Salavdi Gugaev (Салавди Гугаев; 1917–2010) was a Chechen-American who worked for the rehabilitation of

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

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 ...

who were exiled to Central Asia in an act of

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

. Salavadi was initially a Soviet soldier who was captured by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, he had to spend a prolonged period of time in a

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

Life as an activist

After being released from the POW camp, Salavdi moved to the United States, where he began to periodically publish and appear on the air of the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

and

Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

stations, trying to draw the attention of the free world and heads of democratic states to the persecution for Stalin regime. The most significant contribution that Gugaev made to the rehabilitation of the peoples repressed in the USSR was his appeal to the United Nations on 1 July 1955, on the eve of the arrival of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

at the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

. The document revealed the essence of the Stalinist actions (including the wholesale deportations of all ethnic Chechens and Ingush,

Kalmyks Kalmyks (), archaically anglicised as Calmucks (), are the only Mongolic ethnic group living in Europe, residing in the easternmost part of the European Plain. This dry steppe area, west of the lower Volga River, known among the nomads as ...

Balkars Balkars ( or аланла, romanized: alanla or таулула, , 'mountaineers') are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular nation, titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-B ...

, and

Karachays The Karachays or Karachais ( or ) are a North Caucasian- Turkic ethnic group primarily located in their ancestral lands in Karachay–Cherkess Republic, a republic of Russia in the North Caucasus. They and the Balkars share a common orig ...

to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Siberia), citing facts, figures, and eyewitness accounts; an employee of the UN apparatus helped to deliver the message to the addressee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gugaev, Salavadi 1917 births Chechen anti-communists North Caucasian independence activists American people of Chechen descent American activists 2010 deaths Soviet emigrants to the United States Soviet prisoners of war