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Russian Old Believers flight abroad Russian Old Believers flight abroad
Russian Old Believers: Flight Abroad
Figure 1.--The caption of this 1978 wire photograph read, "The tradition survives: A young member of the Old Beloevers religious sect takes a break from work in the vinyards near Woodburn, Ore. The Old Believers are a breakaway groupthe Russian Orthodox Church. The community which has settled in Oregon strives like others scattered around the workld to preserve its way of life--including the traditional dress worn here. Now their elders worry tht american freedoms may lure youngsters away from their faith."
Some Old Believers fled Russia to escape persecution. This was the beginning of the establishment of Old Believer communities in Europe. There are important centers in the Ukraine and Romania and eventually around the world, including America and Australia. With the Bolsheviks seizing power (1917), an atheism campaign was launched, more Old Believers sought refuge abroad. Old Believers fled military conscription, Civil War, land seizures, and starvation. Some managed to reach China, building colonies and farms in Manchuria’s Three Rivers Valley. They came under the comtrol of the Japanese (1931). After Stalin seized control of the Soviet state, emigration became virtually impossible. Soviet propaganda heralded the Soviet Union as a workers and peasant paradise. He did not want disgruntled Soviet refugees telling the truth. Some Old Believers managed to emigrate after World War II. With the Communist victory in China (1949), the Old Believers emigrated from China. Some managed to escape from remote Soviet villages. They managed to obtain help in Hong Kong and at western Soviet ports where religious and social charities helped them to emigrate to receptive non-Communist countries. Quite a number settled in Latin America, especially Brazil. We also see some binnBolivia. Unstable conditions in Latin America during the 1960s convinced many to move again. Some found refuge in the United States. There is an Old Believers community in the Oregon Willamette Valley. About 10,000 Old Believers live there, the largest concentration in the United States. These communities y have attracted attention in part because they have prserved some old Russian dialects as ell as customs and trditions. Russia's rural population continues to speak various dialects today. Russian dialects are also used outside Russia, mainly by the Old Believers,
Europe
Some Old Believers fled Russia to escape persecution. This was the beginning of the establishment of Old Believer communities in Europe. There are important centers in the Ukraine and Romania and eventually around the world., . With the Bolsheviks seizing power (1917), an atheism campaign was launched, more Old Believers sought refuge abroad. Old Believers fled military conscription, Civil War, land seizures, and starvation. After Stalin seized control of the Soviet state, emigration became virtually impossible. Soviet propaganda heralded the Soviet Union as a workers and peasant paradise. He did not want disgruntled Soviet refugees telling the truth. Some managed to escape from remote Soviet villages. Today, Romania has about 30,000 Old Believers. Bulgaria had about 1,000. They speak the southern Russian dialect.
China
Many Old Believers settled in Siberia and the Far East. This gave them the oopportunity to reach China by swimming across the Amur River. They built colonies and farms in Manchuria’s Three Rivers Valley. They came under the comtrol of the Japanese (1931). Another group moved from Kazakhstan to western Xinjiang. These two groups did not know each other and therefore had no relations. Until the end of the 1950s, when during the Cultural Revolution the Chinese began forming collective farms. And since they knew very well what these farms were like and what the Soviet government was all about, they did not want to be a part of them. Some Old Believers managed to emigrate after World War II. They managed to obtain help in Hong Kong and at western Soviet ports where religious and social charities helped them to emigrate to receptive non-Communist countries.
Quite a number pf Old Believers settled in Latin America, especially Brazil. Unlike the flight from Russia the exoldus from China was more organized. The Chimese allowed them tomleave. The United Nations, the Red Cross and other charitable organizations assisted them. Two South American countries were willing to take in the Old Believers: Brazil and Chile. But there was an earthquake in Chile and so the Old Believers went to Argentina instead. A big part of them later left for Brazil. Then there was an internal migration. Brazil could not be more different than the Bkack Soil area of Russia they came from. They had suffuiculty adjusting. Brazilian lamd is a red color and the humus is thin, only five centimeters. The Old Believers consulted an agronomist and ask nwhat they could grow. He said nothing unless they heavily fertilized. This is why they began saying that that the earth is soaked in tears and sweat of the Old Believers. The old Believers in the State of Paraná proudly say that this is ‘our Russian Brazilian earth.’
We also see some Old Believers imn and Bolivia. A few also live in Uruguaay. Unstable conditions in Latin America during the 1960s convinced many to move again. The Brazilian military government initiated assimilation polilices. This caused sone to move to Bolivia. They tageted immigrant communities that resisted adopting the Portuguese language and Brazilian cultural norms. And refused to intermarry with Brazilians. Some emoigrated to Neraby Brazil. They settlied in the largely underpopulated and harsh terrains of the Chaco arond Santa Cruz. The Old Believer men mostly farm. The women raise the children and sell handmade textiles and culinary products in Sanya Cruz. The Old Believers s practiced endogamy and only marry other people within their ethnoreligious group. But as they do not marry relatives they need mates from other Old Believer communitie which can be people located at coniuderblke distance.
The Chaco region has a rather large Amer-Indiuan population. Santa Cruz itself mstly populslted by Mestizo and White Bolivians. The Old Believers speak Russian with deach other. They use Spanish and certain Indigenous languages as a kind of lingua francas to communicate with Bolivians. The Old Believers most commonly live around the Ameri-Indian peoolle, often working with them. There tend to be friendly relationships betweenthe two communities. The Old Believers spend less time with theThe urban population of Mestizos and Whites (Hispoanics) in Santa Cruz. This they tend to be more stand offish and a little suspicious. Interestingly, the Chaco region of Bolivia is also home to another notable uropean relgious immigrant group--the Mennonite. They share some overlapping cultutal experiences.
United States
Some found refuge in the United States. A group Old Believers who call themselves Turchani. They had lived in Turkey (until the eraly-1960s). They are descendants of the Nekrasov Cossacks, who in the beginning of the 18th century were led by Ignat Nekrasov out of Russia and would not return ‘while a tsar was governing Russia.’ And that is how it happened.
They speak a southern Russian dialect. In the middle of the Cold War there was a bout between the USSR and the US over these Cossacks. Itb ended up as adraw. One village moved to the State of Oregon, another to Stavropol, a city in southwestern Russia. The Oregon group farms in the Willamette Valley. About 10,000 Old Believers are there, the largest concentration in America. .
Oceania
A few Old Believers found refuge in Australia. Some belong to the same community that settled in in South America. Quite a few are Cossacks there.
Sources
Kramer, Linda. APN stry on the Old Believers (July 23, 1978).
