Crimea

Ukrainian: Krym; Russian: Krym; Crimean Tatar: Qırım; ancient name: Tauris.

The origin of the name ‘Crimea’ has not been definitively established. At least three theories are in circulation: according to the first, the name is etymologically derived from the Mongolian-Tatar word ‘kerim’ (fortress); secondly, to the Crimean Tatar word ‘qrım’ (rock); or thirdly, to the Cimmerians, a tribe said to have lived in the Crimea in ancient times.

Crimea has always been a multi-ethnic region through which people have passed and settled, defying exclusively national interpretations. It is significant that, firstly, the peninsula was frequently part of larger, imperial entities (e.g. as part of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Khazar and Ottoman empires, or the Russian Empire), and, secondly, that right up until the early modern period, groups with different economic practices and organisational structures lived side by side on the peninsula, linked by a complex web of interdependence and exchange. Consequently, no single, overarching centre of power emerged in Crimea over long periods. The coexistence of these groups was characterised by periods of both harmony and conflict.

From the 15th century onwards, the Crimean Khanate, under Ottoman suzerainty, established itself as a key factor in the regional order. With the annexation of the Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1783, the peninsula was politically and structurally integrated into its framework. During the First World War and the ensuing civil war, various regimes succeeded one another in rapid succession (including occupation by German imperial troops in 1918), before the Bolsheviks were finally able to assert their authority in 1920 and established an autonomous regional entity (the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, ASSR) in the Crimea within the framework of the RSFSR (Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic). During the Second World War, the Wehrmacht occupied the Crimea, which, at the behest of Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), was to be Germanised and renamed ‘Gotengau’. Following its recapture by the Soviet Army, the ASSR was dissolved in 1945, and the Crimea became a region within the RSFSR without special rights. In 1954, it became part of the USSR (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) and, following the dissolution of the USSR and a referendum in December 1991, became part of Ukraine.

Despite the ‘autonomous status’ granted to Crimea by Kyiv as the only part of the country,Kiev, the Crimea was recognised as the only part of the country to be granted autonomous status, the peninsula’s affiliation was a source of dispute from the very beginning, both between the predominantly Russian-speaking Crimean inhabitants and Kyiv, and between Kyiv and Moscow/Moskva. In the early 1990s, Ukraine struggled to maintain its claim to the Crimea. At the end of February 2014, in the wake of the Euromaidan, pro-Russian separatists seized control of the Crimea, supported in the process by Russian military personnel who were not identified as combatants. In a referendum held on 16 March 2014, according to Russian figures – which have been questioned by independent observers – more than 90 per cent of the Crimean population are said to have voted in favour of accession (Prisoedinenie) to Russia. Russia complied (in its own words) with this wish of the Crimean people, although the international community regards this move as not covered by international law and therefore as an annexation. The status of Crimea is therefore currently disputed.

In ancient times, the Crimea was initially settled by peoples whom Greek authors such as Herodotus and Strabo referred to as the ‘Cimmerians’ and the ‘Tauri’. Through the Pontic Greeks, who had been founding colonies on the Crimean coast since the 7th century BC, the Greek world came into contact with these peoples, as well as with the so-called Scythians and, from around 500 BC, with the Sarmatians. From the 3rd/2nd century BC onwards, (semi-)nomadic tribes began to invade, threatening the Greek colonies. At this time, cities such as Chersones (Greek: Chersonesos, now a suburb of Sevastopol and one of the most important archaeological sites in the post-Soviet space) or Theodosia (now Feodosiya [Ukrainian/Russian: Feodosija]) already belonged to the Bosporan Kingdom, with its centre at Pantikapaion (now Kerch), which ultimately placed itself under the protection of the Kingdom of Pontus. Its ruler, Mithridates VI (c. 134–63 BC), came into conflict with Rome whilst attempting to extend his sphere of influence into regions of Asia Minor. Following Rome’s victory in 63 BC, Pontus became a dependent client state. Coastal cities such as Chersonesos developed into oligarchic republics and formed the basis of Roman rule on the peninsula.

Germanic tribes, simplistically referred to as ‘Goths’, first appeared in the Crimea around 255 AD and, for the most part, moved on westwards. Those who remained were known as the Crimean Goths; they forged political and cultural ties with the Eastern Roman Empire and converted to Christianity. Their principality of Theodoro, situated in the mountains of the peninsula, endured until the Crimea was completely conquered by the Crimean Tatars around the year 1475. The Nazis attempted to legitimise their claim to the Crimea, made during the Second World War, by invoking this former Gothic settlement.

