THE RED BOOKOF THE PEOPLESOF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
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THE RED BOOKOF THE PEOPLESOF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
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GuestbookThank you for your interest in the fate of small peoples.I found this extremely interesting! I suspect that my great-grandfather was from the Crimean Tartars. Does anyone know how I can research geneology in that area?
DP Great idea for a web-page. I have recently become interested in Central and East-Central Asian history and a web-page like this is helpful. Your ethnic descriptions are particularly interesting, though I miss some (Buryat, e.g.). It would also help if you could provide access to a map with all of the ethnic groups marked and then that map could be used to link access to the description. The way it is now, I have to guess which ethnic group I might be interested in when I've never heard of most. This is pretty awkward; it would be much simpler to double-click on, say, Sakhilin Island and go directly to the ethnic groups there. But that is actually minor. it is a wonderful idea for a web site and you are to be commended.
Thmas M. Hoban 08-12-98 To Whom It May Concern: Please find attached file. A resolution on the Lovozero district from the Second Indigenous Circumpolar Youth Conference. The resolution is about the Sámi on the Kola peninsula which is threatened on their livelihood, culture and hole existence by a tender for mining in the middle of their rein herding area. We all know that the social crisis in Russia is very hard and those who are the most exposed are the indigenous peoples of Russia. The Sámi at the Kola peninsula has under the communist era suffered from gross discrimination and exploitation. Even though they have survived until this day. The fall of communism gave them a hope for the future that the new plans for mining has crushed. I hereby urge you to protest to the government of the Murmansk region and the government of Russia. I also urge you to bring the matter up in all relevant international forums such as ILO & the UN. Sincerely yours Claus Oreskov International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) Fiolstraede 10 DK- 1171 Copenhagen K Denmark Resolution on Lovozero district. November 4, 1998 We, the participants of The Second Indigenous Circumpolar Youth Conference (2ICYC), representing Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Canada, Denmark and The United States of America, appeal to the authorities of the Lovozero district, the local government of Murmansk region, the Parliament of the Murmansk region, the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, the Karasjok municipality, Fylkesting of Finnmark region (Norway), Saami Association, Saami Parliaments of Norway, Sweden and Finland, the Arctic Council, the Barents Council, the Council of the Ministers of the Nordic Countries, the Indigenous Peoples Secretariat in Denmark, European Council, United Nations Commission On Human Rights, expressing our protest against unlawful actions by the authorities of the Murmansk region and the Swedish-Russian Open Joint Stock Company, "Voronye-Minerals". On July 17, 1998 the indigenous Saami population of the Lovozero district, in the Murmansk region of Russia, learned from the press about the outcome of the open tender. This tender, concerning the right to conduct geological prospecting in the North-western portion of the Kolmozero-Voroninskaya formation with the intent of excavating gold, copper and molybdenum. The tender commission met on June 28, 1998. In the meeting, the local government of the Murmansk region, the Natural Resources Committee of the Murmansk region announced the Open Joint Stock Company "Voronye-Minerals" as the winner of the tender. The land plot in question is 420 sq. km. and 500 m. deep from the surface. The license is valid until June 30, 2023. By adopting these decisions and signing the relevant documents, the local government of the Murmansk region has completely ignored the opinion of the indigenous people and the public of Lovozero district. After the announcement of the tender in March 1998, the Lujavri local organization of Kola Peninsula Saami Association, the Association of Komi-Izhemtz "Iz´vatos", Council of War and Labour Veterans, and local population began an active campaign against mining and prospecting in the North-western portion of the Kolmozero-Voroninskaya formation. The land in question is a permanent pasture of three main reindeer herds. Appeals and protests have been sent to local and regional authorities, however, these appeals and protests have not been answered. The "Voronye- Minerals" Company intends to conduct