest hour for this people. The Karaites were exempted from many taxes, they were allowed to acquire land, which turned out to be very profitable when many lands turned out to be empty after the eviction of Greeks, Armenians and the emigration of many Tatars. Karaites were exempted from conscription, although their voluntary admission to military service was welcomed. Many Karaites did indeed choose military professions. Many of them distinguished themselves in battles in the defense of the Fatherland. Among them, for example, the heroes of the Russian-Japanese war, Lieutenant M. Tapsashar, General J. Kefeli. The First World War involved 500 career officers and 200 volunteers of Karaite origin. Many became the Knights of St. George, and a certain Gammal, a brave ordinary soldier who was promoted to an officer on the battlefield, earned a full set of soldier's St. George's crosses and at the same time also officer George.
The small Karaite people became one of the most educated and wealthy nations Russian Empire... The Karaites almost monopolized the tobacco trade in the country. By 1913, there were 11 millionaires among the Karaites. The Karaites were experiencing a population explosion. By 1914, their number reached 16 thousand, of which 8 thousand lived in the Crimea (at the end of the 18th century there were about 2 thousand of them).
Prosperity ended in 1914. Wars and revolution led to the loss of the former economic position of the Karaites. In general, the mass of the Karaites did not accept the revolution. Most of the officers and 18 generals from among the Karaites fought in the White Army. Solomon Crimea was the Minister of Finance in the Wrangel government.
As a result of wars, famine, emigration and repression, the number has sharply decreased, primarily at the expense of the military and civil elite. In 1926, 4,213 Karaites remained in Crimea.
More than 600 Karaites took part in the Great Patriotic War, most of them were awarded military awards, more than half died and went missing. Artilleryman D. Pasha became famous among the Karaites in the Soviet army, Marine officer E. Efet and many others. The most famous of the Soviet Karaite military leaders was Colonel General V.Ya. Kolpakchi, participant of the First World War and the Civil War, military adviser in Spain during the war of 1936-39, commander of armies during the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky (1898-1967), twice Hero Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR in 1957-67, although its Karaite origin has not been proven.
In other spheres, the Karaites also produced a large number of outstanding people. The famous intelligence officer, diplomat and at the same time writer I.R.Grigulevich, composer S.M. Maikapar, actor S. Tongur, and many others - all these are Karaites.
Mixed marriages, linguistic and cultural assimilation, low birth rates and emigration lead to the fact that the number of Karaites is decreasing. In the Soviet Union, according to the censuses of 1979 and 1989, there were 3,341 and 2,803, respectively, including 1,200 and 898 Karaites in the Crimea. In the 21st century, about 800 Karaites remained in Crimea.
Krymchaks
Crimea is also the homeland of another Jewish ethnos - the Krymchaks. Actually, the Krymchaks, like the Karaites, are not Jews. At the same time, they profess Talmudic Judaism, like most Jews in the world, their language is close to Crimean Tatar.
Jews appeared in Crimea even BC, as evidenced by Jewish burials, the remains of synagogues, and Hebrew inscriptions. One of these inscriptions dates back to the 1st century BC. In the Middle Ages, Jews lived in the cities of the peninsula, engaged in trade and crafts. Back in the 7th century, the Byzantine Theophanes the Confessor wrote about the large number of Jews who lived in Phanagoria (on Taman) and other cities on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In 1309, a synagogue was built in Feodosia, which testified to the large number of Crimean Jews.
It should be noted that mainly Crimean Jews came from the descendants of local residents converted to Judaism, and not the Jews of Palestine who emigrated here. Documents dating from the 1st century have survived to our time about the emancipation of slaves, subject to their conversion to Judaism by their Jewish owners.
Conducted in the 20s. studies of blood groups of the Krymchaks, conducted by V. Zabolotny, confirmed that the Krymchaks did not belong to the Semitic peoples. Nevertheless, the Jewish religion contributed to the Jewish self-identification of the Krymchaks, who considered themselves to be Jews.
Among them, the Turkic language (close to the Crimean Tatar), Eastern customs and way of life, which distinguishes Crimean Jews from their fellow tribesmen in Europe, spread. Their self-name was the word "Krymchak", which means in Turkic a resident of Crimea. By the end of the 18th century, about 800 Jews lived in Crimea.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Krymchaks remained a poor and small confessional community. Unlike the Karaites, the Krymchaks did not show themselves in any way in commerce and politics. True, their number began to grow rapidly due to high natural growth. By 1912, there were 7.5 thousand of them. The civil war, accompanied by numerous anti-Jewish massacres, carried out by all the changing authorities in the Crimea, famine and emigration led to a sharp reduction in the number of Crimeans. In 1926 there were 6 thousand of them.
During the Great Patriotic War, most of the Krymchaks were destroyed by the German invaders. After the war, no more than 1.5 thousand Krymchaks remained in the USSR.
Nowadays, emigration, assimilation (leading to the fact that Krymchaks associate themselves more with Jews), emigration to Israel and the United States, and depopulation finally put an end to the fate of this small Crimean ethnic group.
And yet, let's hope that the small ancient ethnos that gave Russia the poet I. Selvinsky, the partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya.I. Chapichev, the prominent Leningrad engineer M.A. arts, politics and economics will not disappear.
Jews
Incomparably more numerous in Crimea were the actual Jews speaking Yiddish. Since Crimea was part of the "Pale of Settlement", a lot of Jews from the right-bank Ukraine began to settle in this fertile land. In 1897, 24, 2 thousand Jews lived in the Crimea. By the time of the revolution, their numbers had doubled. As a result, Jews have become one of the largest and most visible ethnic groups on the peninsula.