From the end of the 7th century, the Turkic Khazars extended their rule to the Crimea and, for just under three centuries – alongside the Eastern Roman Empire, which still ruled over Chersonesus, amongst other territories – became the dominant power in the region. Relations between the Khazars and Constantinople fluctuated between hostility and cooperation; on occasion, alliances were formed against invading nomadic groups (the Pechenegs, Alans and others) or the Persian Sassanid Empire.

In the 10th century, a new player emerged in the form of Kievan Rus’, which dealt a lasting blow to Khazar rule. There can be no question of the Slavs controlling the region at this stage, though there were intensive trade links between the Rus’ and Byzantium, which alternated with raids by Kyiv against Constantinople. The following event remains of great symbolic political significance to this day: around the year 988, the Grand Prince of Kiev, Vladimir (960–1015), had led a campaign against Chersonesos and, at roughly the same time, adopted Byzantine-style Christianity. According to Old East Slavic chronicles, his baptism is said to have taken place in Chersonesos, from which, from a Russian perspective, a claim to the Crimea is (or was) derived.

From the 13th century onwards, the maritime republics of Venice and Genoa established trading colonies along the Black Sea coast, including in Kaffa, formerly known as Theodosia. Owing to its favourable location, the city played an important role in the economy and trade, not least through its involvement in the slave trade. Like all urban agglomerations in the region, Kaffa was by no means ethnically or religiously homogeneous, but was characterised by great cultural diversity. Italians, Greeks, Slavs, Armenians and Muslim groups settled in the Crimea.

In the 14th century, the once-powerful Eurasian confederation known as the Golden Horde began to disintegrate, and several independent khanates emerged from its legacy. One of these, and certainly the most influential for a long time, was the Crimean Khanate, which was to encompass not only the peninsula itself but also the territories lying north of Perekop. After the Tatars had settled in the Crimea, the town of Staryj Krym (Ukrainian/Russian: [Old Crimea]; Crimean Tatar: Eski Kırım [Old Fortress]), situated in the north-eastern region between the mountains and the steppe, played an important role as the economic and religious centre of the Crimean Tatars from the 13th century onwards, as evidenced to this day by the remains of the once-mighty stone mosque. Later, Bakhchisaray (Ukrainian: Bachčysaraj; Russian: Bachčisaraj; Crimean Tatar: Bahçesaray), situated further west in the mountains, became the capital and the cultural and religious centre. Before long, the new rulers, who professed Sunni Islam, succeeded in bringing several coastal towns under their control through the payment of tribute, whilst others came under Ottoman administration (as eyalets, or provinces) at the end of the 15th century. This marked the end of Italian colonies such as Kaffa. Although the urban population as a whole assimilated rapidly, the multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of the peninsula was nevertheless preserved, particularly as the khans tolerated the religious practices of their new subjects—which were alien to them—and derived financial benefits from these religious differences through special tax obligations.

During the First World War, there were initially only minor troop movements and isolated naval operations in the Black Sea region. The revolution in February 1917 also proceeded relatively peacefully; however, the population and the representatives of the new regime quickly became estranged from one another, and, as in other parts of the Russian Empire, there was a surge in the politicisation of national minorities, including the Crimean Tatars. As late as the spring of 1917, they were content with cultural autonomy within a future democratic Russia, but they soon began to demand independence. After the October Revolution, violence escalated: ‘revolutionary’ groups fought against ‘bourgeois’ Russians, whilst nationalist and socialist partisans also became involved. The situation remained chaotic until the Bolsheviks’ final victory: The UNR, the Ukrainian People’s Republic (Ukraїns’ka Narodna Respublika), laid claim to the territory, whilst an independent Crimean state – which Crimean Tatar politicians intended to link with the Ottoman Empire in the medium term – was envisaged by various factions. Following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in early 1918, Imperial German troops occupied the peninsula. After their withdrawal in November 1918, White Guards and Allied troops allied with them intervened. War and destruction ensued.

