Review of archival documents on the history of Germans in the Karaganda region

By Olga Yevgenyevna Berkun,
Head of the Department for the Use and Publication of Archival Documents,
State Archive of the Karaganda Region

The first mention of German settlements in the Karaganda region dates back to 1909, when settlers—Germans from the Volga—founded one of the largest German villages in the region, Dolinskoye (Dolinka). An independent rural administration was established there on February 10, 1909.

In a letter from the Akmola District Committee of the VKP(b) (All-Union Communist Party [Bolsheviks]) dated December 11, 1928, it is stated:

“…The village of Dolinskoye in the Industrial District represents a strong national minority (German) settlement with an independent rural budget. There are no party or Komsomol organizations in the village, except for one candidate for membership in the VKP(b). The community has a three-grade school; however, it remains under the influence of religion, which has deeply entrenched itself. An example of this is the fact that in 1927 the community of believers built a large prayer house in the village.” [1]

In the archival documents of the Karaganda Regional Department of Education from 1930, mention is made of a German school in the village of Dolinka:
"Until 1924, there was a four-grade Church school in the village of Dolinka, where religion was drilled, taught by the priest Ellenberger. In 1924, a single class was opened, admitting children of various ages. Lessons were conducted in writing and arithmetic, also taught by Ellenberger. In 1925, when teachers Ruhchaber, Hermann, and Lydia Schneider began their work, the school expanded its activities." [2]

At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, Soviet migration policy in the 20th century focused on the economic development of territories in Kazakhstan, including the Karaganda region. To this end, in February 1929, a resettlement department was established under the NKVD administration. Its plans included relocating people from land-poor regions of the USSR to the Akmola, Vishnevsky, Voroshilovsky, Yerkynshilik, Novocherkassk, Nurinsky, and Telmansky districts of the region; organizing the economic infrastructure of nomadic and semi-nomadic kolkhozes in the Zhanaarka, Karsakpai, Ulytau, and Shet districts; and relocating people from kolkhoz lands expropriated for the construction of industrial enterprises. [3]

The resettlement process primarily involved the forced relocation of peasants from so-called kulak and bai households. The ethnic composition of labor migrants in the 1930s was highly diverse. The majority of the "kulaks" consisted of Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans.

No precise data on the number of German settlers during this period are available in the archival documents.

The documentary materials of the State Archive of the Karaganda Region include individual files from 1934–1936 on the restoration of citizens' electoral rights. Among these are cases involving Germans, alongside other nationalities, who had been deprived of voting rights. [4] A small portion of German labor settlers were reinstated in their rights, though they were prohibited from leaving their places of settlement. [5] There are also records of German labor settlers working in the late 1920s and early 1930s at mines No. 7, 9, 12, 17, 18, and 19 under the Karagandaugol Trust [6], as well as in geological exploration teams under the Kazakhuglegeology Trust. [7]

Most German settlements were located in the Telmansky district of the Karaganda region. According to Kazgosplan data, in 1930 the district had 11,161 households, including 2,289 Russian, 6,591 Kazakh, 953 Ukrainian, 703 German, and 1,165 Estonian households. There were 428 settlements in total, 58 of which were European and 370 Kazakh. [8]

In the city of Karaganda, the majority of the German population resided in the Stalinsky district (now Oktabrsky). On July 3, 1935, the Karaganda City Party Committee issued a resolution to construct an incomplete secondary German school for 2,000 students in the village of Maikuduk. [9]

On August 28, 1941, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree abolishing the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and on September 12, 1941, the Central Committee of the VKP(b) (All-Union Communist Party [Bolsheviks]) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution titled "On the Resettlement of Volga Germans," which sanctioned the mass deportation of Soviet Germans. The majority of Germans were resettled in Kazakhstan, the Krasnoyarsk and Altai Territories, and the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, and Omsk regions. According to the State Archive of the Karaganda Region (GAKO), around 70,000 people of German nationality were relocated to the Karaganda region. [10]

In November 1941, the Karaganda Regional Executive Committee adopted a resolution "On the Resettlement of the German Population from the Urban Zone of the City of Karaganda." [11] Under this decision, all citizens of German nationality residing in Karaganda before the war were relocated to the Kurgaldzhin and Karkaraly districts, situated 400–600 kilometers from the regional center.

According to the special settler registration books of the Voroshilovsky District Department of the NKVD Administration for the Karaganda Region, Germans (and family members of other nationalities) were deported not only from the Volga region but also from Moscow, Leningrad, Baku, Nalchik, the Tatar ASSR, Ukraine, the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, and other western regions of the Soviet Union. [12]

During the war years, German political émigrés also resided in the Karaganda region. As of June 1943, there were 44 families totaling 83 people. [13]

In 1942, Germans deported to the Karaganda region were mobilized for the "Labor Front."

