About Karaganda

Statue of Nurken Abdirov in Karaganda

Karagandy (Kazakh: Қарағанды / Qarağandı), more commonly known by its Russian name Karaganda, (Russian: Караганда, until 1993), is the capital of Karagandy Province in Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana and Shymkent. Population: 459,778 (2009 Census results); 436,864 (1999 Census results). In the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic Germans. Most of the ethnic Germans are descendants of Soviet Volga Germans who were collectively deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan on Stalin's order when Hitler invaded Poland. Until the 1950s, many were interned in labor camps, often merely because they were Germans. The population of Karaganda fell by 14% from 1989-1999; it was once Kazakhstan's second largest city after Almaty. One hundred thousand people have since emigrated to Germany. There is also a smaller concentration of ethnic Poles.

It is the home city of Kazakh World War II hero Nurken Abdirov. A statue in Abdirov's honor is located in the center of the city.
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