KHALEL DOSMUKHAMEDOV: DOCTOR, EDUCATOR, AND PRISONER

At that time, thirty people were arrested under Case No. 2370, accused of belonging to the ‘underground counterrevolutionary organization of citizens of Kazakh nationality’. Among them were Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev, one of the leaders of the construction of the Turkestan-Siberian Railroad (Turksib); Alikhan Yermekov, the first Kazakh professor of mathematics; Mukhtar Auezov, who would later become a renowned writer and playwright; and Khalel Dosmukhamedov, who at the time of his arrest was serving as vice-rector of the Kazakh Pedagogical InstituteiFounded in 1928, the Kazakh Pedagogical Institute in Almaty, now known as Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, was and continues to remain a major teacher training university..

These intellectuals were accused under multiple sections of Article 58, the infamous Soviet law used to silence political dissent. They were charged with 'sabotage' (Article 58.7) and 'participation in a counterrevolutionary organization' (Article 58.11), both of which carried severe penalties. Everything connected to their activities within the Alash party and Alash Orda during the early years following the Revolution was revived and used against them.

This is what Khalel Dosmukhamedov wrote from prison in one of his statements to the Collegium of the Joint State Political Directorate (abbreviated in Russian as OGPU), the Soviet Union's secret police agency from 1923 to 1934, after a year of investigation and interrogations:

The story of young Khalel’s coming of age resembles the biographies of many representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia of the early twentieth century. He was born at the end of 1883 in the Taisoigan area of the Ural region, which at that time was part of the Russian EmpireiToday, the Taisoigan area is located in the Atyrau region of Kazakhstan.. He first learned to read and write from a village mullah and later attended a local Russian-Kazakh school. Even at that time, the region’s oil potential was being explored. Russians from the imperial center arrived in Taisoigan in search of oil, and young Khalel was often recruited to serve as their interpreter.

In 1894, at just eleven years of age, Khalel entered the preparatory course of the Military Real School in Uralsk. He completed the full course of study eight years later, graduating with distinction. Rather than immediately leaving for further studies, he chose to remain in Uralsk for an additional year to master Latin, which was a necessary requirement for entry into the prestigious Imperial Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. A year later, in 1903, Khalel successfully passed the Latin exam and was admitted to the academy in the capital.

Khalel’s student years, however, coincided with a turbulent period in the Russian Empire. In January 1905, troops opened fire on a peaceful workers’ demonstration in St. Petersburg, an event that came to be known as Bloody Sunday. This tragedy had far-reaching consequences: it not only shattered public faith in the tsarist regime but also became the catalyst for the revolutions of 1905–07.

Being at the epicenter of political upheaval inevitably influenced the formation of young Dosmukhamedov’s views. At the time, he wrote agitational and national-enlightenment articles for newspapers such as Uralsky Listok and FikriUralsky Listok and Fikr were early twentieth-century newspapers that played important roles in promoting public discourse, national identity, and intellectual thought.. His writings soon drew the attention of the authorities: he was arrested for the first time in 1906 and officially warned by the tsarist police about his ‘illegal’ actions.

An archival document preserves a letter from twenty-one-year-old Khalel, intercepted by the Department for the Protection of Public SecurityiDepartment for the Protection of Public Security, commonly abbreviated as Okhrana, was the secret police force of the Russian Empire, operating from the late nineteenth century until the 1917 Revolution, focused on suppressing political dissent and monitoring revolutionary activities. The two years before his arrest in 1904. Dosmukhamedov was already under surveillance then. The letter was addressed to his friend and future Alash Orda member, Gubaidolla BerdiyeviGubaidolla Berdiyev was one of the first Kazakh veterinarians., who was studying at the Kazan Veterinary Institute.

