Thread by @MuKappa

Asharshylyk, Holodomor in Kazakhstan

The dates of the manmade famine in Kazakhstan perpetrated by Moscow depend on the source. Some say 1931-1933, aligning with the Holodomor in Ukraine. However, most Kazakh sources suggest 1928-1934. Let me be clear: it was a genocide. 1/

Here's the census data for Kazakhstan that @DosymSatpayev obtained:
1914: 6+ million Kazakhs (Bukeikhanov)
1926: 3.96 million Kazakhs (USSR census)
1937: 2.18 million Kazakhs (USSR census)

So in 23 years two-thirds of Kazakhs "disappeared." It was done in two main stages. 2/

Stage 1: Famine of 1919-1922

With the russian "civil" war raging and crop failures in russia proper, the authorities in Moscow looked for ways to resolve the food crisis. They found a solution in Kazakhstan.
tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_new… 3/

While the russian sources keep claiming that it was the failed Prodrazvyortska (or centralized "food appointments"), Kazakh academics came to the conclusion that it was targeted livestock appropriation from the mostly pastoralist Kazakhs. en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki… 4/

The livestock was then taken from Kazakhstan to russia to feed the population there. Modern estimates indicate that 2M people died in the famine of 1919-1922 in Kazakhstan, of which 1.75M were Kazakhs.

The second stage of the genocide, Asharshylyk (the Hunger), came in 1928. 5/

Stage 2: Asharshylyk, 1928-1934

There are many names for it: the Kazakh Famine, Asharshylyk, Holodomor in Kazakhstan, etc. However, the most poignant one is the Goloshchyokin genocide. 6/

While the last name points out that it was indeed a genocide, there is more than one man responsible. Filipp Goloshchyokin, the First Secretary of the KazSSR, was the main executor of the genocide. The genocide itself was planned in Moscow by russian communists. 7/

Much like with the Holodomor, besides Stalin, Lazar Kaganovich and Genrikh Yagoda were the main architects planning the depopulation of non-russians in the SSRs that were deemed "unloyal" to the empire. For Ukraine and Kazakhstan, hunger was chosen as the main genocidal tool. 8/

The russian bolsheviks revealed their plans before the first genocide of 1919:
"Kirghiz are economically weak by the principles of Marxism and must disappear in any case. That is why it is more important to use the resources not to combat hunger but to support the fronts." 9/

This is a quote by I. Tobolin, head of the Bolsheviks in the Turkestan Central Electoral Committee. Kirghiz is the name the russians used for Kazakhs refusing to distinguish the two ethnic groups and emphasizing the distinction from Cossacks. (Source: kazneb.kz/ru/bookView/vi…) 10/

Again, under the guise of collectivization and establishing kolkhozes, the russians started first by targeting the most well-off Kazakhs by taking their livestock in 1928. This immediately started food shortages in Kazakhstan. 11/

The catastrophic levels were reached in 1930. Many settlements had multiple funerals daily. Without any livestock, many Kazakh communities started to seek employment in the kolkhozes. But there was a catch. One, the russians did not take everyone in. 12/

Ethnic Kazakhs were deemed "unworthy" of employment. Two, many Kazakhs who were employed by the kolkhozes were still paid neither in food nor money. It was all part of the extermination plan to russify Kazakhstan. (Source: euromaidanpress.com/2015/02/02/sta…) 13/

Stalin's principle of "no man, no problem" was applied on a grand scale to an entire ethnic group of Kazakhs (the same was happening in Ukraine). Kazakhs who were caught farming independently or owning livestock were punished by death. Such executions were legalized in 1932. 14/

In 1931 the manmade famine had reached an apocalyptic scale. Many tried to flee Kazakhstan. Some succeeded in making it to Mongolia, China to the east, to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and beyond to the south, and Siberia to the north. However, that was against the Moscow plan. 15/

Those who fled to China were not only against Moscow's extermination plan but also an embarrassment. Thus OGPU, the Joint State Political Directorate or the soviet secret police (later merged into the NKDV), deployed forces to kill anyone trying to flee the genocidal famine. 16/

In one of the worst incidents in October 1930, OGPU troops attacked 40 unarmed Kazakh families attempting to flee to China. 9 families escaped. The rest were robbed, raped, and murdered. Thousands shared their fate in 1930. More in subsequent years. S: novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/… 17/

There were those who fled to Siberia. Fleeing there was just as difficult. Not only the OGPU but also the military cracked down on those who attempted to escape Asharshylyk. Summary executions were common. Kazakhs had to evade russian patrols. 18/

Roadsides littered with bodies were not uncommon.
Here's a witness account by Zalikha Asylbekova from Karatal:
"We witnessed a terrifying sight in the winter of 1932 when long columns of starving Kazakhs passed our aul [village] heading to Omsk... 19/

"There were severe frosts and snowstorms. After a snowstorm, the men from the aul [village] would quickly head to the road and by spotting dark patches in the snow would find the bodies of people from Kazakhstan to promptly bury them. There were many corpses... 20/

"and they had to be buried quickly, otherwise, they would've gotten eaten by wolves. Before death, the dying took off their clothes and fell. Their bodies swelled rapidly. Often children lagged behind their mothers and died first... 21/

"The mothers had neither strength nor the will to return for their children who had fallen behind."

