User:HNlander/draft01

Political repression against ethnic Chinese in Russian Far East during the Great Purge

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E6%B8%85%E6%B4%97%E4%B8%AD%E5%AF%B9%E8%BF%9C%E4%B8%9C%E5%9C%B0%E5%8C%BA%E5%8D%8E%E4%BA%BA%E7%9A%84%E6%94%BF%E6%B2%BB%E8%BF%AB%E5%AE%B3

During the Great Purge in Russian Far East, ethnic Chinese underwent forced migration and political repression by the Soviet Communist Party. These Chinese included both the citizens of the Republic of China, and the Soviet citizens who were identified as ethnic Chinese (Китаец). Despite the Chinese origin, the Taz were free from repression as they were recognized as a different ethnic group from the Chinese.

By the 1940s, Chinese had became almost extinct in Russian Far East, despite the fact there were more than 200 thousands Chinese before the October Revolution in 1921, with detailed history still needed to be uncovered in Soviet records. As local East Asians were forced to leave the area during the period, Europeans were also forced to migrate to Far East from Europe and Siberia, and eventually became dominant in the local population.

Among the East Asian victims of the repression, there were at least 27,558 ethnic Chinese who were directly involved in the migration and repression directly and most of them were citizens of the Republic of China. 3,794 of them were released by the Soviet Government, 3,922 executed, 17,175 forced to migrate or banished, the rest detained in various places including Gulag. In 1937, there were only 26,607 ethnic Chinese Soviet citizens in Far East.

On 30th October 2012, two monuments in memory of the Chinese and Korean victims were set up by Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights of Russia in Moscow and Blagoveshchensk.

Repression against Chinese during the civil war
In Russian Far East, the repression against ethnic Chinese began early before the Great Purge. As the October Revolution evoked Russian Civil War, ethnic Chinese were discriminated and repressed against by multiple parties of the war.

According to Chinese diplomatic documents, the dead bodies of Chinese nationals were left in the air where the White Army had passed, some wound by guns or blades, some frozen to death due after being robbed. The Red Army, accordingly, was also poorly disciplined, raping and torturing the Chinese, setting the Chinese houses and goods on fire. Radicals regarded anyone who could not speak Russian as spies, robbing their possessions and killing their lives. The allied army randomly checked the belongings of the Chinese workers and if they think anything in suspicion, they would regard the workers as communist and kill them without interrogation. An extreme example was the case of Chinese businessmen from Changyi, Shandong, who were robbed and humiliated in Russia. These series of events made some Chinese return to China or move to other countries.

Racial tension under the New Economic Policy
The Communist Party started to carry out what was called New Economic Policy after the civil war, which soon attracted Chinese migrants back to Far East lacking in working forces. Although the Government also migrate 66,202 from Europe to the region, the rising number of Chinese made a tremendous impact on the local economy. By the late 1920s, the Chinese had controlled more than half commerce places and share of trade in Far East. 48.5% of grocery retails, 22.1% of food, beverage, tobacco were sold by Chinese, 10.2% of the restaurants were run by Chinese.

Tension escalated as fake and low-quality goods sold by some Chinese businessmen stereotyped the Chinese as swindlers and thieves among the local Russians. On 1st June 1930, a small-scale armed conflict broke out between the two races in Leninskiy, Vladivostok, which injured 27, 3 permanently disabled. The conflict triggered further racial conflicts. Russians in the region viewed most Chinese new-comers as non-Russian-speakers, misers, renegers and cheaters, while the Chinese regarded the Russians as addicts to violence and brutality, frequent violent threateners, unreasonable people, and fools.

Governmental actions against the Chinese
The closure of the Chinese community also led to repugnance of the Government and the local Russians. District 18 of Vladivostok, densely populated by the Chinese and called "the Millionaires' village" (百万庄) in Chinese, was free from governmental control except for taxation. The Chinese were organized according to their origins in China, gangs, and religious groups, which was independent of the Soviet society. Thus, the Soviet Government regarded the Chinese as a potential threat as the community could cover the Japanese espionages.

