National districts or national raions (Russian: Национальные районы) were special raions (administrative units) of the Soviet Union from 1924 up until the 1940s, created to meet the needs of minority ethnic and cultural populations within republics. They were part of the larger policy of korenizatsiia, or "indigenization" pursued during this time.[1]
Background
The Soviet Russia that took over from the Russian Empire in 1917 was not a nation-state, nor was the Soviet leadership committed to turning their country into such a state. In the early Soviet period, even voluntary assimilation was actively discouraged, and the promotion of the national self-consciousness of the non-Russian populations was attempted. Each officially recognized ethnic minority, however small, was granted its own national territory where it enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy, national schools, and national elites.[2]
List
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
For Poles in Belarus:[3]
- Dzierżyńszczyzna (1932–1937), centered in Dzyarzhynsk
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
For Greeks in Russia:[4]
- Greek Autonomous District (1930–1939), centered in Krymskaya (now Krymsk)
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Blahoieve Raion, centered in Blahoieve (now Velykyi Buialyk)
- Kolarivka Raion, centered in Kolarivka (now Sofiivka)
- Vilshanka Raion, centered in Vilshanka
- Luxemburg National German Raion (1924–1939), centered in Luxemburg (now Rozivka)
For Jews in Ukraine:[1]
- Kalinindorf Jewish Raion (1927–1958), centered in Velyka Seideminukha (now Kalynivske, Kherson Oblast)
- Novozlatopil National Jewish Raion (1929–?), centered in Novozlatopil
- Stalindorf National Jewish Raion (1930–?), centered in various settlements over the course of its existence
For Poles in Ukraine:[5]
- Marchlewszczyzna (1925–1935), centered in Marchlewsk (now Dovbysh)
- Chuhuiv Raion (1927–present), centered in Chuhuiv
- Kosiorovsky Russian National Raion (1930–?), centered in various settlements over the course of its existence
- Putyvl Raion (1927–2020), centered in Putyvl
- Sorokyne Raion (1927–2020), centered in Sorokyne
- Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion (1927–2020), centered in Stanytsia Luhanska
- Velyka Pysarivka Raion (1927–2020), centered in Velyka Pysarivka
See also
- Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union
- Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics
- National districts of the Russian Federation
- Polish National District
References
- ^ a b c d e "НАЦІОНАЛЬНЕ АДМІНІСТРАТИВНО-ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНЕ БУДІВНИЦТВО В УСРР/УРСР 1924–1940". resource.history.org.ua. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-10.
- ^ Martin, Terry (December 1998). "The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing". The Journal of Modern History. 70 (4): 813–861. Archived from the original on 2020-12-15.
- ^ "ПОЛЬСКИЕ НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЕ АДМИНИСТРАТИВНО-ТЕРРИТОРИАЛЬНЫЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В БССР В 1930-е гг."
- ^ "Репрессии в 1930-1950 гг. по отношению к грекам СССР". 5 May 2008. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023.
- ^ Kabachiy, Roman (29 May 2009). "Polish in Polissia". The Ukrainian Week.
Recent Comments