02:47, 19 March 2026

The anniversary of the beginning of the Kalmyk rehabilitation went unnoticed in the republic.

The 70th anniversary of the Kalmyk people's rehabilitation passed without any commemorative events in Kalmykia. Residents of the region interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" stated that the national tragedy was being forgotten.

On March 17, 1956, the official press of the USSR published a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which lifted the special settlement regime and administrative supervision for Kalmyks. From that time on, a gradual process of rehabilitation of the Kalmyks began, lasting 35 years and culminating on April 26, 1991, with the adoption of RSFSR Law No. 1107-1 "On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples," historian Andrei Kudinov told a "Caucasian Knot correspondent.

82 years ago, on December 27, 1943, Operation "Ulusy" began—the liquidation of the Kalmyk ASSR, the division of its territory between Stavropol Krai, Stalingrad Oblast, and the newly created Astrakhan Oblast, and, starting on December 28, 1943, the deportation of the Kalmyks. About 95,000 people were subject to forced deportation, according to a "Caucasian Knot" report. Non-Kalmyk women married to Kalmyks were also registered and subjected to all the necessary repressions. Meanwhile, Kalmyk women married to non-Kalmyks were not registered. From the deportation until April 1946, 14,343 Kalmyk settlers were recorded as having died, despite the Kalmyk birth rate being extremely low.

"The price of the so-called 'mistakes' of Stalin and his government is extremely high. These are not just broken destinies, destroyed farms, and confiscated property—these are the lives of people who were turned into victims of a totalitarian regime through force and lies." "The Kalmyks shared the fate of many peoples of the North Caucasus and Crimea, the Cossacks, the Volga Germans, the peoples of the Baltics and Moldova, and the wealthy peasantry," Kudinov stated.

Discussing the number of Kalmyk victims during the years of repression, the historian noted the insufficient research on this topic. As an example, he cited the opinion of the renowned scholar Pavel Polyan, who believed that the Kalmyks had the "highest mortality rate among the repressed peoples." According to Polyan, 44,125 members of this people had died in deportation areas by August 1, 1948. After their return to their homeland, the census showed that the Kalmyk population was only 78.9% of the 1939 level. At the same time, the "Book of Memory of the Kalmyk People" states that the total population losses among the Kalmyks were much greater, exceeding half their total number at the time of the deportation.

"I was in Elista recently, driving through the Kalmyk steppes. In my opinion, there aren't enough memorial sites there, and those that exist are in a state of disrepair. The main monument is "Exodus and Return" (sculptor Ernst Neizvestny). I inspected it in the winter; it's in good condition, but it's clear that some areas need restoration. The monument is 30 years old, which is a long time. In the center of Elista, in a public garden, there used to be a memorial to the victims of the genocide (Monument to the victims of Stalin's genocide, in memory of Kalmyk soldiers deported from the Red Army - note from the "Caucasian Knot"). Although this monument is listed as a cultural heritage site, its condition was deplorable. It stood somewhere in the outskirts (behind the Rodina Cinema, - Caucasian Knot note), next to construction debris. It was recently moved to the Exodus and Return memorial (to the eastern site, - Caucasian Knot note). Its current condition is difficult to say," Kudinov stated.

The decision to deport the Kalmyks as a "meaning of settling the interethnic conflict" was accelerated by accusations of the 110th Kalmyk Cavalry Division's surrender. The first wave of deportations included 91,919 people, including many elderly and children. In January 1944, they were joined by another 1,014. Since the deportation took place in the dead of winter, the mortality rate during transportation was extremely high, and typhus epidemics frequently broke out in the resettlement areas. In 1944, the deportation of Kalmyks continued with the expulsion of those living outside the Kalmyk ASSR—in the Rostov and Stalingrad regions, from where more than 3,500 people were sent into exile. Those demobilized from the army also arrived in batches, according to Pavel Polyan's book "Not of Their Own Will," published in 2001.

According to him, Kalmyk historians are currently discouraged from conducting research on the deportation and political repression. "The topic appears to have been informally closed. And not only in Kalmykia." "This problem, it seems, is now widespread throughout Russia," the historian concluded.

There was no talk of making demands. Some tried, but fighting the system was futile.

Few remember the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the rehabilitation of the Kalmyk people, said Kalmyk public figure Valery Badmayev. "In March 1956, there was only permission for free movement within the resettlement areas. The main document allowing repressed peoples to return to their homeland was adopted almost a year later, in 1957. "In Kalmykia, everyone focuses on 1957, which is why the exile is considered to have lasted more than 13 years," Badmayev explained.

The first step in the political and civil rehabilitation of the "punished peoples" was the lifting of restrictions on special settlements between May 1955 and July 1956. At this stage, none of the "punished peoples" had yet received the legitimate right to return to their homeland and, therefore, had no advantage over others, as noted in Pavel Polyan's book. The right to return to their former place of residence was granted to Kalmyks, as well as Balkars, Karachays, Chechens, and Ingush, on January 25, 1957.

