No longer a Case for a Nation
Karelia – History, Language, Politics
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Karelia is one of Russia’s 21 national republics. But this designation is misleading. Created in the 1920s, the Autonomous Soviet Republic was not the result of a strong national movement, but of geopolitical decisions. Karelians were always in the minority there. During the Soviet era, the second language after Russian was Finnish. A national movement emerged during the perestroika period, but it was so weak that it did not even manage to establish Karelian as an official language. The Karelians are also not named as a titular nation in the republic’s constitution. Since mid-2014, the state has suppressed any social movement with political ambitions, and in 2022, repression increased yet again. The state tolerates and promotes only the preservation of the Karelian and Vepsian languages. However, as these languages play no role in politics or the economy, they have an uncertain future.
(Osteuropa 1-3/2024, pp. 267–284)