Among the national heroes of the Chechen people, the legendary abrek Zelimkhan Gushmazukaev, better known under the pseudonym Kharachoevsky, enjoys special honor. Having led the highlanders' struggle against the hated regime of corrupt tsarist officials at the beginning of the 20th century, he remained in the memory of his compatriots as a kind of Robin Hood - a noble robber who took away ill-gotten values from the rich and distributed them to the poor. We will remember about it in this article.
A short excursion into linguistics
Before starting the story about an amazing person - the noble abrek Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, let's clarify the meaning of this term itself, invariably attached to his name. Traditionally in the Caucasus, abreks were called people who, for one reason or another, went to the mountains and lived outside the law. They got their bread by robbery raids on civilians in auls and villages located at the foot of the mountains. Over time, this name began to be used in relation to all non-peaceful highlanders who fought against the conquest of the Caucasus by the troops of the Russian Empire. How did Zelimkhan stand out from their massKharachoevsky, whose photo opens our article?
Blood feud and imprisonment
The exact date of birth of the future celebrity has not been established, but it is known that he was born in 1872. It happened in the village of Kharachay, located in the Grozny district of the Terek region (now the Vedensky district of Chechnya). From the name of the village his pseudonym was formed. At the age of 19, Zelimkhan ended up behind bars, and the reason for such a sad event is known from his own words.
Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky said that back in 1900 he was a completely law-abiding, we althy and married man, led a measured life, owning a mill, an apiary, a lot of cattle, and did not even think about the restless lot of an abrek. But fate had its own way. Trying to marry his younger brother to a girl worthy of his social position, he came into conflict with the family of another contender for her hand.
The showdown took place according to the law of the mountains and ended with corpses on both sides, which led Zelimkhan, as well as his closest relatives, to jail. In his own words, the outcome of the case was influenced by a bribe that members of the opposing side gave to local authorities. In May of the same year, a trial was held that sentenced him to three and a half years in prison under an article punishing crimes committed on the basis of blood feud.
New Robin Hoods
From that moment, as follows from the biography of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, a radical turning point was marked in his life. not wishing for longlinger in the Grozny prison, in the summer of that year he made a daring escape and joined the abreks who hunted near the city. Driven to despair by the arbitrariness of the authorities, these people killed officials, robbed state institutions, banks and estates of we althy people. It is known for certain that they generously shared their booty with the poor, for which they earned the fame of the “Caucasian Robin Hoods.”
Desperate audacity and elusiveness earned Zelimkhan fame, which quickly spread throughout the Caucasus. The Grozny police chief did not have time to send reports to St. Petersburg describing his exploits. He reported that among the locals it became customary to refer to the robber only as “viceroy of the Caucasus.”
On the wave of the First Russian Revolution
Beginning in 1905, the First Russian Revolution received a response among the peoples of the Caucasus, provoking mass peasant uprisings. This period was also marked by the most active activity of the detachment headed by Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky. The history of Chechnya forever included raids on the estates of we althy landowners by him and his people, the expropriation of valuables stored in city banks, the release of previously convicted comrades from prison, and much more.
The armed conflict that broke out then in the Caucasus and resulted in a real peasant war was provoked by the authorities themselves. It began with the fact that in May 1905, representatives of the Chechen, Kabardian, Ingush and Ossetian peoples turned to the royal governor with a request forestablishment in their territories of rural self-government based on the principle of general elections. They were refused, and the answer was made in an extremely rude and offensive form. Not wanting to put up with humiliation, the highlanders took up arms and began a struggle in which the abreks of Zelikhman Kharachoevsky took an active part.
Meet the anarchists
In 1911, Zelimkhan established contact with the revolutionaries. According to his biographers, this happened after a meeting with representatives of one of the anarchist groups operating in Rostov-on-Don. In a conversation with the famous abrek, they told him that the Russian tsar causes a lot of grief not only to the inhabitants of the Caucasus, but also to his own people, which made him take a fresh look at the world.
Parting with their new associate, the anarchists handed him a red and black flag, four homemade bombs and the seal of their organization, which he has since put on ultimatums sent to future victims. Since that time, the activities of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky have taken on a pronounced political character.
