The RFE as a Frontier Melting Pot 29than that of the official population statistics, which listed both tsarist and
non- tsarist subject Koreans (see Table 2).^93
The First World War brought about some of Rus sia’s first deportations
of national minority communities and marked a major shift towards equat-
ing nationality/national identity with po liti cal allegiance during periods of
crisis. This view and the curative mea sure of deportation to counteract inter-
nal divisions, crisis, and potential fifth columnists would eventually impact
the lives of the Koreans of the RFE. Nationality became the preeminent
and singular marker of identity during the First World War. This was a
troubling sign for the Koreans and their hopes for cultural assimilation and
ac c ept ance. Overnight, Germans, Jews, and Poles became Rus sia’s “internal
enemies.” Surprisingly, there were perhaps thousands of Germans, Jews,
and Poles who had long ago assimilated, converted to Orthodoxy, married
Rus sians, and “passed” as Rus sian, perhaps even for generations, yet some
marker of German, Jewish, or Polish ethnicity had surfaced that triggered
expropriations of their businesses and properties followed by deportation.
During the First World War, over one million national minorities in the
Rus sian Empire faced deportation due to being categorized as “ enemy aliens”
or “internal enemies.” In one case, a Russian- German whose family had been
Rus sian subjects for several generations was fired from his job because of his
German surname. Yet, this man had no ties with Germany. He was the de-
scendant of a German who had emigrated to Rus sia in 1711.^94
A similar case occurred in 1915. Richard Tilmans was a Russian-
German industrialist whose firm produced wood screws and other goods
for the Rus sian military. His family appeared to be quite Russified. Despite
these facts, several deputies of the Duma brought his com pany and its hold-
ings to trial, threatening expropriation of the entire business for its “Ger-
man character” and as a pos si ble danger to Rus sian security. As an alterna-
tive Tilmans offered to transfer all his factories to central Rus sia. He lost his
Table 2. Koreans (Tsarist Subjects) in the RFE
Ye a r Tsarist Subjects (%) Non- Tsarist Subjects
1906 16,965 (49%) 17,4 3 4
1909 14,799 (28%) 36,755
1910 17,080 (31%) 36,996
1911 17,476 (31%) 39,81 3
1912 16,263 (27%) 43,452
1913 19, 27 7 (33%) 38,163
1914 20,109 (31%) 44,200
Source: Anosov, Koreitsy, 27.