{{Short description|Mass persecution of Greeks in the Soviet Union}} {{cs1 config|name-list-style=vanc}} {{For outline|Outline of the Great Purge (Soviet Union)}} {{For timeline|Timeline of the Great Purge}} {{Infobox civilian attack | title = Greek Operation of the NKVD | partof = National operations of the NKVD, the deportations of Soviet Greeks, and the Great Purge | image = Greek deportations in the USSR.jpg | caption = Deportation of Greeks in the USSR. | location = Soviet Union (modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and others) | target = Ethnic Greeks in the Soviet Union | date = 1937{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=64}}–1950 | type = Prison shootings, deportation | fatalities = 15,000{{sfn|Gkikas|2007|p=254}}<ref name="Greeks of the Steppe">{{cite news|newspaper=Washington Post| title=Greeks of the steppe | date=November 12, 2012| author=Will Englund|access-date=30 June 2018| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/greeks-of-the-steppe/2012/11/10/b7ff79de-24ec-11e2-9313-3c7f59038d93_story.html?noredirect=on| author-link=Will Englund }}</ref>–50,000{{sfn|Agtzidis|1991|pp=372–382}} | perps = NKVD security forces<br>Joseph Stalin | weapons = }} {{Population transfer}}
The '''Greek Operation'''{{Efn|In Greece, ''Grecheskaya Operatsiya'' is also known with the transliteration ''Gretseskayia Operatsia'' as that is how it was printed in various publications.<ref name="ka"/><ref name="vo">[http://www.voiceofgreece.gr/index.php?option=com_content&id=777&task=view&month=6&year=2008 Day of Remembrance for the Greeks of Pontus], an article by Voice of Greece</ref> In Greek, it is known as ''Ελληνική Επιχείρηση'',<ref name="ka"/> which means "Greek Operation".}} ({{langx|ru|Греческая Операция|translit=Grecheskaya Operatsiya}}; {{langx|uk|Грецька Операція|translit=Hretska Operatsiia}}; {{langx|el|Ελληνική επιχείρηση}}) was an organised mass persecution of the Greeks of the Soviet Union that was ordered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, primarily motivated by widespread distrust of Greek populations living in the Black Sea Region and also for the availability of resources.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=34}} Greeks often use the term "pogrom" (πογκρόμ) for this persecution.<ref name="ka">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110928092420/http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_100073_09/12/2007_252017 Το πογκρόμ κατά των Ελλήνων της ΕΣΣΔ], ''ΕΛΛΑΔΑ'', 09.12.2007</ref> It began on December 15, 1937, and marked the beginning of the repressions against Greeks that went on for 13 years.<ref name=repr>{{Cite web|url=https://www.greek.ru/news/diaspora/31749/|title=Репрессии в 1930–1950 гг. по отношению к грекам СССР|website=www.greek.ru}}</ref> Depending on the sources, it is estimated that between 15,000{{sfn|Gkikas|2007|p=254}}<ref name="Greeks of the Steppe"/> and 50,000{{sfn|Agtzidis|1991|pp=372–382}} Greeks died during this campaign. Tens of thousands more were persecuted during the Deportation of the Soviet Greeks. Some scholars characterize the operation as a "genocide" against Greeks.{{sfn|Rummel|1997|p=28}}{{sfn|Photiades|1999|p=128}}<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors=Bogatikova O, Romantsov V | journal=Bulletin of Mariupol State University. Series: History. Politology. | title='Грецька операція' 1937–1938 рр. у Північному Приазов'ї: історіографія проблеми | volume=2 | issue=3 | pages=30–38 | publisher=Mariupol State University|url=https://journals.indexcopernicus.com/api/file/viewByFileId/351927}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors=Djuha I| date= 2013 | title=Книга Памяти греков Краснодарского края: Жертвы греческой операции НКВД 1937–1938 гг. | publisher=Алетейя | series=Serii︠a︡ Novogrecheskie issledovanii︠a︡ | url=http://dlib.eastview.com/browse/book/23267 | isbn=978-5-91419-792-3}}</ref>
A wave of Greek emigrants from the Soviet Union in 1937–1939 is often considered a consequence of Stalinist persecution of the Soviet Greek national movement.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=64}}
