Ümmügülsüm (1899, Novkhani,

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

district – 1944,

Shamakhi Shamakhi (, ) is a city in Azerbaijan and the administrative centre of the Shamakhi District. The city's estimated population was 31,704. It is famous for its traditional dancers, the Shamakhi Dancers, and also for perhaps giving its name to th ...

) was an Azerbaijani

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. She was the sister of Mahammadali Rasulzade, one of the founders of the

Musavat Party The Müsavat Party (, from ''musāwāt'', ) is the oldest existing political party in Azerbaijan. Its history can be divided into three periods: Early Musavat, Musavat-in-exile and New Musavat. The party was prohibited from contesting the 1995 ...

, and the cousin and sister-in-law of

Mahammad Amin Rasulzade Mahammad Amin Akhund Haji Molla Alakbar oghlu Rasulzade (31 January 1884 – 6 March 1955) was an Azerbaijani politician, journalist and the head of the Azerbaijani National Council. He is mainly considered the founder of Azerbaijan Democratic ...

, who served as the head of the Musavat Party and the National Council of the

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (), also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic (; ), was the first secular democracy, democratic republic in the Turkic peoples, Turkic and Muslim worlds. *Tadeusz Swietochowski. ''Russia and Azerbaijan: ...

Life

Ümmügülsüm Abdulaziz's daughter, born in 1899 in the village of Novkhani into a religious family, learned Arabic and Persian languages from her father at home. She began writing poetry in 1908. Her poems and stories were published in newspapers and journals such as "Iqbal", "Yeni Iqbal", "Açıq söz", "Qurtuluş", "Dirilik", "Məktəb", "Qardaş köməyi", "Azərbaycan", and others. In 1914, her stories started being published in the press, and in 1915, her story "Solğun çiçək" received an award in a competition announced by the "Qurtuluş" journal. During the years 1918–1920, in relation to the establishment of the

, she wrote poems such as "Türk ordusuna", "Ey türk oğlu!", "Çəkil, dəf ol!", "Əsgər anasına", "Dərdli nəğmə", "Yurdumuzun qəhrəmanlığına", "Yollarını bəklədim". After the April occupation, she wrote poems "Hicran" and "Bayrağım enərkən". The poem "Bayrağım enərkən" was written in relation to the removal of the Azerbaijani flag from the parliament building on May 3, 1920. These poems were widely circulated among Azerbaijani political emigrants in Turkey during the 1920s and 1930s. After the occupation, she moved with her family to

Khizi Khizi (, ) is the capital of the Khizi District of Azerbaijan. As of 2020, it has a population of 1,600. The city of Khizi is located on the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus mountain range. However, the mountains located in the city are not ...

. In 1937, when her husband, Seyid Hüsein was arrested, Ümmügülsüm was also imprisoned as the wife of an "enemy of the people". Her residence was searched, and her property was confiscated. Her writings were banned during her imprisonment. While in Bayil prison, she wrote a memoir titled "Qala xatirələrim". After being detained for several months in

Bayil Bayil (; also known as Bailov and Bailovo) is a settlement in Baku, Azerbaijan. Geography In March 2000, a major landslide in the Bayil slope destroyed dozens of shops, apartments and gas stations. The slope in later years also experienced few m ...

prison, she was sentenced to 8 years in prison and sent to the

Temlag Temlag (Темла́г), Temnikovsky Corrective Labor Camp (Темниковский исправи́тельно-трудово́й ла́герь), or Temnikovsky ITL (Темниковский ИТЛ) was a camp of the Gulag labor camp system of t ...

labor camp in the

Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic The Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (, ''Mordovskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika''; , ''Mordovskjaj Avtonomnaj Sovetskjaj Socialističeskjaj Respublikaś''; , ''Mordovskoj Avtonomnoj Sovetskoj Socialisti� ...

. In 1943, Ümmügülsüm applied to the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, requesting her release. She was released from prison in April 1944. After living in

for a few days, she was not allowed to reside in the city, so she moved to

. She lived in Shamakhi for a few months and passed away in September 1944 at the age of 45. She was buried in the Shakhendan cemetery.

Family

She was the sister of Mahammadali Rasulzade, one of the founders of the Musavat Party, and the cousin and sister-in-law of

, who served as the head of the Musavat Party and the National Council of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In 1916, she met the writer Seyid Hüseyin during the first performance of

Jalil Mammadguluzadeh Jalil Huseyngulu oghlu Mammadguluzadeh (, ; 22 February 1869 – 4 January 1932), was an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani List of satirists and satires, satirist and writer. He was the founder of Molla Nasraddin (magazine), ''Molla Nasraddin'', a ...

's play "Ölülər" at the Tagiyev's Theater. They later married in 1920. From this marriage, she had one daughter, Gumral Sadigzade, who became a writer, and three sons, Ogtay and Toghrul, who became painters, and the youngest son, Chıghatay, served in the engineering battalion but tragically succumbed to a severe form of tuberculosis due to his work in harsh conditions. He passed away at the age of 24. Ogtay Sadigzade is recognized as the People's Painter of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Memory

Her daughter, Gumral Sadigzade, dedicated a significant portion of her novel "Son mənzili Xəzər oldu" to Ümmügülsüm in the second part of the book. On December 18, 2022, an exhibition titled "Çəmən ayrısı" was opened at the "Baku" Art Gallery dedicated to the memory of Ümmügülsüm Sadigzade.

References

{{Reflist, 2

Links

Heartache of Separation: “Too Many Springs, Too Many Winters”
Letters from the GULAG between Ummugulsum and her children Ogtay, Jighatay, Toghrul and Gumral in AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 14:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 48-53.

in AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 14:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 46-47.

by Ummugulsum Sadigzade, wife of Seyid Husein in AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 14:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 40-45.

in AZER.com, ''Azerbaijan International'', Vol. 14:1 (Spring 2006), pp. 34-39. 1899 births 1944 deaths Victims of the Red Terror in Soviet Russia Soviet poets 20th-century Azerbaijani poets Azerbaijani women