Russian Civil War: Refugees (1917-22)


Figure 1.--Russian Civil War refugees in Siberia unable to find places to live comfortably, have resorted to box cars. Here we see a family, the father of which had his legs frozen off. The photograph was taken in 1919-20. The photograph was taken by an American Red Cross photographer.

World War I (1914-18) created refugees in the western area of the Tsarist Empire. This was not the Russian hearland. Rather it was areas like the Baltics, Poland, and the Ukraine with non-Russian ethnic populations. The Russian Civil War (1919-22) in contrast created refugees fron one emd of the Tsarist Empire to another. The Revolution meaning the Bolshevik Revolution (Novdmber 1917) and resulting Civil War was a catalclismic event in Russian history. The Civil War displaced more than a million people, including a huge number of children, many who had lost their parents. The majority of the refugees were refugees because thed opposed the Bolshevik seizure of power or were fleeing from the Bolshevik terror generated by the Cheka. They refugees mostly sympathised with the Whites fighting on mumerous fronts. The Bolsheviks managed, however, to hold on to the Russian heartland. Many of the educated middle-class was forced to flee their homes. Famine was anoyher factor causing people to flee. As the White Armies failed, many becme emigrees and sought to flee the country. Many who could left Russia for Europe or the Far East. It was difficult to leave, but many managed to do so. The Bolsheviks did not yet have control of the borders. They would eventially essentially close the borders, not wanting Russias problems to be widely known in the Wast. Many reached Constantinople, but chose to eventually settle in the Baltic countries which achieved indepndence at the end of World War I by fighting the Bolsheviks. Russian émigré communities developed in major cities like London, Belgrade, Paris, Berlin, and others. The Cheka from an early point developed international operations, expaned by the NKVD. A major goal was to encourage the émigrés. Some did, midt of whom when be dispatched in dank prisons or disappear into the growing Gulag. An emigre journalist wrote, "Never in the history of Europe has a political cataclysm torn such huge numbers of people from their mother country and from their homes." [Tyrkova-Williams]

Sources

Tyrkova-Williams, Ariadnain. (December 1921 ) British Library Add MS 54466, ff. 93-96., refer to These words, written by Russian journalist and politician






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Created: 6:27 AM 1/11/2017
Last updated: 6:27 AM 1/11/2017