19. Struggle at the edge of the nuclear abyss Since January 1959, when jubilant rebels entered Havana in columns, the US has repeatedly wondered about the reasons for the persistent anti-American sentiment of the vast majority of Cubans. Apparently for

12. Deportation of small peoples During the Great Patriotic War, the deportation of entire peoples became widespread. If the resettlement of Soviet Germans was of a “preventive” nature, “to prevent serious bloodshed” during the offensive of the German army,

Vadim Infantiev. AT THE VERY EDGE People tend to get carried away. Some are completely absorbed in their work, great scientists, artists, masters grow out of such; others are obsessed with a passion for music, fishing or collecting, these are happy people - love burns in them, it does not

Many Karachays from national auls went to the front. Those who remained in the rear worked in construction defensive structures, collected money and things for the front. During these war years, the inhabitants of the region collected and sent over 6 carriages of collective and individual gifts and 68,650 items - felt boots, sheepskin coats, cloaks, hats with earflaps, woolen socks. In mid-August 1942, German troops entered the territory of the region. In the battles for the passes of the Main Caucasian Range, 17 partisan detachments participated, in which there were about 1,200 people, including about a hundred women. “The brave partisans and partisans M. Romanchuk, 3. Erkenov, M. Isakov, 3. Erkenova, I. Akbaev, X. Kasaev, Ya. Chomaev and others gave their lives for the sake of victory.”

Already in the first period of occupation, the Karachay region suffered significant losses in human and material resources. Representatives of many peoples were shot: Russians, Karachays, Ossetians, Abazins. 150 thousand heads of cattle were destroyed, enterprises were destroyed, local schools were turned into stables.

On the territory of the Ordzhonikidzevsky Territory occupied in August, the Germans established a “new order”: a curfew from 7 pm to 4 am. Along with the ruble, the German Reichsmarks and Pfennigs began to be accepted, the names of settlements and institutions were written in German and Russian. The occupying authorities paid special attention to the "reform" of agriculture. Leaflets were published addressed to the peasants, they said that in the liberated regions the German government had already liquidated the collective farms. This meant the transition of the peasants to individual land use, thanks to which. according to the promises of the Germans, the peasants had the opportunity to live many times better than under the collective farms. The occupation of the region lasted 5.5 months.

The situation during the war years was tense, accompanied by a deterioration in the financial situation, a tightening of the regime, and mobilization. The advance of German troops to the Caucasus caused new repressions. As a result, many people from wealthy strata who fought against the Bolsheviks during the Civil War, participants in anti-Soviet movements, dispossessed kulaks, as well as their families, ended up in the ranks of collaborators. Many of them counted on changing the existing order with the help of the Germans and deliberately agreed to cooperate.

From representatives of just such a social environment, the Karachay National Committee, headed by K. Bayramukov, the foreman of Karachay, and the Circassian Council, headed by A. Yakubovsky, were formed in the majority.

With the beginning of the occupation of the region and regions, the opponents of Soviet power came out of the underground and began to act openly, forming pseudo-national organizations on behalf of their peoples, forming detachments to support the invaders and fight the partisans.

The main reason for the deportation of the Karachays was accusations of collaborationism and banditry of some part of the population. But given the scale of the repressions, the Soviet leadership placed collective responsibility on the entire Karachay people, half of whom were children and teenagers.

In the text of the Decree of the PVS of the USSR No. 115/13 “On the liquidation of the Karachaev Autonomous Region and on administrative unit its territory” it was stated that “many Karachays behaved treacherously”, and also “joined the detachments organized by the Germans to fight against the Soviet power”. There were accusations of extraditing Soviet citizens to the Germans, serving the Germans as guides on the passes, and after the establishment of Soviet power, the Karachays "...oppose the measures taken by the Soviet government, hide bandits and agents abandoned by the Germans from the authorities, providing them with active assistance" .

As in other countries and regions occupied by them, the Nazi command resorted to the creation of various kinds of organizations such as the Karachay National Committee to support the German occupation regime on the ground. This turned out to be enough to justify the decision to deport the entire Karachai people.

The purpose of the deportation, in a broader sense, was to purge society of current and potential enemies of Stalinism.

Some of its participants went underground, for example, the Dudov brothers Khadzhi-Islam and Islam-Magomed, former princes and participants in the armed uprising, were hiding for 13 years, etc. Illegal active “gangster-rebel organizations” were created.

Despite the arrest at the end of 1941 and at the beginning of 1942 of many active participants in the opened insurgent organization on the territory of Karachay and Kabardino-Balkaria, the operational-Chekist measures for the final elimination of the insurgent underground of the NKVD of the Ordzhonikidze Territory were not carried out decisively enough. Bayramukov Kady, Islam Dudov, Guliyev Tasha and others grouped around themselves a "bandit-deserter element" and carried out raids. In the first half of 1942 alone, the NKVD officers in the region "revealed 21 gangs with 135 members." Before the summer offensive in 1942 by German troops in the Caucasus, enemy intelligence began to drop their agents in Karachay.

Almost simultaneously with the German offensive in the Caucasus, “anti-Soviet elements” in an organized manner began active operations in the region, as part of detachments attacking individual units of the retreating Red Army. According to the historian N. Bugai, “the situation was best described by the Karachays themselves. According to them, several rebel groups were active in the region.” The rebels were led by people who graduated from German intelligence schools.

In the report of the head of the OBB of the NKVD of the USSR, A. M. Leontiev, addressed to the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, S. N. Kruglov, it was said that after the occupation, the German command in Karachay "established close relations with local nationalists, gang leaders, leaders of the Muslim clergy and Murid sects and their representatives and created the so-called Karachay National Committee. Bayramukov Kady and Laipanov Muratbi were approved at the head of the committee, who later worked in the German intelligence school in Beshui (Crimea).

The committee received a promise from the occupation authorities for the right to dissolve collective farms in the future, Soviet state and public property, as well as management of the economy and culture (under German control) were transferred under its tutelage. The Karachay Committee was under the auspices of the former German military attache in Moscow, General E. Köstring.

According to the German historian J. Hoffmann, administrative leaderships were formed under the control of the German authorities. The result of such a policy was "recognition, on the basis of non-intervention, of the independent republics of Karachays and Kabardino-Balkarians in the North Caucasus, who rose to fight against Soviet power even before the arrival of the Germans" .

In his telegram to I. Stalin, L. Beria argued that the agreement between the Balkars and Karachays on the unification of Balkaria with Karachay was "at the behest of the Germans and the emigrants Shokmanov and Kemmetov they brought with them."

