Stalinist Ethnic Minorities

Question 1

What did Stalinist policies late 1930s veer towards?

Answer 1

-greater centralisation + less tolerance ethnic groups
-sought create single ‘Soviet identity’

Question 2

What did nationalism mean under Stalin?

Answer 2

-Russian nationalism + leaders diff repubs in USSR purged as ‘burzhui nationalists’ if deviated from path in Moscow

Question 3

What happened from 1938?

Answer 3

-learning Rus lang compulsory in all Soviet schools
-Russian only lang used in red army

Question 4

What were the deportations in the 1930s like?

Answer 4

-internal, forced migrations + started with Finns 1929-31 + 1935-39
-poles, Ukrainians + European Russia 1932-36

Question 5

What happened with the deportations in 1937?

Answer 5

-Koreans deported in far east Rus
-Stalin divided Central Asia into 5 republics + forced migrations muslims

Question 6

How did anti-Semitic attitudes revive?

Answer 6

-revived in 30s in rural areas during campaigns against ‘saboteurs’
-2m Jews incorporated into Soviet Union 1939-40 due to invasion eastern Poland + Baltic - rabbis arrested

Question 7

What did Stalin remain welcomed to?

Answer 7

-inter-marriage welcomed as way assimilating different national groups
-most campaigns politically + not racially motivated

Question 8

What was the invasion of Eastern Europe and the Baltic republics?

Answer 8

-under terms of nazi-Soviet ‘non-aggression treaty’ Aug 1939 secret protocol granted USSR influence in Baltic states, Finland, eastern Poland + Bessarabia

Question 9

What happened

Answer 9

-assured of Rus neutrality Ger invaded Poland 1 Sept + then red army entered from east
-troops carried arrests + executions + then USSr invaded other areas which became incorporated into sov union