Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli
Encyclopedia
Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli, , sometimes spelled Chemenzeminli, born Yusif Mirbaba oghlu Vazirov (12 September 1887, Shusha
Shusha
Shusha , also known as Shushi is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
– 3 January 1943, in a GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
political labor camp in Sukhobezvodnoye near Nishny Novgorod, [Gorky, during Soviet period) Russia.
Chamanzaminli was an Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
i writer and statesman remembered for his novels, short stories, essays, and diaries. Research shows that Chamanzaminli was the core author of the novel "Ali and Nino," which was published under the pseudonym Kurban Said. "Ali and Nino" is currently published in more than 30 languages. See covers.
.
Authorship of Ali and Nino
Extensive research (six years - begun in 2004) by Azerbaijan International magazine into the authorship of the novel Ali and NinoAzerbaijan International
Azerbaijan International is an independent magazine committed to the discussion of issues related to Azerbaijanis around the world. It was established in 1993 shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union when Azerbaijan gained its independence. Since then, it has been published quarterly in...
, which was published under the pseudonym Kurban Said, points to the following conclusions:
(1) The core author of the novel "Ali and Nino" is Azerbaijani writer and statesman Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli (1887–1943).
(2) The fingerprints of Lev Nussimbaum
Lev Nussimbaum
Lev Nussimbaum was a writer and journalist, a Jew, born in Kiev, who spent his childhood in Baku before fleeing the Bolsheviks in 1920 at the age of 14...
(1905–1942), who wrote under the penname of Essad Bey, can be traced to folkloric and legendary material (although much of it is neither culturally or ethnically reliable).
(3) Essad Bey took materials about Tbilisi and Persia directly from Georgian writer Grigol Robakidze
Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery!
Ali and Nino – Literary Robbery! is a book of literary criticism written by author, researcher and professor of Georgian language and literature - Tamar Injia...
(1882–1962) ("Das Schlangenhemd," Snake Slough, 1928). Our research shows that Essad Bey personally knew Robakidze.
(4) Austrian Baroness Elfriede Ehrenfels (1894–1982) registered the work with German authorities, claiming that the pseudonym Kurban Said
Kurban Said
Kurban Said .Kurban Said is the pseudonym for the author of Ali and Nino, a novel originally published in 1937 in the German language by the Austrian publisher, E.P. Tal...
belonged to her, though evidence of her involvement in the actual writing of the novel has yet to be proven.
Pen names
Chamanzaminli is one of Yusif Vazirov's pennames. He adopted it in remembrance of the kindness of three brothers from a small remote village in Iran called "Chaman Zamin" which means "green or verdant meadow". In desperation, the brothers had come north to Shusha to escape the terrible drought in the Tabriz region of Iran at the end of 19th century. Vazirov's father had provided them with a place to stay. In turn, after he died and Yusif himself fell desperately ill with typhoid in 1906, the brothers came to his rescue. That's when Vazirov made a vow that if he ever became a writer that he would adopt the name of their village in gratitude.Vazirov began using the Chamanzaminli penname at least as early as 1911 in his literary works. When Vazirov returned to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1926, he again took up the name—this time as "Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli".
However, literary works that are kept at the Baku Institute of Manuscripts show that Yusif Vazirov used at least 15 different pseudonyms to protect his identity starting as early as 1904 when he was only 17 years old. Often the names he chose hold symbolic meaning, such as "Badbakht" (Unlucky One), "Hagg Tarafdari" (Protector of Justice), "Musavi" (Equality), "Stradayushiy" (Sufferer), "Sarsam," (Crazy One).
In 1907, Vazirov, 20, wrote a Letter to the Editor of the famous satiric magazine "Molla Nasraddin" attacking the Muslim clergy in his hometown of Shusha. As a result, he received death threats. In his diaries, Vazirov acknowledges how foolish he was not to have used a pseudonym.
Life and career
Chamanzaminli was born the second son of seven children to Mirbaba Mirabdulla oghlu (died 1906) Vazirov and Seyid Aziza Seyid Husin gizi (died 1910) in the town of Shusha, which was then part of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. His father was a mugham
Mugham
Mugam also known as Azerbaijani Mugham is one of the many folk musical compositions from Azerbaijan, contrast with Tasnif, Ashugs. Mugam draws on Iranian-Arabic-Turkish Maqam....
teacher and a connoisseur of literature, who spoke Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
and had travelled considerably throughout the region.