Despite the decline in the number of Jews during the Civil War, they still remained the third (after the Russians and Tatars) ethnic group of Crimea. In 1926 there were 40 thousand of them (5.5%). By 1939, their number increased to 65 thousand (6% of the population).
The reason was simple - Crimea in 20-40s. was considered not only and so much by the Soviet as by the world Zionist leaders as a "national home" for the Jews of the whole world. It is no coincidence that the resettlement of Jews to Crimea took on significant proportions. It is significant that if urbanization took place throughout Crimea, as well as throughout the country as a whole, the opposite process was taking place among Crimean Jews.
The project on the resettlement of Jews to Crimea and the creation of Jewish autonomy there was developed back in 1923 by the prominent Bolshevik Y. Larin (Lurie), and in the spring of the following year it was approved by the Bolshevik leaders L.D. Trotsky, L. B. Kamenev, N. I. Bukharin ... It was planned to resettle 96 thousand Jewish families (about 500 thousand people) to Crimea. However, there were also more optimistic figures - 700 thousand by 1936. Larin spoke openly about the need to create a Jewish republic in Crimea.
On December 16, 1924, even a document was signed under such an intriguing title: "On Crimean California" between the "Joint" (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as the American Jewish organization was called, representing the United States in the early years of Soviet power) and CEC of the RSFSR. Under this agreement, the Joint allocated the USSR $ 1.5 million a year for the needs of Jewish agricultural communes. The fact that the majority of Jews in Crimea were not engaged in agriculture did not matter.
In 1926, the head of the Joint, James N. Rosenberg, came to the USSR, as a result of meetings with the leaders of the country, an agreement was reached on D. Rosenberg's financing of measures to resettle the Jews of Ukraine and Belarus to the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Assistance was also provided by the French Jewish Society, the American Society for Assistance to Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia and other organizations of a similar type. On January 31, 1927, a new agreement was signed with Agro-Joint (a subsidiary of the Joint itself). According to it, the organization allocated 20 million rubles. for the organization of resettlement, the Soviet government allocated 5 million rubles for these purposes.
The planned resettlement of Jews began already in 1924. The reality turned out to be less optimistic.
For 10 years, 22 thousand people settled in Crimea. They were provided with 21 thousand hectares of land, built 4,534 apartments. The issues of resettlement of Jews were dealt with by the Crimean Republican Representation of the Committee on the Land Issue of Working Jews under the Presidium of the Council of Nationalities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (KomZet). Note that for every Jew there were almost 1,000 hectares of land. Almost every Jewish family got an apartment. (This is in the conditions of the housing crisis, which in the resort Crimea was even more acute than in the whole country).
Most of the settlers did not cultivate the land, and mostly dispersed to the cities. By 1933, of the immigrants in 1924, only 20% remained on the collective farms of the Freidorf MTS, and 11% on the Larindorf MTS. On some collective farms, the turnover rate reached 70%. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, only 17 thousand Jews in Crimea lived in the countryside. The project failed. In 1938, the resettlement of Jews was stopped, and KomZet was disbanded. The "Joint" branch in the USSR was liquidated by the Decree of the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on May 4, 1938.
The massive outflow of settlers led to the fact that the Jewish population did not grow as much as one might expect. By 1941, 70 thousand Jews lived in Crimea (excluding the Krymchaks).
During the Great Patriotic War, more than 100 thousand Crimeans, including many Jews, were evacuated from the peninsula. Those who remained in Crimea had to experience all the peculiarities of Hitler's "new order" when the invaders began the final solution of the Jewish question. And already on April 26, 1942, the peninsula was declared "cleared of Jews." Almost everyone who did not manage to evacuate died, including most of the Krymchaks.
However, the idea of Jewish autonomy not only did not disappear, but also acquired a new breath.
The idea of creating a Jewish autonomous republic re-emerged in the late spring of 1943, when the Red Army, defeating the enemy at Stalingrad and in the North Caucasus, liberated Rostov-on-Don and entered the territory of Ukraine. In 1941, about 5-6 million people fled or evacuated from these territories in a more organized manner. More than a million of them were Jews.
In practical terms, the question of creating a Jewish Crimean autonomy arose during the preparation of the propaganda and business trip of two prominent Soviet Jews - the actor S. Mikhoels and the poet I. Fefer to the USA in the summer of 1943. American Jews were supposed to be enthusiastic about the idea and agree to fund all the costs involved. Therefore, a two-person delegation leaving for the United States received permission to discuss this project in the Zionist organizations.
Among Jewish circles in the United States, the creation of a Jewish republic in Crimea did seem quite real. Stalin did not seem to mind. Members of the JAC (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee), created during the war years, during their visits to the United States, spoke openly about the creation of a republic in Crimea as something a foregone conclusion.
Of course, Stalin had no intention of creating Israel in Crimea. He wanted to make the most of the influential Jewish community in the USA. As he wrote Soviet intelligence officer P. Sudoplatov, head of the 4th department of the NKVD, responsible for special operations, “immediately after the formation of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Soviet intelligence decided to use the connections of the Jewish intelligentsia to find out the possibility of obtaining additional economic assistance through the Zionist circles ... To this end, Mikhoels and Fefer , our trusted agent, was tasked with probing the reaction of influential Zionist organizations to the creation of a Jewish republic in Crimea. This task of the special reconnaissance probe was successfully completed. "
In January 1944, some Jewish leaders of the USSR drew up a draft memo to Stalin, the text of which was approved by Lozovsky and Mikhoels. The "Note", in particular, said: "In order to normalize economic growth and development of Jewish Soviet culture, with the aim of maximizing the mobilization of all the forces of the Jewish population for the Soviet Motherland, in order to completely equalize the position of the Jewish masses among the fraternal peoples, we consider it timely and expedient, in order to solve post-war problems, to raise the question of creating a Jewish Soviet socialist republic ... It seems to us that one of the most suitable areas would be the territory of Crimea, which to the greatest extent meets the requirements both in terms of capacity for resettlement and due to the existing successful experience in the development of Jewish national regions there ... In the construction of a Jewish Soviet republic, the Jewish populace of all countries of the world, wherever they are ".
