Overview of archival documents on the history of Germans in the Semipalatinsk region

Marina Ivanovna Perebeeva
Deputy Director
State Institution "State Archive of the Abai Region"
Department of Culture, Language Development, and Archival Affairs

The formation and development of the German diaspora, which made a significant contribution to the development of the Semipalatinsk region, and the history of the establishment of German villages with their distinctive economic and cultural structures, remains one of the most intriguing and least studied topics.

The establishment of German "daughter" colonies in the Semipalatinsk region began even before state-organized resettlement during the Stolypin agrarian reforms.

The migration from German colonies established in Russia in the regions of the Volga and Novorossiya (New Russia), initiated by Catherine II through her Manifesto of July 22, 1763, was apparently connected with the fragmentation of land plots and the growing number of landless individuals.

In the reference and information collection of the State Archive of the Abai Region, there is a book titled Our Villages in Kazakhstan on the Border with Altai, kindly provided by the author, Yakov Rodionovich Gettinger, a researcher of his native region now residing in Germany. This book delves into the history of what is perhaps the most well-known village in the Semipalatinsk region—Ivanovka (originally Hannowka), located in the Borodulikha district—and recounts the tragic and remarkable fate of its residents.

Y.R. Gettinger worked on his book using collections stored in our archive as well as those of institutions and organizations from the pre-revolutionary period of the Semipalatinsk region. These collections had been transferred from the State Archive of the Semipalatinsk Region to the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan during its establishment. The book includes lists of Ivanovka (Hannowka) residents with information about their places of origin. The settlers came from the Bessarabian, Kherson, Tavrida, Chernigov, Volyn, and Stavropol governorates, as well as the Kuban region of Russia. Ivanovka was founded in 1901.

The compilation Resettlement Policy of the Tsarist Government and Its Implementation in Eastern Kazakhstan, XVIII–Early XX Centuries (2010), prepared for publication by specialists from our archive, is based on documents from our own collections as well as materials identified in the collections of the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg, Russian Federation).

The documents published in the collection Resettlement Policy of the Tsarist Government and Its Implementation in Eastern Kazakhstan, XVIII–Early XX Centuries (2010), prepared for publication by specialists from our archive, shed light on the implementation of the tsarist government’s resettlement policy in Eastern Kazakhstan over an extended period, from 1702 to 1917. The collection includes documents from both the archive's own collections and materials identified in the holdings of the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg, Russian Federation) and the Center for Archival Document Preservation of the Altai Territory (Barnaul, Russian Federation).

The sources presented in the collection reflect the diversification of the national composition of the Semipalatinsk region's population as a result of the resettlement policy. Particular attention is given to the organization of German colonists' resettlement. These documents, being the earliest chronologically, serve as the opening material of the collection.

It should be noted that the resettlement of Germans initially occurred on the same terms as that of Russian peasants. However, restrictions were later introduced, tied to the border status of the settled territories and the prevailing view that "the resettlement of German colonists to the eastern outskirts should not infringe upon the interests of Russian peasantry."

The collection includes thematically valuable documents, such as "Decree of Alexander I of February 25, 1810, on the Cessation of Monetary Loans to Colonists"; "Report by the Minister of Agriculture and State Property, A.S. Yermolov, on the Resettlement of German Colonists from the Samara Colonies to the Steppe Region" (1895); "Supplement to the Most Loyal Report of the Minister of Agriculture and State Property on a Trip to Siberia in Autumn" (1895); "Letter from the Steppe Governor-General M.A. Taube to the Minister of Internal Affairs I.L. Gromykin Regarding the Settlement of German Colonists in the Region" (1895); "Response of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Letter from the Steppe Governor-General M.A. Taube" (1895); "Report by the Manager of the Loktev Estate in the Altai District on the Settlement of German Colonists from the Samara Governorate in the Remov Steppe" (1899); "Note by von Stein, Head of the Resettlement Office in the Akmola District, Regarding Newspaper Publications on the Settlement of Germans in the Steppe Region" (1910); "Article by A. Papkov, ‘The German Kingdom in Western Siberia on the Ruins of Cossack Landownership,’ in the Newspaper Obyedineniye" (1910); "Letter from Minister of Internal Affairs P.A. Stolypin to A.V. Krivoshein Regarding an Article in the Newspaper Novoye Vremya Titled ‘The Invasion of Foreigners in Western Siberia’" (1911); "Decision of the Council of Ministers on the Restriction of Land Ownership and Land Use by Russian Germans, Approved by Nicholas II, ‘On Land Ownership and Land Use by Certain Classes of Austrian, Hungarian, or German Descendants Who Are Russian Subjects’" (1915); "Letter from Steppe Governor-General N.A. Sukhomlinov to Minister of Internal Affairs A.N. Khvostov on the Liquidation of German Land Ownership and Land Use" (1915); "Order of the Ataman of the Siberian Cossack Host on the Restriction of the Rights of German Colonists" (1916).

