KHABAROVSK
RUSSIAN KRAY KHABAROVSK
The Khabarovsk Kray was formed in 1938 out of the largest part of the former Kray of the Far East. _________________________________________________________________________________CHIEF EXECUTIVES
Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Khabarovsk Kray 1938 - 1940 Sergey Ivanovich Gusev 1940 - 1942 Vladimir Mikhaylovich Istomin 1942 - 1945 Grigory Fyodorovich Aksenov _________________________________________________________________________________PARTY LEADERS
First Secretaries of the Khabarovsk Kray Committee (Kraykom) of the All-Union Communist Party 1938 - 1939 Vladimir Aleksandrovich Donskoy 1903 - 1954 1939 - 1945 Gennady Andreyevich Borkov 1905 - 1983 _________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF THE REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE KHABAROVSK KRAY
The new Kray encompassed the : - area of the former Khabarovsk Oblast including the : - Jewish Autonomous Oblast - Chukotka National Okrug - Amur Oblast - Kamchatka Oblast, including the : - Koryak Autonomous Okrug - Lower Amur Oblast - Sakhalin Oblast (See here for minor minority areas in the Kray) KHABAROVSK OBLAST The Khabarovsk region - whose center was the military outpost of that name on the Chinese frontier - was among the territories occupied by the Russians in the 1850's and formally ceded to them by China in 1858 and 1860 (Treaties of Aigun and Beijing) It was included in the Primorskiy Oblast formed in 1856 and so it had nearly the same history until 1934 when it became an Oblast of its own within the Kray of the Far East. At the abolition of this Kray in 1938 Khabarovsk became the heartland of the new Kray of the same name. Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Khabarovsk Oblast 1934 - 1938 ... First Secretaries of the Khabarovsk Oblast Committee (Obkom) of the All-Union Communist Party 1930 - 1937 I. V. Slinkin 1937 - 1938 ... JEWISH AUTONOMOUS OBLAST After attempts to establish a Jewish natioanl area in the West had failed (1), the Soviet government decided to create the homeland in the East and in 1928 a Jewish National Okrug was formed in the isolated and hardly inhabited Amur frontier area with China. The experiment at first seemed to have some success. Many Jews - not only from the USSR, but also from other countries like Germany, the USA - migrated to the area, which was presented as an alternative New Zion for Palestine. The capital Birobidzhan even became one of the major centers of Jiddish culture. As a result the area was upgraded to the rank of an Autonomous Oblast - under the direct supervision of the Khabarovsk authorities - in 1934. But later things changed as the Jewish leadership of the Oblast was eliminated in the late 1930's and Jewish migration to the area declined. Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast 1934 - 1937 Iosif Izrailevich Liberberg 1897 - 1937 1937 - 1945 ... First Secretaries of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Committee of the All-Union Communist Party 1934 - 1935 ... Gurevich 1935 - 1937 Matvey Pavlovich Khavkin 1937 A. B. Ryskin 1937 G. N. Sukharev 1937 - 1938 Y. A. Levin 1939 - 1941 Ivan Fedorovich Nikishov 1894 - 1958 1941 - 1945 ... CHUKOTKA NATIONAL OKRUG The Russians reached Chukotka - or land of the Chukchi - in the 1640's. After some initial skirmishes they started its conquest in 1701. After several defeats the Russians gave up Anadyrsk, their major post, in 1764 and made peace with the Chukchi in 1778, who were recognized as a non-subject people, free from paying yasak (tribute) and only in treaty relationship with the Russian authorities. (2) In the course of the 19th century, the absence of a regular Russian administration allowed many American whalers, traders, etc to extend their zone of activities to Chukotka and by the early 20th century the region looked more like an Anglo-Saxon than a Russian dependency. (3) After the fall the Russian monarchy in 1917 the situation in Chukotka was roughly the same as the one described for Kamchatka (s.b.). Things changed somewhat in Dec 1919 when A. M. Bychkov and G. G. Rudykh - assisted by an US sailor - seized power and in an attempt to give their coup some political justification, proclaimed a Soviet of Chukotka Deputies. Their rule