Implementation of measures for the fight against German dominance: German entrepreneurial farms in Western Siberia during the First World War

On the basis of archival and published sources, the issues of implementation of a large-scale campaign against the Germans, both German and Russian nationals, who suddenly became dangerous "internal enemies" for the state and political elite and the Russian society are discussed in the article. The aim of this study is to understand the authorities' policy towards German agricultural entrepreneurship in Western Siberia during the First World War. The methodological basis of the research is elements of the universal scheme of a diaspora development (Z.I. Levin), the theory of commercial minorities (V.I. Dyatlov) as well as the theory of mobilised diaspora (J. Armstrong), which served as an explanatory model for considering the nature of the relations of the German population with the Russian authorities. The author concluded that the authorities' policy towards German agricultural entrepreneurship in the First World War on the territory of Western Siberia was reduced to the adoption of discriminatory measures (infringement and elimination of property, including land rights, of ethnic and cultural identity of the German population). The actual alienation of land from the Germans of foreign and Russian citizenship was almost never observed in Western Siberia, but their economic and social statuses were threatened. However, in these difficult circumstances, German agribusiness preserved its business and public reputation. This was due to the position of the local authorities, who enforced many circulars from the centre rather formally, in the administrative practice mode. Another important fact to be taken into account is that while being in a different ethnic environment in Siberia German entrepreneurs did not consider themselves outcasts, as eventually they were drawn into the new economic, cultural and social communication. On the other hand, the "anti-German campaign" marked the desire to unite various German communities of the region in the face of a common threat, helping to strengthen the awareness of unity and national identity. Since 1917, representatives of the German business community began to actively engage in politics, defending the idea of the national-cultural autonomy of Siberian Germans.

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