A joint resolution by the Karaganda Regional Executive Committee and the Bureau of the Karaganda Regional Committee of the CP(b) of Kazakhstan required the head of the regional NKVD administration, as well as the chairmen of the city council and the Osakarovsky, Telmansky, Nurinsky, and Karkaraly district councils, to mobilize labor settlers fit for underground work in the Karaganda coal basin. [14]

Directives were sent to district and rural councils across the region, demanding the mobilization of physically capable Germans for the "Labor Front" within 24 hours: men aged 15 to 55 and women aged 16 to 45. [15]

For each mobilized individual, a personal file was created, including photographs, fingerprint cards, and a special questionnaire containing comprehensive information about the family and its location. [16] It should be noted that the personal files of labor army members have not been transferred to the state archives of the region for preservation.

As of August 1, 1949, the Karaganda region was home to 24,066 German families, comprising 67,210 individuals. [17]

By the beginning of the 1950/1951 academic year, 11,295 children of German nationality aged 7 to 14 were registered in the region, 3,890 of whom lived in Karaganda. Among them, 802 attended school in the Kirovsky district, 803 in the Leninsky district, 1,277 in the Stalinsky district, 878 in the Shakhtinsky district, and 130 in the Zh November 1941eleznodorozhny district. [18]

In December 1952, the region had 47,593 Germans of working age. Of these, 36,910 were employed in industry, construction, and transportation, while 10,683 worked in agriculture. [19]

It is also important to highlight certain aspects of the cultural life of the German population in Central Kazakhstan during the 1950s–1970s.

A significant layer of German creative intelligentsia emerged in Central Kazakhstan, including artists, sculptors, and musicians.

One notable figure was Yuri Wilhelmovich Gummel, an artist and sculptor who lived and worked in Karaganda for many years. He was honored as a Merited Cultural Worker of the Kazakh SSR. [20]

Artists of German descent made significant contributions to the cultural development of Central Kazakhstan. Among them were V.A. Eifert, P.P. Friesen, L. Hamburger, I.A. Borkhman, O.O. Mayer, E.H. Guber, P. Paul, Rikkel, Filger, E. Schmidt, Branner, M. Pfeifer, V.P. Bush, A.G. Heinz, and E.P. Fritsche. In Karaganda, exiled artists decorated city celebrations, created stage sets for the first productions of the drama and operetta theaters, and worked on the interior and exterior designs of buildings. Importantly, they also engaged in active pedagogical work. For example, Vladimir Eifert and Pavel Friesen mentored a generation of Karaganda artists in their art studios. [21]

In the first music school in Central Kazakhstan, the Karaganda Children's Music School, several notable German musicians worked from the 1950s to the 1970s. These included Alexander Iosifovich Knaub, Rudolf Hermannovich Richter, Yevgenia Petrovna Velman, Andrey Andreyevich Schwartz, Otto Ottovich Using, Walter Davidovich Root, Ella Richardovna Mayer, and Vladimir Yakovlevich Kratz. [22]

In the 1960s, under the leadership of Rudolf Gerdt, radio and television programs were created for the German population of Karaganda and the Karaganda region. Starting in 1964, a monthly German-language television program, Rundschau, aired. These programs featured stories about the work of miners, builders, and metallurgists, along with international news overviews and similar topics. In 1964, the Karaganda Television Studio organized screenings of 18 films in German. [23]

By the mid-1970s, there were 23 German national amateur artistic groups in the Karaganda region, comprising 492 participants. These included six choirs, two drama groups, four agitbrigades, three instrumental ensembles, three vocal groups, and one literary group. [24]

In 1968, the Freundschaft variety and vocal ensemble was established at the Karaganda Philharmonic. Modeled after the Russian song and dance ensemble, it was led by its first director, Hermann Schmal. [25]

By order No. 52/1 of the Karaganda Regional Department of Culture dated July 30, 1980, the only German dramatic theater in the country was established in the city of Temirtau. In August 1988, the theater was relocated to Alma-Ata. [26]

A challenging period for ethnic Germans arose following the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 3, 1972, titled "On the Removal of Restrictions on the Choice of Residence for Certain Categories of Citizens." This decree triggered a new wave of migration of Germans from Kazakhstan, including from the Karaganda region. In response, party and executive bodies launched an ideological and educational campaign among German citizens to halt the migration process. This campaign continued until 1990. [27]

To unite Germans, preserve the ethnic group, and promote national culture, the Karaganda Regional German Cultural Center was established on February 27, 1992, as a public association. On May 20, 1993, the organization was re-registered as the Karaganda Regional Society of Germans, Wiedergeburt. On February 8, 1996, it was renamed the Karaganda Regional Society "German Center Wiedergeburt." [28]

The activities of all divisions of the center—such as the educational center, cultural center, youth club, and the social assistance center for labor army veterans—are primarily guided by joint programs established between Germany and the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as by the Comprehensive Program for the Ethnic Revival of Germans in Kazakhstan.

