Ukrainians in Siberia

The first Ukrainians in Siberia appeared in the 17th century, mainly Cossacks and exiles.

The mass settlement of Siberia by Ukrainians began in the second half of the seventies and eighties of the XIX century and increased sharply after the construction of the western and central branches of the Trans-Siberian Railway , which was built in 1895-1905 from both ends ( Vladivostok and the Urals ). Colonization gained particular scope as a result of the Stolypin reform - it endowed landless peasants from the European part of the country with free lands in Siberia. Ukrainians settled mainly near this railway, mainly in villages, and were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry ^{[4] [5]} .

In 1897, Ukrainians already made up 4.1% of the population of Western Siberia (140,000 people in Tomsk and Tobolsk provinces), in Eastern Siberia they lived mainly in the Yenisei province (3.8% or 210,000 people) ^[6] .

The number of Ukrainians who resettled in Siberia , already by 1910 amounted to more than 650 thousand people, among whom were immigrants from the following provinces ^[7] :

Another wave of resettlement occurred in the 1930s: famine in Ukraine 1932-1933 . forced to seek salvation in the grain-growing Siberian regions. The immigrants of this wave did not establish new settlements, but found refuge in already equipped villages, traveling mainly to relatives, acquaintances. With the beginning of collectivization, the dispossessed begin to be exiled to Siberia ^[8] . Subsequently, the number of resettled Ukrainians increased due to other repressive measures ^[5] .

During the Second World War, the number of industrial enterprises and Ukrainian specialists evacuated to Siberia was significant ^[9] , and after the war ended, the process of deportation of Ukrainians from the western regions of Ukraine to Siberia began. So, for example, since 1947, Ukrainians from the Rivne, Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv regions appeared in the Omsk region. Most of the special settlers were located in the northern regions, in special settlements. After rehabilitation in 1956, some of the deportees returned to their homes, but many lost contact with relatives in Ukraine and remained living in Siberia ^[8] .

Since the 1950s, many Ukrainians settled in Siberia during the campaign for the development of virgin lands and the large-scale construction of industrial facilities.

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Ukrainians moved to Siberia to work in enterprises of the oil and gas extraction and fuel and energy sectors, as well as for the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway ^[5] . This migration continued in the post-Soviet era, albeit on a smaller scale.

The migration of Ukrainians to Siberia continued even after the collapse of the USSR, along with Ukrainian citizens, ethnic Ukrainians from other CIS countries continue to move to Siberia, primarily from Kazakhstan.

The number of Ukrainians and Russians in the western districts of the Siberian Territory according to the results of the 1926 All-Union Population Census ^{[10] [11]} :

The number of Ukrainians, Kazakhs and Russians in the provinces (districts) of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (at that time in the RSFSR) geographically related to Siberia (Northern Kazakhstan) according to the census of 1926 ^{[12] [13] [14]} :

According to the results of the 1926 All-Union population census, we can conclude that there is a significant presence of Ukrainian colonization in Siberia, the number of which in the Siberian Territory of the RSFSR was 827 536 people ^[10] , in the provinces of Northern Kazakhstan - more than 600 thousand people, while the total number of Ukrainians in The RSFSR was 7,873,331 people ^[15] .

At this time and until the beginning of the 1930s, teaching in schools was carried out in the Ukrainian language. Since 1933, all schools have been translated into the Russian language of instruction and the Ukrainian language was used only in everyday life ^[5] .

The processes of assimilation are caused by the blurring of Ukrainian self-identification due to the lack of a sufficient number of Ukrainian national-cultural centers, the virtual lack of education in the Ukrainian language among the multimillion-strong Ukrainian ethnic community of the Russian Federation. Ukrainian Siberians (as well as descendants of Belarusian, Polish Siberians), having a Ukrainian origin and surname, often indicate their nationality as “Russians”. This is the main reason for the decrease in the official number of Ukrainians in Siberia and other regions of Russia according to censuses ^[16] .

Dynamics of the number of Ukrainians by region of Siberia, according to the results of population censuses:

According to the 2010 All-Russian Census, the number of Ukrainians in the Siberian Federal District is 227 353 people ^{[1] [2]} , including: in the Omsk Region (51.8 thousand), Krasnoyarsk Territory (38.0 thousand), Altai Territory (32.2 thousand), Irkutsk region (30.8 thousand), Kemerovo region (22.2 thousand), Novosibirsk region (22.1 thousand) and other regions.

The largest number of Ukrainians live in the Tyumen region (157.3 thousand people, including the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug , where 91.3 thousand Ukrainians, and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug , where 49.0 thousand Ukrainians) are administratively subordinate to the Urals Federal District , but geographically located in Siberia . The largest share of Siberian Ukrainians is observed mainly in the northern regions: the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (9.7%), the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (6.4%), while the actual number of citizens of Ukrainian origin or last name significantly exceeds official data.

