Preparing for surgery
In 1943, Soviet troops liberated the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria from fascist invaders. The Republic was recovering from the occupation, people were waiting for the end of the war. The leadership of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic made a number of strategic miscalculations; as a result, the enemy got part of industrial enterprises and hundreds of thousands of heads of large and small livestock.
Kabardino-Balkaria was liberated from the Germans in 1943
On February 20, 1944, the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, General Commissioner of State Security L.P. Beria, accompanied by his deputies Colonel General I.A. Serov and Colonel General B.Z. Kobulov, arrived in Grozny to lead the eviction of the Chechens. At the same time, a certificate was drawn up for Beria on the state of the Balkar regions of the republic. The document contained a report that part of the population was showing hostility towards Soviet power and about existing gangs that were formed from groups of deserters. The conclusion read: “we consider it necessary to resolve the issue of the possibility of resettlement of Balkars outside the KBASSR.”
Migrants, Kirghiz SSR
Beria familiarized himself with the paper and sent Stalin a detailed telegram about the situation in the republic. “If you agree, I would be able to organize on the spot the necessary measures related to the eviction of the Balkars before returning to Moscow. I ask for your instructions." Stalin approved this initiative and on February 26, the NKVD of the USSR, signed by L.P. Beria, issued an order “On measures to evict the Balkar population from the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” On March 5, the State Defense Committee, headed by Stalin, adopted a resolution on the eviction of the entire Balkar population of Kabardino-Balkaria to the Kazakh and Kyrgyz SSR. To carry out the operation, forces with a total number of 21,000 people were brought in, including: Moscow Rifle Division (without the 1st regiment), 23 1st Rifle Brigade, 136th, 170th, 263rd, 266th Rifle Regiments, 3rd Motorized Rifle Regiment, Moscow Military Technical School, Separate Industrial Troops Battalion, School for Advanced Political Training, 4000 NKVD-NKGB operatives. The 244th Regiment of NKVD Convoy Troops was allocated for transportation. The start date of the operation was determined to be March 10, 1944, but it was later moved to March 8th.
The initiator of the deportation of the Balkars was Beria
There is evidence of the events that preceded the eviction of the Balkars from the then First Secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Z. D. Kumekhov recalled these events in his memoirs: “On February 25 at 9.00 Kobulov led me into a lounge car (like a Pullman). In the cabin were Beria, Serov, Bziava and Filatov (the latter headed the People's Commissariats of Internal Affairs and State Security of Kabardino-Balkaria- approx. ed.). Beria met me extremely unfriendly and burst out with vulgar abuse and obscene curses against Kabardino-Balkaria, which, according to him. did not hold the Elbrus area and handed it over to the Germans... After the entire possible stock of abusive words had been exhausted, he announced that the population of Kabardino-Balkaria was subject to eviction.”
14 echelons of Balkars
On March 5, military units dispersed in Balkar settlements. People were reassured and informed that the soldiers had arrived to rest before the upcoming battles. On the morning of March 8, the operation began. Soldiers burst into houses, rousing old people, women and children from their beds, ordering them to gather in a matter of minutes. People were not given time to take all the necessary things and food. They were loaded into Studebakers prepared in advance and sent to the railway station in Nalchik.
The operation to evict the Balkars took 2 hours. The deportation was led by I. A. Serov and B. Z. Kobulov. They took everyone without exception - participants in the Civil and Patriotic Wars, wives and children of front-line soldiers, war veterans, deputies of all levels. The main feature of selection was Balkar origin. Later, the blame for nationality was transferred to children born during deportation.
Decree
Clear instructions on the eviction procedure have been developed. According to it, a migrant could take with him food and property weighing up to 500 kg per family. But the soldiers did not give people such a chance, they took the Balkars in what they were wearing, without food, with little luggage. People were pushed into cars in groups of 40 - 50 people. On March 11, Beria reported to Stalin that the operation to evict the Balkars was completed on the 9th. From the railway station in Nalchik, 14 trains and 37,103 Balkars were sent to the places of the new settlement. The total number of deportees was 37,713 people.
The total number of deported Balkars was 37,713 people
During the 18 days of the journey, 562 people died from hunger, cold and disease. People were hastily buried right next to the tracks during short stops, and when it was impossible to stop, the corpses were simply dumped down the slope.
Of the total number of deportees, 52% were children, 30% were women, 18% were men. Men - those who were not at the front at that moment - old people, disabled people who returned from the war, party workers and internal affairs officers. As a result, the victims of deportation were women and children.
Stalin expressed gratitude to all units and divisions of the Red Army and the NKVD troops who participated in the operation to resettle the Balkars. 109 people were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. On April 8, 1944, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was signed in the Kremlin on the resettlement of Balkars living in the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and on the renaming of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Socio-economic development of the republic in 1945-1964.
Topic 20. Kabardino-Balkaria in the conditions of post-war reconstruction and further development of the national economy of the country 1945-1964.
Shameev A.M.
1. Social and economic development of the republic in 1945-1964.
2. Balkar people in a special settlement. Life and work in exile.
3. Social and political life of the republic.
4. Restoration of the autonomy of the Balkar people.
5. Raising the material well-being and standard of living of workers.
With the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people had the opportunity to begin peaceful creative work. It was necessary to revive hundreds of destroyed cities and towns, restore railways and industrial enterprises, and raise the material standard of living of people. The main priorities and directions of the country's development were determined, as in the pre-war years, by five-year national economic plans. The party and state leadership of the country saw the strategic task of society in building a socialist society.
The restructuring of the economy along the lines of peaceful development was carried out in difficult conditions. The war brought numerous casualties: about 27 million people died in battles for their homeland and in fascist captivity, died of hunger and disease. Military operations on the territory of the country caused enormous damage to the national economy: the country lost about 30% of its national wealth.
On March 15, 1946, the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the second convocation adopted the Law on the Five-Year Plan for the Restoration and Development of the National Economy of the USSR for 1946-1950. The process of restoration of the national economy took approximately five years. Gross industrial output reached pre-war levels in 1948-1949, the most important branches of agriculture in 1950. By this time, railway transport had largely been restored.
The fascist occupation caused enormous damage to the national economy of Kabardino-Balkaria - more than 2 billion rubles. All factories, residential buildings, secondary schools, cultural and educational institutions were almost completely destroyed, and transport was damaged. The war had a hard impact on the state of agriculture.
People lived in difficult conditions; there was a shortage of shoes, clothing, and household items. But even in such conditions, the people did everything possible to quickly restore the national economy.
In 1946, the republic adopted the “Law on the Five-Year Plan for the Restoration and Development of the National Economy of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic for 1946-1950.” The plan provided for an increase in gross output in 1950 by 13.9% compared to 1940.
The construction of a number of new enterprises began: a spinning and weaving mill, knitting and furniture factories, expansion of existing industrial enterprises, primarily enterprises of union significance - the Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum plant, a machine-building plant in Nalchik, the Baksan hydroelectric power station, etc.
In general, capital investments in the national economy of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic during the years of the Fourth Five-Year Plan amounted to 358.5 million rubles.
There were serious difficulties and shortcomings in the work of industry. However, during the years of the Fourth Five-Year Plan, more than 90% of industrial enterprises were restored, many of which began to expand. Great changes have taken place in local industry.
In 1945-1950 24 woodworking enterprises were restored, reconstructed and re-created. During the post-war years, the number of food industry enterprises also increased. The Nalchinsky canning and fruit and vegetable plant, the Volnoaul fruit processing plant, the Prokhladnensky grape wine factory, etc. were built. Transport also developed in the post-war period.
The development of the economy of Kabardino-Balkaria in the 50s was characterized by a large scale of new construction. In particular, only during the years of the fifth five-year plan /1951-1955/ new industrial enterprises came into operation: a spinning factory, electromechanical workshops, a woodworking plant and a food processing plant in Nalchik, Sarmakovskaya and Mayskaya hydroelectric power stations. The capacity of former factories and factories has expanded.
The rapid growth of the republic's industry required a rapid pace of training of working class personnel. Due to the lack of appropriate educational institutions, their training was carried out outside the republic. Particular attention was paid to the training of indigenous workers. For example, if in 1948 Kabardians made up about 10% of the total number of industrial workers and employees, then in 1951 it was already 25%.
The introduction of new technology and advanced training of workers contributed to the growth of labor productivity, which in 1951 amounted to 116%.
The country's leadership, having achieved certain successes in de-Stalinization of society, in the second half of the 50s began a new series of reforms in the economic, social, cultural and other spheres.
To do this, it was necessary to reorganize and decentralize economic management. In May 1957, instead of sectoral ministries, Councils of National Economy (Soviet Economic Councils) began to be created. The country was divided into economic regions, regional party organizations into rural and urban. Now many economic problems were resolved locally, and the influence of the bureaucracy weakened. But the reform did not change the very principles of management and planning, but only replaced the sectoral organization with a territorial one and therefore later failed, like many other reforms.
In June 1957, the Kabardino-Balkarian Economic Council began to function, headed by an experienced economic worker, former director of the Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum plant Kulik G.T. Districts were strengthened in the republic. A number of economically weak regions (Nalchik, Kubinsky and Nagorny) were merged with neighboring larger ones.
In the second half of the 50s. such large plants as “Tsvetmetpribor” /SKEP/, an ash-ceramic plant, a concrete plant, a shoe factory in Nalchik, “Kavkazkabel” in Prokhladny, “Sevkavrentgen” in Maiskoye entered into operation. The Nalchik Machine-Building Plant and the Tyrnyauz Low-Voltage Equipment Plant underwent significant reconstruction.
Local state and cooperative industry developed rapidly in the republic. Thus, during the period under review, local industrial enterprises produced about 400 types of products, some of which were exported outside the republic (carpets, knitwear, yarn, paints, furniture, etc.).
The production of building materials also developed successfully, without which it was impossible to carry out capital construction. 14.3 million rubles were invested in establishing the production of building materials. The food industry has also grown. Thus, the Nalchik confectionery factory in 1955 produced almost five times more products than in 1940.
In general, thanks to the dedicated work of the republic’s industrial workers, in 1958 alone the volume of industrial production exceeded the pre-war level by 3.7 times.
The growth of the republic's industry made it possible to successfully fulfill orders not only for many economic regions of the country, but also to send products to 15 foreign countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, India, Finland, etc.
