The descendants of the peoples who, during the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), under various pretexts, were deported to Kazakhstan and abandoned to the arbitrariness of fate in the endless steppe, cannot forget what their ancestors went through.
Kazakhstan was an important center for the peoples deported by the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin on the basis that they were considered “unreliable.”
During this period, more than 500 thousand ethnic groups were deported in the Kazakh steppes in wagons, mainly Germans, Chechens and Koreans, who were forcibly moved to different parts of the Soviet Union.
Most of them died on the way from hunger and cold, and those who reached Kazakhstan managed to survive thanks to the help of the local population.
In Kazakhstan, which, as a result of this process, has turned into a multi -ethnic structure, there were more than 100 ethnic groups that differ in language, religion and sects.
Hanifa Masiev, whose family of Chechen-Ingush origin was deported to Kazakhstan during the USSR, told Anadol that her relatives survived.
Masieva said that her mother and father were exiled to Kazakhstan in 1944: “It was the last year of World War II. On February 23, 1944, the entire Chechen and Ingush people were sent on false accusations of“ betrayal of the state. ”Mostly children, women and old people were mainly deported, because almost all men fought, were at the front.”
According to her, her father was 16 years old when he was exiled to Kazakhstan, and she listened to very painful stories from him.
“Deportation was aimed at dying on the road. Our people were exiled to the north of Kazakhstan, where especially harsh winter conditions. They were thrown to the mercy of fate in the endless steppe. Father told me that people survived in that link, helping each other,” she added.
The exiles of the exiles were taken away by the basic rights, such as education, labor and free life. The nation adopted in 1957 was allowed to return to the historical homeland after all the accusations were removed from them. Some of them returned, and some remained in Kazakhstan. “
Her family remained in Kazakhstan.
“I was born in Kazakhstan and I perceive this country as my homeland. My children were also born here. The graves of my mother and father are here”.
Masieva added that the Chechen-Ingush traditional ensemble Vaine, the leader of which she is, retains folk dances, language, customs and traditions.
Member of the Ethnocultural Union of Koreans in Astana Alena Tian said that the Koreans living in the Far East of Russia were among those who were sent to Central Asia and Kazakhstan during the great deportation of 1937.
Chan reported that her grandfather was deported to Kazakhstan in 1937, and said: “My grandfather told me that many people died on the road during deportation, because people were sent on a long way in carts with cargo and animals.”