The occupation authorities created a controlled "administrative apparatus", for example, city and district burgomasters were appointed. They, as heads of the local civil administration, were subordinate to the elders. The headman was obliged to bring to the attention of the population the orders of the German command. Residents submitted requests and petitions only through the headman. The headman had the right to punish residents, impose a fine, send them to forced labor and put them under arrest. However, not all appointed elders were German supporters. Thus, A. Ebzeev, head of the village of Verkhnyaya Mara, hid intelligence agent M. Khutov and state security officer L. Uzdenov at his home. One of the main tasks in the organization of management in the occupied territory, the occupiers considered the creation of a police force from local residents. For every 100 residents, the state relied on 1 policeman.

The occupying German authorities also attached importance to counter-guerrilla warfare. The punitive detachment under the command of the former "fist" V. Ponomarev operated in the Pregradnensky, Zelenchuksky districts, the village of Kurdzhinovo, fought against the partisans of the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories. The punishers, among whom were Y. Mikhailov, deputy commander of the Kurdzhinovsky punitive detachment, M. Sergeev, head of the police of the Kruglogo Pregradnensky district farm, I. Simakov, V. Glushko, I. Lakhin, S. Turetsky, I. Glushko and others, tortured and shot more than 170 patriots, burned the working village of Upper Beskes. They mocked the Soviet people, robbed them, drove them to Germany by the hundreds.

In January 1943, the Karachay region was liberated from German troops, which led to the resumption of the fight against anti-Soviet rebels. In January, the rebels of the Chereksky district of the Design Bureau of the ASSR and the Uchkulansky district of the KAO organized an open demonstration against the Soviet authorities for the preservation of the "New Order" established by the Germans. The insurgent organizations were partially eliminated by the operations carried out in the Cherek and Uchkulan regions.

The organizers of the performance in the Uchkulan region, according to the report of A. M. Leontiev, were "leaders of bandit rebel formations", "Muslim clergy and nationalists." It was attended by 400 people, after the liquidation of the speech, many participants in small groups went underground. They were greatly assisted by paratrooper agents thrown by the German intelligence agencies during active participation who fled from the region of the "Karachay National Committee".

To raise the people during the speech, national slogans were used: “for a free Karachay”, “for the religion of Karachay”. The “administrative apparatus” (headmen, foremen of the district, police), in the district, managed, at the expense of the population of not only the Uchkulan district, but also the Malokarachaevsky, Zelenchuk, Mikoyanovsky districts, to organize a detachment, numbering up to 153 people in the Uchkulan district: Uchkulan - 17 people, Kart-Jurt - 30 people, Upper Uchkulan - 57 people, Khurzuk - 40 people, Jazlyk - 9 people.

During military operations from February 10 to February 25, 1943, 115 soldiers and officers of the Red Army and state security officers were killed by the rebels of the Uchkulan region who resisted.

About 2 thousand servicemen of the internal troops and police officers were involved in the liquidation of the uprising by the NKGB-NKVD.

A second operation in the Uchkulan region was carried out from February 21 to 25 by units of the 284th, 273rd and 290th rifle regiments, the 18th cavalry regiment, the 177th separate rifle battalion, reconnaissance and destruction battalions of the Ordzhonikidze division of the NKVD. 60 rebels were killed, not counting those who surrendered and were captured. The NKVD troops lost 17 people killed, there were losses in the wounded and frostbite.

In April 1943, the NKVD troops undertook an expedition to the Balyk area (Kabardino-Balkaria), where, according to intelligence data, up to 400-500 people of armed Karachais and Balkars were hiding, who were armed with heavy and light machine guns, grenades, machine guns, rifles, revolvers and ammunition. The organizers and leaders of the headquarters of the rebels were M. Kochkarov, I. Dudov, and others. The NKVD Design Bureau of the ASSR, the Stavropol Territory, the task force of the Headquarters of the Grozny Division of the NKVD, 170 and 284 joint ventures and the 18th kp were involved in the operation.

The Chekist military operation was carried out from April 7 to 19 in the upper reaches of the Malka River to eliminate the so-called "Balyk Army", which, according to other sources, numbered more than 200 people. 59 rebels were killed, about seventy were captured. The losses of the Soviet side amounted to 18 fighters killed.

From January to October 10, 37 operations were carried out in the Karachaev region alone, 99 anti-Soviet rebels were killed and 14 were wounded, 380 were captured. In battles with them, 60 NKVD officers were killed, 55 were wounded.

On April 15, 1943, the directive of the NKVD of the USSR and the USSR Prosecutor's Office No. 52-6927 was issued, according to which “573 members of the families of rebel leaders” were determined to be evicted. However, due to the fact that "67 gang leaders turned themselves in to the Soviet authorities, the number of families subject to deportation was reduced to 110 (472 people)." On August 9, 1943, they were evicted from the Karachaev Autonomous Region. Subsequently, this measure was extended to the entire Karachay people.

According to the NKVD of the USSR, 62,842 Karachays, on the basis of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 115-13 of October 12, 1943 and the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 1118-342ss of October 14, 1943, were to be resettled in the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR.

By Decree of the USSR PVS No. 115/13 of October 12, 1943 on the liquidation of the Karachaev Autonomous Region and on the administrative structure of its territory, it was decided to relocate all Karachays living in the region to other regions of the USSR, and liquidate the Karachaev Autonomous Region. Council people's commissars The USSR was instructed to provide Karachays in new places of settlement with land and provide them with the necessary state assistance for the economic arrangement on the spot. Mikoyan-Shahar was renamed the city of Kluhori.

The territory of the former Karachay Autonomous Okrug was subsequently divided between neighboring subjects and was supposed to be populated by "verified categories of workers."

On the night of November 2, at two o'clock, the NKVD troops cordoned off the villages, blocked exit routes, and set up ambushes. Starting from 4 o'clock in the morning, the state security and militia officers also began arrests; in the first days of the eviction, more than 1,000 people were arrested. Minimum terms (3-6 hours) were set for the eviction of each Karachay settlement. There were cases of resistance during the arrests.

The deportation was carried out on November 2-5, 1943. For the forceful provision of the deportation of the population, military formations numbering 53,327 people were involved.

A total of 34 echelons were sent, each with 2000-2100 people, there were about 58 wagons in each echelon, the last 3 trains left on November 5 and on November 19 were still on the way.