However, the weak point in the development of industry and construction was that some enterprises could not cope with the task of producing products, improving their quality and reducing costs. New equipment, modern technology, mechanization and automation of production processes were slowly introduced into production. Equipment and mechanisms were used unsatisfactorily.
During the implementation of the Sixth Five-Year Plan plans, additional opportunities for the development of the country's economy emerged. Taking these circumstances into account, the party and state leadership of the USSR came to the conclusion that it was impossible to solve the emerging problems by introducing individual amendments to the existing plans, and therefore considered it advisable to develop a new seven-year plan for 1959-1965 before the completion of the last two years of the sixth five-year plan.
At the beginning of 1959, the “Control figures for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1959-1965” were approved. as a plan for the development of the national economy for the coming seven years. The main goal of the seven-year plan was to ensure further powerful growth in all sectors of the economy.
Plan for the development of the national economy of Kabardino-Balkaria for 1959-1965. provided for the comprehensive development of all sectors of the republic’s economy, with the predominant growth of heavy industry.
The total amount of money invested in the national economy of the republic in 1959-1965. amounted to 451.2 million rubles, of which 190.2 million rubles were spent on the development of industry and capital construction. The volume of industrial production over these years has increased 2.3 times, industrial production assets have increased 3 times.
During these years, 20 industrial enterprises came into operation: Nalchik hydrometallurgical and machine tool plants, low-voltage equipment plant in Tyrnyauz, Kavkazkabel in Prokhladny, diamond tools in Terek, Baksan aggregate plant, Nartkalinsky tire repair plant, etc. 500 new types of industrial products.
The modernization of equipment and the introduction of new technology was carried out at many enterprises of the republic. Instead of the 19 enterprises envisaged in the seven-year plan for reconstruction, 25 were reconstructed.
Due to the launch of the first stage of the large Iskozh plant in the early 60s, which initially operated as a shoeboard factory, later artificial leather and raincoat fabrics / in Nalchik, light industry output tripled.
Significant structural changes occurred in industry, where mechanical engineering, hydrometallurgy, and mining became predominant. For example, the Tyrnyauz Tungsten-Molybdenum Combine (TVMK), after reconstruction, became one of the leading enterprises in the country's mining industry.
Along with these industries, the electrical engineering, instrument making, machine tool and tool industries have developed particularly rapidly. The raw material base of the mining and processing industries has increased significantly. Geologists discovered 18 large mineral deposits. Among them, the discovery of a high-quality oil field in the Tersky region was especially important.
In order to improve and develop the industries of Kabardino-Balkaria, ministries were created: food, local industry, consumer services, construction materials department.
Much work has been done to create a large construction industry. In Nalchik, Tyrnyauz, Prokhladny, Nartkal, enterprises for the production of reinforced concrete structures (reinforced concrete products and building parts) were built. The production volume of building materials (cement, lime, brick, tiles, alabaster, crushed stone, sawn tuff, ceramic pipes) has increased. The Nalchiksky trust became part of the Kabbalkpromstroy trust, newly created in 1961.
During these years, the power supply to Kabardino-Balkaria improved significantly. It was included in the North Caucasus energy system. In 1961, gasification of the republic began, for which a main gas pipeline was laid from the Stavropol Territory.
Products from plants and factories were sent to almost all economic regions of the Soviet Union and more than 40 foreign countries.
The labor feat of the teams, workers, engineering and technical workers of Kabardino-Balkaria was highly appreciated. Many were awarded orders and medals of the USSR, and the foreman of the builders of SU-5 in Nalchik Almov A.T., the drillers of the Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum plant Domnich M.V., Arkhestov Kh.K., the chief geologist of the enterprise Nefyodov N.K. was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. For the transition to a new system of planning and economic incentives, great production achievements and successful implementation of reforms, the Tyrnyauz plant was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and the Prokhladnensky Repair Plant was awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the first years after the war, the republic's agriculture was restored under extremely difficult conditions. The acreage decreased, the yield decreased, the number of livestock decreased, the machine and tractor fleet almost completely disappeared, there was not enough draft power, and most importantly, a working population.
According to the plans of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1946-1950), livestock production was expected to increase by 20%, and for the entire volume of agricultural production by 8%, compared to 1940.
The situation was complicated by a severe drought in 1946 and 1947, which had not happened in the south of the country for more than 50 years. A resolution was adopted by the regional committee of the party “On measures to boost agriculture in the post-war period in collective farms and state farms of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” It provided for expanding the sown area, completely covering the arable lands of collective farms, and within three years /1947-1949/ restoring the pre-war level of gross grain harvest. Already in November 1947, the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic fulfilled the state grain procurement plan by 100.2% and the wheat supply plan by 107%.
However, there were still serious shortcomings and shortcomings in the work to restore and further develop agriculture. Dozens of collective farms were still harvesting low harvests, did not fulfill plans for the supply of agricultural products, and provided very little grain for workdays. There were violations of the Agricultural Association Charter; in many collective farms, labor was poorly organized and there was poor discipline.
Nevertheless, by the end of the five-year plan, through the heroic efforts of rural workers, the republic was able to reach the pre-war level of sown areas, fulfill state grain procurement plans, and increase the level of technical equipment of agricultural production. All machine and tractor stations (MTS), the majority of state farms and 40% of collective farms were electrified.
Since the 1947/48 academic year, a department for training mechanical technicians for 30 people was opened at the Nalchik Agricultural College. A one-year agricultural school for collective farm chairmen began operating.
The state provided great assistance to collective farms. The republic received over 200 work horses, construction nails, glass, cement were allocated, farms received 50 trucks.
Certain successes have been achieved in animal husbandry. Number of horses for 1947-1949. increased by 54.1%, the number of sheep, goats, and pigs also increased. However, the growth of the total livestock population and its productivity still lagged behind.
154 collective farms participated in the socialist competition for the implementation of the three-year livestock development plan (1947-1949) in the republic. The collective farm has achieved especially great success. Kirov, Elbrus region. To the wonderful horse breeders of the collective farm: Shogenov T.Sh., Birsov A.Kh., Kalmykov Kh.T. in 1949 they were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
In 1950, 926 tractors and 229 combines worked on the fields of collective and state farms of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which made it possible to increase the level of mechanization of agricultural work (plowing, sowing, harrowing, harvesting) to 88%. State farms also became stronger organizationally and economically.
During the Fifth Five-Year Plan /1951-1955/, specific measures were taken to promote the further development of agriculture in the country. But as before, things were not going well with the development of public livestock farming, with an increase in the number of livestock and an increase in its productivity.
In September 1953, the party and state leadership of the country revealed the reasons for the lag in agriculture and outlined measures to improve it. Particular attention was paid to strengthening the technical base of agricultural production.
Measures to reorganize the MTS and strengthen collective and state farms with qualified personnel played a major role in the rise of agriculture. From September 1953 to January 1956, the machine and tractor stations of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were replenished with 463 specialists, including 90 engineers and mechanics, about 5.5 thousand permanent workers and tractor drivers. 68 experienced party and economic workers were recommended for the post of collective farm chairmen, among whom were 30 “thirty-thousanders,” including Bgazhnokov Kh.G., Tarchokov K.K., Evtushenko N.N., who later became famous leaders of large, advanced collective farms of the republic . This played a significant role in strengthening lagging collective farms. Capital investments in the republic's agriculture through MTS alone amounted to 118 million rubles in 1951-1955.
At the beginning of 1954, the country's party leadership decided to further increase grain production and develop virgin lands. Already in the summer of the same year, 300 thousand volunteers, including more than 2 thousand of our fellow countrymen, went to the eastern and south-eastern regions of the country to develop virgin lands. Many of them were awarded the medal “For the development of virgin lands.”
In general, in the 50s the agriculture of the republic achieved certain successes. It was from this time that Kabardino-Balkaria became famous as the region of the richest corn harvests and became the leading region of the Russian Federation in the production and supply of corn seeds for many territories, regions and republics of the country. In particular, in 1955 alone, the republic’s cultivated area increased by 19 thousand hectares. and mainly due to corn crops.
In 1958, collective and state farms in Kabardino-Balkaria had 2,912 tractors, 707 combines, and 74% of farms were electrified. At the All-Union Exhibition in 1958, Kabardino-Balkaria was awarded a 1st degree Diploma for success in agriculture.
Despite certain difficulties that negatively affected the development of agriculture in the country, in the republic the production of basic agricultural products (grain, meat, milk) during the seven-year plan /1959-1965/ had good indicators.
Kabardino-Balkaria was among the first to complete the electrification of collective and state farms. The technical equipment of agriculture has increased significantly. By 1965, the republic’s tractor fleet alone amounted to about 6 thousand units of various agricultural machinery.
Since the 60s, in the directives of party congresses, various government decrees, and laws, much attention has been paid to the rise of agriculture, since the pace of its development lagged behind the pace of industrial development.
After the Plenums of the CPSU Central Committee (October-November 1964, March 1965), which lifted restrictions on the choice of sowing structure for collective and state farms, the republic expanded the area under winter wheat without compromising other crops that were important in Kabardino-Balkaria.
From the late 50's - early 60's. The income of collective and state farms increased. This made it possible to transition to guaranteed cash wages for collective farmers, combined with the sale of grain and other agricultural products to them.
During the seven-year plan (1959-1965), collective and state farms of Kabardino-Balkaria received 2,449 tractors, 311 grain combines, 841 corn harvesters, 1,110 cultivators, 956 trucks, etc.
The area of irrigated land expanded, agrochemicals were widely used, and the structure of sown areas was improved. The established plans were also carried out in the field of animal husbandry. For 1959-1965 The republic's agricultural production more than doubled.
Kabardino-Balkaria was already considered one of the first among the republics and regions of the RSFSR in the development of agriculture. The workers of the agricultural artel named after them became famous throughout the country. IN AND. Lenin village of Argudan, Urvan district. Argudan residents received 80 centners of corn per hectare on an area exceeding 1000 hectares. Such harvests have never been seen here before. To the chairman of the Argudan collective farm, K.K. Tarchokov. in 1959 he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. The Kotlyarevsky collective farm “Krasnaya Niva” of the Maysky district, headed by N.N. Evtushenko, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor, had great achievements in agriculture.
For outstanding performance in agricultural production based on the results of the seven-year period, the following became Heroes of Socialist Labor: shepherd Attoev S.Kh., master of machine milking Pashtova S.M., Chigirova Sh.M., mechanized team leader G.Kh. Emishev, chairman of the collective farm Bakov N. M., First Secretary of the Urvan Republic Committee of the CPSU Akhmetov M.P. In total, 650 leading agricultural workers of the republic were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.