On February 6, 1917, the liquidation laws on German land ownership and land use were extended to the Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions, the Barnaul and Zmeinogorsk districts of the Tomsk Governorate, and the lands of the Siberian Cossack Host (Collection of Laws and Regulations of the Government. - 1917. - Article 207). However, after the fall of the autocracy, on March 11, 1917, the Provisional Government adopted a decree suspending the liquidation laws.

As Y.R. Gettinger writes in his book: "After the February Revolution of 1917, and the seizure of power by a small group of extremists in October of the same year, little changed in the village. Few were interested in politics. There were no rallies with cries of 'Down with autocracy,' or 'Long live this or that group.' …The Civil War ended, and it seemed as though a peaceful life was ahead. But that was not the case. The Bolsheviks once again introduced grain requisitioning (meaning after the tsarist period and the Provisional Government)."

The socialist restructuring of agriculture in the Semipalatinsk Irtysh region, as in the rest of Kazakhstan, took place under slogans such as "complete collectivization," "elimination of the kulaks as a class," "universal sedentarization of the indigenous population," and "comprehensive land redistribution," among others.

In the 1920s, the process of collectivization was formally based on voluntary participation. The state provided organized collective farms with support in the form of agricultural products for work animals, agricultural machinery, tax exemptions, and agronomic and veterinary assistance.

The publication of the decree of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) [All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)] on January 5, 1930, titled "On the Pace of Collectivization and Measures to Support Collective Farm Development," marked a new phase in the development of the collective farm movement. This document proclaimed a new class policy of the party—the complete elimination of the kulaks as a class through universal collectivization. In the Semipalatinsk Irtysh region, collectivization was primarily planned to be completed by the spring of 1932.

Despite the specified timeline for universal collectivization, local party, Soviet, and economic bodies, leveraging the enthusiasm of laborers and the rural poor, pursued a policy of accelerating collectivization and the elimination of the kulaks as a class. The mass repression and terror used as key methods for dispossession inevitably provoked resistance from the peasantry, leading to the migration of the German population beyond the Semipalatinsk Irtysh region.

The eviction of Germans, classified as owners of kulak households, from areas undergoing universal collectivization under the decree of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) dated January 30, 1930, titled "On Measures for the Liquidation of Kulak Households in Areas of Universal Collectivization," is vividly documented in the collections of Fund No. 1275 of the Bel-Agach Village Council and Fund No. 390 of the Bel-Agach District Council of Workers' Deputies. These include minutes of meetings of the executive committee of the Bel-Agach District Council, which issued eviction orders, including those targeting German families.

At the same time, collective farms were being established. In 1930, German collective farms were organized in the Bel-Agach District: the "Noes Leben" collective farm in Ivanovka, "Landman" in Matveyevka, "Morgen Rot" in Novo-Dvorovka, and two agricultural enterprises were formed in Sosnovka—a joint land cultivation association (SOZ) called "Rot Front" and the "Nachalo" collective farm.

On December 1, 1937, the Organizational Bureau of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) reviewed the issue of "Liquidation of National Districts and Village Councils" and deemed it "inadvisable for both special national districts and village councils to continue to exist." The justification for this decision stated that "in several regions and territories, various national districts and village councils (German, Finnish, Korean, Bulgarian, and others) were artificially created, whose existence is not justified by the national composition of their population."

The decree instructed local party committees to submit proposals to the Central Committee of the VKP(b) by January 1, 1938, on the liquidation of these districts through their reorganization into ordinary districts and village councils. This process continued throughout the year. On February 16, 1939, the Organizational Bureau of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) approved the resolutions of local regional committees on the reorganization. The Organizational Bureau's decision, "On the Liquidation and Transformation of Artificially Created National Districts and Village Councils," was officially approved at a Politburo meeting on February 20, 1939.

In the report of the East Kazakhstan Regional Executive Committee (based in Semipalatinsk) dated February 17, 1938, regarding the population distribution of ethnic groups by districts within the new boundaries of the East Kazakhstan region, the following is indicated:

Peremenovsky (Bel-Agach District): Villages: Peremenovka, Andronovka, Nikolaevka, and Gromovka. Germans – 887. Total: 1,427 people.

