Musa Cälil
Encyclopedia
Musa Cälil was a Soviet
Tatar
poet
and resistance fighter
. He is the only poet of the Soviet Union
who was simultaneously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union
award for his resistance fighting, and the Lenin Prize
for authoring The Moabit Notebooks; both the awards were awarded to him posthumously.
Musa Cälil was born in Mustafino, a village in the Orenburg
guberniya
in the family of Junkman. He graduated Xösäyeniä madrassah in Orenburg
. His first published works were revolutionary verses. The Turkic poetic tradition of aruz traced in Cälil's early works, which attributed to Ghisyanism, a style of revolt, found in the Tatar poetry of early 1920s. In 1919, he entered the underground Komsomol
cell of Orenburg
, which was under the control Whites
that time. Then, Musa participated in the Russian Civil War
against pro-White gangs, but due to his nonage he didn't fight at the front, but in a Red Army
unit. In 1920, Cälil returned to his native village, establishing the pro-Communist youth organization The Red Flower there. He also became a Komsomol activist in Mustafino. He represented his village at the governorate Komsomol conference.
became its capital. In 1922, Musa, along with other Tatar poets, moved to Kazan. During this time, verses that he wrote include "The Red Host", "The Red Holyday", "The Red Hero", "The Red Way", "The Red Force", and "The Red Banner". In Kazan, Cälil worked as copyist for the Qızıl Tatarstan newspaper and studied at rabfak
of the Oriental Pedagogical Institute. He became acquainted with Tatar poets such as Qawi Näcmi, Hadi Taqtaş
, and Ğädel Qutuy
. In 1924, he became a member of the October literary society, backing Proletkult
. Since that year, his poetry departed from Ghisyanism and aruz and turned to the Tatar folk verse. His first collection of verses, Barabız (We are going) was published in 1925. One concept that the verses dealt with was pre-revolutionary life.
During 1925 and 1926, Cälil became an instructor of Orsk
uyezd
Komsomol cell, where he visited Tatar and Kazakh
aul
s, agitating for Komsomol there. In 1926, he became the member of Orenburg governorate Komsomol committee. In 1927, Musa moved to Moscow
, where he combined his study in the Moscow State University
and job in Tatar-Bashkir section of the Central Committee of Komsomol. Cälil joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
in 1929, which was the same year that his second collection, İptäşkä (i.e. To the Comrade; Jaŋalif: Iptəşkə) was published. Living in Moscow, Cälil met Russian poets Zharov, Bezymensky, and Svetlov
; Cälil also attended Vladimir Mayakovsky
's performances. He entered the Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers; he became its third secretary and a leader of its Tatar section. By the end of 1920s, lyricism appeared in Cälil's poetry.
In 1931, Cälil graduated from the literature faculty of Moscow University. Until 1932, he was a chief editor of the Tatar children's magazine Keckenə iptəşlər, which was later renamed to Oktəbr Balasь (Little Octobrist
). Then, he managed the section of literature and art in the central Tatar newspaper Kommunist. In 1934, Musa Cälil published two collections. The first of them, The Millions, Decorated with Orders was devoted mostly to youth and Komsomol, whereas in the second, Verses and Poems, was a general compilation of his writing. However, many of his lyrical poems weren't published due to being at conflict with Stalinism
.
In 1935, the first Russian translations of his poems were published. During the 1930s, Cälil also translated to the Tatar language
writings of poets of the USSR peoples, such as Shota Rustaveli
, Taras Shevchenko
, Pushkin, Nekrasov
, Mayakovsky
and Lebedev-Kumach
. In the late 1930s, he tended to write epic poems, such as The Director and the Sun (1935), Cihan (1935–1938), and The Postman (1938). As a playwright
of the Tatar State Opera, he wrote four librettos for Tatar operas, one of which is Altınçäç (Golden Hair Maiden) of Näcip Cihanov
. In 1939 and 1940, he served as the chairman of the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers.
's invasion of the Soviet Union
in June 1941, Cälil volunteered for the Red Army. Graduating political commissar
courses, he arrived at the Volkhov Front
and became a war correspondent
in the Otvaga newspaper. Cälil also wrote verse, which was at first patriotic but later evolving into lyricism concerning war and people experiencing war.