prospecting and mining for 25 years. These activities will result in the disappearance of reindeer herding. Reindeer herding is the traditional economic activity of the Saami people. Reindeer herding has also been the traditional lifestyle for the Saami people for hundreds of years; it is the basic layer of their everyday life and culture. According to the latest count today, there are only 1,730 ethnic Saamis in all of Russia. The disappearance of reindeer herding will result in extinction of the Saami nation. Many changes have taken place in Russia during the last century. By the end of 1980s, because of state political influence, language and traditions of the Saami people have become nearly extinct. The preservation of Reindeer herding and fisheries are of vital importance for the survival of the Saami peoples. We, the participants of the 2ICYC support the Kola Peninsula Saami people and consider their struggle for vital rights as lawful. We see direct violations of both Russian and international legislative and regulative documents, such as: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art.22, art. 8; ILO Convention No.169, art. 2, paragraph 1: "Governments shall have the responsibility for developing, with the participation of the peoples concerned, co-ordinated and systematic action to protect the rights of these peoples and to guarantee respect for their integrity." Reference is also made in Article 2, paragraphs 1and 2, Items (a) and (b), as well as in Page 1 of 2 Article 7, paragraph 1: "The peoples concerned shall have the right to decide their own priorities for the process of development as it affects their lives, beliefs, institutions and spiritual well being and the lands they occupy or otherwise use, and to exercise control, to the extent possible, over their own economic, social and cultural development." Article 13, paragraph 1: "In applying the provisions of this Paragraph of the Convention governments shall respect the special importance for the cultures and spiritual values of the peoples concerned of their relationship with the lands or territories, or both as applicable, which they occupy or otherwise use, and in particular the collective aspects of this relationship", and also of Article 8, Paragraph 1, Article 3, Paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 13, Paragraphs 1 and 2, Article 14, Paragraphs 1 and 2, and Article 15, Paragraph 1. The Constitution of The Russian Federation: Article 9: "All land and other natural resources in Russia are to be used and preserved as a basic condition for the life and activity of the peoples inhabiting the territory concerned." Article 69: "The Russian Federation guarantees the rights of its indigenous and small peoples in accordance with the universally accepted principles and norms of international law and the international agreements signed by The Russian Federation." The Charter of the Murmansk Region: Article 21: Paragraph1: "The rights of ethnic minorities inhabiting the territory of Murmansk Region is regulated and protected in accordance with the Constitution of The Russian Federation and Russian federal law." Paragraph 2: "The local government of the Murmansk Region are to assist the indigenous people of the Cola peninsula - Saami - in implementing their right to preserve and develop their native language, ethnic culture, traditions and customs." Paragraph 3: "In regions historically inhabited by the Saami people, the Saami enjoy the right to pursue their traditional use of nature and their traditional activities." We, the participants of the Second Indigenous Circumpolar Youth Conference, demand: - Immediate stop of all activities of the Swedish-Russian Open Joint Stock Company "Voronye-Minerals" in the reindeer pastures which consist of 420 km. In the North-western portion of the Kolmozero-Voroninskaya formation; - Implementation by the Russian government and regional authorities of international laws and laws of The Russian Federation. We appeal to the above organizations for support of the Kola Saami people, to help them in their struggle to defend their land and right to a future. This is imperative, as it will prevent the Saami culture, traditions, and nation from disappearing from the Earth. Signed by ___________________________ ______________________________ Gunnar Petrussen Claus Oreskov organizing committee 2ICYC organizing 2ICYC committee ___________________________ Elena M. Kiseleva-Buggeskov Russian/English Translations Page 2 of 2
Claus Oreskov I think, better change the borders of Russian Empire on this old map of USSR. Living here in Russia many people understood that now they are living in another country - RF. That is why many small nations of oldest USSR are not living more in Russian Empire, but out.