The deportation of Balkars was part of the general policy of the Soviet state, which resettled millions of its citizens on social or national grounds to solve both political and economic problems. The main reason, the opportunistic explanation for the repressions and forced relocations, was the accusation of entire nations of collaborating with the fascists, treason to the Motherland, and non-recognition of Soviet power. The reason for the forced eviction of the Balkars was a number of exaggerated data from the NKVD of the KBASSR about bandit groups operating in the mountains. At the same time, the real scale of the mobilization and participation of Balkar soldiers in the Great Patriotic War was ignored. The total number of deported Balkars was 37,713 people.
The settlers were sent in 14 trains (Orenburg Railway - 9 trains, Tashkent - 5 trains), mainly to Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
One of the most severe consequences of the deportation is the abolition of the national autonomy of the Balkar people. The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the abolition of autonomy and the resettlement of Balkars to Central Asia appeared a month after the deportation - on April 8, 1944 and actually legitimized the elimination of the autonomy of the Balkar people and the division of their ethnic territory.
The deportation of the Balkars had serious political consequences. In addition to the abolition of the statehood of the Balkar people, it affected the general situation of the entire republic. Ideological campaigns began, they were accompanied by a harsh purge of the party and state apparatus of the autonomy.
The resettlement of the Balkars was carried out in small groups, in almost 400 settlements in Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia. Locally, no land or funds were allocated to them.
The special settlement system could only exist under conditions of a fairly tough political regime, when methods of intimidation were applied to people in the special settlement (the system of commandant’s offices, which operated from 1944 to 1953).
For 13 years (1944-1957) the Balkars lived in barracks. In places of exile, life took place under conditions of a special, special regime, determined by strict rules and instructions from Beria’s department. According to them, all special settlers, starting with infants, were placed on special registration. Every month, special settlers were required to report to their place of residence in special commandant's offices and had no right to leave the area of resettlement without the knowledge and approval of the commandant. Unauthorized absence was considered as an escape and entailed criminal liability without trial. Heads of families were required to report to the special commandant's office within 3 days about changes that occurred in the family composition (the birth of a child, the death of a family member, escape). The special settlers were obliged to unquestioningly obey all orders of the special commandant's office. For any violation or disobedience to the commandant, they were subject to administrative penalties, criminal charges and arrest.
Restrictions were established for all special settlers: not to be accepted into the party, Komsomol, universities, not to be nominated for leadership positions, not to be awarded any awards or certificates, not to be assigned public work, not to be drafted into the army, to be used only as laborers, their initiative and all sorts of undertakings not to be encouraged.
The first years of the Balkars’ stay in Central Asia and Kazakhstan were complicated by the negative attitude towards them on the part of the local population, who had previously been subjected to ideological indoctrination: the Balkars were a wild, unfriendly mountain people, enemies of the Soviet regime and traitors to the Motherland.
Due to the high mortality rate in the first years of life in the special settlement, the number of those evicted from the North Caucasus has decreased significantly. From the moment of eviction until October 1, 1948, 146,892 people died; and only 28,120 were born, i.e. the mortality rate was 5.2 times higher than the birth rate. In 1944 alone, almost 10% of the total number of Balkar special settlers died. Until 1948, among Balkars the mortality rate exceeded the birth rate. In the history of special settlements, 1948-1949 were turning points: it was during this period that the birth rate became higher than the death rate. The Balkars restored their pre-war numbers only in the first half of the 60s.
Since the spring of 1944, the attitude towards soldiers and officers of Balkar nationality, participants in the Great Patriotic War, has changed. They were no longer promoted in rank, were not awarded, and if they received an award, it was a lower one. Of the 8 Balkars nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, not one received it. Only in 1990, only Mukhazhir Ummaev was posthumously awarded this title.
Since the summer of 1945, demobilized front-line soldiers began to return to peaceful work. Balkar soldiers who returned from the war with military orders and medals were ordered to go to the places of exile of their relatives. When they arrived there, they were registered as special settlers with all restrictions and charges of betrayal of the Motherland.
On November 26, 1948, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On criminal liability for escapes from places of compulsory and permanent settlement of persons evicted to remote areas of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War” was issued, adopted as a development of the resolutions of the Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. It said that the Balkars and other repressed peoples were deported forever without the right to return to their homeland. By the same Decree, the special resettlement regime becomes stricter and tougher. In particular, the document provided for 20 years of hard labor for unauthorized departure from places of settlement. According to this Decree, thousands of special settlers were convicted not for malicious escape, but simply for leaving without permission to visit their relatives in other villages. Leaving the designated settlement zone was regarded as an attempt to escape. Special commandant's offices supervised the special settlers. In the country as a whole, by 1953 there were 2,750 thousand people in special settlements. Of these, more than 1.2 million were Germans and almost 500 thousand people. - expelled from the North Caucasus.
However, the special settlers did not put up with their powerless situation. Many former war participants, officers, representatives of the Balkar intelligentsia in particular A. Sottaev, I. Bashiev, S. Karaev, K. Otarov appealed to higher authorities, wrote to Moscow, to the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and personally to J.V. Stalin about lawlessness towards his people. For their bold speeches condemning the eviction of the Balkars, they were sent to hard labor and ended up in prison.
However, the Balkar people withstood severe trials thanks to exceptional resilience and hard work, and the support of the local population (Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks). Gradually, there was a warming in the relationship between them, which turned into friendship.
The softening of the regime of special settlements came only after the death of I.V. Stalin. On July 5, 1954, a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR “On the removal of certain restrictions on the legal status of special settlers” was issued. A few days later, on July 13, 1954, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted to repeal the Decree of November 26, 1948. But leaving home was still prohibited. Of great importance for changing the legal status of repressed peoples were the decrees and orders that were issued in 1955 “On the issuance of passports to special settlers” (March 13, 1955), “On the conscription of certain categories of special settlers for military service.” (March 23, 1955) .
Decisions were made to lift restrictions on special settlements for members and candidates for membership of the CPSU, members of their families, as well as to remove war participants, persons awarded orders and medals of the USSR, and teachers of educational institutions from the special register. The first to be removed from the special register were children under 16 years of age, front-line soldiers, and the terminally ill. Fines and arrests as punishment for violating the regime in settlements were abolished.
But all these government acts were characterized by half-heartedness, a desire not to subject to revision the previously pursued policy of mass repression.
In Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Balkars showed themselves to be true patriots of the Motherland, living in difficult years with the interests and concerns of the entire Soviet people. From the very first days, they began to work in places of forced settlement. Almost the entire population, mostly older people, women, and teenagers, went to work in the first months: mainly in agriculture, construction, forestry, coal, and gold mining industries. At first there was no question of working in their specialty - the visited label made everyone collective farmers or workers. The situation of the intelligentsia, who were forced to do any kind of work, was especially difficult. Of the total number of special settlers, there were 10,457 people with disabilities, but together with those with limited ability to work, 11,783 people were used for work.
At first it was extremely difficult, difficult due to unfamiliarity with the climate, physical weakness and lack of skills in new types of labor and growing crops (tobacco, sugar beets, cotton). In the usual types of agricultural work (harvesting hay, harvesting grain, caring for livestock), the Balkars surprised local residents and farm managers with their skills. We worked 15-16 hours a day. Adolescents aged 11-12 who had not yet reached physical maturity worked alongside adults. Women were forced to do the work that their men did before they went to the front. Balkar women and girls even worked in mines and mines in 2 shifts (coal and gold mines).
The injustice committed against the Balkars caused enormous damage to the national culture. The settlers did not have the right to study at universities, publish or publish, or have their own centers of culture.
In the period from 1944 to the end of the 50s, the culture of the Balkars was mainly represented only by folklore traditions. The vast majority of Balkar children, mainly the generation of the 40s and 50s, did not receive sufficient education.
Balkar women began to revive some of their traditional crafts, mainly processing wool and making products from it. They also made various types of house shoes. The local population also learned this type of home craft from them.
Gradually, the hard work of the Balkars, their courage, perseverance and goodwill endeared them to the indigenous population and local leadership. The people managed to withstand and survive in the most difficult conditions.
Despite all this, many Balkars, remaining special settlers, received high state awards. Already in 1944-1946, they were encouraged as leaders in production with cash bonuses, industrial goods, livestock, etc. Since 1947, the practice of rewarding the best workers from among the immigrants has expanded. In 1948-1957, several Balkar workers (Sozaev Ch., Dinaeva Z., Uyanaeva Sh., Gekkieva Z.) were awarded high government awards, and Kelemetov Sh. became a Hero of Socialist Labor. Hundreds of Balkars were awarded orders of the USSR, 6 thousand people were awarded the medal “For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
Thus, the work of special settlers began to be valued on an equal basis with the work of other citizens, and they began to be involved in public work.
The position of the intelligentsia improved and strengthened. Candidate of Philological Sciences Appaev A.M., in 1945-1958 he taught at the Kazakh State University, the Alma-Ata Institute of Foreign Languages, and worked at the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR. Cherkesova M. worked as the director of a boarding school in the Jalal-Abad region, and subsequently for 17 years she was Deputy Minister of Education of the Kyrgyz SSR. Kuliev K.Sh. was a special correspondent for the newspaper “Soviet Kyrgyzstan”, translated works of Kyrgyz poets and writers into Russian. People's Artist of the Republic Omar Otarov was a soloist of the Kyrgyz Philharmonic. The artist Ismail Rakhaev was the leading actor of the Russian Drama Theater. N.K. Krupskaya in Frunze. Lawyer Timur Shakhanov worked at the bar association of the Taldy-Kurgan region of Kazakhstan.
Zalikhanov Zh. Zh. in the years under review held high party and government positions in the Kirghiz SSR (instructor of the regional party committee, deputy director of Kirgosizdat, director of the printing house under the Council of Ministers of the Kirghiz SSR, head of the Soyuzpechat Directorate of the Kirghiz SSR). Khutuev H.I. worked as a deputy director of the newspaper and magazine publishing house “Red Kyrgyzstan”, director of the printing house of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic. Many representatives of the Balkar people were promoted to middle management positions on a regional scale.