In 1921–22, the Crimea was ravaged by famine, before the New Economic Policy (NEP; Novaja ėkonomičeskaja politika, NĖP) stabilised the economic situation. The establishment of the Crimean Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) in 1921 was part of the union-wide policy of indigenisation (Russian: korenizacija, ‘taking root’), which was intended to win over non-Russian nationalities to the Soviet cause. The Crimean Tatars also benefited from this policy until the early 1930s, for example in the areas of culture and political participation. Stalin’s (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, 1878–1953) policy of repression then also affected Crimea and its inhabitants.

Following the German Reich’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Crimea was soon drawn into the fighting. The German occupation, which lasted from 1942 until the spring of 1944, brought with it the full brunt of the Nazis’ war of extermination. The Nazis pragmatically attempted to persuade the Crimean Tatar population – who had previously endured the repression of Stalinist terror – to collaborate, and were partially successful. However, some of the inhabitants remained passive towards the occupiers, whilst others joined the partisans. Following the Red Army’s recapture of the peninsula in 1944, the accusation of mass collaboration – which was utterly baseless – served as a justification for the brutal deportation of nearly 200,000 Crimean Tatars, as well as others of ‘foreign’ nationalities (e.g. the Crimean Greeks), mostly to Central Asia; a crime which destroyed the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of the peninsula and continues to strain Russian-Crimean Tatar relations to this day.

The post-war years were characterised by the repair of war damage and forced industrialisation. In addition to its agricultural sector, the Crimea developed one of the largest spa and tourism industries in the Soviet Union. In 1954, under Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) – officially to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav (the oath of allegiance sworn by the Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Russian Tsar Alexei I) – the Crimea was separated from the RSFSR and, from then on, administered by the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. Whilst the Soviet Union existed, this move was of little significance; however, following its collapse, it gave rise to a number of problems. Debates over the constitutional legality of Khrushchev’s ‘gift’, the dispute over the division of the Black Sea Fleet and the use of Sevastopol as a Russian military base, as well as occasionally violent clashes between the predominantly Russian-speaking, Slavic Crimean residents and the Tatars who gradually returned from Central Asia characterised the history of Crimea between 1991 and 2014. As Ukraine had failed, in the two and a half decades since independence, to enable the country – and with it the Crimea – to prosper, the enthusiasm with which a majority of the Slavic population spoke out in favour of the Crimea’s accession to the Russian Federation in 2014 was, in part, also economically motivated.

At the end of November 2018, another Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out. In the Kerch Strait, not far from the east coast of Crimea, three Ukrainian vessels en route to Mariupol (Mariupol’) were stopped, fired upon and boarded by the Russian coastguard. Russia’s actions were in breach of international law.

As early as the beginning of the 1990s, a majority of the Slavic population in Crimea were calling for the region to be incorporated into Russia. Partly to take the wind out of the sails of these separatist tendencies, in 1992 Crimea became the only region within Ukraine to be granted the status of an Autonomous Republic, with certain sovereign rights in the areas of finance, administration and the judiciary, as well as a regional parliament. Following the annexation in 2014, the peninsula has become one of the 85 federal subjects of the Russian Federation. Sevastopol, as was the case in the years following the Second World War, holds the status of a ‘city of federal significance’, the third such city after Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Owing to its location, the Crimea has played a significant role in the economy of the Black Sea region and as a transhipment point for trade from Asia since ancient times. Key ‘commodities’ included spices, grain, silk and slaves, which were distributed via the Crimean ports even in ancient times. Agricultural produce (fruit, vegetables) also played – and continues to play – a major role, as does wine-growing; this was, incidentally, also the case during the Crimean Tatar period, as the Muslim population itself consumed wine. The so-called ‘Krymskoe’ (Crimean sparkling wine) is legendary.

The mild climate in the south of the peninsula led the Russian rulers to harbour high economic expectations, which, however, were only partially fulfilled, particularly as the 19th-century Russian administration displayed glaring shortcomings in the areas of infrastructure and targeted economic development. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, tourism gradually flourished and was consistently promoted, particularly during the Soviet era. The Crimea became one of the most popular holiday destinations within the USSR; by the end of the 1980s, up to eight million people were spending their holidays there each year. Alongside a strong culture of Young Pioneers’ camps, centred on the main ‘Artek’ camp, a sanatorium and trade union travel industry developed. At the same time, the Crimea also attracted numerous independent travellers, who were referred to as ‘wild tourists’ in the Soviet context. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, tourism declined dramatically, but recovered after the Orange Revolution of 2004–2005 and the introduction of visa-free travel. As a result, Western tourists increasingly visited the Crimea; however, their numbers – like those of other travellers – have been very low since the annexation by Russia in 2014.

