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| Residents of Kabardino-Balkaria called on to preserve the memory of the deportation |
| 2024-03-09 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. A brief. translated article summarizing the deportations can be found here. [KavkavUzel] The deportation affected all Balkar families, the memory of it is passed on from generation to generation. It is important to remember those who did not return from deportation, said participants in a mourning rally in Nalchik dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the deportation. The operation to evict the Balkars took place on March 8, 1944 and lasted only two hours. During this time, war invalids, families of front-line soldiers, and leaders of party bodies were sent to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Of the 37,713 deported Balkars, 52% were children, 30% were women, 18% were men. During the 18 days of travel, 562 people died. Only in 1957 were the Balkars allowed to return to their homeland, according to the “Caucasian Knot” document “ Deportation of the Balkars.” A rally was held today at the Memorial to the Victims of Political Repression of the Balkar People, which was attended by representatives of the public, the leadership of the republic, clergy, and the media. Commissioner for Human Rights under the head of the republic Boris Zumakulov, who himself personally experienced the deportation, thanked those gathered and said that among those who came to pay tribute to the memory, there were also representatives of other peoples living in the republic - Kabardians, Russians, which indicates that that peoples are together in sorrow and in joy. Next, Zumakulov addressed the people of that generation who passed away unable to bear deportation, and whose graves remained in the steppes of Central Asia. “We remember you,” he said. Zumakulov also thanked the Balkar women who “worked tirelessly in incredibly difficult conditions, raised children, cherished customs and instilled confidence that we would definitely return to our land.” Responding to a comment from the crowd about why there is still no monument to a Balkar woman, Zumakulov said that the remark was fair, and that such a monument would definitely be erected. He also remembered the generation that, having returned home, rebuilt the infrastructure. “We remember your good deeds,” he said. Zumakulov called the deportation a “barbaric act” that remained in the minds of the people like an unhealed wound. Zumakulov, paraphrasing, quoted the lines of Alexander Blok. “We are children of the difficult years of Balkaria. We cannot forget anything,” he said, emphasizing that while remembering the past, we must look to the future. “The past is no longer under our control, but the future depends on us. Our goal is to build a society where human rights are respected and where there is justice,” he concluded. Representatives of the Muslim clergy offered a funeral prayer. The Chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Kabardino-Balkaria, Khazretali Dzasezhev, said that today services will be held in all mosques of the republic, during which they will remember those who died during the years of deportation and ask for the mercy of the Almighty for them. After this, flowers were laid at the Memorial. The rally participants told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about what deportation meant for them and how it affected their families. A resident of Nalchik, Raziyat Shavaeva, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that 80 years have passed, but it feels like it was yesterday. “I remember when I was little, the elders spoke about these events only in a whisper, behind the lights at home. It remained a mystery to them - why? Why? My father had four brothers at the front, and their elderly parents were declared enemies of the people. my aunt had seven sons. Six of them were at the front, and their parents were expelled. They didn’t even get to the place - they died along the way. There is not a single Balkar family that has not lost someone. What can we do today? Just come and remember them, those who stayed there,” Shavaeva said. Zhabrail Zhaboev, executive director of the public organization "Alan", noted that when those Balkars who fought began to return from the front, it was a shock for them that their families were deported to Central Asia. Many did not even know where exactly the family was sent. They were very confused. “I myself was born in Kazakhstan, it was very cold there. The temperature sometimes dropped to minus 50 degrees. At first we lived in dugouts, then slowly began to build houses. We survived as best we could. As the poet Kaysyn Kuliev said, “my people will squeeze milk out of stone.” This is about the hard work of the Balkars,” he emphasized. As soon as Khrushchev made his historic speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU condemning the cult of personality, many, without waiting for official rehabilitation, began to return to their homeland. Among the first was his grandfather. At the same time, he left everything he had acquired over 13 years there and, upon returning, began to build everything anew. This was in October 1956. Officially, the first echelon of rehabilitated Balkars returned to their homeland in May 1957, Zhaboev told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent. Rakhima Gekkueva, a member of the board of the Nalchik Women's Council, said that she remembers how they were driving back, although she was only three years old. “I remember very well the freight car, the flannel blankets with which we covered ourselves. God forbid that any people should experience what we experienced,” she told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent. Journalist and member of the Yabloko party Amina Tappaskhanova knows about the deportation from the words of her grandparents. Now they have all passed away. Amina's parents were expelled from the Chegem region as children. From the words of her elders, she knows that the deportation took place so quickly that many did not have time to take even the most necessary things with them. The father’s family ended up in the north of Kazakhstan, in very cold places, the mother’s family first went to Uzbekistan, where there were also very unfavorable living conditions, but then they moved to Kyrgyzstan, where it was a little better. A lot of people died. “This day is a day of remembrance. We don’t celebrate it anymore,” she told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent. After all the mourning events, the rally participants were invited to the Nalchik Resort Palace to watch the film “The Road to the Edge of Life,” filmed in 1995 by director Ruben Muradyan. The plot is based on the events of deportation. On March 8, in Kabardino-Balkaria, it is customary to visit the graves of relatives who survived deportation, and elders tell the younger generation about their experiences in deportation, residents of Kabardino-Balkaria told the Caucasian Knot in March 2024. Let us remind you that on March 5, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the deportation, Ingush elders recorded a video message to the Balkars. The Stalinist regime deported the peoples of the Caucasus in 1944, unjustifiably declaring them enemies, despite the fact that at the same time their representatives were fighting at the front, the authors of the appeal noted. On February 26, it became known that Nalsk resident Oleg Kelemetov sent a statement to the Investigative Committee, demanding an audit of the decisions of the State Defense Committee (GKO) of the USSR on the deportation of the peoples of the Caucasus in 1944. Kelemetov believes that the decisions of the State Defense Committee on the eviction of Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Karachais, Balkars and Crimean Tatars violated the Constitution and the Criminal Code of the USSR. Video of the rally. Translatable but the text in the video is not. From the description: Actions in memory of the victims of the deportation of Balkars were held in Nalchik on the 80th anniversary of the tragic events. The authorities did not allow Balkar activists to hold their rally, inviting them to join official events. The participants told the Caucasian Knot about what deportation meant to them and how it affected their families. You should view the video on youtube, otherwise you may not be able to read the translation. |
| Posted by:badanov |