https://history-philosophy-vestnik.buketov.edu.kz/index.php/history-philosophy-vestnik/article/view/1677/948
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the life and work of Hasan Oraltay, a central figure in the twentieth-century Kazakh diaspora and the foundational historian of its anti-Soviet, anti-communist intellec-tual tradition. This study addresses the key question of how, under the rigid ideological control and censor-ship of the Soviet regime, an alternative historical narrative for the Kazakh people was constructed and effec-tively disseminated.The key issues investigated include the systematic distortion of Kazakh history by offi-cial Soviet historiography, the suppression of the history of Kazakhs outside the USSR, and the role of the di-aspora in preserving national consciousness. This research conducts a systematic analysis of H.Oraltay’s ma-jor published works, declassified archival documents from his personal collection, and the broadcast records of Radio Azattyq (RFE/RL). The central thesis argues that Hasan Oraltay was not merely a publicist,but the principal architect of the Kazakh diaspora’s historiography. His work is presented as a deliberate, strategic project to build a counter-narrative founded on three pillars: first, the transformation of the collective trauma of the Great Kazakh Exodus into a heroic epic of a struggle for freedom; second, the restoration of historical continuity by linking the mid-century national liberation struggle to the state-building legacy of the Alash movement; and third, the masterful use of Cold War media, specifically Radio Azattyq, to broadcast this nar-rative into Soviet Kazakhstan. The article concludes that H.Oraltay, acting as an “intellectual warrior”, suc-cessfully forged and propagated a coherent alternative vision of the Kazakh past, which played a crucial role in preserving historical memory for the diaspora and nurturing the national consciousness that underpinned Kazakhstan’s post-1991 intellectual revival.
Authors: B.B. Aktailak, Zh.S. Begimbayeva, O.D. Tabyldiyeva, Z.Sh. Aitkenov
Language: English
Topic: Soviet and Russian History
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7091384660
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