Since the late 1920s, the Soviet Union tautened the control along the Sino-Soviet border with following measures: 1) stricter security check for entry into the Union; 2) taxing the outbound packages, whose worth should be less than 300 rubles, at a rate of 34%. When the Chinese were leaving the Union, they would need to pay a 14-ruble outbound fee and to be checked nakedly. Remittance of the Chinese was restricted. Extra taxation, including that of business license, business, income, profits, private debts, docks, poverty, school and etc., was assigned to the Chinese and their properties. They were forced to join the local workers' union, as a premise of their jobs.

In 1926, People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs resolved to use any means to stop Chinese and Koreans migrating into Soviet territory, as they were regarded to cause serious danger to the Soviet Union. Koreans were relocated from Far East, while measures were take to "squeeze out" the Chinese from the border area.

1929 Sino-Soviet conflict
In 1928, Arsenyev Mikhail Mikhailovich (Арсеньев Михаил Михайлович), Staff Colonel of Red Army Headquarter, submitted a report to Far Eastern Commission, advising that free migration from China and Korea in the areas bordering the countries should be stopped, and that the area should be filled with migrants from Siberia and Europe instead.

As the Sino-Soviet conflicts over the Chinese Eastern Railway worsened the bilateral relation, the Soviet Government began to stop Chinese crossing the border since 1931. All Soviet diplomats in China were called back, all Chinese diplomats to Soviet Union expelled and train between China and Russia forced to be out of service.

The Soviet Government forced the Chinese to move to Northeast China. Thousands of Chinese in Irkutsk, Chita and Ulan-Ude were arrested due to reasons including breach of local orders and tax evasion. When they were to leave Russia, any Chinese to crash the border with more than 30 rubles in cash will need to pay the surplus to the authority. Any Chinese with more than 1,000 rubles in cash to cross the border will be arrested, with all the money confiscated.

The Chinese were massively detained. According to Shanghai newspaper Shen Bao on 24th July 1929, "Around a thousand Chinese who lived in Vladivostok were detained by the Soviet authority. They were all said to be bourgeoisie." On 12 August, the newspaper stated that there were still 1,600-1,700 Chinese detained in Vladivostok, supplied with a piece of rye bread daily and undergoing various tortures. On 12 August, the newspaper stated that those detained in Khabarovsk only had a bread soup for meal daily, among which a lot of people had hanged them due to starvation. On 14th September, the newspaper stated that another thousand of Chinese in Vladivostok were arrested, with almost no Chinese remaining in the city. On 15th September, the newspaper continued that Vladivostok had arrested more than 1,000 Chinese during the 8th and 9th of September, and that estimatedly there were more than 7,000 Chinese in jail in the city. On 21st September, the newspaper said, "the Government in Russian Far East cheated the arrested Chinese, and forced them to construct the railway between Heihe and Khabarovsk. The forced workers only only two pieces of rye bread to eat daily. If they work with any delay, they will be whipped, making them at the edge of living and dead."

Although after signing the Treaty of Khabarovsk, the Soviet Government released most arrested Chinese, considering that the Chinese had been severely tortured by the Soviet Government, that the confiscated possessions of the Chinese were not returned, difficult situations among the workers and businessmen, the high prices of goods, and the unaffordable living costs, the Chinese all returned to China afterwards.

Listed as a target for Great Purge
On 21st August 1937, the deportation of Koreans, the largest ethnic group of all Asians in Russian Far East, began being carried out. On 23rd October, the Chinese were listed as a target of the purge after the Polish, the German and the Koreans, as announced by Order 693 of People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs. Nikolai Yezhov permitted secret arrests of "all suspicious of spies and saboteurs". On 10th November, the Republic of China Consulate in Chita reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Soviet was migrating 30,000 Europeans to Siberia and Far East monthly to strengthen defense and economic construction in the region, and that to save space for the European migrants and to avoid Chinese or Korean collusion with Japan and Manchukuo, the policy to remove Koreans and Chinese was enforced.