lasted until Jul 1922 when the White leader Bochkarev occupied the area. Bochkarev then ruled Chukotka until April 1923 when he was executed by the Soviets, who now at last controlled the Far Northeast. (4) As to the Chukchi and the Eskimo in this troubled period, they at first remained neutral, providing both parties with scouts and guides when asked for. Later the negative attitude of the Whites however incited many of them to join the Red forces. In the course of the 1920's Soviet structures (Clan Soviets, etc) were gradually introduced in the region and in 1930 a Chukchi National Okrug was established. AMUR OBLAST The Amur region - whose center was the military outpost of Ust-Zeisk (later renamed Blagoveshchenko) on the Chinese frontier - was among the territories occupied by the Russians in the 1850's and formally ceded to them by China in 1858 (Treaty of Aigun). At first the area was included in the Primorskiy Oblast formed in 1856, but it was detached in 1858 to become the separate Amur Oblast. The Amur Oblast was part of the Government General of East Siberia until 1884 and then of the Government General of the Amur. Military Governors of the Amur (also Atamans of the Amur Cossack Host) 1858 - 1866 MajGen. Nikolay Vasilyevich (Vilgelmovich) Busse 1828 - 1866 1866 - 1873 MajGen. Ivan Konstantinovich Pedachenko 1834 - 1874 - 1880 Albrecht Andreyevich Offenberg 1880 - 1881 CAdm. Iosif Gavrilovich Baranov 1835 - 1882 1882 - 1886 MajGen. Petr Stepanovich Lazarev 1886 - 1891 Arkady Semenovich Benevskiy 1841 - 1910 1891 - 1892 Aleksandr Nikolayevich Popov 1892 - 1897 MajGen. Dmitriy Gavrilovich Arsen'ev 18.. - 1912 1897 - 1902 LtGen. Konstantin Nikolayevich Gribskiy 1902 - 1906 MajGen. Dmitriy Vasilyevich Putyata 1906 - 1910 MajGen. Arkady Valerianovich Sychevskiy 1910 - 1913 MajGen. Arkady Mikhaylovich Valuyev 1913 - 1916 LtGen. Vladimir Alexandrovich Tolmachev 1853 - 1916 - 1917 Konstantin Nikolayevich Khogandokov Like the rest of the Russian Far East, the Amur region also experienced a troubled period after the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. The sucessive administrators of the area between 1917 and 1922 were : Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety (replaced the tsarist administrators in Feb 1917) 1917 ... Provincial Commissioner (represented the Provisional Government) 1917 - 191. Nikolay Grigorevich Kozhevnikov On Feb 01 1918 Bolshevik opponents to the Provisional Government proclaimed Soviet rule over the area. This was however only firmly establshed after the arrival of a Soviet flotilla from Khabarovsk some weeks later. Chairman of the Provincial Executive Committee 1918 Fedor Nikanorovich Mukhin 1878 - 1919 On Mar 03 1918 White opponents to Soviet rule revolted and - with the support of Japanese troops - occupied the capital Blagoveshchenko. White Leader 1918 Ivan Mikhaylovich Gamov, Amur Cossack Leader Bolshevik rule was restored on Mar 09 1918 Chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee 1918 A. I. Katunin "Agibalov" On Apr 10 1918 the Bolsheviks proclaimed the Amur Labour Socialist Republic Chairman of the Presidium of the Amur Executive Committee and of the Council of People's Commissars 1918 Fedor Nikanorovich Mukhin s.a. On 18 Sep 1918 Japanese forces ended the Amur Republic. This was followed by the creation of a White government for the Amur area. Head of the White Blagoveshchenko Government 1918 Aleksey Nikolayevich Aledeyevskiy 1878 - In Nov 1918 the authorities of Blagoveshchenko recognized the supreme authority of the Provisional All-Russian Government of Omsk. Heads of the Amur Zemstvo Administration 1918 - 1919 Aleksey Nikolayevich Aledeyevskiy s.a. 1919 - 1920 ... Bolshevik rule was restored in Feb 1920. The area became de facto independent when Trilisser, its party secretary (s.b.), initially refused to adhere to the Republic of the Far East. Chiarmen of the Amur Revolutionary Committee 1920 S. G. Taskayev 1920 Stepan Samoylovich Shilov Executive secretary of the Amur Oblast Committee of the Russian Communist Party 1920 Meyer Abramovich Trilisser 1883 - 1940 In Aug 1920 the Amur Oblast was at last attached to the Republic of the Far East. On Nov 15 1922 the Amur area - like the rest of the Far Eastern Republic - became part of the Fara Eastern Province (later Oblast and Kray) of the RSFSR. Within this unit it successivily was : - a Province 1922 - 1926 - an Okrug 1926 - 1930 - a Rayon 1930 - 1932 In 1932 it was restored as an Oblast that remained part of the Kray of the Far East until 1938 when it was transferred to the new Kray of Khabarovsk. (5) Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Amur Oblast 1932 - 1934 ... 