KBR commemorates victims of political repressions against Balkar people

Today, the population of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) commemorates victims of political repressions against the Balkar people.

The mass deportation of Balkars was undertaken on March 8, 1944. To the place of their settlement in Central Asia, at least 37,713 Balkars were deported in 14 trains. The deportees were 52 percent of children, 30 percent of women and 18 percent – of men. In 1957, after 13 years of exile Balkars were allowed to return home.

Magomed Toguzaev, 80, a resident of the village of Khasanya, remembers March 8, 1944, very well. "There were rumours that after Karachays and Chechens, who were deported on February 23, Balkars were the next. But no one believed, as Balkar actively fought at the front. However, on March 8, we were awakened by the father, who told the mother: "Quickly get children ready; it looks like we're deported."

"When we arrived at the station Djaltyr in Kazakhstan, we were herded into a semi-basement barrack, where, apparently, they had bred sheep. We stayed there until summer," said Toguzaev.

Yusup Khulamkhanov, who turned 83 years old, got with his family to the Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan. "I didn't believe that we'd ever be able to return home. We stayed there not for a year, not for or three years, but for 13 years," he said.

Saladin Zhaboev, now 75 years old, became an exile at the age of 6. "They gathered all – old and young people. My father was a lying invalid; soldiers put him on rags, carried out and loaded onto a truck. Thus, he travelled for 17 days lying. On May 5, 1944, he died."