The first echelons arrived by November 10, and from November 11 to 22, special settlers were received. By December 1943, in the Dzhambul and South Kazakhstan regions of the Kazakh SSR and in the Frunze region of the Kirghiz SSR, 15,987 families were settled - 68,614 people from the former Karachaev Autonomous District, including men - 12,500, women - 19,444 and children - 36,670 Previously, in the areas of resettlement, special commandant's offices of the NKVD were organized to serve special settlers, employees of the NKVD and the NKGB were sent to the areas to identify empty premises and prepare apartments in collective and state farm houses, as well as to carry out activities related to the reception and resettlement of arriving special settlers. However, most of the special settlers remained without adequate shelter.

In 7 districts of the South Kazakhstan region of the Kazakh SSR, 6,689 families were settled - 25,142 people, including 3,689 men, 6,674 women and 14,679 children. Of these, in 9 state farms - 1491 families - 5713 people.

In addition to the deportation of the main part of the population, there were facts of “additional detection” of Karachays who had escaped deportation both in the region and in other regions of the Caucasus.

By the time the trains arrived at the unloading stations, auto-drawn transport was concentrated in a timely manner. The unloading of trains was organized and planned. There were no excesses and incidents both when receiving trains and when moving into collective farm and state farm houses, both on the part of the arrived Karachays and the local population. The overwhelming majority of special settlers in the very first days after resettlement began to work on state farms and collective farms, harvesting cotton, beets, and cleaning the irrigation system.

According to the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars No. 1221-368ss "On the procedure for settling the regions of the former Karachaev Autonomous Region of the Stavropol Territory" dated November 6, 1943, the following territorial changes were prescribed:

After the eviction of the Karachais, on December 10, 1943, in the region, in addition to outbuildings, agricultural equipment, poultry, bees and vegetables, 156,239 heads of Karachai cattle and horses were taken into account and accepted by the Zagotskot system. Regional organizations squandered 4,361 heads of cattle and 26,446 heads of sheep and goats.

Cattle, poultry and grain received from the Karachai special settlers were to be used primarily to cover state obligations of deliveries in 1943 and arrears, the rest was subject to compensation in kind in new places of resettlement until 1945 inclusive.

The department of special settlements of the NKVD of the USSR was created on March 17, 1944, the basis for the creation of an independent department was the significant resettlement during World War II of new contingents of special settlers from the North Caucasus, the former Kalmyk ASSR and other regions. In the Kazakh SSR, 488 special commandant's offices were created, in the Kyrgyz SSR - 96 special commandant's offices, each was given the appropriate military units consisting of 5-7 fighters of the internal troops of the NKVD, headed by a sergeant and officers. In 1944, great attention was paid to preventing the escape of special settlers and detaining those who fled. For example, for Karachais, as of June 1, “anti-shooting work” was characterized by the following data: 77 people fled from settlements, 19 were detained, 19 escapes were prevented.

Families of Karachays, Balkars, Kalmyks, and Crimean Tatars, as of September 1944, mainly lived in housing due to the "compacting" of local collective farmers, workers and employees of enterprises, as well as state farms. In especially unsatisfactory living conditions were the special settlers transferred to industry and construction. Many managers of industrial enterprises and construction sites were unable to provide the migrants with the necessary living space, which is why their families were often placed in uninhabitable premises, club buildings, temporary barracks, dugouts, and dilapidated houses. As a result of the measures taken by the NKVD of the USSR, there was a "significant improvement in the household arrangements of the special settlers," but on the whole the situation remained still difficult.

Most of the special settlers resettled from the North Caucasus did not have shoes and warm clothes. There was a need to allocate the possible amount of cotton fabric to special settlers in need for sewing winter clothes and provide them with the simplest shoes. However, the measures taken by the Council of People's Commissars to meet the full needs of the special settlers were not enough.

All able-bodied special settlers were obliged to engage in "socially useful work." For these purposes, the local "Soviets of Working People's Deputies" organized the placement of special settlers in agriculture, V industrial enterprises, at construction sites, economic and cooperative organizations and institutions.

Special settlers did not have the right, without the permission of the commandant of the special commandant's office of the NKVD, to leave the area of ​​the settlement served by this commandant's office. Unauthorized absence was considered as an escape and entailed criminal liability. Special settlers - heads of families or persons replacing them, were obliged to report to the special commandant's office about all changes in the composition of families (birth of a child, death of a family member, escape, etc.) within three days. For violation of the regime and public order in places of resettlement, special settlers were fined up to 100 rubles, or arrested for up to 5 days.

Among the repressed peoples, especially those resettled in 1944, there was a significant mortality rate, which made up 23.7% of the total number of the initial number of immigrants until 1953, among the Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Karachays.

In the first years of life in a special settlement, in the process of adaptation, the mortality rate significantly exceeded the birth rate. From the moment of the initial resettlement and until October 1, 1948, 28,120 people were born and 146,892 people died from the evicted North Caucasians (Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Balkars, etc.), since 1949, all of them had a birth rate that exceeded the death rate.

In order to “strengthen the settlement regime” for the evicted, Decree No. 123/12 of November 26, 1948 of the PVS established that the resettlement was carried out “forever” without the right to return them to their former places of residence. For unauthorized departure (escape) from places of compulsory settlement, the perpetrators were subject to criminal liability - up to 20 years hard labor.

At the end of 1948, 15,425 families of Karachays numbering 56,869 people were registered, of which 29,284 were special settlers.

The number of Karachai special settlers, as of January 1, 1953, was 62,842 people, in addition, there were 478 people under arrest, seven were on the wanted list.

In 1954, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR was ordered to deregister children of special settlers of all categories born after December 31, 1937, and more children should not be registered in special settlements from the register of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Children over 16 for admission to educational establishments travel to any point in the country was allowed, and those enrolled in educational institutions were ordered to be deregistered.

According to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 16, 1956 "On the removal of restrictions on special settlements from Chechens, Ingush, Karachais and members of their families evicted during the Great Patriotic War", restrictions were lifted from the Karachai people.

By the time this decree was adopted, the number of special settlers had been greatly reduced due to the deregistration of children under 16 years of age, teachers, students, the disabled, etc. For example, the number of Karachays released by the Decree of July 16, 1956, amounted to only 30,100 people.

Decrees on the abolition of the special regime in relation to the deported peoples and other groups of people were distinguished by their half-heartedness, the desire not to subject the policy of mass deportations pursued earlier to the slightest criticism. It was about the fact that people were evicted “due to the circumstances of wartime”, and now, they say, their stay in the special settlement “is not necessary”. From the last phrase it logically followed that earlier it was "caused by necessity." There was no question of any political rehabilitation of the deported peoples. As they were considered criminal peoples, they remained so, with the difference that they turned from punished peoples into pardoned ones.