The documentary collection of the Karaganda Regional Committee on National Policy contains the charter of the Karaganda Regional Society "Union of Russian Germans," which outlines the main objectives:

“…to study the history of the emergence and development of multifaceted ties between the German people and other peoples, as well as the historical past of Germans; to research and promote the historical unity of the German people and other nations, focusing on positive trends and aspects of historical development; to revive folk traditions and crafts, customs and rituals, folklore, and applied arts; to support the establishment of national cultural and scientific centers and associations, faculties and departments in universities, German schools and classes, kindergartens and groups, German language courses, and similar initiatives; to organize and assist in the publication of relevant printed materials in the German language…”. [29]

The materials from the first session of the Small Assembly of the Peoples of the Karaganda Region in 1995 include a report by Yuliya Nikolaevna Antonova-Hoffmann, Chairperson of the German Cultural Center:

"The Regional German Cultural Center has many years of positive experience and serves as a model for similar organizations. It operates in all areas of folk art development and cultural activities for the German population. The center hosts the renowned children's song and dance ensemble Blumengruß, a children's Sunday school, a vocal group, a club for spiritual and classical music, a youth club, three folk dance groups, an art studio, clubs for labor army veterans and veterans, and German language courses...". [30]

The documentary collection of the Karaganda Regional Akimat's office includes reports on the activities of public associations and national cultural centers, including the German Center Wiedergeburt. [31]

The process of rehabilitating citizens of German nationality can be traced through the documentary collections of the Karaganda Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Karaganda Regional Court.

Documentary materials on Germans in the Karaganda region are preserved in the following collections of the Regional State Archive: the Karaganda Regional Committee of the CP of Kazakhstan (collection 1p), the Karaganda Regional Executive Committee (collection 18), the Karaganda City Committee of the CP of Kazakhstan (collection 3p), the Resettlement Department of the Karaganda Regional Executive Committee (collection 27), the Administration of Correctional Labor Camps and Construction of Coal Mine No. 4 of the NKVD USSR (collection 108), the Voroshilov District Department of the NKVD Administration for the Karaganda Region (collection 239), the Executive Committee of the Astakhovsky Village Council of Workers' Deputies (collection 259), the Karaganda Coal Mining Combine Karagandaugol (collection 341), the Executive Committee of the Novo-Karpovsky Village Council of Workers' Deputies (collection 411), the State Geological Trust Kazakhuglegeology (collection 478), and others.

List of Sources

1. State Archive of the Karaganda Region – GAKO. F.1909p. Op.1. D.1. L.3.
2. GAKO. F.469. Op.1. D.33. L.102.
3. GAKO. F.27. Op.1. D.7. L.19-26.
4. GAKO. F.259. Op.1. D.5,16.
5. GAKO. F.231. Op.1. D.2.
6. GAKO. F.341. Op.1. D.107.
7. GAKO. F.478. Op.1. D.40.
8. Districts of Kazakhstan: Telmansky, Kounradsky, Nurinsky, Bayan-Aulsky, Ridder Districts. Alma-Ata, 1931. p.2.
9. GAKO. F.3p. Op.1. D.63. L.126.
10. GAKO. F.1p. Op.7. D.133. L.7.
11. GAKO. F.18. Op.1. D.520. L.66.
12. GAKO. F.239. Op.1. D.2,10,15,66.
13. GAKO. F.18. Op.1. D.666. L.64.
14. GAKO. F.18. Op.1. D.705. L.33-38.
15. GAKO. F.18. Op.1. D.664. L.207-209.
16. GAKO. F.411. Op.2. D.3. L.2.
17. GAKO. F.1p. Op.7. D.133. L.7-9.
18. GAKO. F.1p. Op.7. D.133. L.133-135.
19. GAKO. F.1p. Op.7. D.296. L.46.
20. GAKO. F.729. Op.1.
21. GAKO. F.572. Op.1. D.995. L.20-33.
22. GAKO. F.937. Op.1. D.11.
23. GAKO. F.1p. Op.7. D.869.
24. GAKO. F.1p. Op.26. D.124.
25. GAKO. F.1p. Op.15. D.109. L.6.
26. GAKO. F.572. Op.1. D.388. L.85.
27. GAKO. F.1p. Op.24. D.122, Op.25. D.145, Op.26. D.124, etc.
28. Records of the German Center.
29. GAKO. F.1490. Op.1. D.11. L.1-11.
30. GAKO. F.1554. Op.1. D.178. L.11-26.
31. GAKO. F.1554. Op.1. D.179, 180, 250.