Even before the liberation of Crimea, "Joint" insisted on the transfer of Crimea to the Jews, the eviction of the Crimean Tatars, the withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol, and the formation of an INDEPENDENT Jewish state in Crimea. Moreover, the opening of the 2nd front in 1943. the Jewish lobby linked it to Stalin's fulfillment of his debt obligations to the Joint.
The deportation of Tatars and representatives of other Crimean ethnic groups from Crimea led to the desolation of the peninsula. It seemed that now there would be plenty of room for arriving Jews.
According to the well-known Yugoslav leader M. Djilas, when asked about the reasons for the expulsion of half of the population from Crimea, Stalin referred to the obligations given to Roosevelt to clear Crimea for Jews, for which the Americans promised a preferential loan of 10 billion.
However, the Crimean project was not implemented. Stalin, making the most of financial aid from Jewish organizations, did not create autonomy for Jews in Crimea. Moreover, even the return to Crimea of those Jews who were evacuated during the war years turned out to be difficult. However, in 1959 there were 26,000 Jews in Crimea. Subsequently, emigration to Israel led to a significant reduction in the number of Crimean Jews.
Crimean Tatars
Since the time of the Huns and the Khazar Kaganate, they began to penetrate into the Crimea Turkic peoples, inhabiting so far only the steppe part of the peninsula. In 1223, the Mongol-Tatars attacked Crimea for the first time. But this was only a foray. In 1239, the Crimea was conquered by the Mongols and became part of the Golden Horde. The southern coast of Crimea was under the rule of the Genoese, in the mountainous Crimea there was a small principality of Theodoro and an even smaller principality of the Karaites.
Gradually, from the mixing of many peoples, a new Turkic ethnos began to take shape. At the beginning of the XIV century, the Byzantine historian Georgy Pakhimer (1242-1310) wrote: “Over time, mixing with them (Tatars - ed.) The peoples who lived inside those countries, I mean: Alans, Zikhs (Caucasian Circassians who lived on the coast Taman Peninsula - ed.), The Goths, the Russians and peoples different with them, learn their customs, along with the customs learn the language and clothing and become their allies. " Islam and the Turkic language were the unifying principles for the emerging ethnos. Gradually, the Crimean Tatars (who, however, did not call themselves Tatars at that time) become very numerous and powerful. It is no coincidence that it was the Horde governor in the Crimea, Mamai, who managed to temporarily seize power in the entire Golden Horde. The capital of the Horde governor was the city of Kyrym - "Crimea" (now - the city of Old Crimea), built by the Golden Horde in the valley of the Churuk-Su river in the southeast of the Crimean peninsula. In the XIV century, the name of the city of Crimea was gradually transferred to the entire peninsula. The inhabitants of the peninsula began to call themselves "kyrymly" - Crimeans. The Russians called them Tatars, like all Eastern Muslim peoples. The Crimeans began to call themselves Tatars only when they were part of Russia. But for convenience, we will still call them the Crimean Tatars, even speaking about earlier eras.
In 1441, the Crimean Tatars created their own khanate under the rule of the Girey dynasty.
Initially, the Tatars were inhabitants of the steppe Crimea, the mountains and the southern coast were still inhabited by various Christian peoples, and they numerically prevailed over the Tatars. However, as Islam spread, new converts from the indigenous population began to join the ranks of the Tatars. In 1475, the Ottoman Turks defeated the colonies of the Genoese and Theodoro, which led to the subordination of the Muslims of the whole Crimea.
At the very beginning of the 16th century, Khan Mengli-Girey, defeating the Big Horde, brought whole Tatars from the Volga to the Crimea. Their descendants were later called the Yavolga (that is, Trans-Volga) Tatars. Finally, already in the 17th century, many Nogais settled in the steppes near the Crimea. All this led to the strongest Turkization of Crimea, including a part of the Christian population.
A significant part of the mountain population was otatarized, making up a special group of Tatars known as "Tats". In racial terms, the Tats belong to the Central European race, that is, they look like representatives of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. Also, many of the inhabitants of the southern coast, descendants of the Greeks, Tavro-Scythians, Italians and other inhabitants of the region, gradually joined the number of Tatars. Until the deportation of 1944, the inhabitants of many Tatar villages of the South Bank retained elements of Christian rituals inherited from their Greek ancestors. In racial terms, the South Coast people belong to the South European (Mediterranean) race and outwardly resemble the Turks, Greeks, and Italians. They made up a special group of Crimean Tatars - yalyboilu. Only the steppe nogai retained elements of traditional nomadic culture and retained some Mongoloid features in physical appearance.