The national autonomy was restored in a different form, the Circassian Autonomous Okrug was transformed by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 9, 1957 into the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region as part of the Stavropol Territory of the RSFSR. Decree of the PVS of the USSR No. 115/13 of October 12, 1943 on "the liquidation of the Karachaev Autonomous Region and on the administrative structure of its territory" and Article 2 of the Decree of July 16, 1956, regarding the prohibition of Karachays from returning to their former place of residence, were canceled.

Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Okrug were also transferred Zelenchuksky, Karachaevsky (at that time Klukhorsky, by the Decree of the USSR PVS of March 14, 1955, it was transferred to the RSFSR and became part of the Stavropol Territory

Everything for the front, everything for the Victory!

living history Caucasus

From the very first days of the war, workers, collective farmers, and the intelligentsia faithfully fulfilled their duty, replenishing the ranks of the army in the field. 26 thousand Karachays went to the front. In the organizations of Osoaviakhim, 26,355 cavalrymen, 35,200 mountain shooters, 32,650 signalmen, 18,850 drivers and motorcyclists, and several hundred pilots received training and went to the front. Defense organizations trained 10,000 nurses, about 30,000 sanitary combatants for the front and rear.

Fighters and commanders, leaving for the front, swore to fulfill their sacred duty to the Motherland. And they kept their oath with honor.

They strengthened the defense power of the country, collected warm clothes for front-line soldiers, surrounded the families of front-line soldiers with care and attention, patronized hospitals.

World history knows no other example, when the population of the whole country, people different ages and professions on their own initiative, at the behest of their hearts, they would take an active part in collecting and sending gifts and warm clothes to the front, in donating blood, in raising funds for the production of various weapons, in holding Sundays and actively subscribing to military loans, like this was in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War.

Fraternal greetings to the Karachais from Joseph Stalin

On May 17, 1943, the Krasny Karachay newspaper published a telegram to the secretary of the Malokarachaevsky district committee of the CPSU (b) Khadzhiev: “Give the collective farmers and workers of the Malokarachaevsky district, who collected one million rubles for the construction of combat aircraft Collective Farmer Karachay, fraternal greetings and gratitude to the Red Army I. Stalin".

The Great Patriotic War was still going on. Soviet troops, leading offensive battles moved to the West. Deep in the rear, a thousand miles from the front, the special settlers worked for 12-14 hours without getting tired. The majority worked in collective farms, state farms and MTS. As party organs reported from the localities, there were quite a few leaders of production among the Karachays.

For outstanding achievements in the cultivation of sugar beets, young Karachays Nuzula Kubanova, Patia Shidakova, Tamara Abdullaeva were awarded the Order of Lenin with the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Since the autumn of 1942, an active partisan movement in the North Caucasus. In total, according to incomplete data, 250 partisan detachments and groups were created in the North Caucasus and the Stalingrad region, which included over 250 thousand people. The glorious daughter of the Karachai people, Zalikhat Erkenova, died defending her homeland by the death of the brave.

In November 1942, in the city of Kislovodsk, the German Gestapo shot the brave Karachai partisan Z. Erkenova, who was awarded four government awards. Before the execution, she managed to send home a letter containing the following lines: "Dear mother, they will shoot me soon, but don't cry, the Soviet Army will avenge me, and the Soviet government will raise my daughter."

However, her daughter Zarema was sent to Central Asia, despite the fact that her mother gave her life for Soviet power, and her father, officer Yunus Urusov, fought heroically on the Leningrad front.

Karachays on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War

The envoys of the mountainous region, not sparing their lives, defended Moscow and Leningrad, fought at Stalingrad and Kursk, liberated Budapest, Warsaw and Prague from the enemy, participated in the storming of Berlin. 14 thousand Karachays were awarded high military awards, and 14 of them were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. In the fight against the fascist invaders, the son of Karachay Osman Kasaev immortalized his name. Partisan detachment under the command of Kasaev, he defeated 27 enemy garrisons, destroyed up to 4 thousand Nazis, and conducted more than 100 other major sabotage and operations. Osman Kasaev died on February 17, 1944. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

More than a thousand girls from Karachay and Balkaria took part in the battles with the Nazis. Komsomol member Zoya Dagova was a radio operator on a destroyer Black Sea Fleet, Khalimat Ebzeeva commanded cavalry reconnaissance, the sisters of mercy were Fatima Chikhanchieva, Sofiat Khotchaeva, Zukhra Erkenova, Roza Urtenova, Fronza Khaunezheva and others.

The cavalry corps of Dovator, which bravely defended Moscow, consisted almost entirely of Karachays and Balkars.

Deportation of the Karachai people

At dawn on November 2, 1943, within two hours, the innocent and unsuspecting Karachay people - 69.267 people, of which 53.9 percent were children; 28.1 percent - women and only 18 percent - men - mostly old people and war invalids - at gunpoint, 60 thousand soldiers from the NKVD troops specially recruited for this, were hastily loaded into freight cars and sent into the unknown - to the east . The settlers were allowed to take with them only dry rations, designed for several days, and clothes. On average, up to 50 people were immersed in the "caravan", a total of 36 echelons were formed. For more than 20 days, the settlers suffocated from overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, froze and starved, died from diseases. At the stops, the doors of the veal wagons were slightly opened, the corpses were hastily unloaded and continued on their way. In total, 653 people died during the journey. (TsGA RF, f. 9479, op. 1, file 137, sheet 206).

The settlers were settled in small groups on a vast territory from Northern Kazakhstan to the foothills of the Pamirs, in more than 480 settlements. The purpose of such resettlement is obvious - the complete assimilation of the people, its disappearance as an ethnic group.

From the first days of resettlement, a special commandant's regime was established, according to which the deportees, under pain of hard labor, were forbidden to move from one settlement to another or visit relatives without special passes. They had to report monthly to the special commandant's office.

The nutrition of the settlers in the generally accepted sense, especially at the beginning, was extremely limited. People ate the roots and leaves of herbs, cake, frozen potatoes, makukha, alfalfa, nettles, and the skin of worn shoes. As indicated in the memorandum of the head of the Gulag to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, more than 70% of Karachays arrived at the places of resettlement without food.

