Every year, residents of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic celebrate a special date ─ May 3, the Day of the Revival of the Karachai people. This holiday is set in memory of gaining freedom and the return to the homeland of thousands of deported residents of the North Caucasus who became victims of the Stalinist criminal policy, subsequently recognized as genocide. The testimonies of those who have experienced the tragic events of those years are not only proof of its inhuman essence, but also a warning to future generations.
The capture of the Caucasus and the activation of anti-Soviet forces
In mid-July 1942, the German motorized units managed to make a powerful breakthrough, and with a wide front, covering almost 500 kilometers, rush to the Caucasus. The offensive was so swift that already on August 21 the flag of Nazi Germany fluttered on top of Elbrus and remained there until the end of February 1943, until the invaders were driven out by Soviet troops. At the same time, the Nazis occupied the entire territory of the Karachay Autonomous Region.
The arrival of the Germans and the establishment of a new order by them gave an impetus to the intensification of the actions of that part of the population that was hostile to the Soviet regime and was waiting for an opportunity to overthrow it. Taking advantage of the favorable environment, these people began to unite in rebel groups and actively cooperate with the Germans. Of these, the so-called Karachai national committees were formed, whose task was to maintain the occupation regime on the ground.
Of the total number of residents of the region, these people accounted for an extremely insignificant percentage, especially since the majority of the male population was at the front, but the entire nation was responsible for the betrayal. The result of the events was the deportation of the Karachai people, which forever became a shameful page in the history of the country.
A people affected by a handful of traitors
Forced deportation of Karachais was among the numerous crimes of the totalitarian regime established in the country by a bloody dictator. It is known that even among his inner circle such a clear arbitrariness caused an ambiguous reaction. In particular, A.I. Mikoyan, who was a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee in those years , recalled that it seemed absurd to him to accuse him of betraying an entire nation, among which there were many Communists, representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia and the laboring peasantry. In addition, almost the entire male part of the population was mobilized into the army and fought against the Nazis on an equal footing with everyone. Only a small group of renegades tarnished themselves with betrayal. However, Stalin showed obstinacy and insisted on his own.
The deportation of the Karachai people was carried out in several stages. Its beginning was the directive of April 15, 1943, compiled by the USSR Prosecutor's Office in conjunction with the NKVD. Appeared immediately after the liberation of Karachai by Soviet troops in January 1943, it contained an order for the forcible resettlement of 573 people to the Kyrgyz SSR and Kazakhstan, who were members of the families of those who collaborated with the Germans. All their relatives, including infants and decrepit old people, were to be sent.
Soon, the number of deportees decreased to 472, as 67 members of the rebel groups confessed to local authorities. However, as subsequent events showed, this was only a propaganda move that contained a lot of cunning, since in October of that year a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was issued, on the basis of which all Karachais, without exception, were subjected to forced migration (deportation), in the amount of 62 843 human.
For completeness, we note that, according to reports, 53.7% of them were children; 28.3% ─ women and only 18% ─ men, most of whom were old or disabled people of the war, because the rest at that time fought at the front, defending the very power that deprived of shelter and doomed their families to incredible suffering.
By the same decree of October 12, 1943, the liquidation of the Karachayev AO was prescribed, and the entire territory that belonged to it was divided between neighboring subjects of the federation and was subject to settlement by “verified categories of workers” —that was precisely what was said in this sadly memorable document.
The beginning of the mournful path
The resettlement of the Karachai people, in other words ─ their expulsion with centuries of settled lands, was carried out at an accelerated pace and was carried out from November 2 to 5, 1943. In order to drive defenseless old people, women and children into freight wagons, “power support of the operation” was allocated with the involvement of the NKVD military unit consisting of 53 thousand people (this is official data). At gunpoint, they drove out innocent residents from their homes and escorted them to their places of departure. Only a small supply of food and clothing was allowed. The rest of the property acquired over many years, the deportees were forced to abandon.
All residents of the abolished Karachay Autonomous Region were sent to new places of residence in 34 echelons, each of which accommodated up to 2 thousand people and consisted of an average of 40 wagons. As participants in those events later recalled, about 50 immigrants were placed in each carriage, who, over the next 20 days, were forced to chill from hunger and insanitary conditions, freeze, starve, and die from disease. The hardships they suffered are evidenced by the fact that 654 people died during the trip, only according to official reports.
