Vectors of Migration of Northern Caucasians from Russia (1920–1930)

Abstract

After the October Revolution, those peoples who did not agree with revolutionary changes decided to go into emigration, and among those were North Caucasian refugees. This article aims to describe the vectors of migration taken by North Caucasian refugees in the 1920s and 1930s, using private and public archives in France. Two main vectors were Eastern and European. In the 19th century, those who did not agree with the Russian authorities in the North Caucasus moved to the Ottoman Empire, whereas those who went Europe settled in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Germany. There were various political or social benefits from Czechoslovakia and Poland, and so many migrants from the North Caucasus ended up in these countries as well. A study of resettlement of North Caucasian migrants in Paris and its suburbs reveals four key principles of residence in the French capital: 1. Some accommodations were near places where migrants worked. 2. Migrants with money could live in prestigious areas (the 16th arrondissement). 3. Accommodations among other North Caucasian diaspora (the 15th arrondissement) led to the creation of a kind of resettlement the North Caucasians in Paris. 4. Accommodations were available in the Paris suburbs.