The Issue of the Chechen People’s Deportation in the Contemporary Historiography of Chechnya

Abstract

During the Great Patriotic War, while the fierce military operations were expanding at the Soviet-German front, the Soviet authorities were carefully preparing the deportation of the Soviet Germans, Karachays, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingushes, Balkars and Crimean Tatars. On February 23, 1943, the Chechens and Ingushes were deported. In the Soviet historical science the issue of deportation of the Chechens has not practically been studies for a variety of reasons. First of all, those were ideological ones. That is why the elimination of «the white spots» in Vainakh History Studies is a relevant topic of the contemporary historiography. Not only historians, but also sociologists, political scientists, writers, journalists as well as politicians have been investigating the subject of the Chechen people’s deportation lately. It proves once again a special relevance of the issue irrespective of the chronological remoteness of those years. In particular, for the first time the archival materials on the Chechen people’s deportation have been introduced into the scientific use in the works considering various aspects of such a complex problem. It is obvious that the published memoirs are of great value. A noticeable contribution to the research of the deportation issues was also made by a number of the scientific conferences held in the Chechen Republic as well as in Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria in the last decade of the 21st century. Thus, in recent years some local researchers have done considerable work on studying the deportation, the life in special settlements and the Chechen people’s rehabilitation. Many aspects of this complex problem such as the life in the republic on the eve of the deportation, the deportation process, especially from the mountain areas, the issues of the republic’s autonomy restoration, etc. are in the center of attention of the local scholars. The data collection and study base creation process has been expanding. It will allow the researchers to create substantial integrated works on the deportation of the Chechen people in 1944.