Oriental Studies (May 2018)
The Kalmyk Expatriate Community: History of the Emergence (1920-1930s)
Abstract
When it comes to the emergence of the Kalmyk expatriate community one should keep it in mind that it was actually a multifactoral phenomenon. This is confirmed by the fact that, despite their small numbers in foreign environment and arduous - even tragic - living conditions, the Kalmyk forced emigrants never got assimilated. On the contrary, they devoted their efforts and all intellectual forces to reviving their national culture, namely: preservation of historical memory, consciousness, language, traditional script and literature. So, even though the Kalmyk emigrants had settled abroad, each of them felt deeply connected to everything that happened in the far and beloved homeland of Kalmykia. This is evident from educational, publishing, historical, socio-political, and literary activities conducted by leaders of the Kalmyk expatriate community - Sanzhi Bayanov, Badma Ulanov, Shamba Balinov, Sanzhi Balykov, etc. Any work published - be it a report, a sketch or a poem - is actually a compressed pained experience, and contains testimony of the unconditional priority of the national idea. In fact, this very feature helped the isolated Kalmyk emigrants retain their national identity. The investigation of literary activities within the émigré circles is preceded by exploration of the emergence of the 20th century Kalmyk expatriate community - constituted by forced emigrants to Europe and the US in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and WWII - with evidence from historical materials, archival documents and literary works of Kalmyk émigré writer S. Balykov. On reaching the foreign lands, the emigrants understood that was point of no return and, thus, had to adapt to harsh conditions of life. The history of both the Kalmyk and Russian émigré communities witnessed an attempt of repatriation which, however, ended up tragically: as is known, the repatriation process of the early 1930s resulted in mass repressions and subsequent executions. Discussing the issue of the emergence of the Kalmyk expatriate community, the paper concludes that the history following the Great Russian revolution and defeat of the White Army can be characterized as tragic. Thus, the Kalmyk emigrants naturally and by all means adhered to anti-Soviet positions to the last.