After graduating from the primary school of Blindman Khalifa in 1895, Chamanzaminli pursued his studies at the Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
of Shusha. But then, the Armenian-Azerbaijani civil war broke out (1905–1906) and his family fled Shusha. As his father had just died, his mother, younger brother and sisters settled in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan, to be closer to relatives. Vazirov managed to get a meagre stipend with a few other students from Shusha to finish his education (1906–1909) at Realni High School in Baku
Baku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
. He published his first work in the local Azeri-language periodicals Sada and Molla Nasraddin
Molla Nasraddin (magazine)
Molla Nasraddin was an eight-page Azerbaijani satirical periodical published in Tiflis , Tabriz and Baku in the Azeri and occasionally Russian languages...
. It was in the summer of 1907 when Yusif Vazirov went to visit his mother in Ashgabad that he met Berta Maiseyeva, a Third Year Student at Ashgabad Gymnasium. She seems to be the prototype for the character of "Nino" in the novel "Ali and Nino," eventually published in 1937 in Vienna. In fact, many of the historical references in the novel can be traced back to the period of time when Vazirov was a high school student in Baku, as revealed in his diaries.
In 1909, Chamanzaminli left for St. Petersburg to enroll in St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Construction Institute for Civil Engineers but having realized that he would not pass the placement test in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, since he was weak in math and hated it, Chamanzaminli withdrew his application. While in St. Petersburg, he wrote Jannatin gabzi ("A Pass to Heaven").
In 1910 Chamanzaminli was admitted to the St. Vladimir University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
to study law. When World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out, the students and staff of the university were transferred to Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
(Volga region
Volga economic region
Volga economic region tr.: Povolzhsky ekonomichesky rayon) is one of twelve economic regions of Russia.-Composition:*Astrakhan Oblast*Republic of Kalmykia*Penza Oblast*Samara Oblast*Saratov Oblast*Republic of Tatarstan*Ulyanovsk Oblast...
of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
), where Chamanzaminli graduated in 1915. For a while he worked at the judiciary chamber of Saratov and later travelled to Galicia (Eastern Europe). There, reflecting on the February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
in Russia, he began Studentlar ("Students") and "In the Year 1917".
In late 1917, he returned to Kiev to establish an Azerbaijani cultural association. In 1918 he was appointed to represent the newly-established Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
in the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
but there was so much political unrest and turmoil in the region, he was not able to establish an office there. He then moved to Simferopol
Simferopol
-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...
, Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
where he worked for a while as a judiciary advisor.
There he published his research work Lithuanian Tatars dedicated to the history and culture of Lipka Tatars
Lipka Tatars
The Lipka Tatars are a group of Tatars who originally settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of 14th century. The first settlers tried to preserve their shamanistic religion and sought asylum amongst the non-Christian Lithuanians...
. At the same time, he popularized Azeri culture by publishing related articles, especially about literature, in the local newspapers. Then in 1919, he was appointed to open the Azerbaijan Embassy in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Turkey. He managed only to set it up only briefly for a few months before the Bolsheviks took control of Baku, leaving him without job, salary, guidance as to what to do—essentially, without a country.
Vazirov wrote at least two books that were published while he was in Turkey: (1) "A Survey of Azerbaijani Literature" (1921), and (2) "The History, Geography and Economy of Azerbaijan" (1921). Vazirov then left for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to join his younger brother Mir Abdulla, who was studying at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
and from which he graduated in 1925.
In Paris where thousands of emigrés had fled in desperation after the collapse of the Russian Empire, Vazirov was unable to find a job in his field. He tried to get a job driving a taxicab but twice failed the exam. He eventually managed to get a job working in an automobile locomotive factory in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine
Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine
-Administration:The canton covers a part of the commune; the other is in the northern part of Levallois-Perret-Twinnings: Heidenheim, Germany, since 1959 Sankt Pölten, Austria, since 1968 Santo Tirso, Portugal, since 1991 Rubí, Spain, since 2005 Southwark, United Kingdom, since 2005Clichy has also...
. He also wrote for a local publication, entitled Les lettres orientales ("Eastern Letters").
Return to Soviet Baku
After Miri's quite unexpected death, Vazirov saw little reason to continue living in Europe. He blamed Miri's death on poverty since they had not had enough money for medical care. Vazirov wrote Stalin: "Miri's death left me with no reason not to return to Azerbaijan. I promised myself to defend the new Azerbaijan by embracing education and culture with all my strength. For me, Motherland is like a long-awaited shore after a turbulent voyage at sea."Vazirov resolved, despite serious danger, to try to return to his Homeland and work for the strength of the Azerbaijani people. Vazirov applied for permission to return to Azerbaijan SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....
from Musabeyov who sought permission from Sergey Kirov
Sergey Kirov
Sergei Mironovich Kirov , born Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, was a prominent early Bolshevik leader in the Soviet Union. Kirov rose through the Communist Party ranks to become head of the Party organization in Leningrad...
for Vazirov's return. Permission was granted in late 1925 and Vazirov returned to Baku in the spring of 1926.