After the 20th Congress of the CPSU, three leading production workers - Tetuev Sh. Yu., Uzdenova M. Z., Zhangurazov I. D., on the recommendation of the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, were awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
3. Social and political life of the republic in 1945-1964.
In the post-war 40-50s, the solution to the problems of socio-economic development throughout the country was accompanied by a further strengthening of the administrative-command system of management and party leadership in all spheres of life. Many leadership cadres who proposed any changes in the life of society were declared “pests”, the culprits of all problems, and condemned. The policy of repression continued in the country. All this affected the socio-political situation on the ground. After the death of I.V. Stalin on March 5, 1953 began the liberalization of the state's domestic and foreign policies.
Period 1953-1964 entered the history of the country as the time of Khrushchev’s “thaw” - transformations were carried out in the economic and political spheres, and a spiritual revival of society was underway.
The celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which took place on September 1, 1946, caused great social and political activity among the workers of the republic. The anniversary session of the Supreme Council of the Republic took place the day before. In connection with the anniversary, by decision of the Soviet government, the collective and state farms of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were additionally allocated many tractors, combines, and other agricultural machines. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, over 200 people were awarded orders and medals. The Order of Lenin was received by the master of the Nalchik machine plant A.K. Zagorulko, chairman of the Nartan collective farm G.A. Shebzukhov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the KASSR - Ch.K. Kudaev and others. More than a thousand leaders in agriculture, industry, science, culture and art were awarded Certificates of Honor and titles of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the RSFSR and the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Some time later, on December 26-28, 1946, the XVIII Republican Party Conference took place - the first in the post-war period. She discussed the main tasks of the economic and cultural development of the republic in connection with the post-war five-year plan, the tasks of raising the living and cultural standards of the working people. A special feature of the work of the party conference was that it revealed the reasons for the unsatisfactory performance of many enterprises, as well as serious shortcomings and omissions in agriculture and cultural construction of the republic for the period from March 1940 to December 1946.
At the party conference, the shortcomings in the work of the regional party committee during the time before and after the occupation of the territory of the republic by the German fascist invaders were exaggerated, voiced in the report delivered by the first secretary of the Kabardian regional committee of the CPSU/b/ N.P. Mazin. The report contained provisions that detracted from the work of the republic's workers in difficult wartime.
In general, many of the final decisions of the party conference turned out to be erroneous and unfair, which subsequently greatly affected the mood in society, the labor and political activity of the population of the republic. Added to this was the weak personnel policy of the regional party committee, which was expressed in distrust towards employees of party and government institutions - representatives of the intelligentsia from among the indigenous nationality.
Taken together, all these serious shortcomings were revealed in the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party /b/ “On the work of the Kabardian Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party /b/,” adopted in April 1948. The Central Committee identified pariahs in the work of the local regional party committee and its first secretary N.P. Mazin. major shortcomings and mistakes. The party document placed special emphasis on the fact that the republic does not pay due attention to the training of highly qualified personnel from indigenous nationalities, agitation and propaganda work is poorly developed, etc. The task was set to more actively train national personnel. By this time, in the leading republican organizations, Kabardians made up only 36%, in the regional committee of the Komsomol - 20%, in the Ministry of Agriculture - 11%, etc. In 1948, among the teachers of the republic, there were only 7% of Kabardians with higher education, and 2% among doctors. The same state of affairs has developed with highly qualified national intelligentsia personnel in industry and agriculture.
The VI Plenum of the regional party committee, held on May 12-14, 1948, was entirely devoted to making decisions to eliminate the mistakes made. The work of the regional party committee and in particular its first secretary Mazin was sharply criticized.
The practical implementation of the decisions of the plenum began to be carried out by the new leadership of the regional party organization, headed by First Secretary V.I. Babich, elected to this position in May 1949. It was during the years of his stay in the republic /1949-1956/ that a lot of work was done to create a layer of national intelligentsia, which for many years subsequently determined the main directions of development of society. The work of public education institutions, primarily secondary schools, was radically improved, as was the training of teachers. The enrollment of representatives of Kabardian youth into higher and secondary specialized educational institutions has increased significantly. To train scientific and pedagogical workers, the director of the pedagogical institute was allowed to retain the best graduates from among the Kabardians of the institute at the departments of the university as laboratory assistants and assistants, and to recommend students with a penchant for scientific work to graduate school. Boys and girls who successfully completed high school began to receive certain benefits when entering higher and secondary specialized educational institutions in the country.
Work was launched to train and retrain leading party and Soviet workers. In particular, it was decided to send in 1948-1959. more than a thousand people went to party schools in Moscow, Gelendzhik, and to courses at the regional committee of the CPSU/b/. New tasks were set in the field of ideological and propaganda work among the population.
In the life of our country, a huge role was played by the 20th Party Congress, held in February 1956, which condemned Stalin’s personality cult, adopted decisions on the posthumous rehabilitation of party and government officials of the country, as well as the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee / June 1957 / which removed the “brake” from the process rehabilitation of victims of political terror. Across the country in 1954-1961, more than 730 thousand people were rehabilitated. The Party Control Committee of the CPSU Central Committee and local party organizations rehabilitated almost 40 thousand people during the period from the XX to the XXII Party Congress. In Kabardino-Balkaria, those convicted in 1937-1939 were posthumously rehabilitated, Kalmykov B.E., Ulbashev K.E., Beslaneev Kh.Zh., Fadeev F.I., Afaunov I.T., Kankulov M, Kokozhev A , Vodakhov A, Khashkhozhev A.Zh., Kambiev Kh.M. and a number of others.
In December 1956, the republic was headed by T.K. Malbakhov, who worked as the first secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Committee of the CPSU for almost three decades. His name is associated with the impressive achievements of those years in the field of state building, economics, social sphere, and culture. He enjoyed great authority and respect in the republic.
A major event in the socio-political life of the republic was the 400th anniversary of the voluntary annexation of Kabarda to Russia, celebrated in the summer of 1957.
On July 4, 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in commemoration of this historical date, noting great successes in the development of economy and culture, awarded Kabardino-Balkaria the second Order of Lenin. The Order was presented to the republic in a solemn ceremony on July 6, 1957 at the anniversary session of the Supreme Council of the KBASSR. Orders and medals were awarded to 410 leading workers in industry and agriculture, representatives of the intelligentsia, workers of party, Soviet, Komsomol and trade union organizations of the republic, including: the Order of Lenin - 38 people, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor - 45 people, the Badge of Honor - 93 people. Many healthcare workers, public education workers, scientists, cultural and artistic workers were awarded honorary titles of the USSR, RSFSR, KBASSR.
On July 5-15, 1957, a decade of Russian literature and art took place in Nalchik, in which the best artistic forces of the country took part: the State Russian Folk Orchestra named after. Osipova, State Academic Russian Choir, artists of the Moscow Art Theater and the Bolshoi Theater, many other groups and performers.
The day before, from June 20 to June 27, 1957, Muscovites warmly received the best artistic groups, writers, artists, musicians and composers (a total of about 600 cultural and artistic figures) of the republic, who successfully performed in Moscow during the days of demonstrating the achievements of literature and art of Kabardino-Balkaria.
In connection with the holiday, a mass ascent of Elbrus took place. A monument to V.I. was unveiled in Nalchik. Lenin. By decision of the Councils of Ministers of the RSFSR and KBASSR, the monument “Forever with Russia” was built in the capital of the republic, and commemorative bronze medals were made.
4. Restoring the autonomy of the Balkar people.
Historical changes in the destinies of the deported peoples occurred after the 20th Congress of the CPSU took place on February 14-25, 1956 (1,355 delegates with a decisive vote and 84 delegates with an advisory vote). At the invitation of the CPSU Central Committee, delegations of communist and workers' parties from 55 foreign countries arrived at the congress.
Immediately after the closing of the congress, at its closed meeting the issue of overcoming the personality cult of J.V. Stalin and its consequences was considered. The main speaker was the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev. They stated that Stalin was personally involved in mass repressions, brutal torture of prisoners, and the deaths of prominent military leaders due to the fault of the “leader.” The speaker blamed him for the collapse of agriculture, for the defeat of the Red Army at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War, for gross miscalculations and distortions in national politics. The “secret” report at the 20th Congress, which shocked most of its delegates, did not become available to the general public and was published in the Soviet press only in 1989.
Having condemned Stalin's personality cult, Khrushchev N.S. he called the eviction of Balkars, Karachais, Kalmyks and other peoples “a gross violation of the national policy of the Soviet state.” This statement and the measures taken subsequently contributed to the restoration of justice for the deported peoples. The Party Congress proposed restoring the illegally abolished national autonomies.
After the 20th Party Congress, a huge amount of work was done to radically change the style and methods of work of party and state organizations. The Soviet government, by decree of March 18, 1956, for the first time allowed some special settlers to return to their native lands. In April 1956, a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR appeared on the lifting of restrictions on special settlements for Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Meskhetian Turks and members of their families. But this Decree did not give the right to return to their homeland. Nevertheless, the Balkars, yearning for their native places, returned home in droves.
In pursuance of the decision of the 20th Congress of the Party Central Committee, on June 30, 1956, it adopted a resolution “On overcoming the cult of personality and its consequences,” which spoke about the causes, nature of manifestations and essence of the cult of personality, as well as the activities of the CPSU to overcome its harmful consequences.
The deported peoples sent their representatives to Moscow with orders to obtain a reception from the country's leaders and resolve issues of rehabilitation and return to their homeland. In the summer of 1956, a delegation of Balkars arrived at the CPSU Central Committee. In connection with N.S. Khrushchev’s stay abroad, the delegation was received by L.I. Brezhnev and firmly promised that this issue would be considered at the Presidium.
Many representatives of the Balkar intelligentsia, active participants in the Great Patriotic War, repeatedly submitted similar statements and letters to various governing bodies, including the Central Committee of the CPSU. On July 6, 1956, a collective letter was sent to the Kabardian regional party committee, the Presidium of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the republic. It noted in particular: “We...ask you to petition the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government to return us to our native territory and restore our former autonomy - the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. We are confident that the Kabardian people and the leadership of the republic will not ignore our request and will take the necessary measures.” The letter was signed by K. Kuliev, Zh. Zalikhan, I. Ulbashev, I. Batchaev, Ch. Uyanaev, M. Cherkesov, N. Chechenov. Another 878 signatures follow. On July 27, 1956, a personal letter from Zh. Zalikhanov was received by the first secretary of the regional party committee, V.I. Babich. Even before these letters arrived, the leadership of the republic twice - the first time on May 22 and the second time on June 16, 1956 - appealed to the CPSU Central Committee with a request to consider the issue of returning the Balkars to their homeland. In particular, one of them said: “...Taking into account that the Balkars arriving in the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic do not want to leave its borders, and it is inappropriate to apply administrative measures to them, the regional committee of the CPSU decided to employ and leave in Kabarda the Balkars who arrived and were on their way and asks the Central Committee of the CPSU to agree to such a solution to this issue. With appropriate assistance from the government of the USSR, the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic will be able to accept a significant number of Balkars, partly to their places of former residence, partly to collective farms, state farms and enterprises in other regions of the republic. We ask the CPSU Central Committee to consider this issue.”
