Zelimkhan

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Zelimxan

Zelimkhan "Kharachoevsky" Gushmazukayev[1] (January 1872; Kharachoy, Terek Oblast – 26 September 1913) (Chechen: Харачойн Зеламха Kharachoyn Zelamkha) and better known simply as Zelimkhan was a Chechen outlaw (known locally as an abrek) who gained fame in the late Russian Empire due to his spectacular bank and train robberies as part of a violent struggle with the Russian authorities. Since the Russian Revolution he has been mythologized as a version of a Chechen Robin Hood, first by the Bolsheviks (for fighting against the Tsarist regime) and later by Chechen nationalists.[2] Today the name Zelimkhan is given to Chechen and Ingush children.

During the early 20th century, after the events of 1905, Zelimkhan was a particular problem for the Russian governors of the restive region, and enjoyed the support of the local population.[3] He would ultimately become a symbol of triumph over the Russian administration, committing brazen feats such as the robbery of the Kizlyar treasury, carried out in broad daylight on March 27, 1910[4] and distributed the money to poor people;[5] he became varyingly seen as a fighter for "justice" or as one who continued the fight of the Muslim population for independence from Russia, being compared to Imam Shamil.[4]

There is a statue of Zelimkhan outside the site of the village of , which was destroyed during the First Chechen War.[6]

Folk songs about Zelimkhan[]

There is a popular folk song about Zelimkhan.[7]


Excerpt from a Khevsurian folk song about Zelimkhan:[8]

He howls because there is no death for him. He would like to die of longing for the family, which the Russian authorities sent, not sparing little children, to the ends of the earth, where people gather only after death. But death does not take Zelim-Khan, since God protects him until the moment when he avenges every one of his dead relatives to all the guilty, since God does not leave any evil, not a single tear inflicted on the innocent without avenge. And since he, Zelim-Khan, is a real man, only then will he find peace and death for himself when he covers blood with blood. Until the will of God is done, death itself is afraid of Zelim Khan, and does not touch him until that moment. He seeks death, but he carries it over his shoulders, in the muzzle of his rifle. Oh, poor Zelim-Khan.

— Khevsur folk song, Notes of the Terek Society of Lovers of Cossack Antiquity

References[]

  1. ^ Urushadze, Amiran. The Caucasus in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries: Problems of Governance and Modernization on the Southern Outskirts of the Russian Empire. Quaestio Rossica.
  2. ^ Jeronim Perovic, Imperial Projections and Caucasian Realities. Banditry and the Zelimkhan Phenomenon in Late Imperial Russia, in Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 62(1):30-60.
  3. ^ Amiran Urushadze (2015). "The Caucasus in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries: Problems of Governance and Modernization on the Southern Outskirts of the Russian Empire". Quaestio Rossica (2): 145. doi:10.15826/qr.2015.2.101. hdl:10995/31976. Лидер одной из таких групп, легендарный Зелимхан Гушмазукаев пользовался поддержкой среди местного населения и представлял большую угрозу для официальных властей. Использование против недовольных исклю...
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Amiran Urushadze (2015). "The Caucasus in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries: Problems of Governance and Modernization on the Southern Outskirts of the Russian Empire". Quaestio Rossica (2): 152. doi:10.15826/qr.2015.2.101. hdl:10995/31976. Символом бессилия российской администрации стали сме-лые действия отрядов, возглавляемых Зелимханом Гушмазукаевым. Самой отчаянной акцией абреков Зелимхана стало ограбление Киз-лярского казначейства 27 марта 1910 г., совершенное открыто, при свете дня. Секрет неуловимости Зелимхана был в его народной по-пулярности. Для многих жителей Терской области он был далеко не просто удачливым бандитом, но борцом за справедливость. Иногда его имя связывалось с идеей продолжения борьбы, к которой мусуль-ман Кавказа призывал и котор��ю долгие годы возглавлял имам Ша-миль. Российская агентура даже имела сведения, согласно которым Зелимхан в 1909 г. на съезде старейшин селений Терской и Дагестан-ской областей был провозглашен святым и великим имамом...
  5. ^ Lemka T. Agieva (2020). "Абречество как одна из форм социального протеста". Nasledie Vekov: 94. doi:10.36343/SB.2020.21.1.008. Зелимхан со своими сподвижниками ограбил Кизлярский банк и деньги (золото) раздал бедным людям. Доказательством тому явля-ется «Прошение», которое абрек направил 15 января 1909 г. на имя председателя III Госу-дарственной Думы октябриста Н. А. Хомякова: «Хозяйства, как сосланных, так и заключен-ных, совершенно разорились, жены, и дети их живут подаянием добрых людей, да тем, что я иногда уделю им из своего добра после удач-ного набега» [7, с. 138].
  6. ^ Smith, Sebastian (2001). Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 14. ISBN 9781860646515.
  7. ^ The lyrics and translation here come from http://www.waynakh.com/eng/2009/05/zelimkhan where one can also find an audio sample of the song.
  8. ^ Razpopov, T.P. (1914). Notes of the Terek Society of Lovers of Cossack Antiquity. Vladikavkaz. p. 90.
  • Rebecca Ruth Gould, "Transgressive Sanctity: The Abrek in Chechen Culture," Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 8.2 (2007): 271–306.
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