Great Purge in the late 1930s. These tensions were used by German occupational forces as a method of driving a wedge between Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups, including Jews. Crimea's Germanic peoples In addition to local conflicts which preceded Germany's occupation of Crimea, the region had historically been home to a significant German population. The Crimean Goths, the final living Gothic tribes, survived in Crimea until at least and possibly still existed by the time of the war, though they intermingled with Crimean Tatars much like other ethnic groups. According to the Nazis, these Goths had existed long enough to intermingle with the later Crimea Germans, settlers who began arriving as part of the Ostsiedlung of the late 18th century with the support of Tsar Catherine the Great. Later, Mennonites began arriving from Russia and Ukraine proper. By the time of the Russian Revolution, Crimean Germans made up the local elite, comprising 20% of the Simferopol city council. German settlers were permitted to organise local self-government, and were free from paying taxes. German had been one of the official languages of the Crimean Regional Government, which was established with the support of German forces during World War I. Following the takeover of Crimea by the Red Army, two German raions were established within the Crimean ASSR; and Telman Raion. Despite this, however, following the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, over 60,000 ethnic Germans were deported from Crimea to Siberia. German–Turkish relations Matters involving Crimea were a focal point of German–Turkish relations during World War II. Turkish interests in Crimea, stretching back to the early days of the Ottoman Empire, primarily involved the protection of the Crimean Tatars. Following the dissolution of the Crimean People's Republic at the hands of the Red Army, Turkey had become a base for many Crimean Tatar nationalists, among them Cafer Seydamet Qırımer, the Crimean People's Republic's Prime Minister. Though Turkish interests also concerned themselves with additional areas of the Soviet Union inhabited by Turkic peoples, Crimea held the most Turkish public and governmental interest of all regions. Timeline 1941 Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, thus drawing the Soviet Union into World War II. By 26 September 1941, German forces, supported by the Kingdom of Romania, had started fighting for Crimea, beginning the Crimean campaign. Consecutively with the entrance of German troops, structures by Soviet forces for the development of a partisan movement were