On June 9, 1956, the bureau of the Kabardian regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union specifically considered the issue “About the Balkars” and stated that “the resettlement carried out in 1944 was erroneous,” and also taking into account the requests of the Balkars, the regional party committee decided to return part of the Balkar population to their previous place of residence.
From May to December I956, 4.5 thousand Balkars returned. Such events accelerated the adoption of official decisions to restore their abolished statehood. On November 24, 1956, the CPSU Central Committee adopted a resolution “On the restoration of the autonomy of the Kalmyk Karachay, Balkar, Chechen and Ingush peoples.”
On this issue, on February 23 and December 11, 1956, a corresponding decision was made by the XXth Congress of the CPSU and a resolution of the CPSU Central Committee.
Thus, thanks to the decisions of the party and Soviet authorities, both in Moscow and in the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, proposals were developed for the reception and accommodation of the repatriated Balkar people. The return was supposed to take place in 1957-1958 in an organized manner, so as not to create difficulties with employment and placement.
On January 9, 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a Decree “On the transformation of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” On February 11, 1957, the Decree gained the force of law and the planned return of Balkars to their homeland began.
In 1957-1959 9,522 Balkar families (35,982 people) returned. The government and economic bodies of the RSFSR and the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic have done a lot of work to resolve difficult housing, social and cultural issues related to the return of the Balkars.
The Presidium of the Supreme Council of the KBASSR, in connection with the return of the Balkar population to the republic, organized 20 village Councils, to which more than 300 deputies of Balkar nationality were elected. In the elections on March 1, 1959, 513 Balkars were elected to local councils, and 15 Balkars were elected to the Supreme Council of the KBASSR.
On January 17, 1959, a plenum of the regional party committee was held. He transformed the Kabardian regional party committee into the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee. His bureau included 2 Balkars - Ulbashev I. and Uyanaev Ch.
The CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet government provided enormous material assistance to the Balkar population. The total amount of capital investments for work related to the resettlement of Balkars in 1957 amounted to 117 million rubles. in 1958 - 128.4 million rubles, in subsequent years - 64.1 million rubles. In 1957-1959 A loan of 64.4 million rubles was received for the housing and everyday needs of the Balkars, and the necessary building materials were allocated. Such settlements as Upper Balkaria, Bylym, Khabaz, Tashly-Tala began to strengthen; Gundelen, Babugent, Sovetskoye, Khasanya and the newly created Khushto-Syrt, Kara-Su, New Balkaria. All L. N. Chegem, Gundelen and Sovetskoye hospitals with 375 beds were built, dozens of medical and obstetric centers and maternity hospitals were opened. Balkar families were provided with free financial assistance. For 1957-1959 For these purposes, 4,455 thousand rubles were spent from the republic’s budget.
Those who settled in rural areas received personal plots and seeds for sowing. With the help of the state, they acquired personal ownership of 10 thousand heads of cattle, more than 17 thousand sheep and goats.
The working people of Kabardian, Russian and other villages of the republic provided a warm welcome and fraternal assistance to the Balkars.
In 1957, the collective farms of the Tersky, Urozhainensky, Prokhladnensky and other regions transferred 1,500 hectares of land to the Balkar collective farms; in total, 56.7 thousand hectares were assigned to the young Balkar collective farms.
Thanks to the assistance provided by the government of the RSFSR, the government and workers of the republic, favorable conditions were created for the organization of Balkar farms and the strengthening of their economy. From year to year, the number and productivity of livestock increased. If on July 1, 1958, they had more than 4 thousand heads of cattle, 34.8 thousand 766 horses, then by the end of 1959, thanks to the reproduction of the herd, the purchase of cows, young animals, sheep, cattle, there were 12 thousand, sheep and goats - 52.9 thousand. Some farms started poultry, pig and rabbit farms and kept many horses.
Serious attention was paid to public education, the training of national personnel of the Balkar intelligentsia, the development of science, cultural and educational work, and the rise of Balkar literature and art.
In 1957-1958, more than 9 million rubles were allocated in Balkar settlements alone for the construction and restoration of schools. In two years, 9 standard school buildings were restored and built. Already in the 1957-1958 academic year, 20 Balkar schools functioned. They were fully provided with textbooks, curriculum and methodological literature in the Balkar language. A census was taken of the illiterate people with whom classes began. In February 1958, boarding schools with 710 places were opened in N. Chegem, and later in the villages of Gundelen and Babugent. Kindergartens and nurseries were organized, and orphanages were expanded. In the 1958-1959 academic year, the number of Balkar schools reached 35, with 336 teachers working in them.
Over 500 Balkars were promoted to leadership positions, to industrial enterprises, to collective and state farms, rural councils, to district and republican organizations, to trade union and Komsomol work.
The Balkar drama theater troupe has resumed its work. Central and local publishing houses have published in several languages the works of the founder of Balkar fiction K. Mechiev, writers and poets K. Kuliev, B. Gurtuev, S. Shakhmurzaev, T. Zumakulova, S. Makitov, Kh. Katsiev and others. The works of Balkar authors have become regularly published in the almanac “Shuyokhluk” (“Friendship”) in the Balkarian language, in the magazine “Oshkhamakho” (“Elbrus”) in the Kabardian language, other collections published in Nalchik, as well as on the pages of republican newspapers.
Thus, the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 60s. became a time in which real and symbolic signs of profound changes in the conditions and forms of social and national development of the peoples of Kabardino-Balkaria were concentrated.
What do the falsifiers of the War of 1812 forget? January 6 is a memorable date in Russian military history. On this day in 1813, the Russian army, after a long, difficult and bloody campaign in 1812, officially ended the 1812 Campaign against Napoleon. And on January 7, 1813, the entire population...
Germany's attack on the USSR in 1942 The probabilistic nature of history allows us to reconstruct its alternative options. Like natural experiments in natural sciences, staging and studying reflected worlds allows us to better understand real events and understand their root causes...
The Great Patriotic War day after day. Day 1 First, I wanted to look at the myth-making of modern pseudo-historians and armchair experts. But after thinking, I realized that it was useless to argue with them, so I decided to analyze every day of the war through the eyes of the German general Franz Halder, the commander...
The mysterious toast of Joseph Stalin, pronounced in honor of the Russian people The toast of Stalin, which he made in the Kremlin in 1945, exists in three editions at once. It is believed that after the pronouncement, Joseph Vissarionovich personally made corrections. It was the edited version that made it into the newspapers...
Drozdovsky with a firm step. 100 years ago, the “ideal White Guard” died 100 years ago, on January 1 (14), 1919, the life of a man was cut short, whom most representatives of the White Movement, who fought on the fronts of the Civil War with the Bolsheviks, considered his symbol, moral guide...
The first saber of Russia and the last knight of the empire General Fyodor Keller And the arrested general and his two adjutants were shot in the back while being escorted from the St. Michael’s Monastery to the Lukyanovskaya prison - “while trying to escape.” According to one of the versions, those who fell…
"Prisoner of the Caucasus." A very difficult test The premiere of Leonid Gaidai’s film “Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik’s New Adventures” took place in 1967. The film immediately fell in love with the audience and took first place at the box office that year. How well do you remember the legendary comedy? Answer the tricky...
We had some fun. This happened back in 1943 near the town of N. One reconnaissance group was sent to search for the language. And so they crossed the front line and, in the end, found themselves behind German lines. We came across a dugout, and it was clearly not empty, since music and non-Russian speech could be heard from there. Etc…
Ethnic Balkars, who mainly lived on the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, were accused by the leadership of the USSR in 1944 of “betrayal” and “failure to protect” the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in particular Elbrus and the Elbrus region, from the Nazi troops and were resettled to Central Asia.
Background of expulsion
In August 1942, five regions of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were occupied by German troops. On October 24, 1942, they occupied Nalchik. A number of industrial enterprises along with their equipment were left to the occupiers. 314.9 thousand sheep were left behind (248 thousand were destroyed or taken away by the invaders), 45.5 thousand heads of cattle (more than 23 thousand were destroyed or taken away), 25.5 thousand horses (about 6 thousand were destroyed or taken away). An attempt to organize a partisan movement in the republic failed. For operations in the rear, it was planned to create several partisan groups and detachments with a total number of up to a thousand people. These units disintegrated because the families of the partisans were not evacuated. Only one united partisan detachment of 125 people was created.
At the beginning of 1943, Soviet troops liberated the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. However, as of May 1943, 44 groups of anti-Soviet rebels (941 people) were operating on the territory of the republic, which, according to official data, included former party workers.
In January 1944, the first preliminary discussion took place on the possibility of relocating the Balkars. The State Defense Committee was recommended to “express an opinion on this issue.” On February 25, 1944, at a meeting between the leaders of the NKVD Lavrentiy Beria, Ivan Serov and Bogdan Kobulov with the secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee Zuber Kumekhov, it was planned to visit the Elbrus region in early March. During the visit, the decision to evict Balkars from the republic was brought to the attention of Kumekhov.
NKVD troops totaling more than 21 thousand people were allocated to carry out the operation. On March 5, military units dispersed in Balkar settlements. The population was informed that the troops had arrived to rest and replenish themselves before the upcoming battles. The deportation was carried out under the leadership of the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General Ivan Serov and Colonel General Bogdan Kobulov.
Deportation
The operation to evict the Balkars began on the morning of March 8, 1944. Everyone without exception underwent transportation - active participants in the Civil and Patriotic Wars, war veterans, parents, wives and children of front-line soldiers, deputies of councils at all levels, leaders of party and Soviet bodies. The guilt of the deportee was determined solely by his Balkar origin.
The deportees were loaded into pre-prepared Studebakers and taken to the Nalchik railway station. 37,713 Balkars were sent to settlement sites in Central Asia in 14 echelons. Of the total number of deportees, 52% were children, 30% were women, 18% were men. In addition, 478 people of “anti-Soviet element” were arrested. There was a case of shelling of an NKVD ambush by a group of three people.
