Special resettlement of ethnic minorities (the foreign diaspora) and the Chechen Akkins from the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Based on previously published and new archival materials, the study covers the policy of the Soviet authorities in relation to certain ethnic minorities of the USSR (the foreign diaspora) such as Iranians, Poles, Germans who lived on the territory of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Dagestan ASSR) prior to and during the Great Patriotic War. The paper provides the information on the life and political sentiments in the German colonies of the Dagestan ASSR and the expulsion of Germans from the Republic in October 1941. The research describes the process and stages of the administrative reforms in the territory occupied by the Chechen Akkins. At the end of 1943, their monoethnic district was created within the Dagestan ASSR. In February 1944, the Chechen Akkins were subjected to reprisals and special resettlement to Central Asia and Kazakhstan.