Minorities were treated better. Positions of power in the government, industry, the party, scholarships. On a small scale, it was in a sense unfair and inefficient, but Stalin was looking at the big picture. No colonies: ethnic minorities should be led by ethnic minority leaders, administrators and functionaries. The only ethnic minority that did not get recognized enough were the Jews.
The Russian Empire did not do that. During WWI, Crimean Tatars tried to sell out to Turkey, Germany, Britain, France and Poland, received amnesties and positions of power, openly talked about abusing their preferential treatment by the Soviets and encouraged others to and used state funds to support un-amnestied bandits in hiding. The results? In 1928, two high-ups were sentenced to death and shot after an unsuccessful appeal, nine to imprisonment, one to probation and three were acquitted. 12 people - zOMG purge.
During World War II, more than 90% of the conscripted Tatars deserted the Red Army after the Nazis entered Crimea and proceeded to collaborate with the Nazis, attack the retreating RA forces, rob RA supply trains and guerrilla supply caches. Of course, those who weren't conscripted also volunteered. The 1942 German report gives us the figure 20000 Tatar volunteers out of 200,000 Crimean Tatar population (10,000 were drafted into the RA) and concludes that the recruiting campaign has ended successfully. For comparison: 700,000 Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians) served the Nazis, i.e. less than 3% of Slavs who served in the army and less than a percent of the population.
Erich von Manstein, [i wrote:Lost Victories[/i]] A Tatar delegation arrived today, with gifts of fruit and beautiful handmade fabrics for "Adolf-Effendi, he who has brought freedom to Tatars."
The "Muslim committees" that were formed answered directly to the SS. They dressed in WWI German uniform, prayed for Hitler at communal religious services and tortured people who might point out Jews. They conducted mass shootings and burnings until their
Nazi commanders told them to fucking stop murdering children. A total purge of all non-Tatars in Crimea was in their 1943 program, sent to Hitler for approval (they also wanted independence so Hitler said fuck you).
Crimean Bulgars, Greeks and Armenians couldn't match that because of their significantly smaller numbers, not that they didn't try.
Thus, it was decided that the collaborator ethnicities should be forcibly moved to less strategically importanty locations and allowed to live as usual, a significant improvement over the death penalty most of them (excluding children) should have got. Note that those who actually fought for the Soviets, either in the RA or as guerrillas, were allowed to stay (with their families of course). It wasn't "slave labor" - everyone had to work in the Soviet Union.
Now, some argue that a quarter of the deported died due to inhuman conditions and treatment. Actually, a total of 191 people died on the way, which makes the "annual" death rate 2.3% (compare to the average 2.03% in 1926 and 1.74% in 1939). So yeah, the conditions were inconvenient but not hellish. The idiots say the NKVD officers just dropped the bodies from trains - need I point out the obvious bullshit? It seems I need, yeah. The officers were held directly accountable for every person, so if someone had disappeared, the more likely reason was that the person had escaped, perhaps by bribing the guards.
From 1944 to 1948, 20% of those deported died. As indicated above, the peace-time mortality accounted for 7% (1.75% x 4). As for the other 13%, note that I specifically said
peace-time mortality. 25% of those who served in the Red Army (the able-bodied, no children or elderly people among them) during the war were killed.
Workday's over, will update later.
