Zelimkhan

Zelimkhan "Kharachoevsky" Gushmazukayev[1] (Chechen: Харачойн Зеламха, romanized: Kharachoyn Zelamkha; January 1872 – 26 September 1913) and better known simply as Zelimkhan, was a Chechen outlaw (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.

Zelimkhan Gushmazukayev
Харачойн Зеламха
BornJanuary 1872
Kharachoy, Terek Oblast, Russian Empire
Died26 September 1913
Shali, Terek Oblast, Russian Empire
NationalityChechen
OccupationAbrek
Years active1905—1913
Known forRaids on Banks

Together with Zelimkhan was his colleague and comrade, the Ingush abrek Sulumbek of Sagopshi, who participated in the most high-profile events associated with Zelimkhan.[3][4]

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.[5] 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[6] and distributing the money to poor people;[7] 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.[6] In September 1913, Zelimkhan was killed in a short battle with tsarist forces near the village of Shali.

There was a statue of Zelimkhan outside the site of the village of Serzhen Yurt, which was destroyed during the First Chechen War.[8]

Folk songs about Zelimkhan

There is a popular folk song about Zelimkhan.[9]

Excerpt from a Khevsurian folk song about Zelimkhan:[10]

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. Гриценко 1971, p. 92.
  4. Ибрагимов, Мовсур Муслиевич (2008). История Чечни с древнейших времен до наших дней: История Чечни ХХ и начала ХХI веков (in Russian). ГУП "Книжное издательство". p. 61. ISBN 9785988961017.
  5. 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...
  6. 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 смелые действия отрядов, возглавляемых Зелимханом Гушмазукаевым. Самой отчаянной акцией абреков Зелимхана стало ограбление Кизлярского казначейства 27 марта 1910 г., совершенное открыто, при свете дня. Секрет неуловимости Зелимхана был в его народной популярности. 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 мусульман Кавказа призывал и которую долгие годы возглавлял имам Шамиль. Российская агентура даже имела сведения, согласно которым Зелимхан в 1909 г. на съезде старейшин селений Терской и Дагестанской областей был провозглашен святым и великим имамом...
  7. Lemka T. Agieva (2020). "Абречество как одна из форм социального протеста". Nasledie Vekov. 1 (21): 94. doi:10.36343/SB.2020.21.1.008. Зелимхан со своими сподвижниками ограбил Кизлярский банк и деньги (золото) раздал бедным людям. Доказательством тому является «Прошение», которое абрек направил 15 января 1909 г. на имя председателя III Государственной Думы октябриста Н. А. Хомякова: «Хозяйства, как сосланных, так и заключенных, совершенно разорились, жены, и дети их живут подаянием добрых людей, да тем, что я иногда уделю им из своего добра после удачного набега» [7, с. 138].
  8. Smith, Sebastian (2001). Allah's Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 14. ISBN 9781860646515.
  9. 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.
  10. Razpopov, T.P. (1914). Notes of the Terek Society of Lovers of Cossack Antiquity. Vladikavkaz. p. 90.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Bibliography
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