Vasiliy Tiajev I am a graduate student, working on a PhD, studying modern Japanese history. Part of what I want to with my work is to challenge the way that History is generally conceived: in national terms that emphasize homogeneity and retroactively deny heterogeneity of various kinds. Your site, for me, represents a sort of theorietical basis for thinking about these things, although your site is not about theory at all. Does that make sense? In any case, than k you very much. I read the whole thing this morning. It was fascinating.
gerald iguchi I'm a portuguese anthropologist, vice-president of the Associacao Portuguesa de Antropologia and president of the board of the Associacao Portuguesa de Arqueologia Industrial. I'm preparing a research on Company - sometimes called Factory, or even Enterprise - Museums, and I'm particulary interested in those museums many large companies use(d?) to have in socialist countries. It seems to me that the development and role of Company Museums in those countries and times is a phenomenon that should definitely be considered seriously in a research, now that many factory museums established in the 'old era' have been closed or transformed. There are two main kinds of Company Museums: - the Western, or capitalist, type:enterprises sometimes set up such museums as "public relations, marketing and/or personal relations vehicle, focused on the history and/or development of the product in which they specialize" (definition of Corporate Museums by Prof. Victor J. Danilov); - the 'Trudovoi Slavy' type: serving a Party ideological and/or didactic purpose, as well as a "public relations" purpose of promoting the best interests of a particular factory - and also, of course, to increase the corporate pride. Do you know (knew?) any of these museums, exhibitions, «rooms of tradition», «red corners», ...? If you have informations, personal memories, references, contacts, impressions,... - before or after 1991 -, please, (E)mail it all to me. Even if you don't have any information or reference on this subject, please, forward this message to someone who knows any of such museums. I'll be very grateful - my research will only be possible with your information. Hope to hear from you soon. Antonio Eduardo Mendonca (acknowledgements: Mrs. Patricia K. Grimsted) Fax: + 351 1 793 2112 Mail: Antonio Eduardo Mendonca - A.P.A. - C. Marques de Abrantes, 10 - 3E 1200 Lisboa - Portugal
António Eduardo Mendonca The "Red Book" provides articles on all the minor peoples of Dagestan, yet perversely omits entries for the major peoples: Avar, Lezgi, Lakk, Dargwa? In Dagestan they are "major", but they are not so major in this world that much information can be found about outside this otherwise detailed book.
Dale Chock I want this book.
janusz mieczkowski Again thank you for an excellent web site. I am working with an essay about the struggle between nenets an Russians around the town of Pustozersk. In this site we can reed: «In a period of one hundred years the Pustoretsk stronghold in north eastern Europe suffered six major attacks, the last of which took place in1746.» Can anybody help me with more information, literature (in any language) etc. about this struggles. Thank you very much.
Oyvind Ravna This is an incredible piece of work with a lot of information. Thank you Oyvind Ravna, Finnmark, Norway
Oyvind Ravna Very Impressive, it helped me along with an essay I was assigned to. Interesting information and great facts.
Eva Burns Very Impressive, it helped me along with an essay I was assigned to. Interesting information and great facts.
Eva Burns Absolutely eye-opening. So many people think that all of Russia is Russians. A friend of mine and I are both interested in the field of Bible translation work in the FSU, especially in these language groups that are dying out and/or don't even have their own written language. We would like to be able to give these people (or others in the world) who don't have their heart language preserved for all time, as well as to give them God's Word and create books to preserve their culture in their own language. Is there anyone who is from such a place and would love nothing more than to see that happen? Who out there has a heart for bringing the gospel to Russia, where for so many years it has been in darkness? I stumbled across this book doing a project for my anthropology class on the Rutuls, and I must say, fine work! TTFN.
ElizC This is a very thorough piece of work. It would be fascinating to see it developed beyond the limits of the old Soviet Empire to the rest of Europe and beyond. Thank you.
Iain Mac an Tàilleir Hi, my name Chris and my friends name is Rich (as you can see above)! I think this book is a great idea in terms giving many folks the opportunity to sign up for their comments. About the historical backround of Russia or the former USSR I must really say that me and my buddy Rich are not well informed, but we are very keen on getting some more information about some of the following subjects: 1. The reasons of what caused "The Fall of Soviet Union". 2. The reasons or what caused "The Bolshevik Revolution". We would be very thankful if you could keep this information at about 2000 words on each of the listed items above. We are very happy that we have found a new source to learn some more about the Russian history and are also looking forward to receive your information support as soon as possible. In case you cannot provide this info, please let us know if there is any address/links on the net where we can go and find it ourselves. We appreciate your kind effort and support! Chris & Rich!
