Clearly, then, the Diaspora met all the conditions required to produce a positive response to Soviet Armenia’s appeal to “return to the motherland.” As far as the USSR was concerned, several factors motivated the Soviet desire to organize a massive population transfer to Armenia. To begin with, the victory over Nazi Germany had come at a very high price. The Soviet Union emerged from the war devastated, exhausted, and indeed, all but ruined. To be sure, it had not re¬nounced its ambitions to become a major actor on the international scene–both Central and Eastern Europe were now in the Soviet sphere of influence–but the entire Soviet empire had been plunged into extreme poverty, and now faced the consequences of the massive destruction brought on by the War and also the terrible population losses that Stalin had imposed on his people in order to win it. At war’s end, the Soviet regime was determined to take radical measures to heal the deep wounds inflicted on the peoples of the USSR during the conflict and to elevate the country to the level of a genuine world power.
Moscow’s appeal to Armenians (as well as Russians and Ukrainians) to return to the “homeland” must be seen in this context. Soviet losses, it should be recalled, ran to some twenty million people, or a staggering twelve percent of the total population. Hence the country urgently needed to replenish its labor force, which certain Soviet republics such as Armenia could do by attracting workers from ¬beyond their borders. To realize its ambitions, Moscow sought to mobilize all the diasporan organizations that had rallied to its cause, urging them to promote the idea of “repatriation” among the Armenian masses. Naturally, it put forward the kind of “patriotic” arguments likely to appeal even to the most reticent, and it enticed the potential candidates for the “nerkaght” with visions of the many benefits they would reap if they settled in Armenia. The activities of these diasporan organizations received powerful support from Soviet ... Read all
A poster released by the AGBU to promote a repatriation fund-raising drive
(Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
A propaganda photograph of young repatriates studying at the University of Yerevan
(Arch. B. Nubar/Paris).
“Repatriation”and AGBU’s Cooperation with Soviet Armenia