Composition and content of documents on the history of Germans in the state archive of Kostanay region

M.A. Alexeenko

The appearance of Germans in the territory of what is now Kostanay Region dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is associated with the general resettlement policies of the Russian Empire. According to 1920 data, there were 11 German colonist settlements in the Kustanay Uyezd, with a population of 6,023 people. By that time, in addition to German colonists, the territory of Kustanay Uyezd was home to administratively exiled individuals, refugees from the First World War, and prisoners of war. Many of those who could document their residence in other regions prior to the start of the First World War managed to return to their former homes in 1921–1922. Those unable to do so remained in what is now the region.

The most significant resettlement of Germans to the Kostanay Region occurred during the special resettlements of 1941–1942, involving people from the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans, Zaporozhye, and the North Caucasus. Some of these individuals, along with those who had previously lived in the region, were mobilized into the labor army in 1942–1943. As is known, no further large-scale resettlements of Germans to the Kostanay Region took place thereafter.

In the State Archive of Kostanay Region, as in other regional archives of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there are no pre-Soviet documents in storage. At various times, these were transferred to the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan by order of higher authorities. This significantly limits the ability to study the region’s history without consulting the Central Archives of Kazakhstan and explains the fragmented nature of local sources.

The earliest document on this topic stored in the State Archive of Kostanay Region is a fragment of the metrical book of the Turgay Roman Catholic Parish for 1912–1913 (on marriages) from the settlements of Nelyubinka, Vikentyevka, and Smaylovka. It was discovered in the Consolidated Archival Collection of Churches, Prayer Houses, and Parishes of Kustanay Uyezd [1].

Some pre-Soviet documents related to the movement of settlers during the First World War can be found on the reverse sides of papers from institutions during the early Soviet years. This occurred during the so-called "paper famine," when, due to the lack of paper, any suitable material was used for writing. For example, in the archival collection of the Kustanay Uyezd Land Department for 1919–1921, the reverse sides of documents contain letters from the head of the Resettlement Department in the Turgay-Ural District dated 1915. One letter states that "household establishment" loans for "settled settlers" of Austrian, Hungarian, and German descent, who were under Russian citizenship, could only be issued upon presenting proof that they were not among those subject to the law of February 2, 1915.

Pre-Soviet documents are also found in the collection of the Kustanay Uyezd Administrative Department for 1919–1923. Among these are certificates issued by the second part’s police chief in Kustanay in 1915, permitting residence exclusively in the city of Kustanay [2], as well as certificates issued to foreign nationals, including German citizens, in 1918. These documents authorized travel to their homeland via the city of Orsha and listed family members [3].

When examining the history of Germans during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, the most informative sources are the collections of government and administrative bodies. The collection of the Kostanay Regional Executive Committee (Oblispolkom) contains a significant number of official documents, primarily organizational and administrative records. For example, Protocol No. 5 from the meeting of the Kostanay Regional Executive Committee on February 6, 1942, addresses the approval of plans for the construction and repair of residential houses for German resettlers [4].

The accompanying estimate for the construction and repair of residential houses for German resettlers who had arrived in Kostanay Region includes information about the number of resettlers and the number of houses required for their accommodation, broken down by district. It is worth noting that from the time preparations began for receiving and resettling German special settlers in Kostanay Region in September 1941, this was the first issue to be included on the agenda of a regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Kostanay Regional Council of Workers' Deputies.

Prior to this document, all matters concerning German special settlers were addressed at closed meetings of the Bureau of the Kostanay Regional Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Kazakhstan (CP(b)K) and the Kostanay Oblispolkom. On the Oblispolkom’s agenda, these matters were listed as "special folder" items and were handled as separate cases under classified record management. These documents were declassified in 1994, are now held in general storage, and are available to users.

One such document, previously marked "top secret," is a decision of the restricted assembly of the Kostanay Oblispolkom dated October 28, 1942, concerning the mobilization of Germans into labor columns and the placement of children of those mobilized, who were left without parents. This document tasked local executive committees of city and district councils with identifying children left without parents due to the mobilization of Germans into labor columns and assigning them either to close relatives or to German collective farms, which were also entrusted with safeguarding the property of the mobilized individuals [5].

