Italians of Crimea

The Italians of Crimea are a small ethnic minority residing in Crimea.

History

Ancestors of the Italians populated some areas of Ukraine and Crimea since the time of the Roman Empire, Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice. Some sources affirm that in Odessa, at the end of the 18th century, one inhabitant in ten was Italian.^[1]

In 1830 and 1870 two distinct migrations arrived in Kerch from the cities of Trani, Bisceglie e Molfetta. These migrants were peasants and sailors, attracted by the job opportunities in the local Crimean seaports and by the possibility to cultivate the almost virgin and fertile Crimean lands. Italian general and patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi worked as a sailor at least twice in the region of Odessa, between 1825 and 1833.

In Kerch they built a catholic church, still locally known as the Church of the Italians. From Kerch the Italians moved to Feodosiya (the former Genoese colony of Caffa), Simferopol, Mariupol and to other Russian seaports of Crimea, such as Batumi and Novorossiysk.

In the beginning of the 20th century the Italian community was numerous enough to have a primary school and a library. The local newspaper Kerčenskij Rabocij at that time used to publish articles in Italian. According to the information contained in the Ukrainian statistics archives, the Italians resident in Kerch accounted in 1897 to 1,8% of the population and in 1921 to 2% for a total of 3,000 people.^[2]

Deportation

After the Russian Revolution, many Italians were considered fascists and forced to move to Italy.

Between 1920 and 1930 many antifascist Italians seeking asylum in Soviet Union were sent from Moscow to Kerch to organise the local Italian community. According to the plans of Soviet collective farming, the Italians were forced to create a kolkhoz called Sacco e Vanzetti. Those refusing to comply were forced to leave or were deported. According to 1933 census the number of Italians in the region of Kerch had already dropped by 1,3%.

Between 1936 and 1938, during Stalin's Great Purge, many Italians were accused of espionage and literally disappeared.

When in 1942 the Wehrmacht conquered Ukraine and Crimea, the Italian ethnic minority was deported to Asia with the same modalities of the Volga Germans, who had already been deported in August 1941. The entire Italian community, including the antifascists settling in the 20s was gathered and sent to Kazakhstan in sealed trains. The trip started on the 29 January 1942 and lasted until March, when the convoy arrived in Atbasar and the prisoners were moved to labour camps. Half of the convoy (including all the children) died during the trip, as well as many others during the detention in the camps.^[3]

The few survivors were allowed to return to Kerch under Nikita Krushchev's regency. Some families dispersed in other territories of Soviet Union, mainly in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.