Russian Emigration of the First Wave in Germany: Humanitarian and Legal aspects of Adaptation, 1917-1920s

Abstract

The article discusses the activities of Russian humanitarian, professional and public organizations in determining the legal status of Russian migrants in Europe and providing legal assistance to refugees and Russian legal entities in exile in 1917 - 1920s, as well as the trade unions of Russian lawyers in exile and their activities of legal assistance to their compatriots. The author examines the foreign policy of different states concerning the legal discrimination of Russian refugees and the geopolitical context in which the legal integration of Russian emigration took place in the societies of host countries. The study views the Russian humanitarian and legal activity as a factor in preserving the civic identity of these emigrants. The methodological basis on which this research is based is the principles of historicism and systematicity, which imply the application of the chronological method in the research process, as well as the methods of retrospection, periodization and actualization. The article explores for the first time in historiography the little-studied page in the history of Russian emigration: the creation in Germany in the 1920s of an effective system of humanitarian and legal assistance to Russian refugees aimed at clarifying their legal status and restoring the legal existence of Russian commercial enterprises in exile. For the first time in historiography, the author examines the ability of the emigrant community to self-organize in order to assert its rights in a foreign language and foreign culture society.The factors that significantly complicated the Russian emigrants' humanitarian and legal status, thereby also hindering their integration into European society, included: the long irresolution of their legal status; the significant number of legal obstacles; the ineffectiveness of officials with respect to the refugees' actual lack of rights; the legal conflict in international law that arose with the emergence of the Russian emigration phenomenon; and the unprecedented humanitarian and legal crisis of the post First World War period in Europe. Under these conditions, the Russian emigrant community nonetheless managed to develop effective mechanisms to help its compatriots in the legal sphere.