From the decision of the Kostanay Oblispolkom dated March 11, 1943, we learn about the resettlement of 100 households from the Peshkovsky District to the Amangeldy District and 50 households from the Urick District to the Turgay District. This resettlement aimed to provide labor for collective farms in districts most remote from the regional center of Kostanay [6]. In a confidential clarification of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR’s decree dated December 1, 1945, sent to the Kostanay Oblispolkom and forwarded to all district executive committees, there is information about including wartime resettled citizens of the USSR, including Germans, in voter lists [7]. The collection of the Kostanay Oblispolkom also includes documents on the renaming of German collective farms in 1947: Neues Feld, Rote Fahne, and Rotes Feld were renamed Druzhny Trud (Friendly Labor), Krasnoye Znamya (Red Banner), and Znamya Sovetov (Banner of the Soviets), respectively [8]. Other documents include records of the presence of special contingents resettled in Kostanay Region in 1952 [9], among others.

Information about Germans awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the medals "For Labor Valour," and "For Distinguished Labor" in the 1950s can be found in the collection of the Kostanay Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan [10]. The collections of the Vvedensky and Ubagansky district executive committees include protocols for awarding the medal "For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945," which also list German surnames [11].

The collection of the Kostanay Regional Department of Public Education contains a file on the reorganization of Tatar, German, and Korean schools in 1938. It notes that starting from September 1, 1938, all national schools in the region, including German schools, were to transition to teaching in Kazakh or Russian, based on the degree of proficiency in these languages and in accordance with the wishes of students and their parents. These schools were reorganized into standard Soviet schools [12]. The document lists 12 primary, 4 incomplete secondary, and one secondary German school subject to reorganization.

The collection of the Semenovsky Village Council includes protocols from general meetings of the citizens of Semenovsky, a settlement predominantly inhabited by Germans. In addition to matters of general organization, these protocols include, for example, the allocation of rations received from the Quaker Society for the famine-stricken population of Semenovsky in 1922 [13] and the distribution of German newspapers in 1927 [14], among other topics.

The collection of the Ozerny Village Council contains similar protocols from 1930, which include information about preparations by kulaks for emigration to America [15], a list of kulaks in the settlement of Ozerny [16], and details about preparations for a purge in the "Neues Leben" collective farm [17].

The archival collection of the Telman Village Council in the Peshkovsky District includes applications from mothers of large families for state benefits in 1942 [18]; a certificate issued by the Peshkov District NKVD department permitting the family of Y. Y. Shefer to move to the settlement of Ozerny to join relatives [19]; correspondence about providing lists of special settlers, court summonses to the regional court, and applications for benefits in connection with labor army conscription [20]; and a letter from the commandant of the Batmanov Commandant’s Office requesting information on special settlers—Germans who had not received livestock to replace what was surrendered during their resettlement [21], among other documents.

In the collection of documents held by the State Archive of Kostanay Region, lists occupy a special place. These lists cover a wide range of topics and are among the most informative types of documents. In the Collection of Documents of Military-Administrative Bodies of Kustanay Uyezd and Province, the documents of the Kustanay Provincial Evacuation Administration for 1921 include lists of Polish citizens subject to repatriation [22]. These lists primarily consist of individuals of German nationality. Similar lists, including those by volosts within Kustanay Uyezd and Province, can also be found in the collection of the Kustanay Provincial Executive Committee of the Councils of Workers', Peasants', and Red Army Deputies [23] and in the collection of the Kustanay Provincial Workers' and Peasants' Militia [24].

The collection of the Kustanay Uyezd Executive Committee of the Councils of Workers', Peasants', and Red Army Deputies includes a list dated July 10, 1923, of churches, prayer houses, mosques, chapels, and other religious structures in Kustanay Uyezd [25], as well as a roster of local administrative bodies, which contains information about Germans [26].

In the collection of the Kustanay Uyezd Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [RCP(b)], there is a list of responsible employees of the Uyezd Committee, Volost Committees, and District Committees of the RCP(b) [27]. The collection of the Kustanay Provincial Committee of the RCP(b) for 1921–1923 includes lists of responsible workers, members of the RCP(b) subject to enumeration, responsible employees of the Provincial Executive Committee elected to the City Council in January 1921, and individuals designated for intra-provincial planned transfers [28]. These lists contain information about figures such as O. A. Kriste, Yakov Schmidt, and P. I. Feitenheimer. In the collection of the Kustanay Provincial Department of National Economy, a list of employees of the Kustanay Provincial Industrial Department for 1922 includes Nelly Yulyevna Berkgan, born in 1899, working as an accountant since February 1922 [29]. These and other documents mentioned above provide insight into the participation of Germans, including women, in the structure of Soviet and party bodies in Kustanay Uyezd and later in the province during the years 1919–1920.

The collection of the Sheminovsky Volost Executive Committee contains a list of citizens residing in the settlement of Ozerny who were subject to the civil tax for 1922–1923. This document includes a detailed enumeration of families in the settlement, specifying ages, occupations, property status, the number of large and small livestock, agricultural tools, and the acreage of various crops [30]. Refugees and temporary residents in Ozerny are listed separately within this document.

The archival collection of the Kostanay Regional Council of People's Deputies contains duplicate copies of the lists of German resettlers who arrived in Kostanay Region in 1941 [31]. These documents are the sole source of information confirming that those deported from the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans were resettled in collective and state farms across the Presnogorkovsk, Mendygarinsk, Zhetygarinsk, Ubagansk, Zatobolsk, Kostanay, Peshkovsk, Urick, Fedorovsk, Ordzhonikidzevsk, and Taranovsk districts. In the Karabalyk District, Germans from Zaporozhye were resettled, while in the Karasusky District, Germans from both the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans and Zaporozhye were placed. For the Semiozersky District, lists of deportees are entirely absent. The lists detail the surname, first name, patronymic, relationship to the head of the family, place of birth, occupation, nationality, place of work, and specialization prior to deportation.

The Telman Village Council in the Peshkovsky District holds lists of men aged 18 to 55 subject to conscription in 1944. These lists exclusively feature German surnames and are part of the Telman Village Council’s collection [32]. Lists of Germans from 1941–1942 are also found in the collections of the Kostanay [33] and Peshkovsky [34] district executive committees, as well as in the Novoshumnoye [35], Satchikovsky [36], Bolshoy-Churakovsky [37] village councils, the Karl Liebknecht Collective Farm in the Fedorovsk District [38], and the Sokilovsky Swine State Farm in the Kostanay District [39].

Personnel-related documents contain much valuable and unique information not available in other archival materials. The most informative are personal files. In addition to general biographical details, many personal files include autobiographies. For instance, it is documented that P. G. Abent "in 1915, due to the formation of regiments, was expelled 85 versts beyond Kostanay to the village of Borovoye..." [40], and that "on September 3, 1918, upon the arrival of Dutov’s bands in Kostanay, all German nationals were expelled from the city to surrounding villages" [41].

In the income distribution records for the 1941 harvest from the Schmidt Collective Farm under the Telman Village Council in the Peshkovsky District, German resettlers are listed separately, with details of the number of labor days worked and the money accrued [42].

The majority of the documents presented provide individual and fragmentary information on the topic. However, with thorough research, they collectively offer a substantial amount of necessary information.

In the State Archive of Kostanay Region, documents from the post-Soviet period include records from the Kostanay Regional Society "Vozrozhdeniye." The collection of the Kostanay Regional Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan contains telegrams related to preparations for the Congress of Germans of the USSR and the Republican Conference of the Society "Vozrozhdeniye" in 1991, as well as documents on the activities of the Kostanay Regional Society "Vozrozhdeniye" during the 1990s.

In the 1992 documents, there is information about the organization of television broadcasting in German [43], the search for a building for the Lutheran community to reconstruct into a church capable of accommodating at least 300–350 people [44], the formation of an organizing committee for the Congress of Germans of Kazakhstan scheduled for October 1992 [45], the preparation and holding of an international football tournament on August 16, 1992, between teams from Augsburg (Germany) and a Kostanay Region German team [46], and the resolution at the governmental level of opening a customs post in Kostanay for inspecting the belongings of emigrants [47], among many other topics.

The 1993 documents cover issues such as organizing a trip for a group of schoolchildren—winners of the regional German language competition—to Germany [48], the reception and distribution of humanitarian aid from Germany among regional hospitals and labor army veterans [49], finding funding to maintain the "Stroitel" House of Culture, which housed and supported the activities of the Kostanay Regional Society "Vozrozhdeniye" [50], and conducting a sociological survey titled "On Ways to Solve the German Question in the Former USSR" by the Sociological Research Laboratory of the Kostanay Agricultural Institute, led by Associate Professor D. A. Dorsch, during 1991–1993 [51].

The collection also includes documents related to the "Days of German Culture of Kazakhstan," held in Kostanay in 1994, featuring 19 creative groups from Kazakhstan and three groups from Saratov, Orenburg, and Rubtsovsk in the Altai Territory of the Russian Federation [52]. The program also included performances by the troupe of the Republican German Drama Theatre named after A. Wellmann from Almaty, and an exhibition by the artist Leonid Brümmer in the exhibition hall.

In 1996, the organizing committee for the event included not only the Akims of Kostanay Region and the city of Kostanay but also A. F. Dederer, Chairman of the Association of Public Organizations of Germans of Kazakhstan "Vozrozhdeniye"; G. G. Martens, Chairman of the International Union of German Culture; members of the Bureau of the Council of Germans of Kazakhstan; the Akims of the cities of Rudny and Zhetygara; and A. P. Rau, Chairman of the Free Economic Zone in Lisakovsk [53].

Audiovisual documents on the history of Germans in Kostanay Region are represented by photo and video materials.

Among the visual sources, notable items include portrait photographs of Heroes of Socialist Labor: Ekaterina Heinrichovna Dekker, a dairy worker at the Kostanay Regional Agricultural Experimental Station (awarded the title on March 22, 1966), photographed in 1974 in the settlement of Zatobolsk [54]; Yakov Yakovlevich Zwinger, chairman of the Engels Collective Farm in Kostanay District and a member of the CPSU since 1940 (awarded the title on March 26, 1966), photographed in 1975 in Kostanay [55]; Alexander Andreevich Shtychling, a brigade leader at the water supply station in Kushmurun and a Merited Innovator of the Kazakh SSR, photographed in 1977 in Kushmurun [56]; Anatoly Yakovlevich Dirksen, secretary of the Kostanay Regional Komsomol Committee and delegate to the XIX Congress of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM), photographed in 1982 in Moscow [57]; Ivan Frank, laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize and delegate to the XVI Congress of the Komsomol of Kazakhstan, photographed in 1985 at the Kachar Mining and Processing Plant in Kachary [58]; and actors of the Almaty German Theatre during their tour in Kostanay in 1996 [59].

Additional photographs include A. Kh. Seidler, a field brigade leader at the Karabatyra State Farm awarded the "For Labor Valour" medal in 1994; G. A. Kirkesner, a mechanic at the Gagarin Educational Farm; A. P. Lang, a mechanic at the Zatobolsky State Farm; P. R. Schmidt, a fitter at the Chapayev Collective Farm; and others awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Another significant image on film captures a group of German writers and journalists in front of the Kostanay Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan during a meeting with Kostanay writers, part of the "Days of Soviet German Literature" in 1990. This photograph was taken by V. Seredenko, a photojournalist for the newspaper Lenin's Path.

In 2002, the Kostanay Regional State Archive received videotapes from the Kostanay Public and Political Society of Germans "Vozrozhdeniye." These tapes contain recordings of the Festival of German Culture held in Kostanay in 1994, which featured participants from Semipalatinsk, Karaganda, Almaty, Akmola, Arkalyk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Orenburg, the Altai Territory, and the Theater Academy of Almaty. The collection also includes recordings of the festival held in Karaganda in 1996 and the Kostanay Regional Festival in 2001. Additionally, the archive received a series of television programs prepared in 2001 by the German-language editorial office of "GutenAben," a project of the Regional Television and Radio Company (RTRC). These programs documented the activities of the Regional Society of Germans "Vozrozhdeniye," including German language courses, the German Meeting Center, the German Cultural Center, the Phoenix Youth Club, and assistance to disabled individuals and labor army veterans. The recordings include video reports about former labor army veterans relaxing at the Gornyak sanatorium, as well as memories of deportation. Most of the material features audio in German. In 2021, a digitization project was conducted for film-based video documents. However, some materials, including memories of labor army veterans, could not be digitized due to film damage.

From the material presented, it is evident that information about the history of Germans in Kostanay Region is scattered across various archival collections, and identifying and processing this information requires significant time and effort.

[1] State Archive of Kostanay Region (SARK). F. R-678. Op. 4. D. 1.

[2] SARK. F. R-1063. Op. 1. D. 17. Ll. 20, 28.

[3] Ibid. L. 16.

[4] Ibid. F. R-268. Op. 1. D. 445. Ll. 185–196.

[5] Ibid. Op. 11. D. 33. L. 40.

[6] SARK. F. R-268. Op. 1. D. 519. L. 283.

[7] Ibid. Op. 11. D. 66. Ll. 19–21.

[8] Ibid. L. 130.

[9] Ibid. Op. 1. D. 519. L. 283.

[10] Ibid. F. P-72. Op. 17. D. 65. Ll. 18–20.

[11] Ibid. F. R-866. Op. 2. D. 8; F. R-242. Op. 4. D. 1.

[12] Ibid. F. R-250. Op. 1. D. 91. Ll. 29–30.

[13] SARK. F. R-57. Op. 2. D. 1. L. 14.

[14] Ibid. D. 6. L. 76.

[15] Ibid. F. R-155. Op. 1. D. 44. L. 26.

[16] Ibid. F. R-155. Op. 1. D. 44. Ll. 40–41.

[17] Ibid. L. 46.

[18] Ibid. F. R-847. Op. 1. D. 4.

[19] Ibid. D. 6. L. 23.

[20] Ibid. D. 7.

[21] Ibid. D. 18. L. 6.

[22] Ibid. F. R-540. Op. 1. D. 54, 55.

[23] Ibid. F. R-72. Op. 1. D. 32, 33, 34.

[24] Ibid. F. R-119. Op. 2. D. 42.

[25] Ibid. F. R-237. Op. 1. D. 149. L. 3.

[26] Ibid. F. R-237. Op. 1. D. 57. Ll. 9, 16.

[27] SARK. F. P-1. Op. 1. D. 76. L. 48.

[28] Ibid. F. P-24. Op. 1. D. 40. Ll. 14, 19, 101; D. 42. Ll. 3–4; D. 274. L. 10.

[29] Ibid. F. R-530. Op. 1. D. 24. L. 27.

[30] Ibid. F. R-167. Op. 1. D. 12. L. 23.

[31] Ibid. F. R-268. Op. 1. D. 401–404.

[32] Ibid. F. R-847. Op. 1. D. 17.

[33] Ibid. F. R-779. Op. 1. D. 222.

[34] Ibid. F. R-407. Op. 1. D. 84.

[35] Ibid. F. R-168. Op. 4. D. 10.

[36] Ibid. F. R-150. Op. 1. D. 19–21.

[37] SARK. F. R-614. Op. 1. D. 6, 12.

[38] Ibid. F. R-395. Op. 1. D. 13–15.

[39] Ibid. F. R-731. Op. 1. D. 7.

[40] Ibid. F. P-24. Op. 6. D. 5.

[41] Ibid. D. 1644. L. 4.

[42] Ibid. F. R-398. Op. 1. D. 3.

[43] Ibid. F. R-917. Op. 3. D. 16. L. 3.

[44] Ibid. Op. 2. D. 17. Ll. 38, 44.

[45] Ibid. L. 40.

[46] Ibid. L. 57.

[47] Ibid. Ll. 75, 101.

[48] SARK. F. R-917. Op. 3. D. 23. Ll. 16, 31.

[49] Ibid. Ll. 124–128.

[50] Ibid. L. 30.

[51] Ibid. D. 24. Ll. 1–3.

[52] Ibid. F. R-688. Op. 1. D. 33. Ll. 37–41.

[53] Ibid. F. R-917. Op. 3. D. 44a. Ll. 1–3.

[54] Ibid. Photo. Op. 1-P. Ed. Uch. 1622.

[55] Ibid. Ed. Uch. 1678.

[56] Ibid. Ed. Uch. 1704.

[57] Ibid. Ed. Uch. 1769.

[58] SARK. Photo. Op. 1-P. Ed. Uch. 1773.

[59] Ibid. Ed. Uch. 1999.