Die Siberiendeutschen im Sowjetstaat 1919-1938 by Detlef s> Brandes Andrej Savin (review)

Abstract

762 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 Baltic States, who spent much of the early I920S in Finland and gave important advice to British decision-makers. Sundback also fails to exploit that fount of pertinent information, the private papers of Rex Leeper, even though the studyconstantlyrefersto Leeper'scentral role in the Department of PoliticalIntelligence. More importantly,the study suffersfrom a lack of adequate contextualization . The 'Baltic' is throughout treated as a somehow self-contained and sealed arena, separateboth from Britishpolicy towardsBolshevikRussia and from the highly pertinent high political and geo-strategicdeliberationsat the Parispeace conference.A wealth of recentscholarshipexistson thesecontexts, but Sundbackhas based his briefcontextualizingoverviewspredominantlyon outdated surveys. He treats the minutes and memoranda of lower-level diplomatsasthe be-all of ForeignOfficethinkingon Finlandand on the Baltic area. This may be illustrativeof the modus operandi of those bureaucratswhose only responsibilitywas to follow Finnishdevelopmentsand to give advice, but a proper contextualizationand evaluationof such individuals'thinkingwould have required more attention also to Department heads and to the (War) Cabinet. As it is, this study's'Baltic'remains a curiouslydisembodied entity, cut offfromother contexts and considerations. Despite these drawbacks,the study offersvaluable insightsand fillsseveral gaps in scholarlyliteratureon Anglo-Finnish relations. Carefullyresearched and documented, it providesthe mostcomprehensivereconstructionavailable of the thinking and policy formation of non-decision-making Foreign Office and Trade Department officialsdealing with Finland in the early I92os. For those workingin relatedareas,it shouldmake usefulreading. Universityof Tampere MARKKU RUOTSILA Brandes, Detlef and Savin, Andrej. Die Siberaendeutschen im Sowjjetstaat I9I9-I938. Veroffentlichungenzur Kulturund Geschichte im ostlichen Europa, I9. Klartext, Essen, 200I. viii + 495 pp. Tables. Maps. Bibliography .Indexes. DM 48.oo. FROM the last decade of the nineteenth century to I914 tens of thousands of Russian-Germansjoined the mass migration of Russia's population to settle new lands in Siberia. Most came from the areas settled by colonists in the eighteenth century or from daughter settlementsinhabited by their descendants . They included Catholics, Lutherans and particularly Mennonitesperhaps the most successful of Russia's foreign colonists in the nineteenth century. In Siberia they settled in a number of locations in the western and eastern regions usually founding agriculturalcommunities. In spite of initial difficulties adjusting to local conditions they appeared likely to prosper as successfullyas many of their relativesin other areas of the Empire. The First World War, revolution and civil war and the establishment of Soviet power was to change thissituation. This book is a detailed study of the fate of the Siberian German settlers based primarily on archival collections in regional state archives of Altai, Novosibirsk and Omsk. Written by a young Russian scholar in association REVIEWS 763 with a leading Germanacademic, thebookpresentsa massof new information farexceeding all otheraccounts to date. The basic structureof the book is chronological startingwith the Soviets' early attempts to enforce their authority and the chaos of grain requisition during and after the Civil War. The chapters then move through the New Economic Policy, collectivization, dekulakization, famine and finally the Great Terror.The last period, however, is not dealt with in as much detail as the I920s and early '3os and more researchis needed on thisperiod. The first five chapters are largely the work of Savin who has obviously considerable knowledge of sources as in these chaptersarchivalreferencesare particularly detailed. Within the chronological structurea number of key issues are examined. These include religious policy, education and youth, control of local government, economic reconstructionand the impact of attemptsby communities to emigrateabroad. Of interestto myselfare the extensive referencesto Mennonites. Following the Civil War, Mennonites in the USSR formed two importantorganizations,in Ukrainethe Verband der Burger Hollandischer Herkunft (VBH) and, coveringthe RussianFederationincludingSiberia,theAllrussischer Mennonitischer Landwirtschaftlicher Verein(AMLV) based in Moscow. Both organizationswere officiallyregisteredby the Soviets, the firstin accordance with Soviet nationalitiespolicies and the second more on economic grounds although remarkablyit included a religious name in its title. Both organizations continued Mennonite strategiesestablishedin Tsaristtimes to maintain a high degree of autonomy notjust in religiousmatters,but also in economic, social and political affairs. Their existence is perhaps unique in the early Soviet period but somewhat inevitably the VBH was closed in I925 and the AMLV in I926, although as the book shows in Siberia its local organization continued to operate into I930. The activitiesof the ALMV are dealt with in detail on...