Among the national heroes of the Chechen people, the legendary abrek Zelimkhan Gushmazukaev, better known under the pseudonym Kharachoevsky, enjoys special honor. Having led the highlanders' struggle against the hated regime of corrupt tsarist officials at the beginning of the 20th century, he remained in the memory of his compatriots as a certain Robin Hood, a noble robber who took away the unjustly acquired values from the rich and distributed them to the poor. We will remember about him in this article.
A short tour of linguistics
Before starting the story about a wonderful person - the noble abrek Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, let us clarify the meaning of this term itself, invariably attached to his name. Traditionally, in the Caucasus, abreks were called people who, for one reason or another, went into the mountains and lived outside the law. They got their bread by robber raids on civilians in villages and villages located at the foot of the mountains. Over time, this name began to be used in relation to all non-peaceful highlanders who fought against the conquest of the Caucasus by the troops of the Russian Empire. How did Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky stand out from their mass, whose photo opens our article?
Blood feud and imprisonment
The exact date of birth of the future celebrity has not been established, but it is known that he was born in 1872. It happened in the village of Kharachay, located in the Grozny district of the Terek region (the current Vedeno district of Chechnya). From the name of the village his pseudonym was formed. At the age of 19, Zelimkhan was imprisoned, and the reason for such a sad event is known from his own words.
Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky said that as far back as 1900 he was a completely law-abiding, wealthy and married man, led a measured life, owning a mill, apiary, a lot of cattle, and did not even think about the hectic abrek share. But fate decreed in its own way. Trying to marry his younger brother to a girl worthy of his social position, he came into conflict with the family of another applicant for her hand.
Clarification of relations took place according to the law of the mountains and ended with corpses on both sides, which led Zelimkhan, as well as his immediate family to jail. In his own words, the outcome of the case was affected by the bribe that the members of the opposing side gave to the local authorities. In May of the same year, a trial was held that sentenced him to three and a half years of imprisonment under an article punishing crimes committed on the basis of blood feud.
Newbie Robin Hoods
From this moment, as follows from the biography of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, in his life he marked a radical change. Not wanting to stay in the Grozny prison for a long time, in the summer of that year he made a bold escape and joined the abreks, who traded near the city. Driven to despair by the arbitrariness of the authorities, these people killed officials, plundered public institutions, banks and estates of wealthy people. It is known for certain that they generously shared their prey with the poor, for which they earned the fame of “Caucasian Robin Hoods”.
Desperate insolence and elusiveness earned Zelimkhan fame, which quickly spread throughout the Caucasus. The Grozny police chief did not manage to send reports to Saint Petersburg with descriptions of his exploits. He reported that it was customary among the locals to refer to the robber as "the governor of the Caucasus."
On the wave of the First Russian Revolution
The First Russian Revolution, which began in 1905, received a response among the peoples of the Caucasus, provoking mass peasant uprisings. This period was marked by the most active activity of the detachment, led by Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky. The history of Chechnya forever includes raids committed by him and his people on the estates of wealthy landowners, the expropriation of values stored in city banks, the release of previously convicted comrades from prison, and much more.
The armed conflict that erupted then in the Caucasus and spilled over into a real peasant war was provoked by the authorities themselves. It began with the fact that in May 1905, representatives of the Chechen, Kabardian, Ingush and Ossetian peoples appealed to the tsar’s governor with a request to establish rural self-government on their territories based on the principle of general elections. They were refused, and the answer was drawn up in an extremely rude and offensive manner. Not wanting to put up with humiliation, the highlanders took up arms and began a struggle in which the abreks of Zelikhman Kharachoevsky took an active part.
Acquaintance with Anarchists
In 1911, Zelimkhan established contact with the revolutionaries. According to his biographers, this happened after a meeting with representatives of one of the anarchist groups operating in Rostov-on-Don. In a conversation with a famous abrek, they told him that the Russian Tsar inflicts much grief not only on the inhabitants of the Caucasus, but also on his own people, which made him take a fresh look at the world.
Parting with his new associate, the anarchists handed him a red-black flag, four home-made bombs and the seal of his organization, which he has since put on ultimatums sent to future victims. Since that time, the activities of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky assumed a pronounced political character.
