Hasan Israilov ( / ; ''Khasan Israilov''; 1910 – December 29, 1944) was a Chechen nationalist,

guerrilla fighter Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

, journalist, and poet who led Chechen and

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language, Northeast Caucasian language * Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus See also *Ingushetia (disambiguation) Ingushetia is a federal republic and subject of Russia. Ingushetia may also refer ...

resistance and a rebellion against the Soviet Union from 1940 until his death in 1944. Israilov is regarded as one of the most influential Chechen resistance leaders during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and he is considered by many Chechens to be a national hero. His name is also sometimes transliterated to Latin alphabet as Hassan Izrailov.

Early life

Israilov was born in 1910 in the village of Galanchozh,

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

, as the youngest of six brothers. He was from the

Terloy The Terloy (also Terlo, Teroy) (Chechen: ТIерлой, ТIерой) is a Chechens, Chechen teip. The exact population of the teip is not known, however it is estimated to be around 30,000 people. Terloy speak in the Itum-Kali dialect of the Ch ...

teip. He finished secondary school in

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

in 1929.Dunlop, John B. ''Chechnya Confronts Russia''. Page 57 He joined

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, the youth wing of the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

in 1919. Graduating from a communist secondary school in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

in 1929, Israilov entered the ranks of the Communist Party, and in 1933 he was sent to Moscow's

Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (, KUTV; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training school for important communist political leaders. The school operated under the umbrella of the Communist Internatio ...

. As a student Israilov wrote plays and poetry, and he became a correspondent for the Moscow newspaper ''Krestianskaia Gazeta (Farmer's Newspaper)''. A couple of his articles attacked the Soviet policy in the Checheno-Ingushetia, which he described as "plundering Chechnya by the Party leadership". Although he instantly became popular with his peers, the Soviet leadership arrested him swiftly at the age of 19, on charges of "counterrevolutionary slander", and was sentenced to ten years in prison after he had written an editorial accusing certain Party officials of "looting and corruption", but after two years Israilov was released, rehabilitated, and allowed to return to his university after several of the Party members Israilov had accused were charged with corruption. Returning to Moscow, Israilov met with other Chechen and Ingush students, including Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov and his elder brother Hussein, and they came to the conviction that a continuation of Soviet policy toward Chechen and

Ingush Autonomous Oblast Ingush Autonomous ''Oblast'' (, ) was an autonomous ''oblast'' of the Russian SFSR in the Soviet Union, created on 7 July 1924. Since 16 October 1924 it belonged to North Caucasus Krai North Caucasus Krai (, ''Severo-Kavkazskiy kray'') was an ...

s would inevitably lead to popular uprisings. In 1935, Israilov once again fell into legal troubles when his signature was found on a student petition critical of Soviet policy in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

, and he was sentenced to five years'

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. Israilov was released early in 1939 and he returned to Chechnya to work as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in Shatoy.

Rebel leader

In 1940, after hearing of Finland's resistance against Soviet aggression, Israilov and his brother Hussein organized and led the 1940–1944 insurgency in Chechnya, during which he presided over the Provisional Popular Revolutionary Government of Checheno-Ingushetia. In February 1944, Israilov had managed to elude the Soviet deportation of all Chechens and Ingushes, although his entire family had been either deported or executed outright, and he was rendered extremely vulnerable to capture. Although forced confessions from colleagues led the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

to many of Israilov's weapons and equipment, he eluded arrest for the next ten months hiding from cave to cave as a fugitive, burdened by the weight of the deportation of his people. In a top secret communication among Soviet officers, it was reported that Israilov had been killed, his corpse photographed and identified on December 29, 1944. Soviet security forces would continue to hunt the remnants of the Chechen guerrilla opposition in the North Caucasus until 1953.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israilov, Hasan 1910 births 1944 deaths Chechen guerrillas killed in action Chechen journalists Chechen nationalists Chechen partisans in World War II Chechen poets 20th-century poets Chechen anti-communists Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni North Caucasian independence activists Soviet journalists Muslims from the Russian Empire