One can understand when, in the same 1944, Soviet people in soldier's overcoats died for their homeland in fierce battles with the Nazi invaders. One can understand, albeit with difficulty, the martyrdom of the Soviet people in the Nazi concentration camps. But how to understand the death of Soviet people in the rear of their native country from starvation?

Where were the Karachays deported to?

population deported Karachays, taking into account those deported in the 20-30s, demobilized from the front, returning from the labor army, amounted to 78.827 people (18.068 families). According to the 1959 census, the number of Karachais was 81,000 people.

The Karachay Autonomous Region was abolished and part of the territory was transferred to Georgia. The deportation was carried out when the overwhelming majority of the male population was at the front in the ranks Soviet army. Khrushchev, in his report at the 20th Congress of the CPSU, not without malice noted that the deportation of the Karachays, allegedly of a military-strategic nature, was actually carried out when the success of the Soviet Army was already a foregone conclusion.

From the report of Beria to Stalin: "... As of February 1, 1944, 12,342 families of special settlers-Karachays were settled on the territory of the Kazakh SSR with the presence of 45,500 people in them, of which in the South Kazakhstan region - 6643 families in the amount of 25216 people, in the Dzhambul region - 5699 families - 20285 people.

To serve the special settlers, 24 special commandant's offices were organized, incl. in the South Kazakhstan region - 13 and in the Dzhambul region - 11.

In all areas of settlement of the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR, many applications are received by the district departments and commandant's offices of the NKVD regarding the search for family members and connection with them. Only in the Dzhambul region alone, over 2,000 such applications were received. In some settlements, facts were registered on the part of individuals and the local population of sympathy for the Karachays.

The trials that fell to their lot were facilitated only by the kind participation and help of their neighbors - Kazakhs, Russians, representatives of other nationalities who did not lose their humanity despite the hardships of the war. The process of rapprochement between the Karachai and Kazakh peoples was based on mutual goodwill and understanding. And the Kazakhs, who had recently survived the "Goloshchekino genocide", could not fail to understand the Karachays, who were completely evicted from their inhabited lands.

President N.A. Nazarbayev, speaking at a meeting of the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan in January 1998 in Astana, said: “Everyone knows with what cordiality the Kazakhs welcomed the IDPs. roof over their heads, warmed and shared the last piece of bread with people abandoned in the bare steppe. And they did it with dignity and completely disinterestedly. Those who they helped to survive and survive are still grateful to them for their help. "

According to the latest population census, 1,500 Karachays live in Kazakhstan. Living in Kazakhstan, the Karachais have made their contribution to the development of the economy of the republic, and those who remain here continue to work for the benefit of an independent, sovereign Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan, the Karachais have all the conditions for the development of their culture and language. Having retained their originality, they initially have great respect for the culture and life of the Kazakhs, Russians and other ethnic groups. And if we look into the depths of centuries, we will find out that the Kazakh and Karachai peoples have common historical roots.

The Karachay-Balkarian National Cultural Center "Mingi-Tau" is doing a great job of strengthening interethnic harmony, internal political stability and consolidating society. Chairman of the center Lyudmila Khisaevna Khochieva. Kazakhstan became her homeland and destiny. Member of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of Kazakhstan L.Kh.Khochieva is known in all, even the smallest, villages. Lyudmila Khisaevna does a lot of social work. It is for this that she was awarded the Order "ISrmet".

The dark pages of our history must not be repeated. The lessons of history must be learned constantly, from generation to generation. No matter how difficult the legacy of totalitarianism is, a multi-ethnic state can and should develop in a civilized, democratic way, in an atmosphere of trust and harmony, social partnership of representatives of all segments of the population, all nations and nationalities living in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

I got acquainted with the materials on the behavior of the Balkars during the offensive Nazi German troops in the Caucasus, and after their exile. During the period when the Germans broke through the front line near Rostov in 1942, anti-Soviet elements in Balkaria intensified their work in the rear of the Red Army and created rebel groups. The situation was also difficult during the retreat of units of the 37th Army, which retreated through the passes of the Caucasus Range, through Balkaria. In the Cherek region, the Balkars disarmed a military unit, killed the commanders and captured one gun.

At the behest of the Germans and the emigrants Shokmanov and Kemmetov they brought with them, the Balkars agreed with the Karachays on the unification of Balkaria with Karachay.

Only during 1942-43. 2,227 people were arrested for anti-Soviet work and banditry, of which 186 were communists and Komsomol members. 362 people fled with the Germans from Balkaria.

In connection with the forthcoming final eviction of the Chechens and Ingush, I would consider it right to use part of the released troops and security officers to evict the Balkars from the North Caucasus, with the expectation to complete this operation on March 15-20 of this year before the forests are covered with leaves.

There are 40,900 Balkars living in the overwhelming majority in four administrative districts located in the gorges of the Main Caucasian Range, with a total area of ​​503 thousand hectares, of which about 300 thousand are hayfields, pastures and forests.

If there is your consent, before returning to Moscow I would be able to organize on the spot the necessary measures related to the eviction of the Balkars. I ask for your instructions.

March 8, 1944 according to a predetermined plan in each locality, where the Balkars lived, units of the NKVD troops were introduced. Soldiers with machine guns entered the houses of residents, gave the stunned people twenty or thirty minutes to get ready. On the same day, they were brought to the Nalchik station and loaded into freight cars. The wagons were full.

"State Committee Defense Comrade Stalin I.V.

The NKVD reports that the operation to evict the Balkars from the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was completed on March 9. 37,103 Balkars were loaded into trains and sent to the places of new settlement in the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR, in addition, 478 people were arrested. anti-Soviet element. 288 firearms were confiscated. There were no noteworthy incidents during the operations ...

To ensure order and security in the mountainous regions of Balkaria, operational-Chekist groups with small military teams were temporarily left. L. Beria. March 11, 1944" (Ibid., p. 22.)

In Kazakhstan, 21,150 Balkars (4,660 families) died in 1944. On October 1, 1946, there were 32,817 Balkars in the special settlement (men - 10,595, women - 16,860, children - 32,557).

Terrible living conditions, starvation rations, to which the special settlers were doomed, the lack of warm clothes for many, epidemic diseases, lack of medical care- all this led to the death of thousands and thousands of innocent people. In the Balkar families living in Kazakhstan, according to the information of the NKVD of the Kazakh SSR, only in 9 months of 1944, 66 children were born, and 1,592 people died. According to official data, from April 1, 1944 to September 1946, i.e. in two and a half years, 4,849 Balkars died in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. This is every eighth Balkar who was in exile.