Fighting path of the fearless abrek
In April 1906, he killed Lieutenant Colonel Dobrovolsky, who served as head of the Grozny District, and two years later, another major tsarist official, Colonel Galaev. This was followed by a raid on the ticket office of the Grozny railway station, from where the abrek and his kunaks (comrades) stole more than 18 thousand rubles, which were then transferred to local anarchist revolutionaries.
Shortly after that exactly like thisthe same amount was announced by the authorities as a reward for his head. In addition, a special detachment was hastily formed to catch the criminal. But neither the "cleansing" carried out in the villages, whose inhabitants sheltered the desperate abrek, nor the arrest of his wife and the soon-to-be murder of his father and brothers not only broke his will, but gave him even greater obsession and courage.
Features of this outstanding person
All biographers of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky agree that he was by no means alien to generosity, and in some cases even nobility. It is known, for example, that, highly appreciating the courage and courage of Russian officers, he did not allow reprisals against those of them who were taken prisoner. Moreover, according to the laws of Caucasian hospitality, he offered refreshments, and often let him go, while returning personal weapons. Also widely known is his patronage of the local poor, among whom he made no distinction on national or religious grounds. Anyone in need could turn to him and get the help they needed.
And absolutely special attention deserves his manner of warning the enemy in advance about the attack being prepared for him. So, in 1910, Zelimkhan sent a letter to the head of the Kizlyar garrison, in which he said that he intended to commit a major expropriation (robbery) in his city. In response, the authorities took unprecedented security measures, but the abreks, disguised as Cossacks, freely entered the city and robbed the Kizlyar Bank. There are also many other similarcases that clearly demonstrated the audacity of the mountaineers and the impotence of the authorities.
Judas from the Caucasian village
Both the whole abrek movement as a whole and the activities of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky himself were successful due to the fact that the vast majority of the population of the North Caucasus was extremely hostile towards the government of the Russian Empire because of the policy pursued by him in this region. Despite the fact that the reward promised for the head of the leader of the highlanders was constantly increasing and more and more detachments were sent to capture him, it was not possible to achieve the desired result for a long time. Even after a number of auls were devastated during punitive expeditions, and others were imposed with incredible fines, none of the highlanders agreed to cooperate with the authorities.
However, in the fall of 1913, Judas was still found, seduced by the pieces of silver promised for the head of a compatriot. At the end of September, a detachment led by lieutenant Georgy Gibtrov, on a “tip” from one of the local residents, surrounded the village of Shali, in which the seriously ill Zelimkhan was then hiding. A fierce firefight began, during which the famous abrek was mortally wounded. History did not preserve the name of the one who betrayed Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, but it is known that retribution was not long in coming, and soon the disfigured corpse of the villain was found in one of the cesspools.
Memory of descendants
The Chechen people carefully preserved the memory of their illustrious hero. Back in the years of the first five-year plans, a collective farm was named after him, and in the mid-70s, at the entrance to the Vedeno district,monument to Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky. During the Chechen wars, he was in the war zone and was destroyed, but later it was restored on the initiative of local residents. A photo of this sculptural composition is shown below.
The image of the fearless highlander is also reflected in Russian literature. In 1968, a book dedicated to Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky was published, the author of which, the Soviet writer Magomed Mamakaev, created a vivid documentary story about his life and struggle.
He is also mentioned in I. Efremov's novel "The Razor's Edge", which appeared on the shelves of bookstores in 1963.
Modern poets Akhmad Suleymanov and Musa Gashayev dedicated their poems to him, many of which, set to music by the composer Imam Alimsultanov, turned into songs. One of them, called "Zelimkhan", became a hit with the popular vocal-instrumental group "President" in Chechnya. In 1926, a silent film about the famous abrek, filmed at the Vostok-Kino film studio by the talented director Oleg Frelikh, was released on the screens of the country.
The family has its black sheep
As for the direct descendants of Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky, unfortunately, not all of them were worthy of their illustrious ancestor. So, it is known that his son Umar-Ali tarnished his father's memory by becoming an employee of the NKVD and taking an active part in the deportation of Chechens and Ingush, which was carried out in 1944 by order of Stalin. He himself was killed during the liquidation of one of the opponents of this lawless act.
