THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 23
years ago as systematic and accurate ones”. 36
Bekmakhanov died from lung cancer on 6 May 1966. His grave is in a
cemetery along Rayımbek Street in Almaty, next to the graves of the famous
writer Mukhtar Auezov and famous film director Shaken Aymanov. 37
The department of history of the Kazakhstan State University,
founded by him in 1947, makes every effort to keep Bekmakhanov’s memory
alive. Scientific meetings and conferences named “Bekmakhanov
Readings” are held continously in the Department of History. Every
year his wife Halima was invited to tell anecdotes about Bekmakhanov.
Moreover, the name of Bekmakhanov was also given to a classroom
at the Department of History of Kazakhstan State University. There
are two schools named Bekmakhanov in Kazakhstan, one in Chu city
of Zhambyl Province and the second in Pavlodar province. His name
was also attached to three streets and avenues in Almaty, Pavlodar,
and Bayanauil. 38 Satybaldy Narimbetov, a famous film director, shot
a film called “Entrustment” about Bekmakhanov, whose name was
further given to schools and streets on his 100th birth year in 2015. 39
As a result of Bekmakhanov’s legacy, historians in the Soviet Union
could not possibly freely work and study. They had to carry out their
research within the framework of Marxist-Leninist ideology. However,
this ideology did not have a specific standard. It could be changed
according to time, conditions, and leaders of the Communist Party of
the USSR. Therefore, historians such as Ermukhan Bekmakhanov were
sentenced to severe punishment, being exposed to unfair criticism
and charges due to changes in ideology despite the fact that they
had been educated in the Soviet history schools and the abode to
ideology. From this point of view, Ermukhan Bekmakhanov was an
unfortunate historian.
As a scientist who dedicated himself to the science of history,
Bekmakhanov’s place is great in the Kazakh historiography. First, Bekmakhanov
worked with leading historians of the period and made an
important contribution to Kazakh historiography. Second, he developed
historical scholarship of Kazakhstan for the first time by promoting
the leading historians of the USSR. It was important from two aspects.
First, Kazakh historians have obtained their national historiography
36 An interview with Halima Bekmukhamedova, Jarqın Beyne Ermukhan Bekmakhanov
Documentary Film of Kazakhstan Television, 2015.
37 Bekmukhamedova, p. 14;Takenov, p. 381.
38 Bekmukhamedova, p. 14.
39 See an interview with the director of the film, Satybaldy Narymbetov. Anyz Adam, September
2015, No: 17 (125), pp. 46-47.