Novodvorovsky (Bel-Agach District): Villages: Sosnovka, Ivanovka, Kostroma, Matveyevka, Novodvorovka, Novo-Kireevka, Berezovsky Rest House. Russians – 475, Germans – 947, Kazakhs – 148. Total: 1,570 people.

Sugatovsky (Shemonaykha District): Villages: Bugatovka, Amerika, Gorkunovo, Plugarevo, Konnikova, Podkorytova. Russians – 761, Germans – 1,065, Kazakhs – 41. Total: 1,867 people.

Prokhladnensky (Kokpekty District): Villages: Prokhladnoye, Ivanovka, Romanovka, Malyatek, Shalobai. Russians – 306, Bulgarians – 551, Kazakhs – 39. Total: 896 people.

Petro-Pavlovsky (Kokpekty District): Villages: Novo-Pavlovka, the "Comintern" state farm. Russians – 2,450, Bulgarians – 50. Total: 2,500 people.

Krupsky (Ulan District): Households of Russian-Kazakhs – 150, German households – 40. Total: 190.

In the memorandum from the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Kazakh SSR, N. Umurzakov, titled "On the Liquidation and Reorganization of National Councils in the Kazakh SSR," the following is stated:

"2. East Kazakhstan Region. The East Kazakhstan Regional Committee and Regional Executive Committee propose:

a) Liquidate the Orlovsky (German) Village Council in the Bel-Agach District, with a population of 730 people, and merge it with the mixed Russian-Kazakh Removsky Village Council. The Removsky Village Council, within its new boundaries, will have a population of 1,492 people, including 48% Germans. The farthest settlement from the center of the Village Council is located 12 km away.

b) To the Novodvorovsky German Village Council of the same district, annex from the Removsky Village Council the village of Novo-Kireevsky, with a Kazakh population of 148 people, and the Berezovsky Rest House, with a population of 229 people. The Novodvorovsky Council, within its new boundaries, will have a population of 1,570 people, including 62% Germans. The farthest settlement from the center of the Village Council is located 10 km away.

Leave the mixed Village Councils within their current boundaries: the Prokhladnensky and Petro-Pavlovsky Councils of the Kokpekty District (Russian-Bulgarian-Kazakh), the Peremenovsky (Russian-German) Council of the Bel-Agach District, the Sugatovsky Council of the Shemonaykha District, and the Krupsky and Bursakovsky Councils of the Ulan District (Russian-German). The Councils listed under point "b" are, in essence, not national. Their population, as noted by the Regional Committee and Regional Executive Committee, is mixed: Russians, Kazakhs, Germans, Bulgarians. Document management in these Councils is conducted in Russian. Therefore, the question of liquidating or reorganizing these Councils is irrelevant. In other respects, the proposal of the Regional Committee and Regional Executive Committee should be approved."

It is worth noting that, in parallel, numerous arrests were carried out among Germans, who were accused of being recruited into military-insurgent espionage organizations by German intelligence, engaging in sabotage within collective farms, conducting active anti-Soviet agitation, gathering and sending information to Germany about the lives of Germans in the USSR, participating in the organization of emigration movements, and so on.

As Y.R. Gettinger writes in his book: "Arrests of individuals from the same family or group of villagers were conducted to create the appearance of anti-Soviet, espionage, and military-insurgent organizations. This can be traced in the accusatory documents. To 'uncover' an entire organization was a matter of prestige: all credit to the investigator, as it earned them a promotion and likely an award. For such recognition, they were willing to make an effort. The list of residents of the villages Ivanovka, Sosnovka, Matveyevka, and Novodvorovka, who were executed during Stalin's repressions or perished in prisons and labor armies, includes names inscribed on memorials: Ivanovka – 59 people, Sosnovka – 55 people, Matveyevka – 25 people. I believe this is not the complete list, as, for various reasons, not all victims have been identified, primarily because some residents left the village, and contact with them was lost."

Fund 1404 of the Semipalatinsk Regional Prosecutor's Office contains numerous complaints addressed to I.V. Stalin and the USSR Prosecutor, A.Y. Vyshinsky, regarding unlawful arrests and accusations, as well as the lack of information about arrested relatives, including Germans residing in the East Kazakhstan region (with its center in Semipalatinsk).

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War was marked by a wave of deportations to Kazakhstan based on ethnicity.

