The National and Confessional Policy of P. N. Wrangel’s Regime

Abstract

This paper examines the main directions of P. N. Wrangel’s national and confessional policy in Crimea in 1920. The study aims to determine the specifics of national and confessional policy implementation during P. N. Wrangel’s political regime regarding various population groups. The research methodology relies on the principles of critical analysis of periodicals and private sources, many of which have never been studied previously. More particularly, the authors talk about data from Crimean newspapers published in 1920 (such as Yuzhnye Vedomosti, Tavricheskiy Golos, Krymskiy Vestnik, etc.), which are practically unknown to researchers, as well as the memoirs of the participants of the events, i. e. officers and residents. Due to the peculiarities of the era, these materials are the foundation for the qualitative development and understanding of the state policy implementation in the ethno-confessional sphere. The fundamental innovation of this work is a comprehensive approach to the issue. The authors try to analyse the actions of the national and ethnic communities of Crimea at the final stage of the Civil War. They emphasise the importance of the national question in the activities of the government in the South of Russia, as well as identify the historical features of the region, which traditionally influenced the ethnic and religious lifestyle, which the new administration could not disregard. The main results of the study are related to the demonstration of the following provisions: in contrast to A. I. Denikin’s regime, P. N. Wrangel’s regime made fundamental concessions regarding national and confessional groups, paying attention to the Crimean Tatars. At the same time, at the official level, the regime positioned itself primarily as Orthodox, which was emphasised in its leaders’ rhetoric and propaganda. Attention is paid to such a little-known story as the emigration of certain ethnic groups from Crimea during P. N. Wrangel’s regime.