THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

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THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND
murdered or arrested during the Stalin-period, even after the dissolution
of the Soviet Union. Therefore, the life stories of the intellectuals who
were either murdered or arrested during the Stalin-period are written
sans detail. 401 It was not likely for the intellectuals to complete their
works or articles and embroider them with images, letters, and other
official documents. Only after 1991 did some images and letters began
to reappear from the drawers, from under mattresses, and pits in the
backyards. Honestly, these items typically drew little attention from
anybody except family members.
The returnees from the labour camps could mention only little
about the violence and torture they suffered in the camps. To recall
the bad memories or to speak negative words about the Soviet authorities
would lead to extra punishments. Thus, the best way was to
maintain silence and keep a record of the memories in the brain. 402
In subsequent years, victims and survivors of the camps were
suspect because of their very survival. For example, one of the most
prominent Bashkir-Tatar intellectuals, Seyfi Kudaş was frequently accused
being a survivor. The survival in the camps was strictly related to
the self-survival and generally juxtaposed against another’s downfall.
Since most of the documents of intellectuals arrested or murdered
during this period are kept in the archives of the Russian Federation
Intelligence Agency (formerly KGB, now FSB), and only former USSR
countries’ scholars are allowed to research in these archives, to
utilize these documents is impossible. 403 Non-USSR scholars have
to rely on the research of USSR scholars. However, it is extremely
difficult to attain a research permit even in ordinary state archives
in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and
Tajikistan; that is, even dreaming of a research permit about these
401 For example, Tatar author Muhammet Gaynullin, in Tatar Edipleri (Kazan 1978), mentioned
some of the authors killed in Stalin-period in the years 1937-1938; however, he included
no data on their later years or their fates. He could only include their date of death.
Muhammet Gaynullin undoubtedly wanted to write the truth down; however, it was not the
right time. Selam Alişev who edited Turkish World’s first historian with diploma Aziz Ubeydullin’s
works wrote the unjust arrest and death of Aziz Ubeydullin in (Tarihi Sahifeler Açılganda,
Kazan 1989)’s introduction; however, he failed to provide information on the details of the calamity.
We do not know whether he did so because of the lack of available data or because
of fear.
402 For the stories of camp-survivors, see: Figes, Orlando, Karanlıkta Fısıldaşanlar (Trans.
Nurettin Elhüseyni), İstanbul 2011.
403 Aşnin, F. D., Alpatov V. M. and Nasilov D. M. “Who Worked in the Intelligence Archives
of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan”, Repressirovannaya
Tyurkologiya, Moscow 2002. Attaining research permit from the aforementioned countries’
intelligence archives should have made other researchers envious.