A significant portion of the deported population consisted of Germans. By early 1942, 400,300 people from this ethnic group had been resettled in Kazakhstan, and by the end of 1942, the number stood at 394,133.

In the State Archive of the Abai Region, documents related to special settlers can be found in the following collections: fund no. 409 of the Semipalatinsk Regional Council of People's Deputies and its executive committee; fund no. 807 of the Semipalatinsk Department for the Economic Organization of Evacuated Special Settlers under the Regional Council of Workers' Deputies; and fund no. 1299 of the Bel-Agach (Borodulikha) District Council of Workers' Deputies and its executive committee. These collections contain a substantial body of documents on the subject, providing an objective picture of the daily lives of deported peoples in the East Kazakhstan region, including Germans, Chechens, Ingush, and others.

An analysis of these documents reveals that the resettlement of special settlers in new locations was fraught with difficulties, leading to negative social and demographic consequences. Despite measures taken by local authorities to organize living and working conditions, the situation of deported peoples remained dire. The deportations caused irreparable damage to the material and spiritual culture of these ethnic groups, condemning them to a low social status and standard of living. However, with the support of the local population, many not only managed to survive but, through adaptation to their new circumstances, contributed to the economic development of the region during this challenging time.

The collection of documents from the local history society Priirtyshye (fund no. 1636) includes memoirs of Germans deported from the Volga region, Azerbaijan, and other areas.

The process of rehabilitating deported Germans can be traced through the documents of the Semipalatinsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, found in fund no. 1404.

Over time, representatives of the German ethnic group made a significant contribution to the economic and cultural development of the region.

The State Archive of the Abai Region holds a personal collection (fund no. 348) of Wilhelm Fyodorovich Butler (1914–1982), an honored agronomist of the Kazakh SSR. He was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner of Labor and the "Badge of Honor," the medals "For the Development of Virgin and Fallow Lands" and "Veteran of Labor," the badge "Winner of the Socialist Competition," and honorary certificates from the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR.

Wilhelm Fyodorovich Butler (1914–1982) was born in Moscow. In 1937, he graduated from the Almaty Agricultural Institute with a qualification as a horticulturist-agronomist and was assigned to work in Karaganda. In 1938, Wilhelm Fyodorovich was recalled by the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (VLKSM) of Kazakhstan and sent to work as the head of the historical-revolutionary department of the Central Museum of Kazakhstan in Almaty, where he was later appointed as the museum's academic secretary. He subsequently worked as an agronomist at the Aksuy Machine and Tractor Station in the Taldykorgan region and as an agronomist for the subsidiary farm of Repair and Mechanical Plant No. 1 under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Tatar ASSR.

In 1947, Wilhelm Fyodorovich Butler arrived in Semipalatinsk. In the following years, he worked as the head of the Fruit and Vegetable Department of the Semipalatinsk Regional Agricultural Administration, was elected chairman of the "Third International" collective farm in the Zhana-Semey district, served as an inspector for the State Commission for Testing Agricultural Crop Varieties, deputy head of the Semipalatinsk Regional Agricultural Administration, and an agronomist specializing in grain crops for the Department of Agriculture and Seed Production of the Semipalatinsk Regional Agricultural Administration. Alongside his primary work, Butler also taught at the Semipalatinsk Agricultural College and the Zooveterinary Institute. Additionally, he served as chairman of the Scientific and Technical Society of the Semipalatinsk Regional Agricultural Administration.

Fund no. 1136 contains documents related to Edwin Eduardovich Foos (b. 1948), chairman of the "Zavety Ilyicha" collective farm in the Borodulikha district of the Semipalatinsk region. He was awarded the medals "For Labor Distinction," "For Achievements in the Development of the National Economy of the USSR [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]," the commemorative badge "20 Years of Virgin Lands Development," and an honorary certificate from the USSR Council of Ministers, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS [Vsesoyuzny Tsentralny Sovet Profsoyuzov]), and the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (VLKSM [Vsesoyuzny Leninistichesky Kommunistichesky Soyuz Molodyozhi]). During his tenure, the collective farm repeatedly emerged as a winner in All-Union and republican socialist competitions. It was awarded an honorary certificate by the Central Committee of the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union], the USSR Council of Ministers, the VTsSPS, and the Central Committee of the VLKSM "For Achieving the Highest Results in the All-Union Socialist Competition for the Successful Overwintering of Livestock."

Overall, it should be noted that the topic of the formation of the German diaspora in the Semipalatinsk region remains a subject awaiting detailed research.