In June 1942, during the Lyuban Offensive Operation
, Cälil's unit was encircled; when his unit tried to run a blockade he became seriously wounded, shell-shocked, and captured. After months in concentration camps for Soviet prisoners of war, including Stalag-340 in Daugavpils
, Latvia
and Spandau
, Cälil was transferred to Dęblin
, a fortified stronghold in Poland
. There, the Nazis were assembling prisoners of Idel-Ural
and Eastern nationalities in the camp. Cälil responded by forming a resistance group.
In late 1942, the Nazis started forming what they called "national legions". Among others, the Idel-Ural legion
was formed in Jedlina, Poland, consisting of prisoners of war belonging to the nations of the Volga basin. Since the majority of the legion were Volga Tatars
, the Germans usually called it the Volga-Tatar legion. The Nazis tried preparing the legionnaires for action against the Soviet Army
in a chauvinistic
and anti-Soviet fashion. Cälil joined the Wehrmacht
propaganda unit for the legion under the false name
of Gumeroff. Cälil's group set out to wreck the Nazi plans, to convince the men to use the weapons they would be supplied with against the Nazis themselves. The members of the resistance group infiltrated the editorial board of the Idel-Ural newspaper the German command produced, and printed and circulated anti-fascist leaflets among the legionnaires into esoteric action groups consisting of five men each. The first battalion of the Volga-Tatar legion that was sent to the Eastern front
mutinied, shot all the German officers there, and defected to the Soviet partisans
in Belarus
.
broke Cälil's left arm and injured his kidneys. His body contained welts from being beaten with an electric cord and rubber hose. His fingers were swollen and would not bend. While imprisoned, he wrote poetry against Nazism
.
On August 10, 1943, he was arrested with his comrades and sent to Moabit
Prison in Berlin
. He sat in a cell with Belgian
patriot and resistance fighter André Timmermans, and also with one Polish prisoner. Cälil studied German
in prison to communicate with the cellmates. In this prison, he compiled verses composed in the prison into self-made notebooks. He and his group of 12 were sentenced to death on February 12, 1944 and guillotined at Plötzensee
Prison, Berlin, on August 25. His body was never recovered afterwards.
On April 23, 1945, the 79th Infantry Corps of the Soviet Army, that was advancing on the Reichstag, took up positions along the Berlin
streets of Ratenowerstraße and Turnstraße. A soldier who paused there before the following attack noticed several lines in Russian
on one of the clean pages of a book nearby: "I am the Tatar poet Musa Cälil, held in Moabit prison as a prisoner of war against whom political charges have been preferred, and will most likely be shot soon. If some Russian finds this note, convey my regards to my writer friends in Moscow and break the news to my family". The soldiers sent the page to the Union of Writers
in Moscow. That was the first time Russia heard of Musa Cälil's fate.
Cälil's first notebook was preserved by the Tatars Ğabbas Şäripov and then Niğmät Teregulov, both of whom later died in Stalin's camps. Şäripov was also imprisoned in Moabit and received Cälil's and Abdulla Aliş
's writings when the prison guards hid from bombing. To preserve the writings, Cälil's group fenced him off. The second notebook was preserved by the Belgian
cellmate André Timmermans. Those notebooks were passed to the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers in 1946 and 1947 correspondingly. They were published as two books under the title Moabit Däftäre (The Moabit Notebook). Cälil's widow Äminä Zalyalova gave the originals to the National Museum of Tatarstan
for safekeeping.
One notebook was brought to the Soviet embassy in Rome
by the ethnically Tatar Turkish citizen
Kazim Mirşan in 1946. However, this notebook was lost in the archives of SMERSH
, and pursuits for it since 1979 have had no results.
Then Tatar writers and the Tatarstan department of state security proved Cälil's underground
work against the Nazis and his death. In 1953, The Moabit Notebooks were published in Kazan and the Russian translation also was published in Literaturnaya Gazeta
, owing to its editor, Konstantin Simonov
. Musa Cälil was awarded the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
in 1956 and Literature Lenin Prize
in 1957 for The Moabit Notebooks.