On the distant Kazakh land on March 14, 1945 he died Kazim Mechiev, the founder of Balkar poetry. There was no obituary in any newspaper. And few people knew that in the village of Telman, Karatal district, Taldy-Kurgan region, an exiled poet lived out his life, like all Balkars, classified as bandits, with the label of a special settler.

The contribution of Karachays to the Victory over fascism

The envoys of the mountainous region, not sparing their lives, participated in the Great Patriotic War.

The legend of Soviet aviation, a thunderstorm for the Nazis, was a simple Balkar guy Alim Baisultanov. He died a heroic death on September 23, 1943 in an air battle near the Kaporskaya Bay in the Gulf of Finland. Hero of the Soviet Union A. Baisultanov was only 24 years old.

In Baisultanov's award list we read: "277 times he took his plane into the air to defeat the enemy, and wherever it appeared, either over Khanko and Tallinn, or over Leningrad, everywhere the Nazis feel on their backs the power of the merciless strike of the brave Stalinist falcon Baysultanov. .. During the Great Patriotic War, Comrade Baysultanov destroyed 19 enemy aircraft in 45 air battles. a large number their soldiers and equipment. Taking off 27 times for reconnaissance, he always brought valuable information about the enemy ... "

Balkar Company Commander Mukhazhir Ummaev in the battles for Odessa on April 10, 1944, together with his fighters, having repelled three fierce counterattacks of the enemy, he was the first to break into the outskirts of the city. In this battle, senior lieutenant Ummaev personally destroyed 18 in hand-to-hand combat, and his company - 200 German soldiers and officers. Pursuing the retreating enemy, Ummayev's company destroyed more than a hundred invaders and was the first to break into the city center. The army newspaper told about this feat after the battles for Odessa. For courage and courage, Ummaev was presented for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, he was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky. This was the hero's last reward. He was demobilized, and he went to his exiled fellow countrymen in Kazakhstan, where he soon died of wounds received in the war. Forty-five years later, the President of the USSR, by Decree of May 5, 1990, posthumously awarded Mukhazhir Ummayev the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

You have to work to survive

Despite the difficult living conditions in exile, the hardships and suffering, the Balkars strove to endure and survive. In the rear, special settlers worked 12-14 hours a day. They mined ore in the mines, erected houses, laid canals and roads.

To the high government awards many Karachays and Balkars were represented, who worked in cotton growing, tobacco growing, and animal husbandry. Orders of Lenin were awarded to Marua Shakhmanova, Fatima Umarova, Balbu Erkenova, Patiya Aybazova, Karakyz Dzhatdoeva, Asiyat Laipanova, Mariyam Khapayeva and others. Hundreds of Balkars were awarded the Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Badge of Honor, and medals.

Many leaders in production - Balkars and Karachays - participated in the All-Union and Republican agricultural exhibitions, received high government awards.

Among Karachays and Balkars there were quite a few sportsmen-dischargers and masters of sports. Repeated boxing champions of the Kirghiz SSR were Muradin Semyonov and Osman Dzhaubaev. Zaur Laipanov was the champion of Kazakhstan in the barbell. Masters of Sports Shamil Barkhozov, Osman Dzhazaev, Nazir Bayramkulov, Akhmat Urusov were repeated champions of Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

During the years of forced life in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, the Balkars, Karachays, like other repressed peoples, in the most difficult conditions of exile under the watchful eye of special commandant's offices, enduring moral and physical suffering, worked to survive, tried to survive, supporting each other's spark of faith and hope to return home. They did not blame the Communist Party and socialism for their troubles, they believed that sooner or later justice would prevail. The trials that fell to their lot were facilitated only by the kind participation and help of their neighbors - Kazakhs, Russians, representatives of other nationalities who did not lose their humanity, despite the hardships of the war. The process of convergence of Kazakh, Balkar peoples followed the path of mutual goodwill and understanding. And the Kazakhs, who had recently survived the "Goloshchekinsky genocide", could not fail to understand the Balkars.

Speaking at a meeting of the peoples of Kazakhstan in January 1998 in Astana, President N.A. Nazarbayev said: “Everyone knows with what cordiality the Kazakhs welcomed the IDPs. , warmed and shared the last piece of bread with people abandoned in the bare steppe. And they did it with dignity and completely disinterestedly. Those who they helped to survive and survive are still grateful to them for their help.

With all this I am familiar, as they say, not by hearsay. I remember I was six or seven years old when my father brought strangers into the house - a man, a woman and three children. They were ragged, not washed, and apparently hungry. There was despair in the eyes of the woman, the children were crying. As I later found out, they were Balkars - that year, for some reason, the military special commandant's office decided to "transfer" several families who had previously been expelled from Kabardino-Balkaria and then lived in one remote village, to our Chemolgan. They were hastily placed - some in sheds, some on a dairy farm. It is clear that the "competent authorities" did not intend to create more or less tolerable living conditions for the "enemies". But the locals decided otherwise and offered the settlers their shelter.

Our family lived from hand to mouth: when the cow gave milk, there was a holiday in the house, but usually we had to survive from bread to tea. We could not offer anything else to our new acquaintances. But even this modest dastarkhan, the hot stove, the warmth and attention of their parents helped them to survive, to save their children.

The father quickly became friends with Khazret, what was the name of the head of the family, helped him decide on a job, and after a month or two he was freely explaining himself to the Balkars on their mother tongue. In a word, our family, like other Chemolgans, has the best relations with the settlers. Years later, one of my distant relatives married a Balkar girl, and I still correspond with many of those who later returned to the Caucasus.

This is to the question of how the Kazakhs received people deported to the republic."

There are still those who have experienced the inhuman hardships of forced deportation in their own lives. Not political hypocrisy, not crafty shifting of facts, but the true truth on this score will strengthen our mutual trust and mutual respect.

They say: there is no evil without good. The common tragedy united peoples, brought them closer, made them spiritually richer. "Tatulyє - tabylmas baєyt" - they say in the Kazakh people. Indeed it is. Friendship is a great happiness that must be cherished and cherished. Today, among the Balkars, Karachais and Kazakhs, there are many families who are connected by the best feelings. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people call themselves friends, brothers and sisters. And it is not just words. Friendship between the peoples of Kazakhstan, which originated in the most difficult pre-war, military and post-war years last century has withstood the test of strength, put down deep roots that cannot be pulled out.

According to the latest population census, more than 2,000 Balkars live in Kazakhstan. Living in Kazakhstan, the Balkar diaspora made its contribution to the development of the economy of the republic, and those who remained here continue to work for the benefit of independent, sovereign Kazakhstan.