When carrying out the operation, it was proposed to follow the instructions of the NKVD of the USSR on the procedure for eviction. According to the instructions, each settler was allowed to take food and property weighing up to 500 kg per family. However, the organizers of the eviction gave 20 minutes to get ready.
The sixth point of the instructions provided that livestock, agricultural products, houses and buildings were subject to transfer on the spot and compensation in kind at new places of settlement. However, this did not happen - the resettlement of the Balkars was carried out in small groups, and no land or funds were allocated to them locally.
During the 18 days of travel, 562 people died in unequipped carriages. They were buried near the railroad tracks during short stops. When the trains passed without stopping, the bodies of those who died along the way were thrown into derailment by the guards.
On March 14, 1944, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, L. Beria reported on the successful operation. On August 22, 1944, 109 people from among the organizers of the deportation of Balkars were awarded orders and medals of the USSR.
The search for Balkars also took place outside the republics. Thus, in May 1944, 20 families were deported from the liquidated Karachay Autonomous Okrug, 67 people were identified in other regions of the USSR. The deportation of Balkars continued until 1948 inclusive.
The evicted Balkars were distributed in new areas of residence as follows:
- Kazakh SSR - 16,684 people (4,660 families)
- Kirghiz SSR - 15,743 people (9,320 adults)
- Uzbek SSR - 419 people (250 adults)
- Tajik SSR - 4 people
- Irkutsk region - 20 people
- regions of the Far North - 14 people
All special settlers were registered with a mandatory monthly check at the place of residence in the special commandant's offices. It was forbidden to leave the settlement area without the commandant's approval. Unauthorized absence was equated to escape and entailed criminal liability. For any violation, including disobedience to the commandant, the settlers were subject to administrative or criminal punishment.
Consequences of deportation
On April 8, 1944, the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The southwestern regions of the republic - Elbrus and Elbrus - were transferred to the Georgian SSR. Orders followed to rename settlements. The village of Yanika began to be called Novo-Kamenka, Kashkatau - Sovetsky, Khasanya - Prigorodny, Lashkuta - Zarechny, Bylym - Coal.
The evicted Balkars were distributed in new areas of residence as follows: in the Kazakh SSR - 4,660 families (16,684 people), in the Kirghiz SSR - 15,743 (9,320 adults), in the Uzbek SSR - 419 (250 adults). In the Tajik SSR - four people, in the Irkutsk region - 20, in the Far North - 14 people. The deportees were mainly employed in agriculture. Thus, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and State Farms of the Kazakh SSR there were 11,373 Balkars.
In places of exile, all special settlers were registered. Every month they were required to report to their place of residence in special commandant's offices and had no right to leave the area of resettlement without the knowledge and approval of the commandant. Unauthorized absence was considered an escape and entailed criminal liability. For any violation or disobedience to the commandant, the settlers were subject to administrative penalties or criminal charges.
During the years of exile, the Balkars lost many elements of material culture. Traditional buildings and utensils were almost never reproduced in the new settlement areas. The reduction of traditional sectors of the economy led to the loss of national types of clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry, national cuisine, and modes of transport.
For most Balkar children, it was difficult to obtain a school education: only one in six of them attended school. Obtaining higher and secondary specialized education was almost impossible.
The first years of the Balkars’ stay in Central Asia were complicated by the negative attitude towards them from the local population, who were subjected to ideological indoctrination and saw them as enemies of Soviet power.
Since the summer of 1945, demobilized Balkar front-line soldiers began to return from the army. They were ordered to go to the places of exile of their relatives. Having arrived there, the front-line soldiers were registered as special settlers.
In November 1948, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued “On criminal liability for escapes from places of compulsory and permanent settlement of persons evicted to remote areas of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War,” the essence of which was that the repressed peoples were expelled forever, without the right to return to their ethnic homeland. The same decree tightened the special settlement regime even more. The document provided for 20 years of hard labor for unauthorized departure from places of settlement. In fact, special settlers could move freely only within a radius of 3 km from their place of residence.
Rehabilitation
Restrictions on special settlements for Balkars were lifted on April 18, 1956, but the right to return to their homeland was not granted.
On January 9, 1957, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree “On the transformation of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” At the same time, the territories ceded to Georgia were returned, their former names were restored; The ban on returning to one’s previous place of residence was also lifted.
On March 28, 1957, the KBASSR Law “On the transformation of the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic” was adopted.
The return of Balkars to their homeland was very intensive: by April 1958, about 22 thousand people returned. By 1959, about 81% had already returned, by 1970 - more than 86%, and by 1979 - about 90% of all Balkars.
On November 14, 1989, the Declaration of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR rehabilitated all repressed peoples, recognizing as illegal and criminal repressive acts against them at the state level in the form of a policy of slander, genocide, forced relocation, abolition of national-state entities, establishment of a regime of terror and violence in places of special settlements.
In 1991, the RSFSR Law “On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples” was adopted, which defines the rehabilitation of peoples 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.
In 1993, the government of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution “On socio-economic support for the Balkar people.”
In 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree “On measures for the rehabilitation of the Balkar people and state support for their revival and development.”
In modern Kabardino-Balkaria, March 8 is the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the deportation of the Balkar people, and March 28 is celebrated as the Day of the Revival of the Balkar people.
However, the application of these documents in practice turned out to be complicated by many factors. Thus, none of the four regions of Balkaria that existed at the time of the forced eviction of the Balkars from their territories in 1943 was restored to its former borders. After returning from exile, some Balkars were resettled in the Kabardian regions.
As a result of the unification of Balkar villages with villages separated from the regions of Kabarda, a mixed Chegemsky district was formed with a predominance of the Kabardian population and, accordingly, administrative power belonged to the Kabardians, and the most populous Balkar villages of Khasanya and Belaya Rechka were transferred to the administrative subordination of Nalchik, along with those adjacent to with vast lands.
Memory of deportation
March 8 is the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the deportation of the Balkar people. March 28, the Day of the Revival of the Balkar People, is celebrated annually and declared a holiday in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Dedicated to the return of the Balkar people from Central Asia to their homeland.
In March 2014, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Balkar people, the publishing house of Maria and Viktor Kotlyarov published their book “Balkaria: Deportation. Eyewitnesses Testify.” The book includes more than 100 private stories conveying the tragedy of a little man who fell into the millstones of Stalin's repressions. The appendix contains sections “Carry out execution on the spot” and “The tragedy of repressed intelligence”, telling about how the truth was restored about the events that took place in the Cherek Gorge in 1942, and what a tragedy of unrealized creative potential the deportation turned out to be for many young people from number of special settlers.
On July 3, 2015, a monument to the repressed residents of Kabardino-Balkaria was opened in the Nalchik city park. At its opening, the chairman of the council of the public organization of the Balkar people "Alan" Sufyan Beppaev said that 63 thousand 180 people were repressed in Kabardino-Balkaria and 60 thousand of them were rehabilitated.
On March 8, 2017, in Nalchik, at the memorial to the victims of deportation, a memorial meeting was organized by the Council of Elders of the Balkar people, dedicated to the 73rd anniversary of the forced eviction of the Balkars. Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Balkar People, Ismail Sabanchiev, who spoke at the rally, blamed the deportation on the “Stalin-Beria regime,” saying that now the Balkars “must unite and achieve complete rehabilitation, otherwise they will cease to exist as an ethnic group.”
Sources
* Bugai N. Deportation of peoples. Collection "War and Society, 1941-1945 book two." M.: Nauka, 2004.
* Polyan P. “Not of my own free will...History and geography of forced migrations in the USSR.” M.: O.G.I - Memorial, 2001.
* Sabanchiev Kh-M. Eviction of the Balkar people during the Great Patriotic War: causes and consequences // "Turkolog. Turkological publications".
* Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 123/12 of November 26, 1948 “On criminal liability for escapes from places of compulsory and permanent settlement of persons evicted to remote areas of the Soviet Union during the Patriotic War.”
* Temukuev, Boris Biyazurkaevich. Special settlers [Text]: in 3 books. / Boris Temukuev. - 2nd ed., add. - Nalchik: Publishing house of M. and V. Kotlyarov, 2009.
The truth about the eviction of Balkars Part I
DEPORTATION
On February 24, from a meeting of leading agricultural workers, which took place in Nalchik, the first secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee, Zuber Kumekhov, was urgently called to the telephone. The call was from the capital of North Ossetia. Colonel General B. Z. Kobulov informed Kumekhov that Beria was calling him to Ordzhonikidze. On what issue - he did not say. Kumekhov knew that on February 23, Chechens and Ingush were evicted from their republic. Intuitively feeling that he was being called on a similar issue, he took with him to Ordzhonikidze a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, head of a department of the regional party committee, Chomay Uyanaev, a Balkar by nationality. Two people's commissars of Kabardino-Balkaria were also summoned to Beria - state security S. Filatov and internal affairs K. Bziava...
The next day, Kumekhov was received by Beria, but Uyanaev was not allowed into his carriage...
Beria was not in a good mood. He burst into abuse against Kabardino-Balkaria, its peoples and leaders, who failed to hold the Elbrus region and surrendered it to the Germans... Without choosing expressions, he loudly scolded the first secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee and the two people's commissars standing at attention next to him... .
“You’re not doing a good job, Kumekhov. And your people's commissars are not working well...I will come to you on March 2. And on March 8, all residents of Kabardino-Balkaria of Balkar nationality will be resettled to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. For eternal settlement. This is the government's decision. Resettlement plan for Filatov and Bziava. Check it out. All issues with the railway have been resolved. Military units to carry out the activities will arrive on time. There should be no excesses. The operation must be kept in the strictest confidence until the last minute. That's all I wanted to say. If there are no questions, you can be free."
Kumekhov returned home stunned. All the way from Ordzhonikidze to Nalchik the thought did not leave him: “Did Stalin really agree to the resettlement of the Balkars?” My first desire upon returning home was to call Moscow, to get through to Kalinin or Molotov, if possible to Stalin, to prevent the tragedy of an entire people, to convince that this is inhumane...