== Motivations for deportation == The Greeks living within the USSR had a history of maintaining close ties with outside powers, such as the Ottoman Empire leading up to the outbreak of WWI.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=34}} Such close ties made Soviet authorities wary of the loyalty of their Greek subjects. The Greeks held particularly close ties with Greece and with the Greek Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=34}} Soviet authorities in particular "viewed religion as a force that undermined its power and authority".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Westren |first=Michael |date=2012 |title=Nations in exile: 'The punished peoples' in Soviet Kazakhstan, 1941–1961 |isbn=978-1-267-47284-7 |pages=72, 74, 77|publisher=University of Chicago, Division of the Social Sciences, Department of History }}</ref>
Strategically, the Greeks were viewed as a security threat by the Soviets. Worries over a nationalist uprising or saboteur activity were only heightened by the resistance shown by Greek partisans in response to the German invasion of their country.<ref name=":1" /> Post WWII, the entry of Greece into the NATO alliance further drove Stalin's distrust of the Soviet Greek community, fearing they had come under the influence of the West.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=34}} Soviet authorities viewed Greeks as a "foreign element" to the region that was "hostile" and "unreliable" to Soviet rule.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Terry |date=1998 |title=The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1086/235168.pdf |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=71, 92, 126, 855 |doi=10.1086/235168 |jstor=10.1086/235168 |s2cid=32917643 }}</ref> Their removal, it was thought, would solidify Soviet hegemony in the Black Sea and Georgian regions. Population transfer was Soviet policy at the time when it came to weakening nationalistic or ethnic sentiments in potentially “problematic” populations. Resettlement was often carried out regardless of whether or not different ethnic groups were resistant to Soviet rule.<ref name=":2" /> The Chechen, Ingush, Crimean Tatar, and other minority communities around the Black Sea also faced similar accusations of disloyalty from Soviet authorities.<ref name=":2" /> Soviet doctrine at the time pushed for the formation of an egalitarian society in addition to an ethnically homogenous one. As a result, extensive efforts were made to fill the newly established collective farms popping up all across Soviet territory. This contrasted directly with the long history the Greeks had of independent farming practices, and as a result, the Greek community was viewed as resistant and a hindrance to state control.<ref name=":2" />
Other motivators include gaining control over resources and land populated by the Greeks, who primarily reside around the Black Sea.<ref name=":1" /> The Soviet Union saw the deportation of the Greeks and other minorities in this area as a way to safeguard important agricultural and mineral resources along with oil reserves for the Soviet economy.<ref name=":1" />
==History== The 1926 Soviet census registered 213,765 Greeks in the country{{sfn|Voutira|2011|p=131}} and the 1939 census recorded 286,444.{{sfn|Kubiiovych|Struk|1984|p=97}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей.|url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_39.php|access-date=2022-02-20|website=www.demoscope.ru}}</ref> On 9 August 1937, NKVD order 00485 was adopted to target "subversive activities of Polish intelligence" in the Soviet Union, but was later expanded to also include Latvians, Germans, Estonians, Finns, Greeks, Iranians and Chinese.{{sfn|Marshall|2010|p=335}} This was followed by Directive No. 50215 on 11 December 1937, to take effect on 15 December 1937, signed by the NKVD Commisar, Nikolai Yezhov. Directive 50215 declared that an investigation established "that Greek intelligence is actively conducting espionage, sabotage, and rebellious work in the USSR, carrying out assignments from British, German, and Japanese intelligence," and that "In order to suppress the activities of Greek intelligence in the territory of the USSR, I order [that] on December 15 of this year, simultaneously in all republics, territories and regions, arrests are to be made of all Greeks suspected of espionage, sabotage, rebel and nationalist anti-Soviet work." <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124035225/http://www.nbuv.gov.ua/portal/Soc_Gum/Iipd/2008_1_2/nikolski.htm|title=ЯК ПОЧИНАЛАСЯ „ГРЕЦЬКА ОПЕРАЦІЯ”|trans-title=How Did the "Greek Operation" Begin?|last=Nikolsky|first=V. M. |website=Prezident Rossiya|date=13 September 2015 }}</ref>
The persecution of Greeks in USSR was gradual: at first, the authorities shut down the Greek schools, cultural centers, theatres and publishing houses.<ref name="ka"/> Then, the secret police indiscriminately arrested all Greek men aged 16 years old or older.<ref name="ka"/> Greeks who were wealthy or self-employed professionals were targeted first.<ref name="ka"/>