Upon his return, he taught languages at Azerbaijani colleges and translated various works of Russian writers
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
into Azeri
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
. In literary circles, he wrote several novels and became known by his penname Chamanzaminli. He took part in compiling the first Russian-Azeri Dictionary (1934).
Stalin's Repressions - 1937
In 1937, one of the most notorious years of Stalin's purges, there was an enormous effort on the part of Azerbaijan Writers' Union (as well as other Soviet entities) to "purge the ranks." Vazirov was among the 20 or so writers targeted. He tried to defend himself, claiming that he had been one of the most courageous writers fighting against religious abuse during the pre-Soviet days. At the Third Plenum of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union (March 1937), Chairman Seyfulla Shamilov criticized a list of Azerbaijani writers including Vazirov. On June 9, 1937, at least seven articles appeared in the newspaper Adabiyyat, accusing him of being a counter-revolutionary. He was criticized for introducing counter-revolutionary ideas in his antagonist characters, especially in his novels "Students" and "Maiden Spring."Realizing the danger he was in, Chamanzaminli burned a large collection of his manuscripts. He was stripped of his membership in Azerbaijan's Writers' Union in 1937, which greatly paralyzed his efforts to gain any employment in his field.
Eager and willing to work and support his wife Bilgeyiz Ajalova and three children (Orkhan, 1928–2010), Fikrat (1929–2004) and Gulara (who was probably born around 1932 and who died shortly after World War II), he wrote a letter to Mir Jafar Baghirov
Mir Jafar Baghirov
Mir Jafar Baghirov Abbas oglu was the communist leader of Azerbaijan SSR from 1932 till 1953, under the Soviet leadership of Joseph Stalin.-Early life:Born in Quba of Baku Governorate in 1896, Baghirov studied pedagogy in Petrovsk....
, First Secretary of the Communist Party. A few weeks later, realizing that no answer was forthcoming, in desperation, Chamanzaminli wrote Stalin himself, providing a review of his literary career up to that point in his life. No answer came from Stalin and so he made trips to Ashgabad and 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...
in a desperate attempt to find work but none was to be found. Returning late one night to Baku, he went underground, and remained hidden away for months in his apartment - while neighbors thought he was still in Moscow. At that time he wrote one of his most important novels - "Between Two Worlds" (meaning Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
). The novel was never published during his lifetime.
Finally, he gained a position as a teacher of the Russian language in Urganj, Uzbekistan in 1938.
Death in the GULAG - Stalin's Political Prison Camps
But authorities eventually managed to track Vazirov down in Urganj in 1940 and they arrested him. He was brought back to Baku for a drawn-out interrogation that lasted six months. Chamanzaminli learned that Bakir Chobanzade, a Crimean Tatar poet, had implicated him. Clearly from photos, it can be seen that Vazirov was tortured during his interrogation period. None of his family members were allowed to visit him during this time but transcripts of the "interrogations" show that he never admitted to the Soviet government's false accusations, nor did he implicate any fellow Azerbaijanis in an attempt to get his own sentence reduced. Condemned on fabricated charges, Vazirov was sentenced to eight years at one of the GULAGGulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
political prisoner camps at Sukhobezvodnaya near Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. Population: The oblast is crossed by the Volga River. Apart from Nizhny Novgorod's metropolitan area, the biggest city is Arzamas...
, Russia. He died of malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
, disease, and - no doubt - heart break, three years after his arrest in January 1943.
Literary works
- Core author of Ali and Nino (Vienna, E.P. Tal, 1937).
- Novel: Maiden Spring, novel (Baku: Azerneshr, 1934)
- Novel: Studentlar (Students), 1934
- Novel: Between Two Fires (known as "In Blood" during the Soviet Years), published posthumously, 1968
- Collected Essays: "If We Want our Independence" (Baku: Ganjlik, 1994)
- Collected Essays: "Who are We?" (Baku: Nurlan, 2004)
- Diaries, Minutes for Myself, Letters, etc: (Baku, Nurlan, 2004)
- Satires (Hadaran-Padaran) (Baku: Nurlan, 2004)
- Folk tale: "Malikmammad" (Baku, Kaspiy, 1911)
External links
- "Frequently Asked Questions about the Authorship of Ali and Nino," in Azerbaijan international, Vol. 15:2-4, pp. 52–137.
- "101 Reasons Why Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli is the Core Author of Ali and Nino," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 15:2-4, pp. 262–333.
- "Essad Bey as Core Author of Ali and Nino: Seven Reasons Why It Just Ain't So," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 15:2-4 (2011), pp. 182–217.
- What People Are Saying about the Research of Azerbaijan International about the Authorship of "Ali and Nino".