Universal History Annotation << Back Tatars and Jews of Crimea: the Tragedies Ensuing to Opposite Reasons V.V. Kuznetsova The essay consists of two parts. Part I treats the problem of behaviour of the vast majority of Crimean Tatars sided with Germany because Hitler ordered to keep all their housekeeping and promised to authorize the establishment of the Crimean Tatar state under the protectorate of Germany and Turkey. Crimean Tatars created martial detachments, struggling with the Soviet partisans, hunting them and destroying their production and ammunition bases. They shot, hanged and even burned captured Red Army partisans. In late 1943, Stalin and Beria decided to deport all the Crimean Tatars in Uzbekistan. About 150 000 people were deported to Fergana Valley (which was one of the mosr fertile territities in the USSR). They were transported in common military echelons, not in cars for prisoners (oficially, in the way, about 0.1 % of tatars died). On the other hand, it needs to be ascertain that some of the Crimean Tatars fought in the Red Army, and among them there were six Heroes of the Soviet Union, and the pilot Amet- Khan Sultan who became twice Hero. But Crimean Tatars did not wait full rehabilitation with a permission to return to their historic homeland. A propos, let it be known that their longtime leader Mustafa Jemiliov, a dissident and fighter for the return to the Crimea, received higher education in Tashkent and became an engineer. Part II describes the successful attempts, in the 1920s, by the Soviet authorities to settle down Crimea Jews in arid steppe zoneof the peninsula. There Jews created agricultural communes, carried out irrigation, building houses. Soon their population surpassed 100 thousand ... But after the beginning of collectivization in 1929 and the total famine in 1932, most of the Jews left the Crimea, a part of them succeded to emigrate, a small part, no more than 28 000 people went to Birobidzhan (Far East). Still at the beginning of the war, 65 000 Jews remained in the Crimea. All of them who did not come to partisan detachments were killed, as a rule, by Crimean Tatars.There are several plausible theories about attempts to create in Northern Crimea Jewish Soviet Socialist Republic. Primarily, it was the idea of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC leaders: S. Mikhoels , S. Lozovsky, P. Fefer , I. Ehrenburg ). Circling the allied countries, mainly the United States and Canada, JAC has collected tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Red Army. The idea of the JSSR in the Northern Crimea was supported by V.M. Molotov and L.P. Beria. Foreign diplomats said that it was also approved by Stalin. An international organization «Joint» made it clear that in this case the U.S. was ready to reduce or even to write off most of the debt for their Lend-Lease supplies to the USSR. However, after fast transition, since the fall of 1948, from friendly to hostile relations between the USSR and Israel, Stalin buried the idea of the JSSR. Mikhoels was secretly killed and the JAC dissolved. After a year of Stalin’s death, in 1954, magnificent celebration of 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia took place. Then Nikita Khrushchev made an unexpected gift to Ukraine on behalf of Russian Federation – the Crimea. They said that the term of paying off the debt to the USA expired. So сunning Khrushchev wanted as if to «charge» the payments partly to the Ukraine keeping in mind the promise of «Joint» to write off the Soviet debt. If this plan failed Krushchev wanted to urge negoitiations on the theme between U.S. and another state, the Ukraine, for it became an «independent» member of the UNO. Thus all the problem was going to sink in bereaucratic chains. The transfer of the Crimea was carried out with rough legal errors. As well as, in 1991, when the USSR collapsed. It is known from witnesses thay the Russian President Yeltsin, answering the question of Ukrainian President : «Now, what shall we do with the Crimea and Sevastopol?» gave up as lost : «Take it!». Keywords: Crimea, Tatars, Jews Contacts: Е-mail: megapolice@inbox.ru (vvkuznetsova) Pp. 03-23.