1934 - 1938 Konstantin Konstantinovich Haveman 1... - 1938 1938 - 1940 ... 1940 - 1948 I. D. Chizhov First Secretaries of the Amur Oblast Committee of the All-Union Communist Party 1932 - 1933 I. K. Mikhalko 1933 - 1935 V. A. Verniy 1935 - 1938 Vasiliy Savelyevich Ivanov 1893 - 1938 1938 Semyon Alekseyevich Makagonov 1903 - 1938 - 1940 V. M. Istomin 1940 - 1942 N. A. Gornov 1942 - 1943 S. S. Rumyantsev 1906 - 1943 - 1948 Aleksey Mikhaylovich Spiridonov 1909 - KAMCHATKA OBLAST The Russian conquest of the Kamchatka peninsula started in 1697. Like the Chukchi and the Koryak the native Itelmen opposed a fierce resistance to the invaders. But by 1741 they had been defeated and forced to pay yasak (tribute). In the course of the following years the region was opened to Russian colonization and most of the surviving Itelmen adopted Russian language and Orthodox faith. They also married with Russians, creating in this way the mixed Kamchadal people. Neither the Kamchadal, nor the few surviving Itelmen were recognized as separate nationalities in the Soviet period. (6) In 1822 Kamchatka - with a separate administration since 1803 - was reunited with the Irkutsk province of the Government General of East Siberia. In 1849 it was once again detached to become a separate Oblast. Military Governors of Kamchatka and Commanders of the Port of Petropavlovsk 1849 - 1856 Capt. Vasiliy Stepanovich Zavoyko, defended the area against a Franco- British attack in 1854 1809 - 1898 1856 CAdm. Pyotr Vasilyevich Kazakevich, became the first Military Governor of the new Primorskiy Oblast 1814 - 1887 In 1856 the Kamchatka Oblast was abolished and its territory was merged with other territories to form the new Primorskiy Oblast This situation lasted until 1909 when - in a attempt to restore full control over the area (s.a.) - a separate Kamchatka Oblast - covering the Kamchatka peninsula, Chukotka and the northern part of the East Siberian coast - was restored within the Government General of the Amur. Governors 1910 - 1912 Vasiliy Vlas'evich Perfil'ev 1913 - 1917 Nikolay Vladimirovich Monomachov After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917, Kamchatka - and Chukotka (s.a.) - was ruled by local leaders - in many cases heads of alliances between post-tsarist bureaucrats and local Russian and foreign traders - who only looked to their own benefits and therefore adapted their style and rethorics to that of the victors of the day when necessary. This situation was briefly interrupted in Dec 1917 - Feb 1918 when the Soviet of Vladivostok dispatched Ivan Emelyanovich Larin (1890 - 1...) to the peninsula to instore Soviet rule. He formed a Petropavlovsk Soviet and procliamed Soviet rule in Feb 1918, whereupon he was immediately arrested and expelled. In Jan 1920 Larin once again seized power. He now established a Kamchatka Revolutionary Committee that successively submitted to the Far Eastern Republic and to the RSFSR (which toke over Kamchatka and Chukotka from the Far Eastern Republic in Dec 1920), but in fact once again only looked to its own profit. In Oct 1921 Kamchatka was conquered by the White leader Bochkarev, who later also added Chukotka to his domains. His rule in Kamchatka ended in Oct 1922 when Russian forces captured Petropavlovsk and finally established Soviet rule in Kamchatka. The peninsula now became part of the Province - later Oblast and Kray (1926) - of the Far East, within which it successively was : 192. - 1930 : an Okrug 1930 - 1932 : a Rayon 1932 - 1938 : an Oblast, which in 1938 was transferred to the new Khabarovsk Kray. Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Kamchatka Oblast 1932 - 1945 ... First Secretaries of the Kamchatka Oblast Committee of the All-Union Communist Party 1932 - 1934 I. I. Samsonov 1934 - 1937 V. A. Orlov 1937 - 1938 D. I. Nikonov 1938 - 1939 V. I. Kuteinikov 1939 - 1942 G. F. Aksyonov 1942 - 1944 S. A. Vasin 1944 - 1948 I. F. Petrov KORYAK NATIONAL OKRUG The Russians reached the land of the Koryak (or Korak) clans in Northern Kamchatka in the 1650's. The defeat a Cossack detachment at the battle of the Taui river in 1669, initiated a period of wars that lasted until 1758 when the Koryak eventually recognized Russian rule and agreed to pay tribute (yasak). Though the Koryak were now integrated into the Russian economical system and though Russians settled in the area, Koryak traditional structures remained relatively intact until the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. During the Civil War that followed, the Koryak at first remained neutral, providing both parties with scouts and guides when asked for. Later the negative attitude of the Whites however incited many of them to join the Red forces. In the 1920's Soviet structures (Clan soviets, etc) were gradually introduced among the Koryak and in 1930 a Koryak National Okrug - covering most of the traditional Koryak lands - was formed (since 1932 within the Kamchatka Oblast) LOWER AMUR OBLAST In 1934 the Nikolayevsk area of the Primorskiy Oblast became an Oblast of its own within the Far Eastern Kray. In 1938 it was transferred to the Khabarovsk Kray (leadership remains to be added) SAKHALIN OBLAST Ca. 1848 Sakhalin Island - inhhabited by the Nivkhi (before Gilyak, northern part) and the Ainu (southern part and the neighbouring Kuril Islands) - was claimed by three powers : - China : Sakhalin (Chin. : Kuyi) was probably placed under Chinese sovereignty at the time of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and except for a possible interruption in the last years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and in the first years of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) Nivkhi leaders continued to pay a yearly tribute to the Emperors until the early 19th century. Chinese rule over the area was formally ended by the treaties of 1858 and 1860 between China and Russia. - Japan : Although there were contacts between Japan and the Ainu of the Kurils (Jap.: Chishima or Kuriru) and Southern Sakhalin (Jap.: Karafuto) since the Middle Ages, it was only in the 17th century that the presence of Japanese fishermen and traders really became important and that a first major permanent settlement was established at Ootomari (1679). Sakahlin and the Kurils were part of the powerfull Lordship of Matsumae - also in control of Hokkaido - until 1806, when under Russian pressure, the Bakufu assumed direct control. - Russia : Russian presence in the region started in the first years of the 18th century when cossacks from Kamchatka touched Shumshu, the northernmost island of the Kurils. From here other cossacks, fur hunters and traders gradually expanded Russian activities over the other Kuril islands and over Sakhalin. As a result of this expansion the Russians eventually reached the area of Japanese activities and in 1806 a Russian ship even attacked Ootomari. During the rest of the first part of the 19th century frictions between Japan and Russia about the ownership of the islands continued. It was only when other nations - like the UK and the US - started to show economic interest for the islands that both nations eventually decided to settle the quarrel by signing the Treaty of Shimoda (1855) whereby : - the Kurils - except the southern island of Etorofu - were ceded to Russia. - Sakhalin became a common possession divided into two zones : - a Japanese in the South - a Russian in the North (but without fixed frontiers between the two) This situation was modified in 1875 by the Treaty of St. Petersburg : - the Kurils up to Kamchatka all became Japanese territory. - Japan gave up all its claims on Sakhalin. (for the third treaty of 1905 s.b.) After the Treaty of Shimoda the Russian zone - till then more or less administered as a dependency of the Irkutsk Province in the Government General of East Siberia - became part of the newly erected Primorskiy Oblast. This remained so until 1884 when it became a separate department directly subordinated to the Governor General of the Amur. (From 1858 to 1906 Sakhalin served as a major deportation center for opponents to the tsarist regime) Island Chiefs 1884 - 1888 Andrey Ivanovich Hintse 1888 - 1893 Vladimir