The descendants of prisoners and captives, mainly from the Eastern Slavs who remained on the peninsula, also joined the Crimean Tatars. The slaves who became the wives of the Tatars, as well as some men from among the prisoners who converted to Islam and, thanks to the knowledge of some useful crafts, also became Tatars. “Tums”, as the children of Russian prisoners born in Crimea were called, constituted a very large part of the Crimean Tatar population. The following historical fact is indicative: In 1675, the Zaporozhye ataman Ivan Sirko, in the course of a successful raid into the Crimea, freed 7 thousand Russian slaves. However, on the way back, about 3 thousand of them asked Sirko to let them go back to Crimea. Most of these slaves were Muslims or tummies. Sirko let them go, but then ordered his Cossacks to catch up and kill them all. This order was carried out. Sirko drove up to the site of the massacre and said: "Forgive us, brothers, but you yourself sleep here until the last judgment of the Lord, instead of multiplying for you in the Crimea, between basurmans on our Christian brave heads and for your eternal death without forgiveness."
Of course, despite such ethnic cleansing, the number of Tums and otatarized Slavs in Crimea remained significant.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, part of the Tatars left their homeland, moving to the Ottoman Empire. By the beginning of 1785, 43.5 thousand male souls were counted in the Crimea. Crimean Tatars accounted for 84.1% of all residents (39.1 thousand people). Despite the high natural increase, the share of Tatars was constantly decreasing due to the influx of new Russian settlers and foreign colonists into the peninsula. However, Tatars constituted the overwhelming majority of the Crimean population.
After the Crimean War of 1853-56. Under the influence of Turkish agitation among the Tatars, a movement for emigration to Turkey began. Military actions ravaged Crimea, the Tatar peasants did not receive any compensation for their material losses, so additional reasons for emigration appeared.
Already in 1859, the Nogays of the Azov region began to leave for Turkey. In 1860, a mass exodus of Tatars began from the very peninsula. By 1864, the number of Tatars in the Crimea decreased by 138.8 thousand people. (from 241.7 to 102.9 thousand people). The scale of emigration frightened the provincial authorities. Already in 1862, the cancellation of previously issued passports began, and refusals to issue new ones. However, the main factor in stopping emigration was the news about what awaits the Tatars in the same-faith Turkey. A lot of Tatars died on the way on overloaded feluccas in the Black Sea. The Turkish authorities simply threw the settlers on the shore, without providing them with any food. Up to a third of the Tatars perished in the first year of their life in a country of the same faith. And now re-emigration to Crimea has already begun. But neither the Turkish authorities, realizing that the return of Muslims from the rule of the Caliph again to the rule of the Russian Tsar would make an extremely unfavorable impression on the Muslims of the world, nor the Russian authorities, who also feared the return of the embittered, all those who had lost their people, were not going to help return to Crimea.
Smaller-scale Tatar exoduses to the Ottoman Empire took place in 1874-75, in the early 1890s, in 1902-03. As a result, most of the Crimean Tatars ended up outside the Crimea.
So the Tatars, of their own free will, became an ethnic minority in their land. Due to the high natural increase, their number by 1917 reached 216 thousand people, which was 26% of the population of Crimea. In general, during the years of the civil war, the Tatars were politically split, fighting in the ranks of all the fighting forces.
The fact that the Tatars made up a little more than a quarter of the population of Crimea did not bother the Bolsheviks. Guided by their national policy, they went to the creation of an autonomous republic. On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a decree on the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the RSFSR. On November 7, the 1st All-Crimean Constituent Congress of Soviets in Simferopol proclaimed the formation of the Crimean ASSR, elected the leadership of the republic and adopted its Constitution.
This republic was not, strictly speaking, purely national. Note that it was not called Tatar. But the “rooting of cadres” was consistently carried out here as well. Most of the leading cadres were also Tatars. Tatar language was, along with Russian, the language of office work and school education. In 1936, there were 386 Tatar schools in Crimea.
During the Great Patriotic War, the fate of the Crimean Tatars was dramatic. Some of the Tatars fought honestly in the ranks Soviet army... Among them were 4 generals, 85 colonels and several hundred officers. 2 Crimean Tatars became full holders of the Order of Glory, 5 - Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot Amet Khan Sultan - twice a Hero.
In their native Crimea, some Tatars fought in partisan units... So, as of January 15, 1944, there were 3,733 partisans in Crimea, of which Russians - 1,944, Ukrainians - 348, Crimean Tatars - 598. In retaliation for the actions of the partisans, the Nazis burned down 134 settlements in the foothills and mountainous areas of Crimea, 132 of which were predominantly Crimean Tatar.
However, you cannot erase words from a song. During the occupation of Crimea, many Tatars were on the side of the Nazis. 20 thousand Tatars (that is, 1/10 of the total Tatar population) served in the ranks of volunteer units. They were involved in the fight against partisans, and especially actively participated in the massacres of the civilian population.
In May 1944, literally immediately after the liberation of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars were deported. The total number of the deported was 191 thousand people. Family members of soldiers of the Soviet army, members of the underground and partisan struggle, as well as Tatar women who married representatives of another nationality, were released from deportation.
Beginning in 1989, the return of the Tatars to the Crimea began. Repatriation was actively promoted by the Ukrainian authorities, hoping that the Tatars would weaken Russian movement for the annexation of Crimea to Russia. In part, these expectations of the Ukrainian authorities were confirmed. In the elections to the Ukrainian parliament, Tatars for the most part voted for Rukh and other independent parties.
In 2001, Tatars accounted for 12% of the population of the peninsula - 243,433 people.
Other ethnic groups of Crimea
Representatives of several small ethnic groups, who also became Crimeans, have lived on the peninsula since the moment of joining Russia. We are talking about the Crimean Bulgarians, Poles, Germans, Czechs. Living far from their main ethnic territory, these Crimeans have become independent ethnic groups.