In his letter, Dosmukhamedov describes his ‘enchanting impressions’ from visiting his native auliThe word aul means ‘village’ in Kazakh, and typically encompasses 100–200 yurts. and shares his thoughts on how more and more Kazakhs are receiving higher education, which means, he writes:

… these people are capable of labor and progress, and perhaps one day this country will take an honorable place among the nations of the world; perhaps it may even become a second Japan …”

He goes on to write about the oppression of the Kazakh people under colonial rule and what could—and should—be done to change it.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, epidemics of plague, typhus, and other bacterial infections were sweeping through much of the world. Penicillin, the first true antibiotic, would not be discovered until 1928, and it would take more than a decade—in the 1940s—for it to come into widespread medical use for treating infectious diseases. These conditions were just as relevant in the Kazakh steppe, and that is why, even while still a student at the Military Medical Academy, Khalel began to put his medical training into practice:

After graduating from the academy in 1909 with honors in medicine, Dosmukhamedov was assigned as a medical officer, first to the Second Turkestan Battalion and later to the Second Ural Battalion. Four years later, he was discharged from military service and appointed as a district doctor in the Temir uezdiAn uezd was an administrative district, a subdivision of a guberniya (province), in the Russian Empire and early Soviet Union..

At that time, medical care in Kazakhstan was extremely underdeveloped. There was a shortage of doctors and a lack of knowledge about basic sanitary and epidemiological principles. All of this contributed to outbreaks of plague among the Kazakhs in 1912–13 and again in 1915. As a physician, Dosmukhamedov took part in combating these epidemics but he understood at a deep level that treatment for these diseases alone was not enough—education was just as essential.

Therefore, in 1916, he published a brochure titled ‘How to Fight the Plague Among the Kirgiz Population’ (at the time, the Kazakhs were officially called Kirgizs), which contained a detailed description of all the sanitary and epidemiological measures he thought necessary. In 1924, his recommendations were published again in the form of a full-length book.

At the same time, Dosmukhamedov continued writing for the Fikr and Uralsky Listok newspapers; only now his writing focussed on medical topics, including articles on infections and methods of prevention rather than political issues. When Akhmet Baitursynuly and Mijaqyp Dulatuly, influential early twentieth-century Kazakh intellectuals, educators, and leaders of the Alash movement, launched the Qazaq newspaper, he began to write for that publication as well. Through this work, he became closely acquainted with the future leaders of the Alash movement, a connection that would only deepen after the 1917 Revolution.

Popular science publications on medical topics were not the only expression of Dosmukhamedov’s civic engagement. He also took part in meetings and discussions about the future of the Kazakh people. Together with other like-minded individuals—many of whom had formed a core group after the 1905 Revolution—he became a member of the Alash party.

In December 1917, Dosmukhamedov was elected chairman of the Second All-Kazakh Congress in Orenburg. This was a historic event where the delegates voted to proclaim the autonomy of the Alash Orda. Dosmukhamedov voted in favor of the resolution, aligning himself with the movement for national self-determination. Later, the Soviet government would remember these events—though for a time it pretended to have forgiven them, as the country was in desperate need of qualified specialists like him.

In the spring of 1918, Khalel Dosmukhamedov, along with his namesake—though not a blood relative—Zhakhansha, traveled to Moscow for negotiations with Lenin and Stalin. Afterwards, both of them became co-leaders of the Provisional Kyrgyz Government of the Uil Region of the Alash Orda.

That same year, he was appointed as one of the four leaders of the Western Branch of the Alash Orda. But any hopes for genuine autonomy ended up being short-lived. By 1920, it had become clear that autonomy would not be realized. All existing autonomous governments were dissolved, and the remaining valuable specialists were reassigned to places where they were needed most. For example, Khalel Dosmukhamedov was appointed to several medical positions in Tashkent. A year later, he became the chairman of the Kazakh (Kyrgyz) Scientific Commission under the State Scientific Council of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the Turkestan Republic. This became a new chapter in his life, one that he would later be reminded of during future investigations.

After Khalel Dosmukhamedov was appointed chairman of the Scientific Commission, he worked to convince the State Scientific Council of the importance of publishing an educational periodical not only in RussianiAt the time, the journal Science and Education was already in publication. but also in Kazakh. Despite the severe hardships of the famine years, his persistence paid off. The proposal was approved, marking an important step in promoting education and science in the Kazakh language.

The magazine Sana was, in essence, the first popular science publication in the Kazakh language and the culmination of Khalel Dosmukhamedov’s twenty years of educational work. It is no surprise that he became the editor of this publication. In the first issue of Sana, published in January 1923, he wrote:

This issue featured popular science articles, literary and artistic news, research papers, zhyr (narrative or declamatory songs), poetry, and historical-ethnographic notes on the traditional children’s games of the steppe peoples.

The original plans for the magazine Sana were as follows: a print run of 2,000 copies, eight printed sheets per issue, and four issues per year. In the end, however, only two issues were published.