A comment:
As each of our readers can see, the above text is one of the excerpts we are currently publishing from D.V. Shabaev’s book “The Truth about the Eviction of the Balkars” (Nalchik. “Elbrus”, 1992)
The title of the book, of course, is good and inspires confidence. But for some reason, immediately after reading this particular passage, the most important question arises: “Was it all true?!” Knowing the truth about the deportation and genocide of a number of peoples today is important not only for representatives of these peoples, but also for our entire community, since this is an integral part of its history, and in addition, we must always remember that we all live on one and only Earth. Moreover, the truth and only the truth, albeit sometimes bitter, but undisguised and accessible to everyone, can once and for all put everything in its place and stop all sorts of dirty journalistic and even historical “discoveries”, made from time to time and on special orders " in this area.
Therefore, in order to be consistent and objective in our judgments, relying only on documentary materials on the history of the deportation of the Balkar people, we will try to publicly answer the question we asked: did it all happen as it is described in the book?
The documents we have indicate that:
As for the place and date of the meeting mentioned by D. Shabaev, the composition of its participants, the topic and tone of the conversation, then yes!
This is almost exactly what happened; this is confirmed by other sources of information. As for the true role of one of the main accomplices of this meeting - Z. Kumekhov, then, unfortunately, the author distorted it exactly the opposite, and his phrases: “Kumekhov was pale,.. stunned,...” and allegedly intended to “call Stalin, to convince him of the inhumanity of the deportation of an entire people” is nothing more than a work of fiction...
Moreover, and in fairness, let us ask one more elementary question: “Could D.V. Shabaev, one of the high-ranking government officials of the KBASSR, who worked under the direct supervision of ardent followers of B. Kalmykov and the still living 3. Kumekhov, who, moreover, , he knew well personally, without danger to himself, to tell the whole truth known to him?
Of course not!
Therefore, today, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the deportation of the Balkar people, we considered it necessary to significantly complement the truth about the eviction of the Balkars and publish one of the most important documents of that time, which played the most sinister role in our fate for many generations to come.
It was signed, first of all, by Z. Kumekhov and was kept classified for many years in Special Folder No. 52, 14SPO-08 of the USSR KGB archive. But even with all its obvious direction, before subjecting it to our comments, we will give the reader the opportunity to figure it out for himself and see what the essence of this document with such a harmless and familiar Soviet name “Certificate...” is.
Member of the State Defense Committee of the USSR
and People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR
Commissioner General of State Security
Comrade Beria L.P.
REFERENCE
ABOUT THE CONDITION OF BALKAR AREAS
KABARDINO-BALKAR ASSR
(Published with abbreviations)
By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of September 1, 1921, the Kabardian Autonomous Region was formed by separating it from the Mountain Soviet Socialist Republic.
By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of January 16, 1922, Balkaria was annexed to the Kabardian region, thus forming the Kabardino-Balkarian region, transformed in 1936 into the KBASSR.
Total Balkars - 40909 people...
In 1929 there was an armed uprising in the Elbrus region, in 1930 the so-called Chegem uprising (in the Chegem region). Besides, Bandits were hiding in the mountains of Balkaria all the time, periodically uniting into bandit-stan groups, the remnants of which exist to this day.
In 1941-1942 The NKVD carried out an operational strike on the enemy elements of Balkaria, who had intensified their activities and were preparing to assist the Germans as they approached the Caucasus.
During this period, a number of organizations and groups were opened and liquidated.
The most significant of them are:
a) a bandit rebel group discovered in the Elbrus region as part of the “SNAKE NEST” intelligence case.
The organization set the task of providing armed assistance to the Germans as they approached Balkaria. Established and maintained contact with the rebel bandit formations of Karachay.
28 people were arrested in the case.
b) a bandit-insurgent organization developed as part of the intelligence case “DEFEATERS” in the Chegem region. Members of the organization were preparing the defeat of the Red Army units in a clash with the Germans, through an armed uprising in the rear.
25 people were arrested in the case.
V) k-r bourgeois-nationalist organization from among the leadership of the Balkar regions, preparing for treacherous activities.
12 people were arrested, including: b. Chairman of the Chegem District Executive Committee APPAEV Khasan, b. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the KBASSR MOKAEV Azret and others.
d) a rebel organization from among the Balkars who worked at the large defense enterprise “Tyrnyauzstroy”, developed according to the agdel “KOMBINAT”.
The organization was connected with the bandit rebel groups of Karachay and set as its goal a joint armed action in the rear of the Red Army at the time of the approach of German troops to the Caucasus...
11 people were arrested in the case.
After German troops broke through the front line near Rostov and in connection with the German advance towards the Caucasus in September-November 1942, counter-revolutionary elements of Balkaria again intensified enemy activity.
Deserters from the 115th National Cavalry Division who fled from the front from near Rostov, up to 700 people, most of whom came at the expense of the Balkars, went to the mountains with weapons, forming the core of bandit groups...
Despite all the measures taken, the resulting bandit groups were not completely eliminated.
In October 1942, when units of the 37th Army were retreating to the passes through Balkaria, bandits attacked individual units, engaging in a firefight with them, recapturing transport, weapons and food.
In the Cherek region, in one of the clashes, several fighters and commanders were killed and a part of 80 people were disarmed.
An anti-aircraft gun was captured.
RICA, hospitals, schools, etc. were destroyed.
In the regions of Balkaria, some of the leading workers of the region and rural organizations joined the gangs. In the Chereksky district, one of the gang groups was headed by the chairman of the district executive committee.
The arrival of fascist-German troops in Balkaria was greeted favorably by the majority of the population.
In Nalchik, the Germans created a national legion, which included a Balkar squadron.
The Germans armed the bandits who returned from the mountains and appointed them to leadership positions in villages and regional centers.
In the Chereksky region, the Germans allowed the bandits to have their own headquarters and used them to protect the gorges from the penetration of Soviet partisans and units of the Red Army, and took them with them on reconnaissance and as guides.
The White emigrants who arrived with the Germans, the Balkar princes SHOKMANOV-SHAPOSHNIKOV and KELEMETOV, being German intelligence officers, created a headquarters for the leadership of bandit rebel and treacherous groups in the regions of Balkaria.
The headquarters, headed by SHOKMANOV-SHAPOSHNIKOV and KELEMETOV, directed the treacherous activities of the Balkars who worked in institutions created by the Germans. During the period of temporary occupation, a delegation was allocated from Balkaria and sent to Karachay, which concluded an agreement on the union of Balkaria with Karachay.
Retreating from the Caucasus under the attacks of the Red Army, the Germans and their intelligence agencies gave tasks to the leaders of bandit rebel and treacherous groups: to prevent the restoration of Soviet power in Balkaria, to delay the advance of Red Army units through armed resistance, to hold the defense until the spring of 1943, promising to return to Caucasus.
For this purpose, the Germans created weapons and food bases in the Balkar regions. The bandit rebels and elements were supplied with weapons and ammunition.
Carrying out the tasks of the Germans, the headquarters of the bandit rebel organization of the Chereksky district, led by the leader ZANKISHI-EV (former chairman of the village council, who served a sentence of 10 years in the labor camp) and the chief of staff TABAKSOEV, organized the defense of the Chereksky district from the advance of units of the Red Army and for a month guarded the entrances and exits from the gorge. The majority of the male population of the Cherek region participated in the armed uprising.
A similar situation was in the villages. Bulungu and Dumala, Chegem region.
While liquidating bandit rebel organizations in Balkaria, the NKVD and NKGB authorities in the Chereksky region confiscated 324 people - members of the organization and their accomplices.
Including members and candidates of the CPSU (b) - 35 people; socially alien element - 51 people and treacherous elements, the NKVD-NKGB authorities, clearing the regions of Balkaria from rebel bands in 1941, confiscated:
in Chereksky district - 400 people;
in the Chegem region - 105 people;
according to Khulamo-Bezengievsky - 164 people;
in the Elbrus region - 176 people.
TOTAL - 645 people.
Of this number, 98 are communists and Komsomol members.
362 people fled with the Germans from the regions of Balkaria.
From among those who fled with the Germans, much work was carried out by BEKKIEV Azret-Ali, who, as a representative of the Balkars, participated in the congress on the formation of the “National Working Committee of the North Caucasus”, where he gave a speech.
Using the support of relatives and elements of Balkaria, until recently a large number of bandits armed with rifles and machine guns were hiding in the forests and mountains of the Balkar regions.
Having organized themselves into bandit groups, the bandits attacked collective farm fields, stole livestock, took away weapons from guards and food from collective farmers, and so on.
As of February 20, 1944, there were 5 active gang groups registered with the NKVD of the KBASSR, which united 70 bandits.
From 05/15/43 to 02/20/44 NKVD KBASSR
killed - 51 bandits;
34 bandits arrested;
legalized - 518 bandits.
The head of the rebel bandit organization ZANKISHIEV Ismail, who was hiding in the mountains of the Cherek region with the remnants of his organization, said that he would not be legalized due to the fact that the conclusion of an agreement with England and America would make it possible to surrender to the British authorities, who would allegedly soon belong to the Caucasus.
Currently, the counter-revolutionary elements in the NKVD KBASSR and the NKGB KBASSR are operationally registered as follows:
for undercover affairs - 117 people;
on forms - 167 people;
according to primary registration - 753 people.
TOTAL - 1737 people.
Based on the above, we consider it necessary to resolve the issue of the possibility of resettlement of Balkars outside the KBASSR.
SECRETARY
Kabbalkobkom of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
(KUMEKHOV).
People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the KBASSR
COLONEL OF STATE SECURITY (BZIAVA)
People's Commissar of State Security of the KBASSR
COLONEL OF STATE SECURITY (FILATOV).
USSR KGB Archives, Special folder
No. 52. 14 SPO-08.
A comment:
What does the above document indicate as a whole?!
Firstly, that from beginning to end this is a false and dirty political denunciation, purposefully whipped up only for the deportation of the Balkar people, moreover, accurately reflecting the moral level of its authors.
Why?! Yes, because, like no other, the authors of this “certificate” knew very well that all these “gangs” with such loud names exist only in their personal imagination and in the papers of this kind that they continuously fabricate. However, with all this, as the reader can see, even their imagination was not enough to attribute to these “gangs” at least one specific crime they committed.
But, alas, hundreds of innocent people arrested by them, many of whom died, is a reality, as is the fact that today, out of all these hundreds of so-called. Only a few Balkar “gang rebels” and “bourgeois nationalists” remained unrehabilitated!
In addition, Kumekhov, Bziava and Filatov knew for sure that by the time they signed this “certificate”, over 28% of the entire Balkar people (more than 16 thousand people) were fighting with weapons in their hands on the fronts of the Second World War, while Of the rest of the (non-Balkarian) part of the republic’s population, only about 12% ended up at the fronts! (This indicator of the level of mobilization of non-Balkars in the KBASSR reached 14.1% only at the end of the war!).