Bulgarians appeared in the Crimea at the end of the 18th century, immediately after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia. The first Bulgarian settlement in Crimea appeared in 1801. The Russian authorities appreciated the diligence of the Bulgarians, as well as the ability to farm in the subtropics. Therefore, the Bulgarian settlers received from the treasury daily allowance in the amount of 10 kopecks per capita, each Bulgarian family was allotted up to 60 dessiatines of state land. Each Bulgarian migrant was provided with privileges in taxes and other duties of a financial order for 10 years. After their expiration, they largely remained for the next 10 years: the Bulgarians were taxed only with a tax of 15-20 kopecks per tithe. Only after the expiration of twenty years after their arrival in Crimea did immigrants from Turkey equalize in terms of taxation with the Tatars, immigrants from Ukraine and Russia.
The second wave of resettlement of Bulgarians to Crimea occurred during the Russian - Turkish war of 1828-1829. About 1000 people arrived. Finally, in the 60s. XIX century, the third wave of Bulgarian settlers arrived in Crimea. In 1897, 7,528 Bulgarians lived in Crimea. It should be noted that the religious and linguistic affinity of the Bulgarians and the Russians led to the assimilation of a part of the Crimean Bulgarians.
Wars and revolutions took a heavy toll on the Bulgarians of the Crimea. Their numbers grew rather slowly due to assimilation. In 1939, 17.9 thousand Bulgarians (or 1.4% of the total population of the peninsula) lived in Crimea.
In 1944, the Bulgarians were deported from the peninsula, although, unlike the Crimean Tatars, there was no evidence of cooperation between the Bulgarians and the German invaders. Nevertheless, the entire Crimean-Bulgarian ethnic group was deported. After rehabilitation, the slow process of repatriation of Bulgarians to Crimea began. At the beginning of the XXI century, several more than 2 thousand Bulgarians lived in Crimea.
Czechs appeared in the Crimea a century and a half ago. In the 60s of the XIX century, 4 Czech colonies appeared. Czechs were different high level education, which paradoxically contributed to their rapid assimilation. In 1930, there were 1,400 Czechs and Slovaks in Crimea. At the beginning of the 21st century, only 1,000 people of Czech origin lived on the peninsula.
Another Slavic ethnic group of Crimea is represented Poles... The first settlers were able to arrive in Crimea as early as 1798, although the mass resettlement of Poles to Crimea began only in the 1860s. It should be noted that since the Poles did not inspire confidence, especially after the uprising of 1863, they were not only not provided with any privileges, like the colonists of other nationalities, but were even prohibited from settling in isolated settlements. As a result, “purely” Polish villages did not appear in Crimea, and the Poles lived together with the Russians. In all large villages, along with the church, there was also a church. There were also churches in all major cities - Yalta, Feodosia, Simferopol, Sevastopol. As religion lost its former influence on ordinary Poles, the Polish population of Crimea was rapidly assimilated. At the end of the 20th century, about 7 thousand Poles (0.3% of the population) lived in Crimea.
Germans appeared in the Crimea already in 1787. Since 1805, German colonies with their own internal self-government, schools and churches began to appear on the peninsula. Germans arrived from a wide variety of Germanic lands, as well as from Switzerland, Austria and Alsace. In 1865, there were already 45 settlements in the Crimea with a German population.
The privileges provided to the colonists, the fertile natural conditions of the Crimea, the hard work and organization of the Germans led the colonies to rapid economic prosperity. In turn, the news of the economic successes of the colonies contributed to the further influx of Germans into the Crimea. The colonists were characterized by a high birth rate, so that the German population of Crimea grew rapidly. According to the data of the first all-Russian census of 1897, 31,590 Germans (5.8% of the total population) lived in Crimea, of which 30,027 were rural residents.
Among the Germans, almost all were literate, the standard of living was well above average. These circumstances affected the behavior of the Crimean Germans during Civil War.
Most of the Germans tried to be "above the battle", not participating in civil strife. But part of the Germans fought for Soviet power. In 1918, the First Yekaterinoslav Communist Cavalry Regiment was formed, which fought against the German invaders in the Ukraine and Crimea. In 1919, the First German Cavalry Regiment, as part of Budyonny's army, waged an armed struggle in southern Ukraine against Wrangel and Makhno. Some of the Germans fought on the side of the whites. So, in the army of Denikin, the Jaeger rifle brigade from the Germans fought. A special Mennonite regiment fought in Wrangel's army.
In November 1920, Soviet power was finally established in Crimea. The Germans, who recognized it, continued to live on their colonies and their farms, practically without changing their structure: the farms were still strong; children went to their schools with teaching in German; all issues were resolved jointly within the colonies. Two German regions were officially formed on the peninsula - Biyuk-Onlarsky (now Oktyabrsky) and Telmanovsky (now Krasnogvardeisky). Although many Germans lived in other places of the Crimea. 6% of the German population produced 20% of the gross income from all agricultural products of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Demonstrating complete loyalty to the Soviet regime, the Germans tried not to get involved in politics. It is significant that in the 1920s only 10 Crimean Germans joined the Bolshevik Party.
The standard of living of the German population continued to be much higher than in other national groups, therefore, the outbreak of collectivization, and after it the mass dispossession of kulaks, affected primarily German farms. Despite the losses in the Civil War, repression and emigration, the number of the German population of Crimea continued to grow. In 1921 there were 42,547 Crimean Germans. (5.9% of the total population), in 1926 - 43 631 people. (6.1%), 1939 - 51 299 people. (4.5%), 1941 - 53,000 people. (4.7%).