Chris and Rich This is one of my favourite books, my copy is already falling apart. I too am hoping for a hard copy of the English version, and why not a second edition of the Estonian one? It's not available in the shops anymore. (Other books that might be of interest are: Narody Rossii, Moskva 1994 and Etnografija narodov SSR, Moskva 1958, both to be used with care!)
Rogier Blokland Hi,Hei,Tere,Terve, I got a hint of this website from Canada. I have spent a long time here. I was so fascinated of the exact work, you have done. I will add your site to my bookmarks Jukka
Jukka Siukonen Dear Sires! Was very interesting rd your web page. Have you information about khazary, polovtsy, pechenegui, goty and much more peoples of Russian Middle Ages? Thak You very much in advance.
Abdurrahman (Angel Luis) Encinas Moral Fascinating ... tragic ... heartening ... scrupulous ... honest ... important. Thanks for doing this work, and for making your research available to such a wide audience.
Mike It's a cool page, but I just wanted to ask you - since when the Central Asian Jews became Indo-Europeans?
Yura Thank you foor this work on indigenous people.
Christiane Lagrost et Jean-françois Christé hi those who are interested in laz-question, please contact with us. we are trying to create a lazuri publication. salih
salih sayin Thanx for a very interesting file. There lives also Kvens in Russia. They are mentioned often being "Norwegians", but in many cases they are in fact Kvens. The Kvens are mentioned already in Ottar's Saga. Now after the fall of SU they have the right to return to Norway. They are not many,but they used to live on the coastal areas of Kola Peninsula. More about Kvens: http://www.kveeniland.com/english.htm jarmo
Jarmo Ryyti There is no mention of the Zarthoshti people in your entire list. The followers of Lord Zoroaster ( Zarthoshtra) were the originators of the entire Trans-caucasian region. The spread of Islam & later Communism tried to subjucate & anhiliate this great race of ancient Persians.Through all the oppression they've kept the holy Flame of their Faith burning in almost all the far corners of the world. Maybe now with more freedom they will be able to embrace their brethren in other countries. We would like more information about these lost children from the earliest pages of history.
Homee Wadia There is no mention of the Zarthoshti people in your entire list. The followers of Lord Zoroaster ( Zarthoshtra) were the originators of the entire Trans-caucasian region. The spread of Islam & later Communism tried to subjucate & anhiliate this great race of ancient Persians.Through all the oppression they've kept the holy Flame of their Faith burning in almost all the far corners of the world. Maybe now with more freedom they will be able to embrace their brethren in other countries. We would like more information about these lost children from the earliest pages of history.
Homee Wadia Palun tulge uurige Eestimaa külasid
Triinu Väiku Kutsume teid Eestimaale
Triinu Heinsoo I would like to know about north Caucasian people adyghes; theirhistory and today. thanks for such a complicated work.
ebru Wonderful and important work, especially for us people in the West, who never knew anything exactly about this country. But while reading your guestbook I hope, this work will help for understanding and tolerance between small groups and Russians. We are all human beings who love to live in peace and love. BTW I'm researching about "cup_rocks", a kind of big stone or rock with a hole, used for rituals. We have them in France and I heard there are a lot of them in Estonia. Does anybody know anything about them, where to find, how they were used, if they are still used? I'm collecting everything about these rocks! My website is about the pre-christian history of Europe and so also about minorities. Unfortunately I have nearly no material about the East, because there pagan knowledge was destroyed. I lived in Poland, but history before 1000 AC was a book with white leaves! Greetings from a German with East European ancestors living in France and feeling European...and now really revelling in the opening to the East also in Internet!
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jlaksjd by hapy
saxalxo This was very interesting and informative. It would be nice if more Americans were aware of the fact that there are many other groups in Russia besides the Russians. By making more websites like this we can create awareness of these cultures worldwide and hopefully help save them before they disappear to the Russians. The communist government treated these groups horribly and generally left the rest of the world ignorant on this fact. I am glad that I am able to be one of the few who are aware of all these groups
Miles Lunn Mær damar virkeliga væl heimasíðan hjá tær. Tað er spell, at so nógv fólk og mál eru faktiskt deyð. Men føroyskt skal líva ! Faroese language will survive !