Plan to suppress Chinese "traitors and spies"
On 22nd December, Nikolai Yezhov ordered Genrikh Lyushkov, Chair of People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) in Far East, to arrest all Chinese with provocation and terrorist aims with no regard to their nationality. On the following day (23rd), Yezhov published the Plan to Suppress Chinese Traitors and Spies, and order to remove any hiding places for the Chinese and other people, to search the places with care, and to arrest both tenants and landlords. Any anti-Soviet Chinese, Chinese spies, Chinese smugglers and Chinese criminals of Soviet nationality should be tried by a three-people group led by Lyushkov, anti-Soviet Chinese and Chinese spies to be suppressed. Any foreigners involved in these kinds of events should be expelled after tried. Any wanted suspicious was prohibited from living in Far East, Chita, and Irkutsk.

Mikhail Iosifovich Dimentman led NKVD in Primorsky Krai to carry out the night purge of the Polish, the German, the Koreans and the Chinese in Vladivostok streets on 24th December 1937. The Catholic Polish celebrating the Christmas Eve were almost all captured at that night and then sent to Central Siberia. 7 neighborhoods residing the Korean were purged during three days and two nights afterwards, with all defenders killed. District 18 populated by Chinese was once destroyed in 1936 and rebuilt by Chinese migrants. On that night, shootouts broke out in the neighborhood, killing 7 Soviets and 434 Chinese. The Government spent 7 months to reconstruct the whole neighborhood after the conflict. Russian historian Oleg Khlevnyuk describes the night as "a racial massacre based on narrow Russian nationalism in the name of socialism". Corpses of the Chinese victims were re-discovered on 8th June 2010 where used to be District 18, on 8th June 2010.

On 29th December, Primorsky Krai launched a purge against the Chinese, leading to 853 arrests according to the Krai Governmental records. The Republic of China consulates in Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk reported more than 200 and 100 Chinese arrested respectively. During 12-13th January 1938, another 20 and more Chinese were reportedly arrested in Blagoveshchensk.

Interferences by the Chinese Consulates and media
On 10th January 1938, Yu Ming, Charge-D of the Chinese embassy in Moscow, Soviet Union lodge representations to the Soviet Union, urging the authority to release the Chinese. The Chinese request to meet the chief officer of the Department of Far East of People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs on the following day (11th January 1938) was declined by the officer who claimed to be sick. On 13th January, some Chinese reported to Chinese consulates in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk that the detained Chinese were starving and even tortured to death, yet the NKDA reject any meeting or food donation by the Chinese consulates. On 28th January, the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok reported to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "how could we believe that (the Soviet authority) said the Chinese all committed espionage!"

The Politburo extended the purges against nationalists including the Chinese by passing the Repressions against "national lines" in the USSR (1937-1938), which began to be carried out in February. The Soviet abuse of the Chinese was reported by the Central Daily News on 6th February. On 14th, the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok reported to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "the Soviet robbed everything, especially money and possessions; if they are hidden somewhere, the Chinese would be extorted by tortures, numerous people killed by such detention, which was miserable and harsh to an extreme." On 17th, the Chinese Consulate in Khabarovsk protested against the torture during interrogation, urging the Soviet Union to release the Chinese. On 19th, the Central Daily News again protested against the Soviet abuse of the Chinese. On 21st, Hong Kong-based Kung Sheung Daily News re-posted a Japanese newspaper coverage of the event, expressing outrage against the deeds of the Soviet Union. On 22nd, the Chinese Consulate in Khabarovsk reported another hundred of innocent Chinese arrested over the previous night by NKVD and that it was heard previously arrested Chinese were forced to work in those remote, cold areas. On 2nd March, the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok stated, "the Soviet authority searched for the Chinese day and night, arresting the Chinese even when they were at work. The Soviet was so aggressive that there was no space for any concession. The deeds was as brutal as the exclusion of China in 1900, during which many were drowned in the Heilongjiang River. Recalling the miserable history makes people tremble with fear."

