“They Categorically Denied propiska to Us because We Are Germans”. The Problem of Internal Migration of Soviet Germans in 1955 –1972
“They Categorically Denied propiska to Us because We Are Germans”. The Problem of Internal Migration of Soviet Germans in 1955 –1972

Summary/Abstract: This paper is concerned with the problem of residence permits for Soviet Germans in the USSR from 1955 to 1972, during which there were limits for this section of the population after the special settlement period. Soviet Germans had sent many letters to the Supreme Soviet authorities and if we consider these letters, they appeared united by one common problem – all the writers wanted to solve the issues of limitation of their rights. Drawing on archival sources, mostly letters from Germans to the authorities in the middle of the 1960s, I explore issues around their rights as citizens, which were not an empty concept during that period. The context for these discussions is framed by the decree of 1964, according to which Germans were cleared of all charges against them, but the ban on returning to the places from which they were evicted was not lifted. I examine the formation of Soviet German positions through individual appeals against the refusal to provide a residence permit by local bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The content and language of these written appeals reflects how their authors viewed their position in the Soviet community, how they interpreted their nationality and argued their legal status. The supreme state body ultimately had to eliminate the existing restrictions on registration and confirm the equal status of German-citizens of the USSR with that of other peoples within the Soviet Union.

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