Due to the fact that a significant number of Ukrainian citizens live and work on a rotational basis in the Tyumen region, the Consulate General of Ukraine was opened in Tyumen, the National Cultural Autonomy of the Tyumen Region "United Motherland" and the Association of Ukrainians of the Tyumen Region, the Regional Ukrainian National cultural autonomy of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (Surgut), the city national cultural autonomy “Krinitsya” (Langepas), the cultural and educational society “Ukraine” (Nizhnevartov ck), the National Cultural Autonomy "Ukrinska Rodina" (Surgut), the Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Yamal and the Ukrainian cultural and business center "Novy Urengoy" ^[16] .

In Novosibirsk in November 1989, a local organization, the Ukrainian Language Society named after T. G. Shevchenko "Enlightenment", at the end of 1991 the Novosibirsk Regional Ukrainian Cultural Center was formed , at which the choir ensemble "Smerichka" and the vocal group "Troyanda" are operating . Every year, in the rural areas of the region and in Novosibirsk, the holiday “Sorochinskaya Fair” is held ^[16] .

The growth of ethnic identity, the increasing role of the Ukrainian language in places of compact residence of Ukrainians in the macroregion is facilitated by Ukrainian national-cultural autonomy. Significant work on the preservation and development of Ukrainian culture in Siberia is carried out by Ukrainian national-cultural associations - the Center of Ukrainian Culture "Dzherelo" (Tomsk), the Siberian Center of Ukrainian Culture "Gray Wedge" (Omsk), the Krasnoyarsk Regional National-Cultural Autonomy "Ukrasha", Ukrainian the national and cultural diaspora "Vatra" (Abakan), the Public cultural and national organization "Ukraine" (Norilsk), the Ukrainian social and cultural community of them. T. Shevchenko “Krinitsya” (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)), Ukrainian cultural center “Dnipro” (Irkutsk), Association of Ukrainians “Promin” (Ulan-Ude), Society of Ukrainian Culture of Primorsky Territory, Vladivostok Ukrainian Society “Prosvita” , etc. ^{[ 16]} .

These organizations carry out mainly educational, concert activities, celebrate national holidays, spend days of Ukrainian culture, festivals of amateur art groups, organize exhibitions of Ukrainian books and products of national decorative and applied arts, try to organize Ukrainian libraries, radio and television programs. So, the national cultural autonomy "Uprising" in Krasnoyarsk annually organizes the Day of Ukrainian Culture, the Ukrainian choir "Periwinkle" operates here . In Omsk, the Ukrainian folklore ensemble, the vocal and instrumental group “Oriy Klin”, was created. The efforts of a number of these organizations hold Far Eastern festivals of Ukrainian culture (November 2002, Khabarovsk; April 2005, Spassk-Dalniy; September 2006, Fokino) ^[16] .

One of the significant events in the life of the Ukrainian diaspora in Siberia was the unveiling of a monument to the Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko in Novosibirsk on the street bearing his name. The grand opening took place on September 29, 2015 with the participation of the authorities and the public of the city ^{[24] [25]} .

The monument is a granite pedestal two and a half meters high, on which a bronze bust of Taras Shevchenko is mounted, which holds a book with his left hand and the palm of his right hand lies on his chest in the heart area. Behind the monument they planted a branch of the Shevchenko willow, which the poet planted when he was in exile on the Mangyshlak peninsula in Kazakhstan ^[24] .

Next to the monument to Taras Shevchenko, on a vertical granite slab there is a quote in Ukrainian: “Let’s hug, my brothers. I beseech you, I beseech ” ^[24] .

1. Kabuzan V.M. Ukrainians in the world: dynamics of numbers and distribution. 20s of the XVIII century - 1989: the formation of ethnic and political borders of the Ukrainian ethnic group. Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences. - Moscow: Nauka, 2006 .-- 658 p. ISBN 5-02-033991-1
2. Bohdan Nahaylo. The Ukrainian Resurgence . - Hurst, 1999-01-01. - 648 p. - ISBN 9781850651680 .
3. Ukrainian mov in Siberia and on the Far Descent. // Ukrainian Move: Encyclopedia / Editorial: Rusanіvsky V.M. (spіvgolova), Taranenko O. О. (spіvgolova), M.P. Zyablkzh that іn. - 2nd view., Vypr. i additional - K .: View of “Ukr. encyclical. ”im. M.P. Bazhan, 2004 .-- 824 s: іл. І8ВН 966-7492-19-2
4. Vic Satzewich. The Ukrainian Diaspora . - Routledge, 2003-09-02. - 284 p. - ISBN 9781134434954 .
5. Lipin Alexey Mikhailovich Ukrainian immigrants in Western Siberia (second half of the 19th-early 20th centuries) // News of Altai State University. - 1999 .-- S. 4.
6. Zavyalov A.V. Social adaptation of Ukrainian immigrants: monograph / A.V. Zavyalov. - Irkutsk: Publishing house of the ISU, 2017 .-- 179 p.