| Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic[a](1921–1936) Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic(1936–1945) Crimean Oblast[b](1945–1991) Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic(1991–1992)
| |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASSR of theRussian SFSR(1921–45) Oblast of the Russian SFSR(1945–54) andUkrainian SSR(1954–91) ASSR of Ukrainian SSR(1991) | |||||||||||||||
 Raions with national status, as of 1938; Crimean Tatar regions in light blue, Russian in pink, Jewish in indigo, German in orange, Ukrainian in yellow | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Simferopol | ||||||||||||||
| • Type | Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic(1921–45; 1991–92) Oblast (1945–91) | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
| 13–16 November 1920 | |||||||||||||||
• ASSR established | 18 October 1921 | ||||||||||||||
• Reformed into oblast | 30 June 1945 | ||||||||||||||
• Transferred to Ukraine | 19 February 1954 | ||||||||||||||
• Autonomy regained | 12 February 1991 | ||||||||||||||
| 26 December 1991 | |||||||||||||||
• Renamed "Republic of Crimea" | 6 May 1992 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Today part of | |||||||||||||||
Part ofa series on the | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| History ofCrimea | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Timeline | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lists | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Several different governments controlled theCrimean Peninsula during the period of theSoviet Union, from the 1920s to 1991. The government of Crimea from 1921 to 1936 was theCrimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic,[c] which was anAutonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR); the name was altered slightly to theCrimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic[d] from 1936 to 1945.
Due to alleged collaboration ofCrimean Tatars withNazi Germany duringWorld War II,all Crimean Tatars were deported by the Soviet regime in 1944 and the peninsula was resettled with other peoples, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, leaving the autonomous republic without itstitular nationality. It was thus downgraded to anoblast within the Russian SFSR on 30 June 1945. The oblast wastransferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. Following astate-sanctioned referendum in 1991, it became againan autonomous republic, within the Ukrainian SSR, and then within independent Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
| Part ofa series on |
| Crimean Tatars |
|---|
.svg){kind=icon} |
| By region or country |
| Religion |
| Language |
| Culture |
| History |
| People and groups |
.jpg)
On 18 October 1921, after a successful military campaign by theRed Army on theSouthern Front of theRussian Civil War led to theWhite Army'sevacuation from Crimea in late 1920, the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was created within the Russian SFSR by theBolsheviks. It was renamed the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 5 December 1936 by the Eighth ExtraordinaryCongress of Soviets of the USSR.[1]
There were two unsuccessful attempts to establishJewish autonomy in Crimea. The first attempt, conducted by the Soviet government with the support of theAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, ended in the creation of theJewish Autonomous Oblast inBirobidzhan, as the Soviet government feared establishing it in Crimea would provoke antisemitic sentiments. The second attempt, by theJewish Anti-Fascist Committee between 1943 and 1944, led to theNight of the Murdered Poets and heightened persecution of Jews as Stalin feared the establishment of a Jewish republic in Crimea with American support.[2][3]
Crimea was underde facto control ofNazi Germany from September 1942 to October 1943, administratively incorporated intoReichskommissariat Ukraine asGeneralbezirk Krym-Taurien.Alfred Frauenfeld was appointed as General Commissar (although it seems that Frauenfeld spent most of his time in Crimea researching the peninsula'sGothic heritage and the actual government was in the hands ofErich von Manstein).[4] During the war, there was also widespreadresistance to the German occupation.
In 1944, under the pretext[5] of alleged collaboration of the Crimean Tatars with the Nazi occupation regime, the Soviet governmentdeported the Crimean Tatar people from Crimea, according toGKO Order No. 5859ss ofJoseph Stalin andLavrentiy Beria.[6] Actual collaboration in the military sense had been rather limited, with a recorded 9,225 Crimean Tatars serving in anti-SovietTatar Legions and otherGerman formed battalions,[7] but there was in fact a surprisingly high degree of co-operation between the occupation government and the local administration; this has been significantly due to Frauenfeld's unwillingness to implement the policy of brutality towards the local population pursued byReichskommissarErich Koch, which led to a series of public conflict between the two men.[8] The constitutional rights of the forcibly-resettled Tatars were restored with adecree dated September 5, 1967, but they were not allowed toreturn until the last days of the Soviet Union.[9]
The Crimean ASSR was converted into theCrimean Oblast of the Russian SFSR on June 30, 1945, by adecree of thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet (published as alaw on June 25, 1946). It was stripped of its autonomous status as a result of the alleged crimes ofCrimean Tatars duringWorld War II.[10] 90% of toponyms[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]were changed in 1944–1949 from mostly Crimean Tatar to Russian.[18][19][20]
On 19 February 1954, the oblast wastransferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction,[10] on the basis of "the integral character of the economy, the territorial proximity and the close economic and cultural ties between the Crimea Province and the Ukrainian SSR"[21] and to commemorate the 300th anniversary ofUkraine's union with Russia.[22][23]
Sevastopol was aclosed city due to its importance as the port of the SovietBlack Sea Fleet, and was attached to the Crimean Oblast only in 1978.[citation needed]
On 12 February 1991, the status of Crimea Oblast was changed to that of autonomous republic, theCrimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, by theSupreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR as the result of a state-sanctionedreferendum held on 20 January 1991.[24] 4 months later, on June 19, appropriate changes were made to the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR.[25][26]
With effect from 6 May 1992, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into theRepublic of Crimea withinUkraine. On 21 September 1994 it was renamed theAutonomous Republic of Crimea byVerkhovna Rada.[27] This name was used for Crimea (with the exception of the city ofSevastopol) in the new Ukrainian Constitution of 1996. The status of Sevastopol, due to its strategic importance as themain base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, remained disputed between Ukraine and Russia until 1997 when it wasagreed that it should be treated as a "city with special status" within Ukraine.
With the establishment of the autonomous republic in 1921, Crimea was divided into sevenokrugs, which in turn were divided into 20raions:
In November 1923, theokrugs were abolished and 15raions were created instead, but in 1924, five of these were abolished. On 30 October 1930, the remaining tenraions were reorganized into 16 new ones, and four cities under direct republican control. In 1935, 10 newraions were added and one abolished. In 1937, one moreraion was established. Theraions had national status as for Crimean Tatars, Russians, Jews, Germans and Ukrainians. By the beginning of World War II, all of theseraions had lost their national status.
.svg)