From an OGPU report, January 23, 1932:
"Since... 1931, the flight of Kazakhs from Kazakhstan to the regions of Western Siberia adjacent to Kazakhstan has been observed... 22/

"Recently, this flight has taken on a mass character... the Kazakhs who arrived have no property, are not employed, and the vast majority are starving. Begging and eating carrion is common... There are deaths from exhaustion."
Note the "not employed" part in the report. 23/

The explanation for that is twofold. First, most of the fleeing Kazakhs spoke no russian. Second, russian imperial chauvinism never went away. Subhuman treatment of Kazakhs led to hate-based murders and rumors of Kazakhs "eating russian children." 24/

russian chauvinism against Kazakhs was widespread. At times it got to the level that the authorities had to take action. 25/

Note from the Kuznetsk regional court, June 27, 1932:
"In the industrial districts of the region working conditions and everyday services for Kazakhs are worse than for russian workers. The rough treatment of Kazakhs is known... 26/

"At the "November 7" mine in Leninsk up to 500 Kazakhs are employed. They are in extremely poor living conditions, with 16-17 of them huddled in one small room without any furniture. The cafeteria has repeatedly refused to service the Kazakhs." 27/

Chair of the Kupinsk Regional RKI, September 28, 1932:
"I request an inspection of my Kraysud (reg. court) colleague who indulges the chauvinists. Here is a fact: the deputy director of the state farm "Ovtsevod" Popov, who ordered the burning of an entire Kazakh village,... 28/

"was expelled from the party by us. The people's court sentenced him to 5 years in prison, and Kraysud canceled the decision and gave him only 6 months of community work." 29/

A note from a Novosibirsk prosecutor, 1932:
“At the Aleisky railway station, the head of the station assaulted and insulted a Kazakh and kicked him out of cafeteria... In the Baevsky district, the peasants severely beat up Kazakhs... 30/

"In the Rebrikhinsky region, there are a number of cases of assaults on Kazakhs... These cases are a typical manifestation of great-power chauvinism. The assaults are mostly outwardly for no reason - they get assaulted because they are Kazakhs." 31/

All of these hate crimes transpired while the genocide was underway. An account by an Omsk kolkhoz worker Drobatenko, 1932:
"Just 10 kilometers away is Kazakhstan. The situation there is "better." There is nothing but bones on the roads... 32/

"and little children are left in yurts. They are being eaten alive by maggots. We traveled 120 kilometers into the land and met only three living people. There are white bones everywhere, all property is abandoned, and no one is left." 33/

Source of all accounts and reports: e-history.kz/index.php/ru/h… 34/

So where did all the livestock taken from the Kazakhs end up? In russia, feeding the populations of Moscow, and other russian cities. It is estimated that 80% of meat consumed by Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1930s came from Kazakhstan. Source: academia.edu/37130542/Ukrai… 35/

This lines up with the genocidal policies implemented in Ukraine. While Ukraine provided the grain to Moscow and St. Petersburg and other russian cities, Kazakhstan provided the meat. 36/

https://twitter.com/maksymeristavi/status/1573712999990398976?s=20&t=199sScr-0-4kJAb_rwgTIA

Other republics of Central Asia were not targeted for genocide. First, Kazakhstan is the only country in Central Asia that borders russia and was of greater priority for russification. Second, the other countries of Central Asia were in a different administration zone. 37/

The old soviet definition of Central Asia includes only Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. The reason for it is pure evil.
russification of Kazakhstan is probably better shown in a graph than explained (imperial and soviet census data for Kazakhstan): 38/

In 2012 the first president of Kazakhstan stated that if it were not for Asharshylyk the current population of ethnic Kazakhs in Kazakhstan would have been 45-50 million. That was ten years ago. There are currently 16 million Kazakhs worldwide. 39/ inform.kz/ru/esli-by-ne-….

So are Asharshylyk or the famine of 1919-1922 in Kazakhstan recognized as genocide by any country? No, neither of them. And the reason is politics. russia becomes extremely aggressive the moment the topic is raised. 40/

Until the early 2000s the discussion of Holodomor was also suppressed to appease russia. However, on November 28, 2006, the Verkhovna Rada passed a decree defining the Holodomor as a deliberate act of genocide. cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust… 41/

The Holodomor has been recognized as genocide by 16 nations. So too will be Asharshylyk one day.

Image: monument to the victims of Asharshylyk in my hometown, Almaty, Kazakhstan. 42/

This thread only scratches the surface of one of the largest multi-year genocides in history which killed 4+ million Kazakhs. The Asharshylyk stage alone took up to 3 million Kazakh lives. tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_new… 43/

Personal note: I see many senseless debates amounting to genocide apologism. No matter which definition you use, Raphael Lemkin's or the UN 1948 Genocide Prevention Convention, in my opinion, it fits both.

Lemkin's: facinghistory.org/resource-libra…

UN 1948: ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl… 44/

There are not many good sources in English covering the genocide of Kazakhs in an attempt to russify Kazakhstan. However, I strongly recommend anyone interested "The Hungry Steppe" by Sarah Cameron. It is the best, yet imperfect, attempt to do justice to the Kazakh people. 45/

The consequences of genocides through famine are not well-researched. However, the Kazakh nation is damaged. I suspect that the birth rates are correlated with the genocide death rates. The heavily affected regions of Kazakhstan have some of the lowest birth rates. 46/

Genocide through famine also has a devastating psychological impact. Again, this is just my claim. However, I hypothesize that it undermines the will of the people for generations. That's why it is one of the most beloved colonial subjugation tools for genocide by russia. 47/

I also have a personal story from my maternal grandmother who was born in the 1920s and survived the 1930s. But I will post it at another date.

For now, this is the end. 48/48