The monument to Musa Cälil is placed near the Kazan Kremlin
; the museum in his flat was opened in Kazan in 1983. His poetry was popularized in the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact
countries.
Soviet Tatar composer Nazib Zhiganov wrote an "opera-poem" Dzhalil based on the life of Cälil. This was premiered in Tatar in Kazan in 1957, and later recorded by conductor Boris Khaykin for Moscow radio.
A minor planet
3082 Dzhalil
discovered by Soviet
astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova
in 1972 is named after him.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Tatar
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and resistance fighter
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
. He is the only poet of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
who was simultaneously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
award for his resistance fighting, and the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
for authoring The Moabit Notebooks; both the awards were awarded to him posthumously.
Early life
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
guberniya
Guberniya
A guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...
in the family of Junkman. He graduated Xösäyeniä madrassah in Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
. His first published works were revolutionary verses. The Turkic poetic tradition of aruz traced in Cälil's early works, which attributed to Ghisyanism, a style of revolt, found in the Tatar poetry of early 1920s. In 1919, he entered the underground Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
cell of Orenburg
Orenburg
Orenburg is a city on the Ural River and the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies southeast of Moscow, very close to the border with Kazakhstan. Population: 546,987 ; 549,361 ; Highest point: 154.4 m...
, which was under the control Whites
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
that time. Then, Musa participated in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
against pro-White gangs, but due to his nonage he didn't fight at the front, but in a Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
unit. In 1920, Cälil returned to his native village, establishing the pro-Communist youth organization The Red Flower there. He also became a Komsomol activist in Mustafino. He represented his village at the governorate Komsomol conference.
Literary life
In 1920, the Tatar ASSR was established and KazanKazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
became its capital. In 1922, Musa, along with other Tatar poets, moved to Kazan. During this time, verses that he wrote include "The Red Host", "The Red Holyday", "The Red Hero", "The Red Way", "The Red Force", and "The Red Banner". In Kazan, Cälil worked as copyist for the Qızıl Tatarstan newspaper and studied at rabfak
Rabfak
Rabfak was the Workers' Faculty in the Soviet Union. It prepared Soviet workers to enter institutions of higher education....
of the Oriental Pedagogical Institute. He became acquainted with Tatar poets such as Qawi Näcmi, Hadi Taqtaş
Hadi Taqtas
Taqtaşev Möxämmäthadi Xäyrulla ulı , better known as Hadi Taqtaş was a Soviet Tatar poet, writer and publicist.His early verses have a tendency to symbolism: romantic ballades Газраилләр , Үтерелгән пәйгамбәр , tragedy verse Җир уллары , poems Гасырлар һәм минутлар...
, and Ğädel Qutuy
Gädel Qutuy
Qutuyıv Ğädelşa Nurmöxämmät ulı , better known as Ğädel Qutuy was a Soviet Tatar poet, writer and playwright.-Life:Qutuy moved to Kazan in 1922, and 5 year later gained recognition as one of five the most prominent Tatar writer. Impressed by Mayakovsky, he established Tatar analogue of LEF, SULF,...
. In 1924, he became a member of the October literary society, backing Proletkult
Proletkult
Proletkult was movement which arose in the Russian revolution and was active from 1917 to 1925 which aspired to provide the foundations for what was intended to be a truly proletarian art devoid of bourgeois influence.The name is a portmanteau of "proletarskaya kultura" , which are better-known as...
. Since that year, his poetry departed from Ghisyanism and aruz and turned to the Tatar folk verse. His first collection of verses, Barabız (We are going) was published in 1925. One concept that the verses dealt with was pre-revolutionary life.
