Forced Migration of the Roma to Western Siberia in 1933 as an Element of State Policy of the North Development

The history of the forced migration of Roma in 1933 from Moscow and the Moscow region to Western Siberia and their life in the conditions of a labor settlement was reconstructed. The study was carried out on the basis of correlating the published archival sources identified by the author with memories and testimonies of eyewitnesses and participants in the events recorded in the 1990s - early 2000s. It is shown that the deportation of the Roma to Western Siberia in 1933, despite its ethnic nature, does not fit into the typology of forced ethnic migrations, the “core and defining elements” of which are the total migrations of the “punished peoples.” It is also incorrect to consider that the reason for the deportation of the Roma to Siberia was the recognition of them as a socially harmful and intolerant ethnic group due to their nomadic lifestyle, closed nature, uncontrollability and criminality. It is concluded that the deportation of the Roma to Western Siberia in 1933 should be considered not as a targeted anti-Roma action, but as a failed attempt at forced settlement in the context of general state actions aimed at developing the northern and eastern regions of the country

Physics · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends · Soviet and Russian History

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  Open Access•T Yu Gusakov•Russian Peasant Studies•2022

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