“German Issue” in Crimea during the First World War

Abstract

The article describes the specifics of the campaign that unfolded during World War I to combat “German dominance” in Crimea. Special attention is paid to the ideological component of this process, which, in particular, manifested itself in the confrontation between the newspaper Yuzhnoye Slovo, which was close to the provincial administration, and the newspaper Yuzhnye Vedomosti, which defended the pro-German position of the local zemstvo (county council). From the first days of the war, two concepts were actively used in the Crimean press: the unification of all peoples of the region in the face of danger, and Germany as the main culprit of the war. The latter inevitably gave rise to a negative attitude towards the German community in Crimea. Examples of intolerance towards the Germans and discussions on the “German issue” that developed on the pages of the press are provided. The anti-German campaign resulted in the renaming of settlements. Examples of loyalty to Russia by Crimean Germans are considered. Measures taken in the Taurida province to eliminate German land tenure are analyzed. The local zemstvo organized a deputation to Petrograd, which was supposed to achieve a softening or abolition of the liquidation legislation. At the same time, the right-wing circles saw the liquidation as a tool for the forced Russification of Crimea and the strengthening of state positions in the multinational border region. In fact, the struggle against “Germanism” led to a socio-economic crisis in the Taurida province.