Upon arrival at the place, all Karachais were settled in small groups in 480 settlements, spread out over a vast territory stretching right up to the foothills of the Pamirs. This is irrefutable evidence that the deportation of Karachais to the USSR pursued the goal of their complete assimilation among other peoples and their disappearance as an independent ethnic group.
Conditions of detention of deportees
In March 1944, the so-called Special Settlement Department was created under the NKVD of the USSR ─ these are the names in the official documents of the place of residence of those who, having become a victim of the inhuman regime, were expelled from their land and forcibly sent thousands of kilometers away. This structure was responsible for 489 special commandant's offices in Kazakhstan and 96 in Kyrgyzstan.
According to the order issued by the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria, all deportees were obliged to obey special rules. They were strictly forbidden, without a special pass signed by the commandant, to leave the settlement controlled by this commandant of the NKVD. Violation of this requirement amounted to escaping from places of detention and was punishable by hard labor for a period of 20 years.
In addition, immigrants were ordered to inform the commandant’s office about the death of their families or the birth of children within three days. They were obliged to inform about the shoots, and not only perfect, but also preparing. Otherwise, the perpetrators were held accountable as accomplices in the crime.
Despite reports of special settlement commandants about the safe placement of migrant families in new places and involving them in the social and working life of the region, in reality only a small part of them received more or less acceptable living conditions. The bulk, however, was still homeless for a long time and huddled in shacks hastily made up of waste material, or even in dugouts.
The situation with the nutrition of the new settlers was catastrophic. Witnesses of those events recalled that, deprived of any adjusted supply, they were constantly starving. It often happened that people brought to extreme exhaustion ate roots, oilcake, nettles, frozen potatoes, alfalfa and even leather from worn shoes. As a result, only according to official data released during the years of perestroika, the mortality rate among internally displaced persons in the initial period reached 23.6%.
The incredible suffering associated with the deportation of the Karachai people was partly facilitated only by the kind participation and help of neighbors ─ Russians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, as well as representatives of other nationalities who retained their inherent humanity, despite all military trials. Particularly active was the process of rapprochement between immigrants and Kazakhs, in whose memory the horrors of the famine that they experienced in the early 30s were still fresh.
Repression against other peoples of the USSR
Karachays were not the only victims of Stalinist arbitrariness. No less tragic was the fate of other indigenous peoples of the North Caucasus, and with them the ethnic groups living in other regions of the country. According to the majority of researchers, representatives of 10 ethnic groups were subjected to forced deportation, including, in addition to Karachais, the Crimean Tatars, Ingush, Kalmyks, Finnish Ingermanlanders, Koreans, Meskhetian Turks, Balkars, Chechens and Volga Germans.
Without exception, all deported peoples moved to areas located at a considerable distance from their places of historical residence, and fell into an unusual, and sometimes life-threatening, situation. A common feature of the deportations, which allows them to be considered part of the mass repressions of the Stalin period, is their extrajudicial nature and contingency, expressed in the movement of huge masses belonging to one or another ethnic group. Along the way, we note that the history of the USSR also included deportations of a number of social and ethno-confessional groups of the population, such as Cossacks, fists, etc.
The executioners of their own people
Issues related to the deportation of certain peoples were considered at the level of the highest party and state leadership of the country. Despite the fact that they were initiated by the bodies of the OGPU, and later by the NKVD, their decision was outside the competence of the court. It is believed that during the war years, as well as in the subsequent period, the head of the Commissariat of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria played a key role in the implementation of forced displacement of entire ethnic groups. It was he who served Stalin with reports containing materials related to subsequent repressions.
According to reports, by the time Stalin died in 1953, there were nearly 3 million deported people of all nationalities held in special settlements in the country. Under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, 51 departments were created, which exercised control over the migrants with the help of 2916 commandant's offices operating in their places of residence. The suppression of possible escapes and the search for fugitives were handled by 31 operational-search units.
Long way home
The return of the Karachai people to their homeland, as well as their deportation, took place in several stages. The first sign of future changes was the decree issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR on the removal of special settlements of children born to families of deportees later than 1937, issued a year after Stalin's death. That is, from this moment on, the curfew did not extend to those whose age did not exceed 16 years.
In addition, on the basis of the same order, boys and girls older than the specified age received the right to travel to any city in the country for admission to educational institutions. If they were credited, they were also deregistered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The next step on the road to the return to their homeland of many illegally deported peoples was taken by the USSR government in 1956. The impetus for him was the speech of N. S. Khrushchev at the XX Congress of the CPSU, in which he criticized the cult of personality of Stalin and the policy of mass repressions carried out during his reign.