Professor Tleu Kulbaev

Related: || ||

"The Einsatzkommando ... was received with enthusiasm"

"... The German troops from the very beginning were confident in the fullest and most joyful support from the mountaineers. At a time when the Circassians in the former autonomous regions of Adygea and Cherkessia at first could only be observed spontaneous readiness for self-defense against partisans, among the very active Karachays political goals are already visible.When the German armed forces entered the Karachay region, they were greeted with universal rejoicing.In their willingness to help the Germans, they literally surpassed themselves.

Thus, for example, the Einsatzkommando of the Security Police and the SD, which arrived at the beginning of September in the Karachai village located south of Kislovodsk, was received with enthusiasm comparable to the days of the annexation of the Sudetenland. Team members were hugged and lifted on their shoulders. gifts were offered and speeches were made that ended with a health resort in honor of the Fuhrer. At many rallies, the Karachays assured through their representatives of unconditional loyalty to Adolf Hitler and boundless trust in local German authorities. They passed thank you address in the name of the Fuhrer. In all these expressions, the hatred of the Bolshevik regime and the will of the Karachais for freedom are sharply emphasized. In addition, clearly defined wishes were expressed for a certain self-government, for the dissolution of collective farms and for the education of young people in accordance with the characteristics of the genus. These proposals were also joined by representatives of the Balkars, who sought to separate from the existing administrative association with the Kabardians and unite with the Karachays.

From the available observations, thus, the different behavior of the Russian-Ukrainian population and mountain tribes is revealed.

...Remarkable is the desire of approximately 60,000 Balkars to separate from the Kabardians and join the Karachays, numbering 120,000 inhabitants. Both tribal groups expressed their unity with the Greater German Empire in many events through their deputies."

[RGVA. F. 500k. Op. 1. D. 776. L. 15 - 32.]

I leave the document without comment.

In 1943, the Karachays were illegally deported from their homes. Overnight, they lost everything - their home, native land and acquired property. The Karachay people were doomed to a long and painful 14-year exile. On October 12, 1943, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a secret Decree "On the liquidation of the Karachaev Autonomous Region and the administrative structure of its territory." “All Karachays living in the territory of the region,” the Decree noted, “should be resettled to other regions of the USSR, and the Karachaev Autonomous Region should be liquidated.”

On October 14, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was issued on the eviction of Karachays from the Karachaev Autonomous Region to the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSR and the transfer of Karachai lands to Georgians (the appearance of the Klukhorsky district of the Georgian SSR). These documents explained the reasons for the eviction:

“Due to the fact that during the occupation period, many Karachays behaved treacherously, joined detachments organized by the Germans to fight Soviet power, betrayed honest Soviet citizens to the Germans, accompanied and showed the way to German troops advancing through the passes in the Transcaucasus, and after the expulsion of the invaders oppose the measures taken by the Soviet government, hide bandits and agents abandoned by the Germans from the authorities, providing them with active assistance"

According to the 1939 census, 70,301 Karachays lived on the territory of the Karachay Autonomous District. From the beginning of August 1942 until the end of January 1943 it was under German occupation.

For the forceful support of the deportation of the Karachay population, military formations with a total number of 53,327 people were involved, and on November 2, the deportation of Karachays took place, as a result of which 69,267 Karachays were deported to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Of these, 653 people died on the way. About 50% of the deportees were children and adolescents under the age of 16, 30% were women and 15% were men. The Karachais drafted into the Red Army were demobilized and deported on March 3, 1944.

The decree on deportation contradicted not only international law, but also the Constitution of the USSR. The accusations of the Karachay people contained in this Decree, as well as in various documents of the USSR Government, as shown by the inspection of the Prosecutor's Office and the State Security Committee in the late 80s and 90s of the twentieth century, are groundless and represent a gross falsification of the true state of affairs. Time has proved the absurdity of these accusations. This is confirmed by the data on the participation of Karachays in the Great Patriotic War. The total number of those mobilized in those years was about 16 thousand people, 2 thousand people worked in the labor army.

The unfamiliar climate, cold and hunger, the lack of normal living conditions turned out to be disastrous for the highlanders. According to official figures, in 1944 alone they lost 23.7 percent of their men. In general, more than 60 percent of the settlers died as a result of deportation.

According to the doctor historical sciences, Professor Murat Karaketov, if there were no deportation, the number of Karachays in Russia would now be 400-450 thousand people - twice as many as there are at this time (230-240 thousand).

On January 9, 1957, the Cherkess Autonomous District was transformed into the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous District. She was returned the territory that had ceded after the deportation to the Krasnodar Territory and the Georgian SSR, and Karachay toponyms were restored on the former Georgian territory.

On January 25, 1957, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Tolstikov signed an order "On permitting residence and registration for Kalmyks, Balkars, Karachays, Chechens, Ingush and members of their families evicted during the Great Patriotic War."

On November 14, 1989, by the Declaration of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, all repressed peoples were rehabilitated, repressive acts against them at the state level were recognized as illegal and criminal in the form of a policy of slander, genocide, forced resettlement, the abolition of national-state formations, the establishment of a regime of terror and violence in places of special settlements.

In 1991, the law of the RSFSR "On the rehabilitation of repressed peoples" was adopted, which determines the rehabilitation of peoples who have been subjected to mass repression in the USSR, as the recognition and exercise of their right to restore the territorial integrity that existed before the forcible redrawing of borders.

From the memories of the deportation of Karachais

“When we got into the carriage, I had a daughter with me - two years old and a son - three months old. On the way, the boy fell ill and died. Many children died on our train. Parents were not allowed to bury them. And I tried to hide that my baby was dead. A day passed, another, I held my son in my arms, but the convoy still found out that I had a dead child. They wanted to take it away and throw it out of the car. I did not give it, I said that I would bury it quickly at the nearest station.

I was dropped off at Saratov. Nearby stood a dilapidated house without a roof. The soldiers ordered: "Go there and leave the child there." I went. She went inside and was dumbfounded. There were corpses all around. They have snow on them. I went to the largest corpse, cleared the snow from the place next to it, and laid down my three-month-old son. And she said to herself: "Protect, soldier, my baby ..." There was no strength to cry ..."
Marziyat Dzhukkayeva

"I was in Kyrgyzstan, in the village of Voyennaya Antonovka, I buried one family - Kubanova Atchi and his wife Saniyat. They had six children. Another boy was born on the road. that the son will return to his homeland. Once, after long days of hunger, they received a ration - cornmeal. The mother cooked hominy and fed all the children to their fill. And the parents themselves ate their fill for the first time in exile. The family fell asleep. But in the morning no one woke up. They did not know that You can't eat too much after you're hungry."
Husey Botashev

“I went to the front in the first days of the war. In 1943, I fought on the Kursk Bulge, was seriously wounded, was in the hospital. From there, in mid-November, I went on vacation home. village How could I imagine what awaits me?

