CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

DALIBOR JÍLEK CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ a) persons having resided abroad for more than 5 years who did not obtain, before 1 June 1922, passports from the Soviet authorities; b) persons who left Russia after 7 November 1917, without the authorization of the Soviet authorities; c) persons who voluntarily served in armies fighting against the Soviet authority, or who have in any way participated in counter-revolutionary organizations; d) persons who, having had the right to opt for Russian citizenship, did not exercise that right within the period prescribed; e) persons not included under paragraph a), who are residing abroad and who did not register themselves with the Soviet authorities until 1 June 1921. 53 A similar decree was issued by the authorities of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic on 21 May 1923. In addition to these regulations, courts had the power to impose a penalty of deprivation of citizenship on individuals as a personal sanction. 54 The last ministerial circular from 1921 was explicitly applicable to both Russian as well as Ukrainian refugees equally. It also explicitly indicated a group of Ukrainian refugees for the first time. Internal instruction confirmed the non-statutory duty for both groups of refugees living in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic to be in possession of a personal certificate of residency issued by the Russian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The duty did not stem from a legal statute, but especially from circulars no. 22382-5 and no. 64722-5, which were promulgated in the Official Gazette of the Ministry of Interior issued in 1921 and 1922. Russian and Ukrainian citizens living in the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic were all obliged to have a personal certificate of residency that entitled them to limited residency there. 55 The circular was unambiguously addressed to those Russian and Ukrainian refugees that have not applied for the certificate yet. In the procedural framework, the internal instruction distinguished those refugees living in Prague from others. The refugees affected were to contact the Russian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly. 56 The circular was utterly sensitive to their different personal situation. Some were in possession of a Tsarist personal document or foreign passport ( zagranpasport ). However, the Russian passport as well as Turkish travel document were qualified as remarkable public papers. Neither of the documents fulfilled the function of identifying its holder prior to the world conflict. 57 In relation to the identity of the person, the Russian and Turkish passports were not absolutely conclusive or confirmatory. Russian and Ukrainian refugees without a certificate or a passport filed an application for the certificate in the Czech or Russian language. The application had to be recommended by any Russian or Ukrainian officially recognized association or by at least two Czechoslovak nationals. The circular no longer required a certificate or registration card from Zemgor . 53 LOHR, E. Russian Citizenship: From Empire to Soviet Union . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2012, pp. 147-148. 54 Ibidem , p. 148. 55 Registration of Russians andUkrainians in Czechoslovak Republic (Registrace Rusů a Ukrajinců v Československé republice). Circular of the Ministry of Interior no. 99.88.1-5, 30 December 1921. Official gazette of the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic, Praha, Rolnické tiskárny, 1922, ročník IV, p. 9. 56 The department was seated at the second courtyard of the Prague Castle. 57 KALOUSEK, V. Zákon o cestovních pasech. Official gazette of the Ministry of Interior of the Czechoslovak Republic, Praha, Rolnické tiskárny, 1928, ročník X, p. 136.

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