Iosifovich Kononovich 1893 - 1894 MajGen. Vladimir Dmitriyevich Merkazin 1835 - Military Governors 1894 - 1898 MajGen. Vladimir Dmitriyevich Merkazin s.a. 1898 - 1905 LtGen. Mikhail Nikolayevich Lyapunov, surrendered to Japan (7) 1905 - 1909 MajGen. Arkady Mikhaylovich Valuyev In 1906 deportation to the island was abolished and in 1909 it became an Oblast of of the Government General of the Amur, open to free colonization. (from 1914 onwards the Sakhalin Oblast also included the area of Nikolayevsk - na - Amur on the East Siberian coast) Governors 1909 - 1910 MajGen. Arkady Mikhaylovich Valuyev s.a. 1910 - 1916 Dmitriy Dmitriyevich Grigoryev 1916 - 1917 Yevgeny Fedorovich Alekseyevskiy* After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917 and during the troubled years of the Civil War, the successive administrators of Sakhalin were : Chairman of the Committee of Public Safety (ended Tsarist rule) 1917 Aleksandr Trofimovich Tsapko 1884 - 1920 Provincial Commissioners (represented the Provisional Government) 1917 Aleksandr Trofimovich Tsapko s.a. 1917 - 1918 V. M. Porvatov Heads of the Collective for the Self-Governance of Sakhalin (Assumed power in March 1918 - resisted Bolshevik attempt to seize power and ruled Northern Sakhalin as a de facto independent area until Sep 1918, when it came under the authority of the Provisional All-Russian Government of Omsk) 1918 ... Commissioner of the Provisional All-Russian Government of Omsk 1918 - 19.. G. V. Reut The White administration in Russian Sakhalin ended in Jan 1920, when a Provisional Revolutionary Committee seized power and proclaimed Soviet rule (March 1920). Chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Sakhalin 1920 Aleksandr Trofimovich Tsapko s.a. The first period of Soviet rule was very brief as in April 1920 - as a retaliation to the massacre of Japanese prisoners by partisans - Russian Sakhalin was occupied by Japanese forces. The Japanese military government lasted until 1925 when, by the Beijing Convention, the Japanese returned Northern Sakhalin to the USSR in exchange for very extended economic concessions. (8) Northern Sakhalin then became an Okrug of the Kray of the Far East (1926). In 1932 it became an Oblast that was tranferred to the new Khabarovsk Kray in 1938. Chairmen of the Executive Committee of the Sakhalin Oblast 1932 - 1945 ... First Secretaries of the Sakhalin Oblast Committee of the All-Union Communist Party 1930 - 1934 N. I. Ivanov 1934 - 1937 P. M. Ulyansky 1938 F. V. Bespalko 1939 - 1940 G. I. Shatalin 1940 - 1943 Aleksey Mikhaylovich Spiridonov 1909 - 1943 - 1945 I. D. Chizhov (1) All that remained of these early attempts were some Jewish National Rayons - Kalinindorf, Nay Zlatepol and Stalindorf in Ukraine - which seem to have survived until the arrival of the Germans in 1941. (2) From an international point of view the area was however considered as being within the frontiers of the Empire. (3) The name "American" was not only given to US citizens, but also to other Westerners (Canadians, Norwegians,...) operating in the area. This foreign economic presence started in the 1820's and reached its first peak after 1867, when the region was seen as the economic continuation of annexed Alaska. By 1880 the foreign presence at last started to worry the Russians and in an attempt to counter it, an Anadyr administrative division (Okrug?) was formed in 1889 within the Government General of the Amur. Governors 1889 - 1893 ... 1893 - 1897 Nikolay Lvovich Gondatti 1860 - 1946 The Anadyr administration seems to have lapsed after 1897 and by 1900 Russian authority was once again challenged in the area by a new wave of Westerners arriving in the region as a consequence of the goldrush in Yukon in 1898. In 1909 a second attempt to establish Russian control in the area resulted in the creation of the separate Oblast of Kamchatka (s.a.) which included Chukotka. Many of these activities were often illegal, being sometimes no more than raids on the coasts of Chukotka and Kamchatka (including the Komandorski Islands - s.b.) by freebooters looking for fur, gold, etc. But others were organised by companies having received concessions from the Russian government. Among them : - the Hudson's Bay Company, - the Russian-American Trading Company of