Moving in the USSR: Western Anomalies and Northern Wilderness

Moving in the USSR examines the 20th century resettlements in the western areas of the former USSR-in particular the territory of Karelia that was ceded by Finland in WWII, Podolia in the Ukraine, and the North-West periphery of Russia in the Kola peninsula. Finns from Karelia had emigrated to Finland. Jews of Podolia were mostly exterminated by Nazi Germany, with survivors later emigrating to Israel. The sparsely populated territory beyond the Polar circle received the Soviet conquerors with empty areas usually settled by planned state recruitment of relocated Soviet citizens. Thus, a Ukrainian took over a Jewish house, a Chuvash kolkhoz was dispersed among Finnish khutor houses, and youth in the town of Apatity began to prefer their home town in relation to the cities of Russia. Everywhere the settlers met new and strange surroundings, and they had to construct places and meanings for themselves in their new home and restructure their local identity in relation to their places of origin and current abodes.