During 1925 and 1926, Cälil became an instructor of Orsk
Orsk
Orsk is the second largest city in Orenburg Oblast, Russia, located on the steppe about southeast of the southern tip of the Ural Mountains. The city straddles the Ural River. Since this river is considered a boundary between Europe and Asia, Orsk can be said to lie in two continents. It is...
uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
Komsomol cell, where he visited Tatar and Kazakh
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
aul
Aul
An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan.The word itself is of Turkic origine and means simply village in many Turkic languages....
s, agitating for Komsomol there. In 1926, he became the member of Orenburg governorate Komsomol committee. In 1927, Musa moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, where he combined his study in the Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
and job in Tatar-Bashkir section of the Central Committee of Komsomol. Cälil joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
in 1929, which was the same year that his second collection, İptäşkä (i.e. To the Comrade; Jaŋalif: Iptəşkə) was published. Living in Moscow, Cälil met Russian poets Zharov, Bezymensky, and Svetlov
Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov
Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov , born Scheinkman , was a Soviet Russian poet.-Biography:Svetlov was born into a poor Jewish family. He has been published since 1917. A member of Komsomol since 1919, Svetlov was sent to the First Congress of Proletarian Writers in Moscow in 1920 and took part in the...
; Cälil also attended Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
's performances. He entered the Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers; he became its third secretary and a leader of its Tatar section. By the end of 1920s, lyricism appeared in Cälil's poetry.
In 1931, Cälil graduated from the literature faculty of Moscow University. Until 1932, he was a chief editor of the Tatar children's magazine Keckenə iptəşlər, which was later renamed to Oktəbr Balasь (Little Octobrist
Little Octobrist
Little Octobrists , is a Soviet term that first appeared in 1923-1924, and at that time referred to children born in 1917, the year of the October revolution. Later, the term was used as the name of a youth organization for children between 7 and 9 years of age...
). Then, he managed the section of literature and art in the central Tatar newspaper Kommunist. In 1934, Musa Cälil published two collections. The first of them, The Millions, Decorated with Orders was devoted mostly to youth and Komsomol, whereas in the second, Verses and Poems, was a general compilation of his writing. However, many of his lyrical poems weren't published due to being at conflict with Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
.
In 1935, the first Russian translations of his poems were published. During the 1930s, Cälil also translated to the Tatar language
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
writings of poets of the USSR peoples, such as Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli
Shota Rustaveli was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. He is author of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" , the Georgian national epic poem....
, Taras Shevchenko
Taras Shevchenko
Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko -Life:Born into a serf family of Hryhoriy Ivanovych Shevchenko and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko in the village of Moryntsi, of Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire Shevchenko was orphaned at the age of eleven...
, Pushkin, Nekrasov
Nekrasov
Nekrasov, also Nekrassov , or Nekrasova , is a Russian last name and may refer to:-People:*Aleksandr Nekrasov , Russian mathematician and academician...
, Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
and Lebedev-Kumach
Vasily Lebedev-Kumach
Vasily Ivanovich Lebedev-Kumach Moscow, — 20 February 1949) was a Soviet Russian poet and lyricist.He wrote numerous songs, the most famous being probably Священная война , Песня о Родине and Как много девушек хороших , later immortalized as the Argentine Tango song...
. In the late 1930s, he tended to write epic poems, such as The Director and the Sun (1935), Cihan (1935–1938), and The Postman (1938). As a playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
of the Tatar State Opera, he wrote four librettos for Tatar operas, one of which is Altınçäç (Golden Hair Maiden) of Näcip Cihanov
Näcip Cihanov
Näcip Ğayaz ulı Cihanov — Tatar Cyrillic: Нәҗип Гаяз улы Җиһанов, pronounced ; ; anglicised as Najip Jihanov or, more usually, Nazib Gayazovich Zhiganov — was a Tatar composer, teacher and statesman...
. In 1939 and 1940, he served as the chairman of the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers.
During World War II
After Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's invasion of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in June 1941, Cälil volunteered for the Red Army. Graduating political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
courses, he arrived at the Volkhov Front
Volkhov Front
The Front was reformed on the 9 June 1942 from the Volkhov Operational Group of the Leningrad Front and served until 15 February 1944, participating in the relief of the Siege of Leningrad and taking part in other operations including:-Campaigns:...
and became a war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
in the Otvaga newspaper. Cälil also wrote verse, which was at first patriotic but later evolving into lyricism concerning war and people experiencing war.