On many occasions, the central authorities sent telegrams to police forces with orders to arrest a certain number of Greeks, without giving any individual names,<ref name="ka"/> and the police officers would arrest at random any persons of Greek origin until they reached the requested total number of arrests until the process was repeated at a later date. Estimates of the number of victims vary: according to Ivan Dzhukha 15,000 were executed and 20,000 were deported to Gulags,{{sfn|Gkikas|2007|p=254}} while Vlasis Agtzidis puts the number of deaths to 50,000.{{sfn|Agtzidis|1991|pp=372–382}}
According to Greek Marxist historian Anastasis Gkikas the Greek Operation of the NKVD came as a response to counter-revolutionary activities of a portion of the ethnic Greek population. Gkikas claims that anti-Soviet resistance organizations had coordinated their actions with Metaxist societies in Greece and sought to create an autonomous Greek state in the Black Sea region. They engaged in wrecking, illegally accumulated foreign currency and launched a series of small scale uprisings between 1929 and 1931.{{sfn|Gkikas|2007|pp=247–250}} Gkikas further claims that the number of Greeks deported to Gulags by 1942 did not exceed 2,610 people.{{sfn|Gkikas|2007|p=257}}
In reality, there was virtually no widespread counter-revolutionary activity among the Soviet Greeks,{{sfn|Bugay|1996|p=91}} though there were very few exceptions, such as Constantine Kromiadi, an anti-communist of Greek origin, who later became second in command in Andrey Vlasov's ''Abwehr'' detachment during the Nazi German occupation of the Soviet Union in World War II.{{sfn|Thomas|2015|p=16}}
==Axis collaboration== About one thousand Greeks from Greece and more from the Soviet Union, presumably motivated by their ethnic persecution from Soviet authorities, joined the Waffen-SS, mostly in Ukrainian divisions. A special case was that of the Ukrainian-Greek Sevastianos Foulidis, an anti-communist who had been recruited by the Abwehr as early as 1938 and became an official of the Wehrmacht, with extensive action in intelligence and agitation work on the Eastern front.<ref>Hondromatidis, Iakovos I Mavri Skia Stin Ellada ("The Black Shadow Over Greece"), Athens 2004 (in Greek)</ref>
== Aftermath == The effects of Soviet forced deportation were extensive on the Greek community. The trauma alone of being uprooted from one's home, way of life, and culture corroded centuries of tradition and language, the loss of which is still seen to this day. Many lost their homes, businesses, and possessions alone in the various waves of resettlements, not to mention the loss of life from executions, disease, starvation, and exhaustion among the other harsh conditions in the camps. An exact figure of the number of Greeks killed is virtually impossible, although it's estimated that 19% of all those arrested in the Soviet Union between 1937 and 1938 were executed.<ref name=":2"/> Following Stalin's death, the practice of forced resettlement was abandoned, although rehabilitation was tough for many Greeks returning to a region that completely changed in their absence.
==Remembrance== In 1938, 20,000 Soviet Greeks arrived in Greece.{{sfn|Olson|Pappas|Pappas|1994|p=274}} Between 1965 and 1975, another 15,000 Greeks emigrated from the Soviet Union and went to Greece.{{sfn|Olson|Pappas|Pappas|1994|p=275}} A monument to all Greek victims of the Gulag was unveiled in Magadan in 2011.<ref>[http://ria.ru/society/20110910/433650393.html "Памятник грекам, жертвам сталинского ГУЛАГа, откроют на Колыме"]</ref> Unlike many other "punished" ethnic groups, the Soviet Greeks were not officially rehabilitated by Soviet legislation.{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=61}} In the early 1990s, a movement arose advocating the creation of a new Greek autonomy in the Krasnodar region, but it failed to achieve support. One Soviet Greek man, born in 1959, described this outcome with the following words:{{sfn|Popov|2016|p=61}} {{quote|When these Greek societies started emerging, I told the lads that there was a society that was reviving us, the Pontic Greeks. Do you know what their answer was? They said, that if such societies were organised then we would have to expect a repetition of 1937. So many Greeks were deported then.}}