Ivan Moskalenko The Soviet union played more positevy then then be negative for example durning the World War II The Russian people defend all europe and about descremination-Russian not genocide Pibaltic population The countries with Russia neighborn is objectivy.We respect rights all. The now situation with reliationship with Pribaltic not very good.I think turning agianist Russia not very good desicion and economic and morale too. For example Hitler planned TOTAL EXTERMINATION of all Baltic peoples and Nazi do this but I realy didn't understand situation of fans of SS on Nazi it VERY STUPID and that all Thanks
Ally Hello there, Great to find this site! It is overwhelming what a variety of sound, meaning, forms and colors this world produces. I think it is a difficult task to stop the starfation of languages. It is however very important to try to inform people about the value of `pluryform variety` in culture, instaed of a global domination of a monolitic werstern consumerist culture.--------- In this sence I would like to make a link to the enormous variety of species `nature` has produced in million of years. Within one century mankind destroyed a big part of the animal- and plantspecies that once lived on the earth.----------In 1993 I visited with a Dutch filmteam the Pamir Mountain area of Tadjikistan (former Sowiet Union, next to Afghanistan and China), working on a documantary film on Pamir culture (by filmer Coen van Hall, NL). Our special interest was the religious sung poetry (Mado), practiced in the very small mountain villages in the valleys of the Pamir Mountains. The sung poetry we filmed was most of the time based on work of the persian poet Nazir Kuzrau, which is locally seen as the establisher of Pamir culture. But also singers used their own imagination changing frases the way they liked to modernize the textst. Sometimes the singers use several dialects in the same song. Hundreds of years these texts were learned from father to son, without writing. Farsi and Russian (still) are the general languages spoken in the pamir-area nowadays, nevertheless we discovered very many dialects from valley to valley. Sometimes only a few kilometers in between, just spoken by a few hundred people. Some of these dialects were so different from eachother that it was not understandable for people living in a neighbooring village. We found that very remarkable, esspecially when you keep in mind that the Russian sphere of influence has been very strong in this area for about 70 years! We found out that the Pamir people are very proud of their culture, old aswell as young people. Also we tasted a strong urge to regain lost aspects of their culture. Maybe this has been triggered by the independence of Tadjikistan from Russia, which was established in 1992 and also the civilwar that followed after that, I don`t know.----------The village most south-east in the Pamir mountains we reached was called` Darzamtsj`. In a tiny liitle village, up in a valley surrounded by mountains-peaks near 7 KM, lived a blind singer. With a remarkable sight (dark spectacles in soviet style, a boogie-woogie Mondriaan-like printed shirt, and a grey beard) he sung for us his special way of Mado; sung poetry which usually is performed when somebody dies. While singing he played the Rubab. His son played the Daf, a percussion instrument. In Mado the Rubab is played in a very strange rithmic way, and developes from slow to a fast and intensive frequency, during a session of (easily) a few hours! Since the texts this singer sung were very religious and tough, about a Sufi-like denial of earthly desires, the listeners got depressed and some even wept.-----------In the village of `Yamg` we met the descendants of Mubaraqadam, a man who lived in the 19th century and behaved like a Sufi. The people initiated a museum to the work of Mubarakadam (books on philosofy, etc) and tried to collect material which has been disappeared during Russian intervention. A few handwritten book we saw had been hided for decades and were now treated as nearly holy. They were made of selfmade paper and illustrated by a hand with lots of talents. The descendants were trying to get some books out of Leningrad, which were taken by the Russians in the 1920`s, but unsuccessfully up till now. ----------I would like to end this story with the statement that it seems to be necessairy to have mountains around you to preserve old ways.--------Jerousma, Visual Artist-------Please visit my Homepage, Bye!