In June 1942, during the Lyuban Offensive Operation
Lyuban Offensive Operation
Lyuban Operation was an offensive operation conducted by the Volkhov Front of the Red Army with the goal of relieving Leningrad. After German counterattack, Soviet 2nd Shock Army was cut off and surrounded. It was destroyed in June 1942 and its commander, the infamous Andrey Vlasov, was taken...
, Cälil's unit was encircled; when his unit tried to run a blockade he became seriously wounded, shell-shocked, and captured. After months in concentration camps for Soviet prisoners of war, including Stalag-340 in Daugavpils
Daugavpils
Daugavpils is a city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. Daugavpils literally means "Daugava Castle". With a population of over 100,000, it is the second largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
and Spandau
Spandau
Spandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
, Cälil was transferred to Dęblin
Deblin
Dęblin is a town, population 19,500 , at the confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which altogether has over 100 000 inhabitants....
, a fortified stronghold in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. There, the Nazis were assembling prisoners of Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural
Idel-Ural is a historical region in Eastern Europe, in what is today Russia. The name literally means Volga-Urals in the Tatar language. The frequently used Russian variant is Volgo-Uralye...
and Eastern nationalities in the camp. Cälil responded by forming a resistance group.
In late 1942, the Nazis started forming what they called "national legions". Among others, the Idel-Ural legion
Volga Tatar Legion
The Volga-Tatar Legion or Legion Idel-Ural was a volunteer Wehrmacht unit composed of Muslim Volga Tatars, but also included other Idel-Ural peoples such as Bashkirs, Chuvashes, Mari people, Udmurt people, Mordva....
was formed in Jedlina, Poland, consisting of prisoners of war belonging to the nations of the Volga basin. Since the majority of the legion were Volga Tatars
Volga Tatars
The Volga Tatars are the largest subgroup of the Tatars, native to the Volga region.They account for roughly six out of seven million Tatars worldwide....
, the Germans usually called it the Volga-Tatar legion. The Nazis tried preparing the legionnaires for action against the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
in a chauvinistic
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
and anti-Soviet fashion. Cälil joined the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
propaganda unit for the legion under the false name
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Gumeroff. Cälil's group set out to wreck the Nazi plans, to convince the men to use the weapons they would be supplied with against the Nazis themselves. The members of the resistance group infiltrated the editorial board of the Idel-Ural newspaper the German command produced, and printed and circulated anti-fascist leaflets among the legionnaires into esoteric action groups consisting of five men each. The first battalion of the Volga-Tatar legion that was sent to the Eastern front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
mutinied, shot all the German officers there, and defected to the Soviet partisans
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
Capture and death
In August 1943, Nazi spies tracked down the resistance group. Musa Cälil and most of his militant comrades were seized. There followed days and nights consisted of Cälil and his group receiving interrogations and torture. The GestapoGestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
broke Cälil's left arm and injured his kidneys. His body contained welts from being beaten with an electric cord and rubber hose. His fingers were swollen and would not bend. While imprisoned, he wrote poetry against Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
.
On August 10, 1943, he was arrested with his comrades and sent to Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
Prison in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. He sat in a cell with Belgian
Demographics of Belgium
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Belgium, including ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population...
patriot and resistance fighter André Timmermans, and also with one Polish prisoner. Cälil studied German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
in prison to communicate with the cellmates. In this prison, he compiled verses composed in the prison into self-made notebooks. He and his group of 12 were sentenced to death on February 12, 1944 and guillotined at Plötzensee
Plötzensee
Plötzensee is a small glacial lake in Berlin. It is situated near the Rehberge public park in the former borough of Wedding, now a part of Mitte. The name stems from Plötze, one name for the roach in German, as the lake formerly teemed with it....
Prison, Berlin, on August 25. His body was never recovered afterwards.