Soviet Greeks were officially rehabilitated, among with other ethnic groups by the Russian Federation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kremlin.ru/acts/news/50284|title=Внесены изменения в указ о мерах по реабилитации армянского, болгарского, греческого, крымско-татарского и немецкого народов и государственной поддержке их возрождения и развития|website=Президент России|date=13 September 2015 }}</ref> amended by Decree no. 458 of September 12, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/40037|title=Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 12.09.2015 г. № 458|website=Президент России}}</ref>
==See also== * Deportation of the Soviet Greeks * Constantine Kromiadi * Greek Autonomous District * Konstantin Chelpan * Georgis Kostoprav
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{cite journal|last=Agtzidis|first=Vlasis|year=1991|title=The Persecution of Pontic Greeks in the Soviet Union|journal=Journal of Refugee Studies| volume= 4| issue= 4|pages=372–381|doi=10.1093/jrs/4.4.372|url=https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article-abstract/4/4/372/1527942?redirectedFrom=fulltext|url-access=subscription}} * {{cite book |last=Bugay| first=Nikolay |authorlink=Nikolay Bugay | title=The Deportation of Peoples in the Soviet Union | year=1996 | publisher=Nova Publishers | isbn=978-1-56072-371-4 |oclc=36402865 |location=New York City}} * {{cite book |last=Gkikas|first=Anastasis|title=Οι Έλληνες στη διαδικασία οικοδόμησης του σοσιαλισμού στην ΕΣΣΔ|trans-title=Greek Participation in the Building of Socialism in USSR|publisher=Syghxroni Epoxi|language=el|location=Athens|year=2007|isbn=978-960-451-056-6}} * {{cite book|last=Kaya| title=The Changing Face of Europe: Population Flows in the 20th Century|first=Bülent | publisher=Council of Europe|year=2002 |isbn= 978-92-871-4790-5 |lccn=2007397168}} * {{cite book| last1=Kubiiovych| last2=Struk|title=Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Volume 2|first1=Volodymyr |first2=Danylo Husar |edition=revised| publisher=University of Toronto Press|year= 1984}} * {{cite book|last=Marshall|first=Alex|year=2010|title=The Caucasus Under Soviet Rule| publisher=Routledge| lccn=2010003007 |isbn=978-1-136-93825-2}} * {{cite book|last1=Olson|first1=James Stuart |last2=Pappas|first2=Lee Brigance |first3= Nicholas Charles |last3=Pappas|title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year= 1994 |location=Westport, Conn.|isbn= 978-0-313-27497-8 }} * {{Cite book |last=Photiades |first=Kostas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2qgvAAAAMAAJ |title=Ο ελληνισμός της Ρωσίας και της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης |trans-title=The Hellenism of Russia and the Soviet Union |date=1999 |publisher=Ekdoseis Irodotos |isbn=978-960-7290-66-3 |language=el}} * {{cite book| last=Popov| first=Anton| authorlink=Anton Popov| year= 2016|title=Culture, Ethnicity and Migration After Communism: The Pontic Greeks|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-15580-5}} * {{Cite book |last=Rummel |first=R. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYBrAgAAQBAJ |title=Death by Government |date=1997 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-56000-927-6 |language=en}} * {{cite book| last=Thomas|first=Nigel| year=2015| title=Hitler's Russian & Cossack Allies 1941–45|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-0688-8}} * {{cite book | last=Voutira| first=Eftihia | title=The 'Right to Return' and the Meaning of 'Home': A Post-Soviet Greek Diaspora Becoming European?|year=2011| publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90107-1}}
==Further reading== *Ivan Dzhukha, «Греческая операция. История репрессий против греков в СССР.» – СПб. Издательство «Алетейя», 2006. – 416 с. – (серия: «Новогреческие исследования»). – 2500 экз. {{ISBN|5-89329-854-3}} * {{cite book |last= Polian |first= Pavel |authorlink= Pavel Polian |year= 2004|title= Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR |location= Budapest; New York City |publisher= Central European University Press |isbn= 978-963-9241-68-8 |lccn=2003019544 }} * {{cite book|last=de Waal|first=Thomas|authorlink=Thomas de Waal|year=2010|title=The Caucasus: An Introduction|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-975043-6}}
Category:1937 establishments in the Soviet Union Category:1950 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Category:Great Purge Category:Greek diaspora in Russia Category:Greece–Soviet Union relations Category:Persecution of Greeks in the Soviet Union Category:Genocides in Europe Category:National operations of the NKVD Category:Distrust Category:Joseph Stalin