Deportation of the Kalmyks (1943)

All the more monstrous are those acts whose initiator was Stalin and which were rude violations of the basic Leninist principles [behind our] Soviet state’s nationalities policies.

In the same period, at the end of December, 1943, the same lot befell the [Kalmyks] of the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic.

On December 27, 1943, a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet was signed "On Liquidation of the Kalmyk ASSR", and on the following day the operation "Uluses" was launched, which assumed forced resettling of the entire nation to remote localities of the country.

"December 28, 1943, is a tragic date in the history of our nation," says the appeal of the head of Kalmykia Alexei Orlov.

"Over the years of exile we lost almost a third of our nation; the genetic pool of the nation was undermined; and it weakened further generations," said pensioner Sergey Manzhikov.

The Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formally abolished on 27 December, and the next day, all Kalmyks were given twelve hours to pack and get ready for relocation.

Kalmyks were relocated to various provinces of Siberia, including Omsk, Altai, and Novosibirsk. Out of the 93,000 deportees, about 1400 died in transit and a similar number became gravely ill.

In early 1945, it was estimated that 13,000 of the original 93,000 Kalmyks had died. Official Soviet records show a 17% mortality rate, unofficial sources even higher. All figures in this article are necessarily based on Soviet figures, which may or may not be correct.

many of whom had previously participated in operations to resettle the Karachai and Kalmyks, and in addition will participate in the forthcoming operation to resettle Balkarians

As a result of the three operations, 650 thousand Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks and Karachai were relocated to the eastern regions of the USSR.