Khalel Dosmukhamedov was not only the editor of the magazine but also one of the main contributors to the magazine. Among the other contributors were at least twenty individuals, many of whom were well-known figures, including: Sanjar Asfendiyarov, who at the time was serving as People’s Commissar of Health of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR); Mukhtar Auezov, the future writer and playwright; Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev, then head of the Water Management Department of the Turkestan Regional People’s Commissariat for Land in Tashkent; Oraz Zhandosov, who was then still a student; Magzhan Zhumabayev, who was a poet, publicist, and educator; Akkagaz Doszhanova, one of the first female Kazakh doctors; Turar Ryskulov, who at that time was chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars (CPC) of the Turkestan ASSR; and the namesake of the editor-in-chief, the lawyer Zhakhansha Dosmukhamedov.

Many contributors wrote under pseudonyms, a common practice at the time to avoid unwanted attention from the authorities. This precaution proved crucial because eight years later, when he was being interrogated, Khalel Dosmukhamedov was able to protect his colleagues by keeping their real identities undisclosed.

After their arrest in 1930, each of the suspects in Case No. 2370 (‘The underground counterrevolutionary organization of citizens of Kazakh nationality’) repeatedly gave testimony under pressure, explaining or justifying their actions from previous years. A separate interrogation on 4 May 1931 was ‘dedicated’ to the creation and operation of the journal Sana. And this is what Khalel Dosmukhamedov said in his testimony to the Joint State Political Directorate (abbreviated as OGPU) investigator:

From 1922 to 1924, Khalel Dosmukhamedov, like many representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia and former members of Alash Orda, lived and worked in Tashkent. According to the testimony of some of the defendants in Case No.

2370, during that period, he would gather them in his home. One of the main topics of discussion was the revival of Alash activities. In his later statements, Dosmukhamedov admitted to some of the charges, while denying others:

In April 1932, Khalel Dosmukhamedov, along with other members of the Alash Orda, was sentenced by the court to five years in a labor camp, with the sentence later converted to a longer term at a partial restriction location, abbreviated as PChOiThis is from an excerpt from Protocol No. 111-K of the meeting of the OGPU Special Council dated 20 April 1932..

After the sentence, Dosmukhamedov, along with his family, was exiled to Voronezh in southwestern Russia. In 1933, he contracted severe pulmonary tuberculosis, but despite his illness, he remained the sole breadwinner of the family. Two of his children also suffered from tuberculosis and tuberculin intoxication.

Hoping for mercy, Dosmukhamedov petitioned the OGPU Collegium of the USSR for release or at least mitigation of his sentence. In a letter to them, he wrote:

His sentence was not reduced; in fact, even after doctors had confirmed his diagnosis, Khalel Dosmukhamedov was still required to continue working within Voronezh’s healthcare system.

In 1938, during a new wave of repressions, Khalel was arrested once again under Article 58 of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR) Criminal Code, and one year later, he was sentenced to execution. However, he did not live to see the sentence carried out—the former editor of the first Kazakh popular science magazine, Sana, died of tuberculosis in a prison hospital in Almaty.

Twenty years later, in February 1958, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR overturned the verdict of the military tribunal of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs’ (abbreviated as NKVD) troops of the Kazakh SSR regarding Khalel Dosmukhamedov. The case was dismissed for lack of a crime, and a certificate of rehabilitation was sent to his wife Katira Dosmukhamedova.

In the fifty-six years of his life, Khalel Dosmukhamedov not only actively participated in profound historical events and the lives of his people, but also made significant contributions as a physician, author of popular science works, and educator. In addition, he studied the history of Isatay Taimanov’s popular uprising. He was a literary scholar and ethnographer, comparing folklore traditions with historical and ethnographic data. His main achievement in this field was the essay ‘Literature of the Kazakh People’, which was published in 1928.

He also authored the first textbooks on natural sciences in his native language and ‘… provided the first 466 equivalents of anatomical terms in Kazakh’iХабижанов Б. Лечебное дело… // Ағартушы Халел. Алматы, 2004. С. 82. This remains just one facet of Dosmukhamedov’s professional legacy.

In a 1904 letter to his friend Gubaidolla Berdiyev, which was intercepted by the Department for the Protection of Public Security, Khalel Dosmukhamedov wrote lines full of reflection on the events around him: