Gabriel Arkadyevich Ureklyan (; ; 15 December 1899 – 30 June 1945), better known as El-Registan (), was a

Soviet 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 ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

poet best known for having co-written the lyrics to the

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original ...

along with

Sergey Mikhalkov Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (; 27 August 2009) was a Soviet and Russian author of children's books and satirical fables. He wrote the lyrics for the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, Soviet and National anthem of Russia, Russian national anthe ...

Biography

He was born into an Armenian banker's family in

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, in the

Samarkand Oblast The Samarkand Oblast was an oblast (province) of the Russian Empire between 1887 and 1924. It roughly corresponded to most of present-day central Uzbekistan and northwestern Tajikistan. It was created out of the northeastern part of the Emirate o ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(present-day

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

). His father, Arshak (Russified to Arkadi) Ureklyan, fled to

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

from Ottoman-ruled Armenia in 1890s due to the

Hamidian Massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide a ...

, and subsequently moved to Samarkand. He took the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

side during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and the subsequent Soviet takeover of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Embarking on a career as a reporter and writer, he adopted the nickname El-Registan, which was composed of a part of his first name and the Samarkand's most famous landmark,

Registan The Registan () was the heart of the city of Samarkand of the Timurid Empire, now in Uzbekistan. The name ''Rēgistan'' () means "sandy place" or "desert" in Persian. The Registan was a public square, where people gathered to hear royal procla ...

. He worked in several prominent Central Asian newspapers, including ''

Pravda Vostoka ''Pravda Vostoka'' (, lit. The Truth of the East) is a Russian language newspaper published in Uzbekistan. History and profile The paper was founded in 1917 under the name ''Nasha gazeta'' (, ''Our newspaper''). It was given its current name in ...

'' in

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. He achieved prominence as a talented reporter and was invited to move to Moscow to work for the ''

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

''. From there, he covered the massive Soviet construction and heavy industry-building campaigns and became a prominent propagandist, such as the

White Sea – Baltic Canal White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavelen ...

Uralmash Uralmash is a heavy machine production business of the Russian engineering corporation OMZ. Its facility is located in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and it is reported to employ around 16,500 people. The surrounding residential area where workers li ...

, etc. He also wrote movie scripts and radio plays, and El-Registan is perhaps better known for his script of the Soviet film ''Djulbars'' (1935). Composer

Asya Sultanova Asya Bakhish Sultanova (16 October 1923 – 22 November 2021) was an Azerbaijani composer who is best known for her works for children and her collaboration with singer Muslim Magomayev. Biography Sultanova was born in Baku. Her father was a geol ...

set some of his work to music. After the

Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

in June 1941, El-Registan became a special

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

, frequently traveling to front lines. He attracted the attention of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, and when he submitted his draft of the new Soviet anthem, written in collaboration with

, Stalin personally chose the draft and instructed the authors on the changes to be made. Eventually, it was adopted as the

National Anthem of the Soviet Union The State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original ...

in 1944. He was married to

Valentina Galanina Valentina may refer to: People * Valentina (given name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) * Valentina (wrestler), stage name of Elizabeth Miklosi (born 1983), an American professional wrestler * Valentina (Italian ...

, an actress in Moscow. El-Registan died in Moscow on 30 June 1945 and is buried in the

Novodevichye Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

References

1899 births 1945 deaths Soviet male writers People from Samarkand People from Samarkand Oblast Recipients of the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Soviet Armenians Soviet journalists Male journalists Soviet screenwriters Armenian male poets Uzbekistani people of Armenian descent National anthem writers Soviet male poets Soviet male screenwriters Soviet war correspondents War correspondents of World War II {{Armenia-writer-stub Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery