THE HISTORY OF THE REPATRIATION OF KAZAKH REFUGEES FROM THE CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS TO THEIR HOMELAND IN THE 1930s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56525/1wjf4p20Keywords:
collectivization , refugees, forced migration, nomadic exodus, re-evacuation, return migrationAbstract
Despite the closed nature of Soviet society, the population of the USSR was characterized by a high level of internal migration, while the borders between the Soviet republics, serving primarily administrative functions, rarely constituted barriers to migration flows.
The study of the return of Kazakh refugees from the Central Asian republics to their homeland during the 1930s contributes to a better understanding of the extent to which migration processes in the USSR were regulated and facilitates the identification of the principal causes of return migration. This article aims to analyze the socio-economic factors that led to the migration of Kazakhs to the republics of Central Asia and their subsequent repatriation during the period of Soviet economic modernization.
The research is based on the analysis of primary and supplementary sources obtained from library collections and archival repositories. The principal sources for investigating the history of the return of Kazakhs from the Soviet republics of Central Asia are documentary materials discovered in the archives of post-Soviet states, the majority of which have not yet been introduced into scholarly circulation.
The issue of refugee migration and repatriation is examined as an integral component of the Soviet government's program for the modernization of the country's socio-economic system. The policy of forced collectivization was accompanied by the compulsory sedentarization of nomadic households, while nomads who lost a substantial portion of their livestock were compelled to leave Kazakhstan. These developments disrupted the natural dynamics of migration processes.
Internal migration during the Soviet period was characterized by large-scale voluntary and forced population movements driven by economic and administrative policies aimed at meeting the labor demands of the rapidly industrializing economy.