After times of massive arrests, there were only more than a thousand Chinese in Vladivostok. The Soviet authority stopped the search and arrest for a month. After the Chinese sheltered by the Chinese Consulate all left the Consulate, the Soviet authority restarted to search for and arrest the Chinese. As the Soviet had established tremendous checkpoints around the Chinese Consulate, the Chinese were unable to return to the Consulate for help, which made almost all the Chinese in Vladivostok arrested. The second and third massive search-and-seizure operation arrested 2,005 and 3,082 Chinese respectively. On 7th May, the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok reported 7 to 8 thousand Chinese under detention. Local prisons were filled by the Chinese, which, added by tortures during interrogations, often caused deaths.

Wang Chonghui, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the China Nationalist Government, and Ivan Trofimovich, Soviet Ambassador to China, had a 4-day talk over the detention of the Chinese nationals in Russian Far East since 18th April, which was concluded with 7 articles:


 * 1) the Soviet Union is willing to pay the expenditure of relocation of the Chinese nationals to the inner land of the Union and Xinjiang, but this should be done by the Soviet local governments stage by stage.
 * 2) the Soviet Union provides the Chinese nationals with certain duration of time, which ranges from two weeks to one month, to conclude personal issues.
 * 3) the Soviet Union will only relocate the Chinese with capability and willingness to work in the Soviet Union to her inland and she will provide convenience for the rest of the Chinese to return to China via Xinjiang.
 * 4) the Soviet Union will assist the Chinese to dispose of their real estates, either for sale or for trusteeship. If there is no available trustee, the Chinese consulates can serve as the trustee, only if not massive real estates are under the trusteeship of the consulates. City authorities will send specialized official to make the assistance.
 * 5) Foreign affairs sections of city authorities should create a name list of Chinese for the relocation as is defined by Article 3, a copy of the list to state the time for relocation. The two documents should be submitted via diplomatic representations to the Chinese Consulate in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Prague for backup.
 * 6) the Soviet Union allows the Soviet wives of the Chinese to go to China.
 * 7) the Soviet Union principally agrees to release Chinese under detention, unless the person commit severe crimes.

On 10th June 1938, the Politburo passed the resolution on Relocation of the Chinese in Far East, stopping compelling Chinese. The Chinese were allowed to move to Xinjiang. If the Chinese person was unwilling to move to Xinjiang, he/she would be relocated to a Soviet territory except for the frontier closed and forted area in Far East. If the Chinese person was unwilling to move to Xinjiang but he has no property in Far East, he/she should be relocated to Kazakhstan. If the Chinese was accused of espionage and sabotage, he/she  should not be released.

統計
一般来说，遭受肃反或受肃反影响的华人可以分为四大类：一、就地释放；二、返回新疆；三、流放哈萨克或其他远东以外的苏联地区；四、处决与进古拉格. 另有若干华人在拘捕或审讯过程中死亡，具体数量无法得知.

远东本地释放
1938年6月，内务人民委员部远东边疆区内务管理局按照联共（布）中央的指示，重新查看部分侦讯文件后，从羁押中释放2,853人. 当中艾戈尔舍尔德（Эгершельд）车站第五列车的941人开往哈巴罗夫斯克边疆区的库尔—乌尔米地区 ，这些人在抵达当地后亦获赦.

