# ALZhIR

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{{Short description|Gulag labor camp}}
{{expand Russian|date=October 2023}}
{{coord|51.078220|N|70.971676|E|display=title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
thumb|Memorial on the site of the ALZhIR
'''ALZhIR''', the '''Akmolinsk Camp of Wives of Traitors to the Motherland''' ({{Langx|ru|Акмолинский лагерь жён изменников Родины, АЛЖИР|Akmolinskiy lager' zhon izmennikov Rodiny, ALZhIR}}), was a colloquial name for the 17th special female camp detachment of the   [Karlag](/source/Karlag), Karaganda [labor camp](/source/labor_camp) of the [Gulag](/source/Gulag) in the [Akmola Region](/source/Akmola_Region) of [Kazakhstan](/source/Kazakhstan). The name comes from the fact that the majority of the inmates were the [ChSIR: members of the families of traitors to the Motherland](/source/Family_members_of_a_traitor_to_the_Motherland) after [NKVD](/source/NKVD) Order 00486 of 15 August 1937. Over 18,000 women spent some time in the camp during its existence, and about 8,000 women served a full sentence there,<ref name=mu>[https://museum-alzhir.kz/ru/o-muzee/istoriya-lagerya-alzhir История лагеря «АЛЖИР»]</ref> of which 4,500 were ChSIR.{{cn|date=April 2024}} The name was an ironical joke of the inmates,<ref name=mu/> because "Алжир" means "[Algeria](/source/Algeria)" in Russian.

It was established in August 1937 by the village of Malinovka (now {{ill|Tonkeris|ru|Тонкерис (Целиноградский район)}}) southwest of Akmola (now [Astana](/source/Astana)). Its total area was 30,000 [hectare](/source/hectare)s. It was closed in the beginning of 1950<ref name=kane>''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'', [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kazakhstan_National_encyclopedia_(ru)_-_Vol_1_of_5_(2004).pdf&page=178 p. 178]</ref>

Today, the camp houses a museum-memorial complex of victims of political repression and totalitarianism, which opened on 31 May 2007 as part of an initiative of President [Nursultan Nazarbayev](/source/Nursultan_Nazarbayev).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://voicesoncentralasia.org/alzhir-a-place-of-remembrance/|title = ALZHIR – A Place of Remembrance|date = 31 January 2020}}</ref> After the closure of the prisons in 1953, it was reported that 1,507 of the women gave birth as a result of being raped by the guards.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav080609.shtml|title= The forgotten women of the Gulag|first1= Joanna|last1= Lills|first2= David|last2= Trilling|work= Eurasianet|date= 6 August 2009|accessdate= 3 July 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170617122443/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav080609.shtml|archive-date= 17 June 2017|url-status= dead}}</ref>

Several hundred of the women were ethnic Koreans, part of the [Koryo-saram](/source/Koryo-saram) community of Central Asia. There is a monument to these women, with text written in Korean and Cyrillic, at the location.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-18 |title=[이남철 여행기]카자흐스탄 알지르 수용소의 고려인 추모비 |url=https://www.dbanews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=46423 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=동북아신문 |language=ko}}</ref>

==Notable inmates==
*Sister of Marshal [Tukhachevsky](/source/Tukhachevsky), wife and daughter of [Avel Enukidze](/source/Avel_Enukidze), wives of [Saken Seifullin](/source/Saken_Seifullin), {{ill|Beimbet Mailin|ru|Майлин, Беимбет Жармагамбетович}} and of many other notable [Kazakhs](/source/Kazakh_people).<ref name=kane/>
*[Rachel Messerer](/source/Rachel_Messerer), actress, wife of executed diplomat [Mikhail Plisetski](/source/Mikhail_Plisetski), mother of famous ballet dancer [Maya Plisetskaya](/source/Maya_Plisetskaya)
*[Shukriyya Akhundzada](/source/Shukriyya_Akhundzada) (1902-1993), wife of Azerbaijani poet [Ahmad Javad](/source/Ahmad_Javad), who penned the lyrics to the [Azerbaijan National Anthem](/source/Azerbaijan_National_Anthem) but who was executed in 1937.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Raikhan Satymbekova, [https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/satymbekova_raikhan.pdf The Gulag Camp "ALZHIR": Memorialization practices]
==External links==
* [https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alzhir Article at Atlas Obscure]

Category:Camps of the Gulag
Category:1937 establishments in the Soviet Union
Category:1950 disestablishments in the Soviet Union

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [ALZhIR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALZhIR) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALZhIR?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.