At present, the local administration and Moscow face major challenges, as the economy – which had hitherto been geared towards the Ukrainian state as a whole – must be restructured. The economic sanctions imposed on Russia by Western states are compounding the problem. It is not yet possible to assess whether the bridge between Kerch and the Taman Peninsula – which connects Crimea with the Russian Federation and was opened in the summer of 2018 amid a major propaganda campaign – will help bring about economic recovery.

Religious and cultural diversity has characterised the history of Crimea. It was a centre of early Christianity and, during the Byzantine period, a place of exile for alleged heretics or clergy who had come into conflict with imperial authority, such as Pope Martin I, who suffered martyrdom there in 655. Sunni Islam arrived on the peninsula with the Crimean Tatars, who showed tolerance towards Jewish and Christian communities. In principle, the Russian rulers also exercised tolerance; Catherine II did, however, issue a ban on missionary activity – which was observed – so that Orthodox missionary work remained confined to the Christian communities (Old Believers, Catholics [e.g. Poles] or Protestants [e.g. German or Swiss colonists]).

The anti-religious campaigns of the 1920s in the Soviet Union, as well as the regime’s generally anti-religious stance, took their toll on all religious communities; however, in the period leading up to the Second World War, Islam was apparently not persecuted as severely as Orthodoxy. Judaismin the Crimea, rooted in a long tradition, was completely annihilated by the Nazi Shoah , whilst the non-rabbinical Karaites, who were also native to the Crimea, escaped extermination.

The picturesque Crimea has been a major source of inspiration, particularly for Russian literature. Key authors and works include Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) with *Bachčisarajskij fontan* (*The Fountain of Bakhchisarai*, 1824), Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) and his *Sevastopol’skie rasskazy* (*The Sevastopol Stories*, 1855–1856), and Anton Chekhov’s (1860–1904) *Dama s sobačkoj* (The Lady with the Little Dog, 1899). The Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) also created a widely celebrated tribute to the Crimea with his *Sonety Krymskie* (Crimean Sonnets, 1826). The Crimea also became a creative refuge for many significant authors (e.g. Ilya Ehrenburg [1891–1967], Anna Akhmatova [1889–1966], and Alexander Grin [Aleksandr Grinevskij; 1880–1932]).

As the site of Vladimir’s supposed baptism and the setting for a narrative of military heroism and suffering, the Crimea plays a major role in the emotionally charged collective memory of many former Soviet citizens. To this day, the psychological appropriation of Crimea by the Russian side is palpable, although this did, of course, have both a Crimean Tatar and a (limited) Ukrainian counterpart throughout the 20th century.

To this day, Crimea remains the subject of historical and contemporary controversies. The following aspects appear to be particularly significant: Although Crimea only became part of a Russian-dominated state entity towards the end of the 18th century, politicians and academics (historians, archaeologists, etc.) have sought to ‘prove’ the existence of a distinct Slavic/Russian population group from as early a period as possible. Similar approaches have also been taken by Ukrainian nationalist scholars; Vladimir’s alleged baptism becomes one element of the narrative in this context, though by no means the only one. On the part of the Crimean Tatar population, as the former titular nation, a competing claim to Crimea as a settlement area has emerged from around the 13th century onwards. In the Crimean Tatar context, too, there is a narrative of victimhood linked to the place (similar to the Russian ‘Sevastopol topos’), namely the Stalinist deportations of 1944, which the Crimean Tatar community wishes to see recognised as genocide under international law.

A Russian-Ukrainian controversy has arisen over the question of the legality of the so-called Khrushchev ‘gift’ of 1954, specifically regarding its conformity with the constitution in force at the time.