Jerousma 8,000 special interest educational videos and cd-roms. Just stopped by
Randy Holton Hi again. I ought to recommend to you the reference to the webpage of the Center for Sami Studies at the University of Tromsø, Norway: http://www.uit.no/ssweb/indexen.htm. Here you will find information about the activities of the Center, but also published and non-published material on current Sami issues in Norway and other countries, including Russia! cheers Terje B
Terje Brantenberg I have just been introduced to your excellent website by a colleague here at the Museum. Thanks for a great job!!! My only critical comment is that there is hardly any mentioning of the ethnopolitical effort of these various peoples - activities which surely will be crucial for the future lives of these peoples! You should at least include a general description of some of the major political events which have taken place during the last decade!
Terje Brantenberg Your site is really interesting and useful. Being just an amatour in history I am very interested in the history of (Finnish) Karelia. Questions: 1.) am I allowed to link your Karelian and related Finnic sites from my site? 2.) re: Karelian history: you consider (south) Karelia under the Kievian principality, and here in Finland historians say it was nearly independent in the centuries 800-1100. Do you have any reference for that detail? with best regards Mauri Rastas
Mauri Rastas I'm writing a novel set in Bessarabia and looking for info on its culture.
Iain Gately BEER! is good!!Trinity Tigers Rule!!
BudLite thanks you helped me with a report
PV As the great grandson of Russian Jews i have to say FUCK Russia and those other 14 republics. I look so Russian the Uzbeki Jewish immigrants in my neighborhood give me funny looks. Those "jews" were jews by religion. Maybe they were the decendants of Khazars, maybe not. But the Soviets used and abused jews. They made them join the secret police and the jews got blamed for murder. It all started with that lazy assed whench Katherine the Great. An immigrant co worker of mine from Romania( not jewish) tells me to visit Russia to explore my roots. I say i would rather go to the Antartic and freeze to death. My firend did hate tarars though, you know Mongols.
Richard Resnick well done,now I know a bit more about the tribes and peoples of the Caucasus, but I would like to know more: the self designations,language names, subgroups, clans of the Lakk, Lezgi, Adyge, Dargwa, Avar, Chechen, Ingush, Svan, Laz, Mingrel, Cherkes, Abkhaz and Kabarda. If you got information please send it to me. Thank you.
ruud I was glad to find the Webmaster's comments about who is included in the list of ethnic groups. I was missing the Estonians and the Latvians. Now I know why they are not there! They are not on the brink of extinction. My father was 100% ethnic Estonian. I was born in Tallinn and we lived in Rakvere. After living in Austria, then in Argentina and now in USA I hope no more migrations are in store for me. I am a family historian and wrote a book about ethnic Estonian genealogy. Those interested can take a look at my new Web Site. (Please, leave comments and messages in the Guestbook.) I found the name of your Site "RED Book" unfortunate. The color red symbolizes communism in the minds of those who had to flee from the Soviets. I can get used to the name but I am sure many are turned off by it and never bother to look at your Site because of the implication of communism. Which, I know, was not intended. Keep up the good work! Sigrid Maldonado.
Sigrid Renate Maldonado you should not do this in russian
katie This is a very good piece of work. A hard copy in English should also be published. I noticed that other guests have included peoples they felt met your criteria, but were not included. My canidate is the Khemshils (Khemshins). They are generally described as being the descendents of Armenians that converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. Along with the Meskhetian Turks and Kurds in Georgia, Stalin deported the Khemshils to special settlements in Kazakhstan and Central Asia in 1944.
