The victims of repression and the rehabilitation of the Jadids: historical memory in the independence years (1991–2002)

Having gained independence in 1991, Uzbekistan set about restoring the memory of the early-20th-century Jadid reformers and of the victims of Soviet political repression. This became one of the central parts of nation-building and of reclaiming national history: writers and public figures whose names had for years gone unmentioned, or who had been condemned as "enemies of the people," were returned to society.

Who the Jadids were

The Jadids were enlightener intellectuals in early-20th-century Turkestan who advocated reform of education, the press and society. One of the movement's founders, Mahmudxoʻja Behbudiy, was killed in 1919. Among the next generation of Jadid writers, Abdurauf Fitrat, the poet Abdulhamid Choʻlpon (born in 1893 in Andijan) and the novelist Abdulla Qodiriy (born in 1894) hold a special place.

1937–1938: the Great Terror

The years of Stalin's "Great Terror" were catastrophic for the generation of the Jadids. Abdulla Qodiriy was arrested on 31 December 1937 as an "enemy of the people." On 4 October 1938, in Tashkent, Qodiriy, Choʻlpon and Fitrat were shot together with a group of eighteen intellectuals in all. That date is remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of Uzbek culture. (Source: Kun.uz; "Abdulla Qodiriy" — open sources.)

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Partial rehabilitation in the Soviet period

Although Soviet authorities partially, and in legal terms, rehabilitated some victims of repression during the "Thaw" of the 1950s–1960s, the works of the Jadid writers returned to the wider reading public mainly in the late 1980s, during glasnost. It was in that period that Choʻlpon too was fully rehabilitated and his works began to be republished. (Source: "Choʻlpon" — open sources.)

Recognition after independence

In the independence years the Jadids were recognised at state level. Abdulla Qodiriy was posthumously awarded the Alisher Navoiy State Prize in 1991 and the Order of Independence (Mustaqillik) in 1994. The names of Jadid figures were given to streets, schools, higher-education institutions and prizes, and their works were included in school and university curricula. (Source: "Abdulla Qodiriy" — open sources.)

The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Repression

By a decree of the first President, Islam Karimov, of 1 May 2001, 31 August each year was designated the "Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Repression." On that day the head of state and the public honour the memory of the victims of repression. (Source: Gazeta.uz; Lex.uz.)

The "Shahidlar xotirasi" memorial complex

On 31 August 2002, in the Yunusobod district of Tashkent, the "Memory of the Victims of Repression" museum was opened within the "Shahidlar xotirasi" (Memory of Martyrs) memorial complex. The complex is dedicated to the memory of those who gave their lives on the path to independence and freedom. (Source: Gazeta.uz; Lex.uz.)

A new stage (2020–2023)

The memorial work rose to a new stage in recent years. On 8 October 2020 a state decision (F-5598) was adopted on additional measures to study more deeply the legacy of the victims of repression and to perpetuate their memory. From 2023, August each year began to be observed as the "Month of Remembrance of the Victims of Repression." (Source: Lex.uz; Gazeta.uz.)

Conclusion

The rehabilitation of the Jadids and the restoration of the memory of the victims of repression are a vivid expression of independent Uzbekistan reclaiming its own national history. This process is studied alongside painful historical events such as the 1916 Turkestan revolt [[turkiston-qozgoloni-1916-mardikor]], collectivisation [[ozbek-kollektivlashtirish-quloqlashtirish-1929-1934]] and the "cotton affair" [[paxta-ishi-tergov-1983-1989]].