A "Caucasian Knot" correspondent asked residents of Kalmykia to share their family stories of deportation. As it turns out, many know nothing about this period in the lives of older generations. For example, Valery Badmayev, "despite being born in Siberia in 1951," can't speak about the deportation period. "In our family, no one talked about it during Soviet times or even in the 1990s. And it was during those years that all my elders—my mother, father, uncles, and aunts—died," Valery explained.

Badmayev noted that his parents' compensation amounted to three thousand rubles. They received it in 1989. "In Kalmykia, they said the Chechens and Ingush received 25 thousand rubles each... There was no talk of demanding anything. "Some tried, but it was useless to fight the system," Valery said.

On February 23, 1944, Operation Lentil began, during which nearly 500,000 Chechens and Ingush were deported en masse from the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. More details about these events and their consequences can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Deportation of Chechens and Ingush".

Tseren Basangov, a native of Kalmykia and now living in Moscow, said that the older generation of his family never shared stories of their expulsion with him. "I would have told them if I knew. Unfortunately, my elders rarely talked about it. "More precisely, I showed little interest when I had the opportunity," Tseren said.

Elena Kaldaeva works in public utilities. She also lamented that she "at the time" didn't write down her family history, and that older relatives "carefully avoided the topic." "When relatives and elders gathered, they never talked about deportation. One day, my grandmother told my father something about her parents. It was the first time I heard they lived in Siberia. I was surprised then – what were they doing there?" Elena said.

Neither Kaldaeva nor Basangov could say whether their parents and older relatives received compensation during their rehabilitation years, as they have no such information. Elena Kaldayeva also told the journalist that on March 17, 2026, the media "had no information whatsoever about this memorable date."

"There were reports about winter crops, about ticks, about the 'Russia Forward' holiday. But there was not a word about the beginning of rehabilitation, about the people's tragedy. We only celebrate the anniversary on December 28, the day of the deportation," the woman said.

History student Garik Azidov, who lives in Stavropol Krai, said he comes from a mixed Kalmyk-Korean family. In the 1990s, he "managed to ask my Kalmyk grandmother" about the tragedy of the deportation. She recounted that in the late 1930s, her great-grandfather and great-grandmother worked in a sheep-breeding cooperative on the border with Stavropol Krai. In 1942, her great-grandfather was drafted into the Red Army and fought in the 51st Army, which defended the southern approaches to Stalingrad. The head of the family "was assigned to a cavalry regiment," while her great-grandmother and the cooperative fled from the Germans to the Astrakhan region. "When Stalin carried out Operation Ulusy on December 27-28, 1943, my grandparents were deported to Siberia, to the northern Omsk region. First, my great-grandmother, and then, two months later, my grandfather, were discharged from the army. There, in Siberia, they were reunited. "The old people first worked in logging, then what they did—I don't know, they didn't tell," a young Kalmyk recalls the family's story.

There was no stove in their train car, and it was very cold. The deportees were supposed to be fed at the stations, but they weren't. The bodies of those who died of hunger and cold were simply dumped at the small stations like firewood.

Garik's grandmother and her three sisters were born near Omsk. There, according to the grandmother, they suffered from severe hunger and freezing in the first years; one girl died of illness. "According to the grandmother, her mother told me that when the Kalmyks were transported to Siberia in trains, there was no stove in their train car, and it was very cold. The deportees were supposed to be fed at the stations, but they weren't. The bodies of those who died of hunger and cold were simply dumped at the small stations like firewood. "My great-grandmother miraculously reached the final station. "But what happened to my great-grandfather, how he was kicked out of the army, is completely unknown," Azidov said.

When asked whether the Azidov family received compensation during rehabilitation, Garik replied that "it was mere pennies," and that "the elderly knew nothing at all about the benefits they were entitled to." "The rehabilitation was incomplete. Apparently, the NKVD officers, when escorting the Kalmyks home, warned them not to talk or demand anything, so everyone remained silent. My great-grandfather died early, and my great-grandmother lived to be 90. There are no surviving photographs." "All the albums were destroyed in a fire in the late 1980s," Garik concluded.

The NKVD officers, escorting the Kalmyks home, warned them not to talk or make demands, so everyone remained silent.

A Kalmyk journalist told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent his family story on condition of anonymity, concealing the names of his relatives. His ancestors lived in Kalmykia during the early years of Soviet power. In the 1930s, his grandfather was drafted into the army, participated in the "Finnish campaign," and "said he was a clerk, and he really did have very beautiful handwriting." In 1944, he was demobilized and sent to Shiroklag.

"From there, in 1946, he went to Tyumen, where he married my grandmother. She, in turn, was looking for her son, who had been sent on a different train. She reached Tyumen, found her son, and met my grandfather," the journalist said.

His maternal grandfather, for some unknown reason, was separated from the train during one of its stops. "He wandered through the forest at random and came to a town in the Urals. He stayed there and got married. My maternal grandmother was Russian, from Perm," the man explained.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/421735