Abrek was called a man who had gone to the mountains, living outside power and law, leading a secretive lifestyle and periodically making predatory raids. Among the North Caucasian peoples, an abrek is an exile from a clan who, for a crime committed, had to lead a wandering and half-robber life. What does history say about these characters? According to assumptions, the word "abrek" comes from the Ossetian name "abyraeg" or "abreg", which translates as "wanderer". Later, the designation "abrek" was gradually perceived as "bandit" and "robber".
Literary illusions
Russian society for quite a long time looked at the highlanders through a kind of poetic prism. After all, it was often the works of Russian poets and writers that contributed to the creation of charming images of “children of the mountains”, such as Kazbich, Ismail-bek and Hadji Murad. As the years passed, the poetic veil more and more irrevocably went into oblivion. It was replaced by the time of harsh real prose. No matter how beautiful and romantic the mounted men in the mountains looked, in the souls of some people they instilled fear and unwillingness to facethem.
Descriptions without romance
Russian authorities in the Caucasus had to face the Abrek movement. But even at the beginning of the 19th century, Bronevskaya in his classic book “Caucasians” very picturesquely and reliably described the robbery crafts of the highlanders. He told how Chechens, risking their own lives, crossed the Terek River and waited for 2-3 days on the road for the appearance of a lone merchant or officer. And when they waited, they attacked him, tied him to a log and thus transported him through a powerful mountain stream to their possessions. After that, they got in touch with the authorities or close relatives of the kidnapped and demanded a ransom. Quite often, they managed to earn good money for their prisoner. This is how the word "abrek" in reality changed its meaning from enthusiastic to categorically opposite.
Causal origins
Historians try to divide all abreks into two groups. The composition of the first is characterized as follows: an abrek is one who once opposed the colonial policy of tsarism and its conductors. The second group includes ordinary bandits engaged in robberies and robberies for the purpose of personal enrichment. But nevertheless, the same methods of both the first and second put them on a par with criminals. The Russians and the Cossack authorities of the North Caucasian District never considered abreks to be "political criminals".
Partially, the highlanders were driven to the robbery by economic reasons, because no matter how hard you invest in the mountains, you still can’t grow a good harvest. Also, cattle breeding did not help. And on the plain they were outcasts. This led to the fact that men in the mountains decided on sorties, on robberies and robberies. Among the rocks they built stone towers in which they hid someone else's stolen cattle. At that time, a certain wild rule was even born: if you have time to drive the stolen cows or sheep into your tower and close the gate, then these animals become yours.
From lawlessness to lawlessness
From the end of the 19th century, numerous cases of abreches began to spread throughout the territory of the Terek region, which turned into problems of a rather serious scale. For example, in 1910 there were 3,650 armed robbery attacks. The wholesale captivity of we althy inhabitants, the destruction of administration officials, attacks on trains, mail coaches, treasuries and banks, shops and shops with goods, the systematic theft of cattle and horses - only the above mentioned strengthened the belief in people that abrek -is evil and lawlessness, from which there is practically no protection. But not everyone was like that, and just below we will give a comparison of two people, two outcasts of society, and you draw your own conclusions.
Abrek Osman Mutuev (Grozny District)
Osman belonged to a prominent Chechen family, once famous in the war led by Shamil. The career of a warrior and the laurels of a rebel did not interest the guy. He studied in Grozny and dreamed of becoming a good translator in order to get into the civil service. The loss of parents made the young man forget about his studies and returnto his native village, where fellow villagers have already accepted him not as their own, but as a “newcomer”. Osman struggled to make ends meet, but doing something illegal was never on his mind.
And when the administration of the district, in connection with the growing lawlessness and increased cases of robberies, demanded that the "vicious members" be handed over for deportation to Siberia, the dishonest fellow villagers sent Osman and all those for whom there was no one to intercede for reprisal. The guy escaped from Siberia, and, without hiding, came to the authorities with a request to sort out the mistake. At that time, General Tolstov served as the head of the region. He honestly approached the issue, considered the case and officially recognized Osman as innocent. But again, the same fellow villagers who again wrote a false denunciation against him did not let him live in peace. And again Siberia, escape. But, having returned to his homeland, now Mutuev disappeared into the mountains.
Chechen "Dubrovsky"
So, what idea does the expression "abrek" convey? The meaning of the word is often compared with nobility, as in the case of Osman Mutuev. Having suffered from human betrayal, Osman did not harden his soul and did not become embittered. A smart and honest person - this world is based on such people - became a defender for all those unjustly offended. For this, he was always welcomed and even called his prince. And only the family, which had once slandered Osman, still continued to set the authorities on him, blaming and attributing to him everything that other abreks did. Osman died in another purge, organized by the authorities on the basis of another unfair denunciation.
Abrek Iski
You can look at the mountain ranges of the Caucasus endlessly, here you can take the most mysterious and beautiful photos. Abrek, appearing against this beautiful background, at one moment made me forget about all the lyrics. Iski is the exact opposite of Osman. Having escaped from prison at the cost of killing several people, he turned to abreks. Isky was short and thin, and with a vicious expression on his face and his whole figure, he resembled a monkey.
A hallmark of his crimes is a bestial, merciless and senseless craving for murder, sometimes he did not even rob his victims. Such an abrek was a beast in human form. Lawsuits terrified both the Russian and the mountain population. Everyone hated him, regardless of nationality. The man-beast paid everyone with an even crueler coin.
Conclusion
The word used to describe wanderers who do not recognize the laws of society or simply want to live outside of it, acquired a negative connotation over time. Abreks were afraid. But as elsewhere, some are born and remain human, others turn into animals. Maybe it's not the circumstances, but the strength and nobility of the spirit?