I arrived in the village early in the morning. I walked and thought: "Now I'll wake everyone up!" He ran into the yard, opened the doors - and ... emptiness. Not a soul. Nowhere. Silence. I'm confused, I can't understand anything. Like crazy, I look into all corners - into the barn, basement, chicken coop ... Nobody.

The captain met me at the board. He showed the decree by which all Karachays were evicted from the Caucasus. I went out into the street, stunned, and our neighbor, Fedor Prudnikova, met me. She saw me, cried, invited me into the house. The military enlistment office allowed me to stay in the village until they found out the address of my relatives. For a month and a half I lived with the Prudnikovs. In these difficult days, they were my only support.

On the day of departure, we, front-line Karachays, gathered at the station about 80 people. They all put us on a train and sent us after our relatives.”
Ibragim Koichuev

“They say that you can’t get used to death, but I think that you can’t help but get used to death, when so many people died every day ...

It was the 45th year. Not far from us lived a Chechen family, which was dying before our eyes. First the children died, then the mother died. Only one father remained. One day he came to us. He had almost no clothes on. He showed a bag of corn and said that he changed clothes for a kilogram of grains. And we had potatoes. He said that he came to the smell, and asked for some water from under the potatoes. Mom gave him potatoes. But he died two hours later anyway. They buried him in what he was. And the corn, which he never had time to eat, was given to another family, where children were dying of hunger.
Khalimat Aibazova

“Our train stopped at the Belovodsk station in Kyrgyzstan. It was the end of November. Wind, rain, icy slush. They ordered us to unload. labor force. Mom with small children (there were three of us, I am the eldest, seven years old) remained in the open air in the bare steppe - no households needed her.

The next morning a Russian woman came with her two daughters and took our family away. We were warmed, fed, put to bed. But the night spent in the cold did not pass without a trace. The one-year-old brother Rashid rushed about in the heat and died three days later. On the seventh day my sister Tamara died. She was three years old."
Marat Kochkarov

"1944. Spring. We live in the Frunze region, in the village of Voyennaya Antonovka. We have five children - the eldest is seven years old, the youngest is a year and a half. I work wherever I have to, my wife disappears on sugar plantations. And then one day she fell ill. The doctor said: pneumonia, his life is in danger, he must be taken to the regional hospital.

But without the permission of the commandant's office, it is impossible to leave the village. For violation of the special regime, they give 20 years of hard labor. I went to ask - the commandant refused me. The next day he came again - again a refusal. Only on the third day, after humiliation and insults, did he finally give permission. I took this paper from him, I return home. Just got off the bus, I see our yard is filled with people. And I realized that my wife was dead."
Khasan Dzhubuev

“A young woman was exiled with small children. There are no relatives nearby. Her husband is at the front. Without food and shelter. There were seven children! Within a short time, like sick chickens, six died and she was left with the smallest. she lost her mind from grief: she did not give the dead child to people for burial. She came with him to the cemetery and here, in the middle of graves, nameless hillocks of six children, she died, never letting go of her lifeless child from her numb hands ... "

“In the village where we lived, one woman (I don’t remember her name and surname due to her young age), seeing that children could die of hunger, began to go to the surrounding fields at night and gather ears there. Every night she brought at least some grains of wheat. And on one of these nights, two watchmen, noticing her, chased after her. She knew that if they were caught, or beaten to death, or sent to prison. When she realized that the pursuers would catch up, the woman, having reached the river, stopped and at the bridge she tore off her scarf from her head, ruffled her hair and sat down. The pursuers, seeing her, were numb with fear and, shouting "Witch!", ran back. And this "witch" more than once, frightened by her own shadow, and clutching a handful of grain to her chest , returned in the midnight haze to her children.

“Another mother, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, at the first time, when the deportees in exile were dying of starvation in families, wanting to save the lives of her four children in any way, gave them to Kazakh families. A few years later, when she passed starvation She went to ask her children back. But two of them were not found. And for the rest of her life, the face of this woman was imprinted with a searching, waiting look.

"... Since the railway track was single-track, waiting for the passage of oncoming trains, the train stood idle for a long time. And yet, not at every stop, the doors of the cars were opened. Sometimes they were let out of a crowded car to give people the opportunity to breathe fresh air. Sometimes submachine gunners standing at the doors and windows did not even give the opportunity to look outside. A resident of Kamennomost, Khasan Bashchievich Aidinov, a veteran of the war, who returned seriously wounded from the front, with a bad heart, was traveling in a neighboring car. At one of the stops, Hasan asked to get out - he didn’t have enough air. But the soldier did not agree to let him out, and then Hassan, in desperation, cut his own throat " O. Khubiev

"In the first months of resettlement, those who died outside the home were not allowed to be taken home, buried according to the adat. Referring to the fact that he died at work - in the field - they demanded that, like the corpse of an animal, they buried everything somewhere" (P. Abazaliev ).

"Father was 96 years old, his four sons fought at the front. When he died in 1944, my brother and I dug his grave from early morning until evening. We barely managed - we were so weak..."
M. Laipanov

BallaBaikulova, from the village of Important, died in 1989. Her husband died at the front, three children are buried in Bayaut. In her small sakla, three pairs of children's eyes and the eyes of a young horseman, her husband, looked at her from the walls. Balla, an old, sick woman among them, seemed to come from the last century. And who knows which of them was more fortunate: them, who were doomed to remain forever young and young, or her, who lived a long time, but lived "yesterday", and after 1946 she had neither present nor future. Even the term "yesterday" is not correct - she had no life at all after the death of her children. There, in 1946, having put her soul in the grave with her children, until 1989 she lived with one desire to leave this world.

“On the road, the mother of one woman died. They didn’t let her be buried or taken further in the car. They threw the body just on the side of the road. Her daughter (the mother of three children, her husband was at the front), wanting to ease and cool the burning pain of the heart, sat down right on the snow, and when her body cooled down, it seemed to her that the pain in her heart subsided as well. Her grief burned so much ... And then her legs stopped walking.