The paper deals with insufficiently explored episode in the history of forced migrations in the Leningrad oblast - resettlement of population from the border zone of the Karelian Isthmus in 1936. It is proposed to separate the two resettlement action in the territory with the Soviet-Finnish border area - the selective eviction of 1935 within the entire border zone of the Leningrad oblast, and continuous cleaning of the border zone of the Karelian Isthmus in 1936. The immediate prerequisite for this event was a massive fortification in the Karelian Isthmus state border area. The paper provides the first documented information on resettlement organization, on the evacuated zone limits, on the number of evicted (3.3 thousand households, 12-13 thousand people), some data on their areas of settlement, legal status and fate. Resettlement action that affected residents of the Karelian Isthmus of all nationalities, for several reasons most affected Ingrian Finns. The ethnic minority has lost a significant part of the traditional settling territory and about 7-9 % of Finns began diaspora scattered throughout the eastern districts of the region (now mostly included in the Vologda oblast). The paper provides information on the preparation of a further evacuation of civilians from the Karelian Isthmus. However, due to requiring further study the reasons these plans were not realized, and after the Soviet-Finnish war no longer need to implement them. However, the exclusion zone near the former border has existed unchanged until 1947, and remained significantly reduced later.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)83-108
Number of pages26
JournalModern History of Russia
Issue number1
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2016

    Scopus subject areas

  • History

    Research areas

  • Forced migrations, Ingrian Finns, Karelian fortified district, Karelian Isthmus, Leningrad oblast

ID: 36075399