Intergenerational Transmission of Political Attitudes and Behavior Among Victims of State Repression: Crimean Tatars and Russia

Over the past century authoritarian and hybrid regimes across the globe singled out whole populations for political and economic repression ranging from denial of educational and economic opportunities to deportation and death. Those who experienced state repression directly and survived the encounter are among the most politically engaged members of their societies. In this project we ask whether victim status is transmitted inter-generationally within families that have direct experience of state repression. Are grandchildren of those who had experienced state discrimination different from their peers? Are they more or less likely to engage in politics or vote for particular political parties?

To answer this question we conduct a survey of 2,100 Crimean Tatars where we track three generations of respondents within 300 family units. Crimean Tatars had been deported by the Soviet Union in 1944 from Crimea to Uzbekistan, and were the only ethnic group of deportees to be forbidden to return to their original place of settlement after Stalin’s death. This population is especially interesting because they are Muslims; in fact, some Crimean Tatars have now become sufficiently radicalized to fight alongside extremist Islamists in Syria. Moreover, most Crimean Tatars are opposed to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and this population is slowly emerging as a bulwark against Russia’s successful absorption of the Crimean peninsula. We find strong evidence in support of persistence of victim status and associated political attitudes and behavior across three generations of respondents.