J. Otto Pohl The following is for your information to consider the Carpatho-Ruysin or Ruthenian people and their language group (an ancient southern slavic ethnic group who live in what is now Transcarpathia and are fighting for the survival and revitilization of their ethnic identity including a distinct language group) in your publication: ..."The Introduction of the Rusyn Language in Schools excerpt from A New Slavic Language is Born, by A. Dulichenko, P.R. Magocsi, V. Jabur - copyright ©1996, Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center All Rights Reserved Everyone concerned about our people's fate knows that with very few exceptions, all of our schools have adopted Slovak as the language of instruction. This in itself is not a tragedy. After all, we have been and will remain citizens of a Slovak state. Worse, however, is the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet has gradually disappeared from many of our village schools. The Russian language is no longer a required subject, while the parents themselves had previously become alienated from Ukrainian. The result is a situation in which the majority of Rusyn villages are threatened by what can be called "slovinkization." I use this term to describe a situation I know from personal experience. Slovinky is a large village just south of the small town of Krompachy [midpoint between Spisska Nova Ves, Presov, and Kosice in eastern Slovakia]. All the inhabitants of Slovinky consider themselves Slovak, and in school the children are only taught in Slovak. On the other hand, among themselves the village's inhabitants only communicate in Rusyn, sing Rusyn songs, follow Rusyn traditions, and attend a Greek Catholic or Orthodox church. The only public manifestation of their "Rusyn spirit" is the word of God, which is still said in Church Slavonic. Before Ukrainianization was implemented throughout our villages during the 1950s, only a few villages had experienced "slovinkization." Today, on the other hand, "slovinkization" threatens hundreds of our villages and towns. It is precisely for this reason that we must do everything possible to introduce the Rusyn mother tongue into each of our schools, even if it be one hour a week . . . To achieve this will require more work than one might imagine. It will be necessary to go "from village to village" in order to explain our heritage program to local governmental administrators, to parents, children, teachers, priests, village mayors, and other members of the rural intelligentsia. In order to implement such a heritage program it will be necessary to have qualified teachers, priests, and tolerant local politicians and cultural activists. Most important, we must -- like the air we need to breathe -- have a university department of Rusyn language and culture. It is also necessary that the Rusyn language become and integral part in the training of Greek Catholic and Orthodox priests. from "Codification--What Next?" by Myron Sysak (Presov, January 1995), in A New Slavic Language is Born, copyright 1996, Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center. -- Since the beginning of the 1996-97 school year in Slovakia (September 1, 1996), eight village schools now have the Rusyn language class. If the results and the evaluations of the program are positive, it is likely that many more village schools will begin this program next year. In the 1991 Czechoslovak census, 50,000 people indicated that their mother tongue is Rusyn.
Lorraine R. Farinick The lack of Adyghians(=kabardians=cherkess) in the book really surprised me
Argun Baskan You may want to visit KHAZARIA.COM excellent listing 0f TURKIC areas of russia. The question on cherzia ( hope i speeled it right) is covered there thanks steve witkin
steve witkin What a surprice! A great initiative! I have the book in Estonian and have used it a lot for references, but my Estonian is not quite good enough! I hope you will keep it accurate and up-to-date. Tänan!
Peter Jessen A fascinating read through one section only, that of the Altaics. If the other sections are as informative and as readable as this section, then the whole work is clearly a work of art. I hope to get around to reading some of the other sections in the near future. I am particularly interested in getting more information about the "convention" at the village of Toron, on the river Korlok in 1904. Any clues, and where exactly is the location?
Tony Black A fascinating read through one section only, that of the Altaics. If the other sections are as informative and as readable as this section, then the whole work is clearly a work of art. I hope to get around to reading some of the other sections in the near future. I am particularly interested in getting more information about the "convention" at the village of Toron, on the river Korlok in 1904. Any clues, and where exactly is the location?
Tony Black This is a very interesting site. I am trying to research my grandparents and their parents- they lived in estonia/ latvia/lithuania would it be possible for you to cover peoples that were part of more than one area/region-ie the Jews /tartars etc ponters to the various detail listings would help. i understabd their was a 10th century jewish kingdom or region -- they also were part of swedish royaly is this correct?? thank you for your excellent work steve witkin
steve witkin Thank you very much for this information! It's really interesting. I'm doing a research project on the music of the peoples of the Caucasus, and it's good to see that someone is finally taking notice of the endangered peoples of the Russian Empire.
Martin Peck Thank you so much for this information. It is truly fascinating!
victor zabelle I'd like to say how much I appreciate this encyclopedia. As an Anthropology student, I am painfully aware of all of the cultures that have been devastated by the expansion of industrial civilization. By far the worst damage has been done in the former Soviet Union. If nothing else, the Red Book reminds the world that these peoples still exist, and need help. Keep up the good work!
Randy McDonald The most complete resource about the smaller nations of the FSU that I have found. Thank You for the web site.
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