According to the decree of July 16, restrictions on special settlements were lifted from the Ingush, Chechens and Karachais who were evicted during the war, as well as all members of their families. Representatives of the rest of the repressed peoples did not fall under this decree and got the opportunity to return to their places of former residence only after some time. Later all repressive measures were canceled against ethnic Germans of the Volga region. Only in 1964, with a government decree, were they dropped completely baseless charges of complicity with the Nazis and all restrictions on freedom were lifted.
Debunked "heroes"
In the same period, another document, very characteristic of that era, appeared. This was the government’s decree on the termination of the Decree of March 8, 1944, signed by M. I. Kalinin, in which the “All-Union Warden” presented 714 security officers and army officers who distinguished themselves in performing “special tasks” with high government awards.
This vague wording meant their participation in the deportation of defenseless women and the elderly. The lists of "heroes" were personally compiled by Beria. Due to the sharp change in the course of the party, caused by the revelations made from the rostrum of the XX Party Congress, all of them were deprived of the previously received awards. The initiator of this action was, in his own words, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, A. I. Mikoyan.
Revival Day of the Karachai people
From the documents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, declassified during the years of perestroika, it can be seen that by the time this decision was issued, the number of special settlers had significantly decreased as a result of the deregistration of children under 16 years old, students, as well as a certain group of disabled people over the previous two years. Thus, in July 1956, 30,000 people received freedom.
Despite the fact that the decree on the liberation of the Karachais came in July 1956, the final return was preceded by a long period of various kinds of delays. It was not until May 3 of the following year that the first echelon arrived with them home. This date is considered to be the Day of the revival of the Karachai people. Over the next months, all the rest of the repressed returned from special settlements. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, their number was 81,405 people.
In early 1957, a government decree was issued to restore the national autonomy of the Karachais, but not as an independent subject of the federation, as it was before the deportation, but by annexing the territory they occupy to the Circassian Autonomous Region and thus creating the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region. The Klukhor, Ust-Dzhkgutinsky and Zelenchuksky districts, as well as a significant part of the Psebaysky district and the suburban zone of Kislovodsk, were additionally included in this territorial-administrative structure.
On the way to full rehabilitation
Researchers note that this and all subsequent decrees, which abolished the special regime for the maintenance of repressed peoples, were united by a common feature ─ they did not even contain a distant hint of criticism of the policy of mass deportations. All documents, without exception, said that the resettlement of entire peoples was caused by "wartime circumstances", and at the moment the need for people to stay in special settlements has disappeared.
The issue of the rehabilitation of the Karachai people, like all other victims of mass deportations, was not even raised. All of them continued to be considered criminal nations, pardoned by the humanity of the Soviet government.
Thus, the struggle for the full rehabilitation of all the peoples who became victims of Stalinist arbitrariness still lay ahead. The period of the so-called Khrushchev thaw, when many materials became public, testifying to the lawlessness committed by Stalin and his entourage, passed, and the party leadership took a course to suppress past sins. In this environment, it was impossible to seek justice. The situation changed only with the beginning of perestroika, which representatives of previously repressed peoples were not slow to take advantage of.
Justice restoration
At their request, at the end of the 80s, a commission was created under the Central Committee of the CPSU, which developed a draft Declaration on the complete rehabilitation of all the peoples of the Soviet Union who underwent forced deportation during the years of Stalinism. In 1989, this document was considered and adopted by the Supreme Council of the USSR. In it, the deportation of the Karachai people, as well as representatives of other ethnic groups, was sharply condemned and characterized as an illegal and criminal act.
Two years later, the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was released, canceling all previously adopted government decisions, on the basis of which the numerous peoples inhabiting our country were subjected to repression, and declaring their forced resettlement an act of genocide. The same document instructed to consider any attempted agitation directed against the rehabilitation of repressed peoples as unlawful actions and to hold those responsible accountable.
In 1997, a special decree of the head of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic established a holiday on May 3, ─ Day of the revival of the Karachai people. This is a kind of tribute to the memory of all those who for 14 years had to endure all the hardships of exile, and those who did not live to see the day of liberation and return to their native lands. According to the established tradition, it can be marked by various mass events, such as theatrical performances, concerts, equestrian competitions and car races.