Karagandy, Kazakhstan

Karaganda or Qaraghandy (Kazakh: Қарағанды/Qarağandy, pronounced [qɑɾɑˈʁɑndə] (listen); Russian: Караганда, pronounced [kərəɡɐnˈda]) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana and Shymkent. Population: 497,777 (2020 Estimate); 459,778 (2009 Census results); 436,864 (1999 Census results). Karaganda is approximately 230 km south-east of Kazakhstan's capital Nur-Sultan (formerly known as Astana). In the 1940s up to 70% of the city's inhabitants were ethnic Germans. Most of the ethnic Germans were Soviet Volga Germans who were collectively deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan on Stalin's order when Hitler invaded Soviet-annexed eastern Poland and the Soviet Union proper in 1941. Until the 1950s, many of these deportees were interned in labor camps, often simply because they were of German descent.