Deportation of Koreans in The Soviet Union - Experience in Exile

Experience in Exile

Each family dug a hole to live in. We made a Korean ondol (heated floor). We burned bushes for heat. There were no trees or charcoal. We lived that way for two or three years..

Approximately 100,000 Koreans were deported to Kazakhstan and 74,000 were sent to Uzbekistan. Many Koreans were placed far from each other in isolation to prevent contact with each other. 34,000 Koreans were placed on the desolate outpost of Ushtobe, Kazakhstan with no food and no shelter and were forced to survive on their own for almost three years. Thousands died of starvation, sickness and exposure during the first the first few years in Central Asia. The ethnic Kazakhs were essential during these first few years for the Koreans. They provided shelter and food to help the Koreans suffering from starvation and cold.

Joseph Stalin ordered the Korean people to work on kolkhozes, or collective farms, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Koreans thrived as farmers, and until the collapse of the USSR over 100 Koreans were bestowed with the highest honor of the Soviet Union, the Gold Star. The Korean people worked hard and proved to be dedicated and resilient workers while working under extremely difficult conditions. Koreans began to organize schools and theaters to salvage their culture and language but were suppressed by the Soviet government, who burned all Korean textbooks. This suppression of Korean culture and language permanently damaged the ability of Soviet Koreans to learn Hangul (the native writing of Korea) and practice their traditions.

Even though the Korean language was banned, the Soviet government established multiple Korean newspapers to show off the success of the Koryo Saram. Ironically, as time passed fewer and fewer Koryo Saram could read and understand these newspapers. The Soviets also set up a Korean theater in Ushtobe, and although it helped connect the isolated Korean kolkhozes, the theater was controlled by the state and featured mostly Russian and Soviet plays.

During World War II, the Koryo Saram were not permitted to serve in the Red Army as they were accused of being Japanese spies and instead were forced to work in labor armies. They labored in mines and factories under despicable conditions, and as a result many Koreans worked or starved to death. The Soviets largely manipulated their treatment of Koreans to make it appear that they had liberated them from the imperial hand of Japan.

Koreans had little rights and freedom during their first few years in Central Asia, and although they starred in propaganda films to demonstrate the success of collective farming they were not trusted by the USSR. They were not permitted to travel outside their respective farming towns and villages and could still not practice their native tongue. Some Soviet Koreans were sent to North Korea to act as agricultural advisers, but they forced back as Kim Il-Sung did not trust them. It was not until Stalin’s death in 1953 that many Koreans began to push for more rights and opportunities within the Soviet Union.