Great Patriotic War became the greatest tragedy for the Crimean-German ethnos. In August-September 1941, more than 61 thousand people were deported (including about 11 thousand people of other nationalities who have family ties with the Germans). The final rehabilitation of all Soviet Germans, including Crimean ones, followed only in 1972. From that time on, the Germans began to return to the Crimea. In 1989, 2,356 Germans lived in Crimea. Alas, some of the deported Crimean Germans emigrate to Germany, and not to their own peninsula.
East Slavs
Most of the inhabitants of Crimea are East Slavs(we will call them that politically, taking into account the Ukrainian identity of some Russians in Crimea).
As already mentioned, the Slavs have lived in the Crimea since ancient times. In the X-XIII centuries, the Tmutarakan principality existed in the eastern part of the Crimea. Yes, and in the era of the Crimean Khanate, part of the captives from Great and Little Russia, monks, merchants, diplomats from Russia were constantly on the peninsula. Thus, the Eastern Slavs have been part of the permanent indigenous population of Crimea for centuries.
In 1771, when Crimea was occupied by Russian troops, about 9 thousand Russian slaves were freed. Most of them remained in Crimea, but already as personally free Russian subjects.
With the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783, the settlement of the peninsula by settlers from all over the Russian Empire began. Literally immediately after the manifesto of 1783 on the annexation of the Crimea, by order of G.A. Potemkin, the soldiers of the Yekaterinoslav and Fanagoria regiments were left to live in the Crimea. Married soldiers were given leave at public expense so that they could take their families to Crimea. In addition, girls and widows were summoned from all over Russia to agree to marry soldiers and move to Crimea.
Many noblemen who received estates in the Crimea began to transfer their serfs to the Crimea. State peasants also moved to the state lands of the peninsula.
Already in 1783-84, in the Simferopol district alone, the settlers formed 8 new villages and, in addition, settled together with the Tatars in three villages. In total, by the beginning of 1785, 1,021 males from the number of Russian settlers were counted here. The new Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 somewhat slowed down the influx of immigrants to the Crimea, but did not stop it. During 1785 - 1793 the number of registered Russian immigrants reached 12.6 thousand male souls. In general, the Russians (together with the Little Russians) have already made up about 5% of the population of the peninsula for several years of Crimea's stay in Russia. In fact, there were even more Russians, since many fugitive serfs, deserters and Old Believers tried to avoid any contact with representatives of the official authorities. Freed ex-slaves were not counted. In addition, tens of thousands of military personnel were constantly stationed in the strategically important Crimea.
The constant migration of the Eastern Slavs to the Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. After the Crimean War and the mass emigration of Tatars to the Ottoman Empire, which led to the emergence a large number“No man's” fertile land, thousands of new Russian settlers arrived in the Crimea.
Gradually, the local Russian residents began to form special features of the economy and life, caused both by the peculiarities of the geography of the peninsula and its multinational character. In the statistical report on the population of the Tauride province for 1851, it was noted that Russians (Great Russians and Little Russians) and Tatars walk in clothes and shoes, not much differing from each other. The dishes are used in the same way: earthenware, made at home, and copper, made by Tatar craftsmen. The usual Russian carts were soon replaced by Tatar carts upon arrival in the Crimea.
From the second half of the XIX century the main wealth of the Crimea - its nature, made the peninsula a center of recreation and tourism. Palaces of the imperial family and influential nobles began to appear on the coast, thousands of tourists began to arrive for rest and treatment. Many Russians began to strive to settle in the fertile Crimea. So the influx of Russians into Crimea continued. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russians became the predominant ethnic group in Crimea. Considering the high degree of Russification of many Crimean ethnic groups, the Russian language and culture (which largely lost their local characteristics) prevailed in Crimea absolutely.
After the revolution and the Civil War, Crimea, which had turned into an "all-Union health resort", continued to attract Russians as before. However, Little Russians also began to arrive, who were considered a special people - the Ukrainians. Their share in the population in the 1920s and 1930s increased from 8% to 14%.
In 1954, N.S. Khrushchev, with a voluntaristic gesture, annexed Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The result was the Ukrainization of Crimean schools and offices. In addition, the number of Crimean Ukrainians has sharply increased. Actually, some of the "real" Ukrainians began to arrive in Crimea back in 1950, according to the government's "Plans for the resettlement and relocation of the population to the collective farms of the Crimean region." After 1954, new settlers from the western Ukrainian regions began to arrive in Crimea. The settlers were allocated whole carriages for moving, where all property (furniture, utensils, decoration, clothes, multi-meter homespun canvases), cattle, poultry, apiaries, etc. could fit. Numerous Ukrainian officials arrived in Crimea, which had the status of a regular region within the Ukrainian SSR ... Finally, since it became prestigious to be a Ukrainian, some Crimeans also turned into Ukrainians by passport.
In 1989, 2,430,500 people lived in Crimea (67.1% of Russians, 25.8% of Ukrainians, 1.6% of Crimean Tatars, 0.7% of Jews, 0.3% of Poles, 0.1% of Greeks).
The collapse of the USSR and the proclamation of Ukraine's independence caused economic and demographic disasters in Crimea. In 2001, there were 2,024,056 people in the Crimea. But in fact, the demographic catastrophe of Crimea is even more terrible, since the population decline was partially compensated by the Tatars returning to Crimea.
In general, at the beginning of the XXI century, Crimea, despite its centuries-old multi-ethnicity, remains predominantly Russian in terms of population. Over the two decades of being a part of independent Ukraine, Crimea has repeatedly demonstrated its Russianness. Over the years, the number of Ukrainians and returned Crimean Tatars has increased in Crimea, thanks to which official Kiev was able to get a certain number of its supporters, but, nevertheless, the existence of Crimea as a part of Ukraine seems to be problematic.