Fearless Abrek Battle Path
In April 1906, he was killed by Lieutenant Colonel Dobrovolsky, who served as the head of the Grozny district, and two years later, another major tsarist official, Colonel Galaev. This was followed by a raid on the ticket office of the Grozny station, from where the abrek with his kunaks (comrades) stole more than 18 thousand rubles, which were then transferred to local anarchist revolutionaries.
Soon after, the exact same amount was announced by the authorities as a reward for his head. In addition, a special detachment was hastily formed to capture the criminal. But neither the “cleansing operations” carried out in the villages, whose inhabitants sheltered a desperate abrek, nor the arrest of his wife and the ensuing murder of his father and brothers not only did not break his will, but gave him even more obsession and courage.
Character features of this outstanding person
All biographers of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky agree that magnanimity, and in some cases nobility, were not alien to him. It is known, for example, that, highly appreciating the courage and courage of Russian officers, he did not allow mending reprisals against those who were captured. Moreover, according to the laws of Caucasian hospitality, he offered refreshments, and often let go, returning personal weapons. He is also widely known for his patronage of the local poor, among whom he did not make distinctions on ethnic or religious grounds. Anyone in need could turn to him and get the necessary help.
And his manners in advance to warn the enemy of an impending attack on him deserve special attention. So, in 1910, Zelimkhan sent a letter to the head of the Kizlyar garrison, in which he announced that he intended to carry out a major expropriation (robbery) in his city. In response, the authorities took unprecedented security measures, however, the Abreks, disguised as Cossacks, freely entered the city and robbed the Kizlyar Bank. There are also many other similar cases that clearly demonstrated the audacity of the highlanders and the powerlessness of the authorities.
Judah from the Caucasian village
Both the whole movement of Abreks as a whole, and the activities of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky himself were successful due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of the population of the North Caucasus was extremely hostile towards the government of the Russian Empire because of the policies pursued by him in this region. Despite the fact that the reward promised for the head of the leader of the highlanders was constantly increasing and more and more detachments were sent to capture him, for a long time it was not possible to achieve the desired result. Even after a number of auls were ravaged during punitive expeditions, while others were imposed with incredible fines, none of the mountaineers did not cooperate with the authorities.
However, in the autumn of 1913 Judas nevertheless was found, flattered by the pieces of silver promised for the head of his compatriot. At the end of September, the detachment, led by Lieutenant Georgy Gibtrov, surrounded the village of Shali on a tip from one of the local residents, in which then seriously ill Zelimkhan was hiding. A fierce firefight began, during which the famous abrek was mortally wounded. History did not save the name of the one who betrayed Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, but it is known that retaliation did not take long, and soon the mutilated corpse of the villain was found in one of the cesspools.
Memory of descendants
The Chechen people carefully preserved the memory of their illustrious hero. Back in the years of the first five-year plans, the collective farm was named after him, and in the mid-70s, a monument to Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky was erected at the entrance to the Vedeno district. During the Chechen wars, he was in the war zone and was destroyed, but subsequently it was restored at the initiative of local residents. A photo of this sculptural composition is given below.
The image of the fearless highlander is reflected in domestic literature. In 1968, a book dedicated to Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky went out of print, the author of which - the Soviet writer Magomed Mamakaev - created a vivid documentary story about his life and struggle.
He will also be mentioned in the novel “Razor Blade” by I. Efremov, which appeared on the shelves of bookstores in 1963.
Modern poets Akhmad Suleymanov and Musa Gashaev dedicated their poems to him, many of which, put to music by the composer Imam Alimsultanov, turned into songs. One of them under the name “Zelimkhan” became a hit of the vocal and instrumental group “President”, popular in Chechnya. In 1926, a silent film about the famous abrek, shot at the Vostok-Kino film studio by the talented director Oleg Frelikh, was released on the screens of the country.
Every family has its black sheep
As for the direct descendants of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, then, unfortunately, not all of them were worthy of their illustrious ancestor. So, it is known that his son Umar-Ali tarnished the memory of his father, becoming an employee of the NKVD and taking an active part in the deportation of Chechens and Ingush, carried out in 1944 on the orders of Stalin. He himself was killed during the liquidation of one of the opponents of this lawless act.