Abstract
The purpose of the article is to analyze the content of the Russian government's repressive policy (with a particular focus on a specific region and the economic aspect) during the First World War and its consequences for the empire's subjects of German origin. The methodology of the study is based on the application of historiographical and source study methods, as well as tools from national and imperial studies, and economic history. The scientific novelty is that the issues of implementing the mechanism of expropriation of German colonists’ property in the Volhynia province and the inability of the authorities to utilize it rationally for the benefit of the state are revealed for the first time. Conclusions. With the outbreak of the First World War, the Russian government launched a large-scale external and internal anti-German campaign. Through propaganda, it created a hostile image of Russian citizens of German origin, thereby justifying the deprivation of their civil and property rights to the public. In the Right-Bank Ukraine, the German community of the Volhynia province suffered the most, with the majority residing in hundreds of agricultural German colonies across the region. The property and lands of approximately 150 000 – 160 000 Volhynian German colonists were sequestered, and they were deported deeper into Russia. The sequestration of property from the German colonists later transformed into an outright redistribution of wealth in favor of those who called themselves representatives of «Russian interests». The properties of the deported colonists were largely used by local authorities to house refugees from the occupied districts of the province and Galicians, as well as for the needs of the army and government structures. There were also recorded instances of unauthorized settlement of residents in the colonists’ buildings and the use of German farms for the personal interests of officials. The irrational use of the sequestered property and lands of the German community, amidst the war, further deepened the socio-economic crisis in the region. Failures in the imperial government’s policies could not be quickly overcome, even by the representatives of the Ukrainian government, which closely collaborated with the Provisional Government. By the end of 1917, the exiled Germans began returning to their destroyed houses and devastated farms, most of which were inhabited by refugees. This situation contributed to the spread of emigration sentiments among the Volhynian Germans, significantly reducing their number in the region.
Published Version
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