Crimean SSR (1921-1945). Questions and answers. Simferopol, "Tavria", 1990, p. twenty
P.A. Sudoplatov. Intelligence and the Kremlin, Moscow, 1996, p. 339-340
From the secret archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Delicious peninsula. Note about Crimea / Comments by Sergey Kozlov and Gennady Kostyrchenko // Rodina. - 1991.-№11-12. - S. 16-17
From Cimmerians to Krymchaks. The peoples of Crimea from ancient times to late XVIII century. Simferopol, 2007, p. 232
Shirokorad A. B. Russian-Turkish wars. Minsk, Harvest, 2000, p. 55
Before the seizure of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatars and the accession of the Golden Horde here, many peoples lived on the peninsula, their history goes back centuries, and only archaeological finds indicate that the indigenous peoples of Crimea inhabited the peninsula 12,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period. The sites of ancient people were found in Shankobe, in the Kachinsky and Alimov sheds, in Fatmakob and in other places. It is known that the religion of these ancient tribes was totemism, and they buried the dead in log cabins, piling high mounds on top of them.
Cimerians (IX-VII centuries BC)
The first people that historians wrote about were the fierce Chimerians who inhabited the plains of the Crimean peninsula. The Cimerians were Indo-Europeans or Iranians and were engaged in agriculture; the ancient Greek geographer Strabo wrote about the existence of the capital of the Cimerians - Chimerida, which was located on the Taman Peninsula. It is believed that the Chimerians brought metalworking and pottery to the Crimea, their fat herds were guarded by huge wolfhounds. The Cimerians wore leather jackets and trousers, and their heads were crowned with pointed hats. Information about this people exists even in the archives of the king of Assyria Ashurbanipal: the Cimerians more than once invaded Asia Minor and to Thrace. Homer and Herodotus, the Ephesian poet Callinus and the Milesian historian Hecateus wrote about them.
The Cimerians left the Crimea under the onslaught of the Scythians, part of the people joined the Scythian tribes, and part went to Europe.
Taurus (VI century BC - I century AD)
Taurus - this is how the Greeks who visited the Crimea called the formidable tribes living here. The name may have been associated with the cattle breeding they were engaged in, because "tauros" means "bull" in Greek. Where the Taurus came from is unknown, some scholars tried to associate them with the Indo-Aryans, others considered them Goths. It is with the Taurus that the culture of dolmens - ancestral burials - is associated.
The Taurus cultivated the land and grazed livestock, hunted in the mountains and did not disdain sea robbery. Strabo mentioned that the Taurus gather in the Symbolon Bay (Balaklava), get lost in gangs and rob ships. The most vicious tribes were considered the Arihs, Sinhi, and Singhs: their battle cry made the blood of enemies freeze; opponents of the Taurus were stabbed to death, and their heads were nailed to the walls of their temples. The historian Tacitus wrote how the Taurus killed the Roman legionaries who survived the shipwreck. In the 1st century, the Taurus disappeared from the face of the earth, dissolving among the Scythians.
Scythians (VII century BC - III century AD)
The Scythian tribes came to the Crimea, retreating under the pressure of the Sarmatians, here they moved to settled life and absorbed part of the Taurus and even mixed with the Greeks. In the III century, a Scythian state appeared on the plains of the Crimea with the capital Naples (Simferopol), which actively competed with the Bosporus, but in the same century it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians. Those who survived were finished off by the Goths and the Huns; the remnants of the Scythians mixed with the autochthonous population and ceased to exist as a separate people.
Sarmatians (IV-III centuries BC)
The Sartmatians, in turn, supplemented the genetic heterogeneity of the peoples of the Crimea, dissolving in its population. Roksolans, Iazygs and Aorses fought with the Scythians for centuries, penetrating into the Crimea. With them came the warlike Alans, who settled in the south-west of the peninsula and founded a community of Goto-Alans, adopting Christianity. Strabo in Geography writes about the participation of 50,000 Roxolans in an unsuccessful campaign against the Pontians.
Greeks (VI century BC)
The first Greek colonists settled on the Crimean coast during the Taurus times; here they built the cities of Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum, Chersonesos and Theodosia, which in the 5th century BC. formed two states: Bosporus and Chersonesos. The Greeks lived off horticulture and winemaking, fished, traded and minted their own coins. With the onset of a new era, the states fell into submission to Pontus, then to Rome and to Byzantium.
From the 5th to the 9th century A.D. in the Crimea, a new ethnos "Crimean Greeks" arose, whose descendants were the Greeks of antiquity, Taurus, Scythians, Gotoalans and Turks. In the 13th century, the center of Crimea was occupied by the Greek principality of Theodoro, which was captured by the Ottomans at the end of the 15th century. Some of the Crimean Greeks who have preserved Christianity still live in Crimea.
Romans (1st century AD - IV century AD)
The Romans appeared in Crimea at the end of the 1st century, defeating the king of Panticapaeum (Kerch), Mithridates VI Eupator; soon Chersonesus, who suffered from the Scythians, asked for their protection. The Romans enriched Crimea with their culture, building fortresses on Cape Ai-Todor, in Balaklava, on Alma-Kermen and left the peninsula after the collapse of the empire - this is what Igor Khrapunov, a professor at the University of Simferopol, writes about in his work "Population of the Mountainous Crimea in Late Roman Time".
