REFUGEES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN SOVIET RUSSIA. 1918-1919
I.B. Belova
Kaluga State University (KGU), Russia, 248023, Kaluga, Stepan Razin str., 26
Keywords: беженцы Первой мировой войны, Центральная коллегия по делам пленных и беженцев, центральные губернии Европейской России, Советы беженцев, легальная реэвакуация, стихийное беженское движение, заградительные отряды, беженские пайки, принудительный труд, мобилизация в Красную Армию, Гражданская война, голод, эпидемии, refugees of World War I, Central Board for prisoners and refugees, xentral provinces of European Russia, Councils of refugees, legal re-evacuation, spontaneous refugee movement, blocking detachments, refugee rations, forced labor, mobilization of the Red Army, Civil War, hunger, epidemics
Abstract
The article deals with the problem of World War refugees repatriation (natives of the western territories cut off from Russia in compliance with the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty) on the example of central provinces of European Russia in 1918-1919. The article reflects the Bolshevik government’s policy towards both the old social welfare organizations (left from the pre-revolutionary period and dealing with refugees) and the new organizations that were established on democratic principles during the Soviet period and resumed to provide social care to refugees. The article also highlights the process of creation of the Soviet evacuation bodies, which assumed control over the refugees. The article examines efficiency of the Central Board for prisoners and refugees (Tsentroplenbezh) activities on re-evacuation of refugees. It presents comparative data on the refugees who were sent home free by the Tsentroplenbezh and on those who left European Russia on their own or remained there till the beginning of 1920. The author shows the extent of refugees’ spontaneous movement to their homeland, the Central Board’s attitude towards this process as well as the attitudes of local authorities and local boards who considered prisoners and refugees an intolerable burden amid hunger and destitution. The author assesses the Central Government’s attitude to the numerous problems of refugees who remained in the Russian Republic waiting for re-evacuation, including the declarative nature of Council of People’s Commissars decree dated January 28, 1919 «On the responsibility of the Central board of prisoners and refugees towards refugees subject to re-evacuation». The author shows how the refugees were involved in military service for the Red Army and in forced labor.
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