German Religious Organizations in the Kalmyk ASSR and Problems of their Registration by Governmental Authorities (Second Half of the 1950s-1980s)

Abstract

The article examines the problem of registration and legalization of activities by the central and local government bodies in respect of the German religious organizations in the Kalmyk ASSR in the second half of the 1950-1980s. Once the German population returned to Kalmykia from places of deportation in the late 1950s, revival of Protestant organizations was initiated. Groups of Baptist, Pentecostal and Lutheran adepts appeared in the areas of compact settlement of Germans in Gorodovikovsky and Yashaltinsky districts. Since the second half of the 1960s Evangelical Baptists, the most numerous community as compared to other Protestant organizations, boosted their activities to get their groups registered by government bodies. Under various pretexts the republican and municipal authorities refused their registration and at the same time strictly prohibited them from conducting religious worship. And it was the central regulatory body - Council for Religious Faiths under the Council of Ministers of the USSR - that put an end to confrontation of the two sides by registering the largest Baptist organizations in the villages of Ulyanovka (Yashaltinsky district) and Vinogradnoe (Gorodovikovsky district) in 1969 - despite protests of the republican authorities. Their legalization was determined not only by internal but rather by foreign policy factors. No other Baptists were afforded registration in the 1970-1980s, while small groups usually numbering 6 to 15 members were incorporated into larger associations. During the late 1950-1980s there were five groups of Pentecostals in Kalmykia each numbering 7 to 35 members in various years. All of them were in the areas of compact settlement of Germans in Yashaltinsky and Gorodovikovsky districts. The Soviet authorities characterized Pentecostals’ religious doctrine as “pernicious” and those could not be subject to registration which resulted in their illegal operation in Kalmykia during the period under consideration. In the Kalmyk ASSR there were also two groups of Lutherans residing in Yashaltinsky and Gorodovikovsky districts. One of the groups (in Krasnopolye) was too small and had no chances to be registered, the other one (in Yuzhny, Gorodovikovsky district) was registered only in 1986 after some positive changes in the state religious policies had been promoted. The work has been written from materials of the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia, most of them have never been introduced into scientific discourse before.

Keywords

• state religious policies
• protestant organizations
• germans
• kalmyk assr