DOI: 10.25136/2409-868X.2020.1.31903

Abstract: The author examines the psychological adaptation of Russian émigré in the German society during the period in question. Special attention is paid to the Russian humanitarian organizations as communication channels between the Russian refugees and authorities of the hosting countries with regards to distribution of humanitarian aid, solution of legal and administrative issues; humanitarian situation among former Russian prisoners of the World War I in Europe; psychological state of Russian emigrants as a humanitarian problem of white émigré. Methodological framework consists of the principles of historicism and systematicity. The latter implies studying the problem in inseparable connection with the processes and events taking place in society at the particular moment in history. The author examines the history of Russian humanitarian activity in emigration as an element of general historical context in development of the country. This article is first within the Russian historiography to consider the psychological peculiarities of adaptation of Russian émigrés in the European society; as well as introduce into the scientific discourse previously unpublished autograph of the prominent émigré writer and publisher Roman Borisovich Gul. Depressive trends, cultural famine, transformation of moral image were frequent occurrences in the moral-psychological climate of Russian communities, due to the circumstances of long-term isolated living in the refugee camps in Germany. As a counterbalance to the gradually vanishing hopes, as a so-called compensation for the emerged spiritual vacuum, in the moods of Russian émigrés have formed the centripetal tendencies, desire to unite national groups, isolate from antagonistic external environment, create the own “Russian” world in a foreign land.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0609.2020.1.31909

Abstract: The article discusses the activities of Russian humanitarian, professional and public organizations in determining the legal status of Russian migrants in Europe and providing legal assistance to refugees and Russian legal entities in exile in 1917 - 1920s, as well as the trade unions of Russian lawyers in exile and their activities of legal assistance to their compatriots. The author examines the foreign policy of different states concerning the legal discrimination of Russian refugees and the geopolitical context in which the legal integration of Russian emigration took place in the societies of host countries. The study views the Russian humanitarian and legal activity as a factor in preserving the civic identity of these emigrants. The methodological basis on which this research is based is the principles of historicism and systematicity, which imply the application of the chronological method in the research process, as well as the methods of retrospection, periodization and actualization. The article explores for the first time in historiography the little-studied page in the history of Russian emigration: the creation in Germany in the 1920s of an effective system of humanitarian and legal assistance to Russian refugees aimed at clarifying their legal status and restoring the legal existence of Russian commercial enterprises in exile. For the first time in historiography, the author examines the ability of the emigrant community to self-organize in order to assert its rights in a foreign language and foreign culture society.The factors that significantly complicated the Russian emigrants' humanitarian and legal status, thereby also hindering their integration into European society, included: the long irresolution of their legal status; the significant number of legal obstacles; the ineffectiveness of officials with respect to the refugees' actual lack of rights; the legal conflict in international law that arose with the emergence of the Russian emigration phenomenon; and the unprecedented humanitarian and legal crisis of the post First World War period in Europe. Under these conditions, the Russian emigrant community nonetheless managed to develop effective mechanisms to help its compatriots in the legal sphere.