• Stefan Albrecht, Falko Daim, Michael Herdick (eds.): The Hilltop Settlements in the Mountainous Regions of the Crimea. Environment, Cultural Exchange and Transformation on the Northern Frontier of the Byzantine Empire. Mainz 2013 (Monographs of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum, RGZM, 113).
• Meir Buchsweiler: Ethnic Germans in Ukraine on the Eve and at the Outbreak of the Second World War – a Case of Divided Loyalty? Gerlingen 1984.
• Alfred Eisfeld: Germans in the Black Sea Region, the Crimea and the Caucasus from the 19th Century to 1941 (Studies in Modern Historical Research 88). Hamburg 2016.
• Alan W. Fisher: The Crimean Tatars. Stanford 1978.
• Kerstin S. Jobst: Caught between Great Powers? National Conflicts on the Crimean Peninsula following the Collapse of the Tsarist Empire until the Outbreak of the Russian Civil War in 1918/19. In: Philipp Ther, Holm Sundhaussen (eds.): Ethnic Conflicts in the 20th Century. A Comparative Study of the Causes of Inter-ethnic Violence. Wiesbaden 2001 (Research on Eastern European History 59), pp. 83–107.
• Kerstin S. Jobst: The Pearl of the Empire. The Russian Discourse on the Crimea in the Tsarist Empire. Konstanz 2007 (Historical Cultural Studies 11).
• Kerstin S. Jobst: Dangerous Strangers and a Titular Nation? Participation of the Crimean Tatars in the Tsarist Empire and the Early Soviet Union. In: Katrin Boeckh, Antje Himmelreich, Edvin Pezo, Natali Stegmann (eds.): Citizenship and Participation. Civil, Political and Social Rights in Eastern Europe. Munich 2014, pp. 179–198.
• Kerstin S. Jobst, ‘The Symbolic Significance of the Crimean Peninsula for Russia’, in: Russia Analyses No. 291: www.laender-analysen.de/russland/pdf/RusslandAnalysen291.pdf.
• Konrad Keller: The German Colonies in Southern Russia. Odessa 1905 (reprint: Historical Research Association of Germans from Russia e.V. [ed.]). Nuremberg 2000.
• Norbert Kunz: The Crimea under German Rule 1941–1944. The Utopia of Germanisation and the Reality of Occupation. Darmstadt 2005.
• Paul Robert Magocsi: This Blessed Land. Crimea and the Crimean Tatars. Toronto 2014.
• Dietmar Neutatz: The ‘German Question’ in the Black Sea Region and Volhynia. Politics, Economy, Mentalities and Everyday Life Caught between Nationalism and Modernisation (1856–1914). Stuttgart: 1993 (Sources and Studies on the History of Eastern Europe, 37. Also published as: Salzburg, Paris-Lodron University, PhD thesis, 1990). 478 pp.
• Edvin Pezo, Natali Stegmann (eds.): Citizenship and Participation. Civil, Political and Social Rights in Eastern Europe. Munich 2014, pp. 179–198.
• Gwendolyn Sasse: The Crimea Question. Identity, Transition, and Conflict. Cambridge, Mass. 2007 (Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies).
• Valerij Evgenʹevič Vozgrin: Istoričeskie sud’by Krymskich Tatar [The Historical Fate of the Crimean Tatars]. Moscow 1992.
• Brian Glyn Williams: The Crimean Tatars. The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of a Nation. Leiden et al. 2001 (Brill’s Inner Asian Library 2).

• http://www.iccrimea.org/ (A website by the Crimean Tatars in Crimean Tatar and English, including digitised versions of relevant books).
• crimea.dekoder.org/de (Crimean Archipelago. A multimedia dossier).

[1] Kunz: Crimea under German rule; Buchsweiler: Ethnic Germans in Ukraine on the eve of and at the start of the Second World War.

[2] See the results of the 2001 Ukrainian census: 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/nationality/crimea/, 2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/results/general/language/crimea/ (accessed 5 July 2019).

[3] Kunz: The Crimea under German rule; Buchsweiler: Ethnic Germans in Ukraine on the eve of and at the start of the Second World War.

[4] First General Census of the Population of the Russian Empire, 1897. Distribution of the population by native language and district in the 50 governorates of European Russia. Tavricheskaya Guberniya [First General Census of the Russian Empire 1897]: demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=1420 (Accessed 5 July 2019).

[5] See Tim Neshitov: Our Peninsula. Stalin deported them from the Crimea in cattle lorries – first the Germans, then the Tatars, the Armenians, the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Putin now wants to compensate them. In: *Süddeutsche Zeitung*, 20 October 2014, p. 11.

Kerstin Susanne Jobst: Krim. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2019. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32565 (accessed 14 July 2020).