Second World War and the Crimean Tatars: Military Merits, Soviet and Modern Myths about Collaboration

Abstract

The article analyzes ethno-demographic capabilities of mobilization resource of various ethnic communities of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by the beginning of the war. Military merits of the Crimean Tatar soldiers during the Second World War based on declassified military archives data are presented. Mass heroism exhibited by the soldiers from the first days of the war and until its completion is revealed. Attention is drawn to the unjust accusations of the Crimean Tatar people in the mass collaborators; сomplete discordance of actually exhibited military merits and the myths that have been created artificially by the Soviet punitive bodies and senior leadership of the USSR in order to justify repression on ethnic grounds during the war, total eviction of people from their historical homeland is shown. The post-war myths used by totalitarian Soviet party regime with the aim of moral and psychological suppression and retention in areas of expulsion of the Crimean Tatar people are revealed. Qualitative analysis of the content of award documents revealed the specific displays of military heroism and feats of representatives of various types of troops, as well as the names and military merit of previously unknown soldiers submitted to the nomination of Hero of the Soviet Union, including the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.