New York and Gizhiga, The most important of these companies however was the US Northeast Siberia Company which, from 1902 to 1912, had a mining concession (for gold, iron and graphite) covering all Chukotka. The Anglo-Saxons did not only dominate economic life. They also influenced cultural life : houses were build in US Pacific style, an English newspaper was published and English was the current language in the area, not only between traders and natives, but also between Russian local officials and natives. (4) Wrangel Island Linked to Chukotka is the Arctic island Wrangel (and its dependency Gerald or Herald) The uninhabited island Wrangel was discovered in 1867 by the US Captain Thomas Long and named for the Russian Baron Ferdinand Petrovich Wrangel (1797– 1870) who made an expedition in the area ca 1820. In 1881 the island was claimed fot the US by Captain Calvin L. Hooper, of US Treasury Department operating in Alaska. But no occupation followed and when Russia formally annexed the island in 1916, it still was uninhabited. The Russian annexation was only symbolic and in 1921 the Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879 - 1962) occupied it - with support of the Canadian government - without any protest or resistance. He estblished a small colony of 5 settlers (1 Canadian, 3 Americans and 1 Inuit) with the intention of building a base for transpolar flights. In 1923 he sent a new party of 13 men (all but one Inuit) to replace the first one which had been decimated by the cold. The Canadian government however no longer supported him and Stefensson then sold the island to an Alaskan trader who planned to turn it into a reindeer farm. His plans ended in Oct 1924 when Soviet security forces occupied Wrangel, expelled its inhabitants and later replaced them with Eskimo from Chukotka. The isalnd formally became part of the USSR in 1926 and then had the same history as Chukotka. (5) From 1934 to 1937 the mining area of Zeya was detached from the Amur and formed an Oblast of its own. (6) Komandorski Islands Linked to Kamchatka were the Komandorski (Commander) islands (Bering, Mednyi and two other small islets). They were uninhabited when reached by Vitus Jonassen Bering (1681 – 1741) and they remained so until the 1820's when the Russian-American Company - at that moment in charge of Russian North America (later Alaska, with the Aleutian Islands and the Komandorski Islands - deported some Aleut families to the two islands to work there as fur hunters. The Komandorski Islands were the only part of Russian North America that remained under Russian rule after 1867 having now the same history as Kamchatka, in which they were integrated. Like other Russian territories in the region the islands became part of the zone of activities of the "American" traders, hunters, etc. mentioned above. In 1871 they were even given in concession to an US Company (name not traced, but most probably the Alaska Commercial Company) for 20 years. In the first part of the 20th century the Aleut population started to decline as a result of the important economic and cultural changes of the last part of the 19th century and of the Civil War that followed the fall of the monarchy. The downwards evolution was only contained in 1932, when the creation of an Aleut National Rayon as part of the Kamchatka Oblast brought some stabilization. (7) In 1905 the whole island was oocupied by Japanese forces (Commanding Officer : Gen. Haraguchi Kensai) and by the Treaty of Portsmouth of the same year Russia was forced to cede the southern part of the island to Japan. (8) The economic exploitation of Northern Sakhalin by Japan actually started during the military occupation of 1920 - 1925, when Japanese companies - most notably the Mitsubishi Mining Company - toke absolute control of the oilfields, the coal deposits, the timber exploitation and the fishery. The convention of 1925 partly officialized this situation by granting to Japan for a period of 45 years concessions for the exploitation of the coal deposits (entrusted to the North Sakhalin Mining Company) and of 50% of the oulfields (entrusted to the North Sakhalin Oil Company). As a consequence of WWII the concessions were already abolished in 1944.
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