Those. they knew very well that, with the exception of several dozen deserters who were forced to hide from the authorities and were arrested in the mountains, only a handful of Balkar nomenclature officers who were “reserved” from the war, and several representatives of the MGB and the NKVD, were by that time the entire active part of the military age . Therefore, the authors of the “certificate” essentially had to blame the Balkar elderly, women and children for “mass banditry” and “national banditry”.
And, finally, they, like Beria, could not help but know the deadly fact for them that it was the Karachais and Balkars who did not have their own separate ethnic units within the German troops!
Secondly, and most importantly, the inevitability of the appearance of this document was predetermined long ago by the fact that the predatory interests of the supreme executioners in this region and a number of their local henchmen coincided almost completely, at least at the first stage of the redistribution of the Caucasus, and the outbreak of war made it possible to realize them in the shortest possible time and in the most barbaric way, through the total deportation of peoples.
This is precisely evidenced by the fact that if only in 4 months, those. from November 2, 1943 (when the Karachais were deported) to March 8, 1944 (the day of deportation of the Balkars), Stalin and Beria, according to their long-standing plan and under the loud patriotic slogans of “defense of the fatherland”, “fight against traitors to the motherland and enemies of the people”, managed to seize almost the entire northern slope of the Caucasus range for Georgia, including the entire Elbrus region, then another “defender of the fatherland” and their satrap Kumekhov just one stroke of the pen on this document 90% of all Balkaria went to them without the Balkars, but with all its movable and immovable property.
A man who, back in 1942, in the name of his own salvation and justification before Stalin, subjected over 700 Balkars - civilian residents of the Cherek Gorge (in the absolute majority of old people, children and women) to ethnically targeted extermination by the NKVD troops, on whom he shifted all responsibility for his own cowardice, flight from the republic and its surrender to the enemy? Probably not!..
Moreover, judging by the date of signature on the document, it was prepared in advance (and most likely, on the pre-order of the same Beria), and Kumekhov did not go to the meeting in Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz) in “ignorance”, as our staff are trying to present to the people demagogues, but fully prepared and knowing well what will be discussed and how it will all end for the Balkars.
Those. all the long-standing official tales about the “deeply grieving leadership of the KBASSR and the inconsolable Kumekhov” regarding the deportation of the Balkar people are either the complete incompetence of their peddlers, or a rude and frankly cynical lie.
Third and finally. With all its obvious absurdity and obviously ordered nature, it was this denunciation that became the official “political and legal” justification for the deportation of the Balkar people, if such mutually exclusive concepts as law and genocide are compatible at all?! As this same document proves, in the forties on the territory of the USSR they were not only compatible, but also identical, and therefore immediately after receiving it from Kumekhov, as D. Shabaev states in his book: “... February 26, without waiting decisions of the State Defense Committee, Beria, firmly confident that his plan will be accepted and approved by the Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the USSR Stalin and members of the State Defense Committee, hastily signs the order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00186 “On measures to evict the Balkar population from the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.”
In total, a huge number of troops were sent to evict the Balkars - 21 thousand soldiers and officers, not counting the 244th regiment of NKVD convoy troops, under the protection of which the trains with the Balkars were supposed to be sent to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. (This is approximately two soldiers for three deportees. Ed.)
On March 7, 1944, at 17:00, the first secretaries of the party district committees were urgently summoned to the Kabardino-Balkarian regional committee of the CPSU(b): Chereksky - Zhanakait Zalikhanov, Elbrussky - Sokhta Nastaev, Khulamo-Bezengievsky - Magomet Attoev, Chegemsky - Musa Babaev.
In the office of the first secretary of the CPSU (b) Zuber Kumekhov there were members of the bureau of the regional party committee, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR General I. Serov, People's Commissar of State Security of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic S. Filatov, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic K. Bziava, several generals .
The situation was gloomy. None of the invited district committee secretaries knew the reason for the emergency call to the regional party committee. Seeing military men with general's shoulder straps in Kumekhov's office, they all felt that this meeting did not bode well.
Kumekhov was pale. In a dull, detached voice, he introduced General Serov. Deputy Beria, without waiting for the first secretary of the regional party committee to give him the floor, without rising from his chair and without raising his voice, as if we were talking about something everyday and ordinary, looking around at those gathered, he said briefly: “By decision of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, the Balkar people are being evicted to new places of residence - to Central Asia. The eviction operation will begin tomorrow, March 8, at 6 a.m. The military units participating in the operation have arrived and are ready to carry out the task assigned to them. I ask you to take measures to prevent any excesses.”
Silence reigned in the office. The district committee secretaries were discouraged. The youngest of them, twenty-seven-year-old Zhanakait Zalikhanov, felt the blood rushing to his face and wanted to stand up and shout: “Why?” But he didn't do that. “Can you resolve the question?” - he squeezed out. General Serov nodded. Zalikhanov stood up and asked loudly: “What about the communists?”
General Serov looked at Kumekhov, believing that the first secretary of the regional party committee would answer this question, but he sat without moving. Then the general turned to Zalikhanov and calmly said: “There is a Russian proverb: when a forest is cut down, chips fly. You are the splinters of your people. - He rose from his seat. “If there are no more questions, everyone is free.”
There were no questions...
On March 8, 1944, according to a pre-developed plan, units of the NKVD troops were introduced into each locality where Balkars lived. Soldiers with machine guns entered the houses of residents, gave the stunned people twenty to thirty minutes to get ready and demanded to be loaded onto the Studebakers purring at the gates. On the same day they were brought to the Nalchik station and loaded into freight cars. Under military guard, train after train left for the east. The carriages were overcrowded. Nobody knew where they were being taken..."
Editor's note And at this time, throughout the entire territory of instantly deserted Balkaria, under the leadership of the current state authorities of the republic, there was an open robbery of all movable and immovable property of the deported Balkar people. This is how D.V. Shabaev describes these days:
“...The rails along which the freight trains carried the Balkars into exile had not yet cooled down when local commissions rushed to the houses of the special settlers.
The commission, with the permission of the People's Commissariat of Finance, had the right to sell household items and utensils of special settlers, as well as the property of liquidated collective farms to institutions and individuals.
Local and district commissions were actually engaged in the illegal confiscation of property of evicted Balkars. But confiscation in any civilized country is carried out only by decision of the judicial authorities. And by the verdict of which court were the Balkar people convicted and their property confiscated? There was no trial, no verdict. Kalinin’s Decree did not say anything about confiscation either...
The property of all the evicted people and collective farms was sold at cheap prices and was bought up like hot cakes. In the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, this property was acquired by 121 organizations...
The People's Commissariat of Finance purchased one wardrobe, two sewing machines, five beds, two feather beds and other things. One might think that without feather beds and beds, Narkomfin would not be able to cope with the tasks assigned to it...
The Kabardian regional party committee acquired the property of residents of two villages: Gundelen and Chalmas. 23 beds, 40 chairs, 2 boilers, 2 chests, and many different dishes were taken from Gundelen for the employees of the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and from Chalmas - 4 mirrors, 2 separators, 10 beds, a water tank, saws, 4 sewing machines, bathrooms, blacksmith's bellows and other property, totaling 20,719 rubles. The fact that the employees of the regional party committee needed chairs and dishes can be understood, but why they needed a blacksmith’s bellows is difficult to understand...
All livestock received from special settlers were transferred to collective farms for foster care: from the Elbrus region to Baksansky, from Chegemsky to Zolsky, Kubinsky and Prokhladnensky, from Chereksky to Urvansky, from Khulamo-Bezengievsky to Nalchiksky, from Nagorny to Nagorny and from Leskensky - to Leskensky.
According to the concluded reports of the district commissions, out of 19,573 heads of cattle subject to acceptance, the following were accepted: by the People's Commissariat of Meat and Milk Industry - 16,451 heads, by the People's Commissariat of State Farms - 1,239 heads, a shortage of 1,936 heads.
There were 39,649 heads of sheep and goats on January 1, 1944, 27,799 heads were accepted by the People's Commissariat of Meat and Milk Industry and 1,044 heads of the People's Commissariat of State Farms, 10,806 heads were missing.
As of January 1, 1944, there were 2,432 horses registered, 1,750 heads were collected by commissions and 1,750 heads were accepted by the People's Commissariat of Agriculture, 682 horses were missing.
There were 1,667 oxen on January 1, 1944; the People's Commissariat of Agriculture accepted 1,606 animals.
There were 2,780 donkeys, 2,001 were accepted by the People's Commissariat of Agriculture.
On March 11, 1944, Beria reported to Stalin: “37,103 Balkars were evicted.” And three days later, on March 14, Beria reported at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on the successful completion of the operation. On the same day, Secretary of the Central Committee G.M. Malenkov called the first secretary of the Kabardino-Balkarian regional party committee, Z.D. Kumekhov, and informed him of his dismissal from office...”
Editor's note Meanwhile, the death trains, packed to capacity with doomed people, were heading east. Here's how it's described in the book:
“...The 3rd Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR came to the conclusion that when transporting Chechens, Ingush and Balkars, trains can be increased from 56 cars to 65, and not 40 people can be placed in each car, as was done before when Karachais and Karachais were transported. Kalmyks, and 45...
This “expediency” cost many lives of Chechens, Ingush and Balkars. They were transported in the same carriages in which the Karachais and Kalmyks were transported...
On the tenth day of the deportation of the Balkars, the deputy head of the 3rd Directorate of the NKGB of the USSR Volkov and the head of the transportation department of the NKVD of the USSR Arkadyev prepared and presented to B. Kobulov, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, “A certificate on the progress of transportation of Balkars as of 6 o’clock on March 17, 1944. " It said: “14 trains have been loaded, 14 trains are in motion (Orenburg Railway - 9 trains, Tashkent - 5 trains). A total of 37,713 people were loaded onto the trains. IDPs are heading to: Frunzensk region - 5446 people, Issyk-Kul region - 2702 people, Semipalatinsk region - 2742 people, Alma-Ata region - 5541 people, South Kazakhstan region - 5278 people, Omsk region - 5521 people, Akmola region - 5219 people, Jalal-Abad region - 2,650 people, Pavlodar - 2,614 people." The exiled Balkars were sent to other regions of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and the train going to the Omsk region changed its route and ended up in the north of Kazakhstan...”