返回新疆
由于华侨进入新疆需要中国使领机构的签证，根据中国驻海参崴、伯力、布拉哥三所总领馆上报的1938年移侨新疆签证统计数字：“海参崴总领馆为8,025名华侨发放入境新疆签证，伯力领馆为3,004名，布拉哥领馆为2.714名 ”. 由于当时东北已为日本傀儡国满州国所据，而蒙古人民共和国内又尚未有铁路连接中俄两国，因此被释华人经西伯利亚铁路向西进发，抵新西伯利亚后转乘南下列车经阿勒泰地区抵新疆. 1938年6月13日至7月8日，在海参崴的艾戈尔舍尔德（Эгершельд）车站，7,130名华人分乘5列火车被强行迁走，前四列列车6189人（分别为1379人、1637人、1613人和1560人）遣返新疆. 其馀941人坐第五列车北上. 第二次出发在7月11至7月14日，共3,341名普通平民先后乘车返回新疆. 第三次出发在10月11至10月12日，释放罪行较轻的囚犯1,882人. 共11,412人返回新疆. 其中滨海州6189名、乌苏里斯克州1665名、布拉哥1815名、伯力1743名.

流放至远东以外的苏联地区
依据苏联统计机关的人口普查结果，在1926—1937年这段时间内，中亚地区中国人数量极少，可是在1939年苏联人口普查<!--|1939年苏联人口普查中该地区突然出现5,500余名中国人. 这些人显然是从远东、东西伯利亚等地迁移来的，并且应当以远东地区迁来的为多. 同时，根据1938年6月3日叶若夫的命令，“持有苏联身份证件的中国丈夫的中国妻子，随其配偶一同迁移到哈萨克斯坦”. 1939年9-12月又有227名从监狱中释放的华人被迁往哈萨克斯坦. 根据普查结果，中亚华人（主要集中在哈萨克与乌兹别克两地）在1939年初有5,567人.

拘禁或处决
与上述状态相比处决与进古拉格是最严重的迫害，流放后成功抵达流放地便可以获得自由，处决也常常以枪决执行，因此犯人不会承受过多痛苦. 进古拉格是最重的刑罚，因为除了失去人身自由，几乎每天被强迫工作外，仍然需要忍受劳改官日常虐待，以及偶发性的秘密警察之私刑，令人生不如死. 仅在赤塔被捕的华人就有1500名. 其中三分之一以上（568人）在审讯过程中被拷打致死. 1938年6月14日柳什科夫逃亡至满州国，他透露被捕的华人数目达到11,000人，研究远东肃反史的两位俄罗斯权威史家德·鲍·法图索夫及尼古拉·费奥多罗维奇·博盖|尼·费·博盖一致认为此数字可信，苏联当局拘禁了至少11,000中国人. 在远东集中营的华人数量每年不同，在1939年有1,794人，1945年有857人，1950年1,135人，1951年1,109人，直到50年代部分幸存者才得以被释放或遣返中国. 根据苏联政治恐怖受害者纪念网的资料，在1937-1938年间，11,000多名被拘捕华人其中有3,922名被处决，其馀则判处强制迁移和进入劳改营. 当中有1,826名当时被定罪的华人成功活到去斯大林化时代而获释.

纪念
2012年10月30日，对远东政治迫害受难者的纪念碑在黑龙江岸边的俄中边境城市布拉戈维申斯克与俄罗斯首都莫斯科同时揭幕，以纪念远东大清洗中包括华人在内的全体受害者. 1938年3月2日，在前国际红十字会驻莫斯科办事处会址，24名雇员包括祖籍山东的远东华人烫衣工王希祥（音译，Ван Си Сян）遭受肃反，他们被内务人民委员部抓捕并先后处决. 2017年4月30日，俄罗斯人权理事会 赞助的一个名为“最后地址”的计划决定为王希祥设一纪念牌匾纪念.

例外
由汉族與乌德盖人、赫哲人通婚而形成的塔茲族，在1936年曾有一部分人遭受遣送，但由于弗拉基米尔·阿尔谢尼耶夫的研究认为塔兹族是不同于中国人的民族，而一部分得到释放. 此后塔兹族为了免于迫害而坚决不认同自己是中国人或華人. 经过苏联官员甄别，认为他们不需要处理，于是免于大清洗.

参见

 * 红色恐怖
 * 庚子俄难