Legacy
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
streets of Ratenowerstraße and Turnstraße. A soldier who paused there before the following attack noticed several lines in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
on one of the clean pages of a book nearby: "I am the Tatar poet Musa Cälil, held in Moabit prison as a prisoner of war against whom political charges have been preferred, and will most likely be shot soon. If some Russian finds this note, convey my regards to my writer friends in Moscow and break the news to my family". The soldiers sent the page to the Union of Writers
Union of Writers
can refer to:* USSR Union of Writers formed in 1932* L'Union des Ecrivains formed in 1968** Members included:*** Françoise Mallet-Joris*** Alain Jouffroy*** Jean-Paul Sartre*** Eugène Guillevic*** Michel Butor...
in Moscow. That was the first time Russia heard of Musa Cälil's fate.
Cälil's first notebook was preserved by the Tatars Ğabbas Şäripov and then Niğmät Teregulov, both of whom later died in Stalin's camps. Şäripov was also imprisoned in Moabit and received Cälil's and Abdulla Aliş
Abdulla Alis
Alişev Ğabdullacan Ğäbdelbari ulı , best known as Abdulla Aliş was a Soviet Tatar poet, playwright, writer and resistance fighter. He wrote mostly novels for children, the most notable writings being: Dulqınnar , Ant , Minem abí Alişev Ğabdullacan Ğäbdelbari ulı , best known as Abdulla Aliş was a...
's writings when the prison guards hid from bombing. To preserve the writings, Cälil's group fenced him off. The second notebook was preserved by the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
cellmate André Timmermans. Those notebooks were passed to the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers in 1946 and 1947 correspondingly. They were published as two books under the title Moabit Däftäre (The Moabit Notebook). Cälil's widow Äminä Zalyalova gave the originals to the National Museum of Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
for safekeeping.
One notebook was brought to the Soviet embassy in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
by the ethnically Tatar Turkish citizen
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Kazim Mirşan in 1946. However, this notebook was lost in the archives of SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...
, and pursuits for it since 1979 have had no results.
Rehabilitation and recognition
In 1946, MGB opened a file on Musa Cälil branding him as a traitor. In April 1947, his name was included in the list of wanted "dangerous criminals".Then Tatar writers and the Tatarstan department of state security proved Cälil's underground
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
work against the Nazis and his death. In 1953, The Moabit Notebooks were published in Kazan and the Russian translation also was published in Literaturnaya Gazeta
Literaturnaya Gazeta
Literaturnaya Gazeta is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and Soviet Union.- Overview :...
, owing to its editor, Konstantin Simonov
Konstantin Simonov
Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov was a Russian/Soviet author, known especially as a war poet.-Early years:He was born in Petrograd. His mother was born Princess Obolenskaya, of a Rurikid family. His father, an officer in the Tsar's army, left Russia after the Revolution in 1917. He died in Poland...
. Musa Cälil was awarded the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
in 1956 and Literature Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
in 1957 for The Moabit Notebooks.
The monument to Musa Cälil is placed near the Kazan Kremlin
Kazan Kremlin
The Kazan Kremlin is the chief historic citadel of Tatarstan, situated in the city of Kazan. It was built on behest of Ivan the Terrible on the ruins of the former castle of Kazan khans...
; the museum in his flat was opened in Kazan in 1983. His poetry was popularized in the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
countries.
Soviet Tatar composer Nazib Zhiganov wrote an "opera-poem" Dzhalil based on the life of Cälil. This was premiered in Tatar in Kazan in 1957, and later recorded by conductor Boris Khaykin for Moscow radio.
A minor planet
Minor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
3082 Dzhalil
3082 Dzhalil
3082 Dzhalil is a main-belt asteroid discovered on May 17, 1972 by Smirnova, T. at Nauchnyj. It is named after a soviet tatar poet Musa Jalil.- External links :*...
discovered by Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova
Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova
Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova was a Russian astronomer.From 1966 to 1988 she was a staff member of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Leningrad. She co-discovered the periodic comet 74P/Smirnova-Chernykh, along with Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh. She has also discovered various asteroids...
in 1972 is named after him.
Writings
| 1929 | İptäşkä | |
| 1934 | Ordenlı millionnar | |
| 1935-1941 | Altınçäç | |
| 1940 | Xat taşuçı >- |
İldar |
| 1943 | Tupçı antı |