Goths (III-XVII centuries)
The Goths, a Germanic tribe that appeared on the peninsula during the Great Migration, lived in Crimea. The Christian saint Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Goths were engaged in agriculture, and their nobility held military posts in the Bosporus, which the Goths took control of. Having become the owners of the Bosporan fleet, in 257 the Germans embarked on a campaign to Trebizond, where they captured untold treasures.
The Goths settled in the north-west of the peninsula and in the 4th century formed their own state - Gothia, which stood for nine centuries and only then partially entered the principality of Theodoro, and the Goths themselves were apparently assimilated by the Greeks and Ottoman Turks. Most of the Goths eventually became Christians, their spiritual center was the fortress Doros (Mangup).
For a long time, Gothia was a buffer between the hordes of nomads who were pushing against the Crimea from the north, and Byzantium in the south, survived the invasions of the Huns, Khazars, Tatar-Mongols and ceased to exist after the invasion of the Ottomans.
The Catholic priest Stanislav Sestrenevich-Bogush wrote that even in the 18th century the Goths lived near the Mangup fortress, their language was similar to German, but they were all Islamized.
Genoese and Venetians (XII-XV centuries)
Merchants from Venice and Genoa appeared on the Black Sea coast in the middle of the 12th century; having concluded an agreement with the Golden Horde, they founded trading colonies, which held out until the seizure of the coast by the Ottomans, after which their few inhabitants were assimilated.
In the IV century, the cruel Huns invaded Crimea, some of whom settled in the steppes and mixed with the Goto-Alans. And also Jews, Armenians who fled from the Arabs, moved to Crimea, Khazars, Eastern Slavs, Polovtsians, Pechenegs and Bulgars visited here, and it is no wonder that the peoples of Crimea are not alike, because the blood of various peoples flows in their veins.
Ancient peoples of Crimea
Most ancient people, who inhabited the Black Sea steppes and the Crimea and whose name has come down to us - the Cimmerians: they lived here at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. NS. Herodotus, who visited the Northern Black Sea region in the 5th century. BC e., the Cimmerians, of course, did not find, and passed on the information that remained in the memory of the local population, referring to the surviving geographical names - Cimmerian Bosporus, on the shores of which were the settlements of Cimmerian and Cimmerian, Cimmerian walls, etc. history ”, the Cimmerians, driven out by the Scythians, retired to Asia Minor. However, the rest mixed with the winners: in the light of the data of archeology, anthropology, linguistics, the Cimmerians and Scythians are related peoples, representatives of the North Iranian ethnos, so it is obviously no coincidence that Greek authors sometimes confused or identified them.2 The question of archaeological culture corresponding to the historical Cimmerians, considered one of the hardest. Some researchers considered the Taurus to be the direct descendants of the Cimmerians. Meanwhile, the accumulated archaeological material led to the isolation of a special culture, named Kizilkoba after the place of the first finds in the area of the Red Caves - Kizil-Koba. Its carriers lived in the same place as the Taurus - in the foothills, at the same time - from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. NS. to the III-II century. BC e., were engaged in agriculture and pasture cattle breeding. However, the culture turned out to be significant differences - for example, among the Kizilkobins, ceramics are decorated with geometric patterns, in the Taurians it is usually absent; The funeral rite was also different - the first buried the dead in small mounds, in catacomb-type graves, in an extended position on their back, with their head usually to the west; the second - in stone boxes, sprinkled with earth, in a crouched position on their side, with their head usually to the east. Today Kizilkobins and Taurus are considered as two different people who lived during the 1st millennium BC. NS. in the mountainous part of Crimea.
Whose descendants are they? Obviously, the roots of both cultures go back to the Bronze Age. Comparison of ceramics and funeral rites suggests that most likely the Kizilkoba culture goes back to the so-called late Catacomb culture, of which many researchers consider the Cimmerians.
As for the Tauri, their most likely predecessors can be considered the carriers of the Kemiobinsky culture (named after the Kemi-Oba mound near Belogorsk, excavated by A.A. half of the 2nd millennium BC NS. It was the Kemiobins who erected the first burial mounds in the Crimean steppes and foothills, surrounded by stone fences at the base and crowned with anthropomorphic steles. These large stone slabs, hewn in the form of a human figure, where the head, shoulders, and belt are highlighted, represented the first attempt to create an image of a person in the monumental art of the Black Sea region at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. A true masterpiece among them is the one and a half meter diorite stele from Kazanki, found near Bakhchisarai. 4
The problem of the origin of anthropomorphic steles, found not only in the Black Sea region, but also in the south of France, is directly related to the spread of megalithic structures - stone fences, stone boxes, pillar-like menhirs. Noting their great similarity with the monuments of the northwestern Caucasus, researchers prefer to talk not about the influence of the latter, but about a single culture that was widespread in the Bronze Age from Abkhazia in the east to the Crimean mountains in the west. Much brings the Kemioba culture closer to the later Taurus culture. The Taurus, the true heirs of the megalithic tradition, reproduced its structures, albeit on a somewhat reduced scale.5
Notes (edit)
1. Herodotus. History in 6 books / Per. and comments. G.A. Stratanovsky. - L .: Science, 1972. - Book. IV, 12.
2. Leskov A.M. Barrows: finds, problems. - M ... 1981. - p. 105.
3. Shchetsinsky A.A. Red caves. - Simferopol, 1983 .-- p. 50.
4. Leskov A.M. Decree. Op. - with. 25.
5. Shchepinsky A.A. Decree. Op. - with. 51.
This historical reconstruction of cultures along the lines "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins" and "Kemiobins - Taurus", according to its author, should not be presented straightforwardly; it still contains a lot that is unclear and unexplored.
T.M. Fadeeva
Photo beautiful places Crimea
