Kazakhstan marks Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Repressions

Representatives of different groups of the population and all nationalities residing in the territory of the Soviet Union fell victim to the repressions.

The repressions started right after the 1919-1920 Civil War and spanned a period of over two decades. Historians believe that over those years some 40 million people fell victim to repressions. In 1921-1954, over 100,000 people in Kazakhstan were convicted on various charges and over 20,000 people were sentenced to be shot.

The political repressions wiped out the majority of active members of the Alash Orda movement whose sole purpose was to establish the Kazakh autonomy and ensure the development of the Kazakh nation. Outstanding sons of the Kazakh nation Akhmet Baitursynov, Alikhan Bokeikhanov, Myrzhakyp Dulatov, Magzhan Zhumabayev, Saken Seifullin, Ilyas Zhansugurov, Beimbet Mailin, Turar Ryskulov and many others were thrown into prisons on false charges. Some of them were executed, others perished in camps.

During those years the territory of Kazakhstan became "home" to millions of political prisoners and their wives who were housed in GULAGs, the Soviet labor camps and prisons. One of them ALZHIR, the Akmola Camp for Wives of Traitors of the Motherland, was much later turned into a museum, so that the upcoming generations would remember the horrors of the political repressions.

It is believed that the Kazakhstani camps housed over 5 million people. Representatives of many nationalities were deported to Kazakhstan, including Germans, Poles, Koreans, Turks, and many others. Most of those deportees survived only thanks to the help and support of the Kazakhs. That is why Kazakhstan instituted the Day of Gratitude marked in the country on the 1st of March annually.

The people of Kazakhstan treasure the memory of millions of their compatriots who became victim to the political repressions. It is of paramount importance to remind the people in Kazakhstan and around the world not to take peace for granted and not make the same horrific mistakes again.