İsmail Firdevs

İsmail Kerim oğlu Kerimcanov ( – 27 October 1937), better known under the adopted pseudonym of Firdevs, was a Crimean Tatar Bolshevik revolutionary and compatriot of Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev.

Early life and career İsmail Kerim oğlu Kerimcanov was born in the city of Simferopol, in Crimea, into a family of merchants. At the age of 7, he became an orphan. He graduated with honours from the Simferopol Tatar Teaching Academy in 1906, and became an educator, working in Simferopol, Alushta, and . In his status as an educator, he became a popular tutor for aristocrats' children. Firdevs was self-taught in German, French, and Turkish, and additionally understood some Italian and Latin. He adopted the pseudonym 'Firdevs' from the Arabic word for paradise, in reference to what was regarded by those he tutored as his peaceful, paradise-like demeanor. In 1917, he became a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party,

From 1926 to 1929, Firdevs worked as an inspector to the North Caucasian Department of People's Education, based in Rostov-on-Don.

In 1929, Firdevs was arrested and charged with involvement in a nationalist, pan-Turkic, and pan-Islamic organisation. He was removed from the All-Union Communist Party and sent to Solovki prison camp, where he shared a cell with Sultan-Galiev and , another disgraced Crimean Tatar Bolshevik and supporter of Crimean Tatar expression. Deren-Ayırlı condemned national communism and his two cellmates. In 1930, Firdevs was sentenced to death, but his sentence was changed to ten years of hard labour on 8 January 1931.

Death After prolonged time at Solovki, Firdevs, Sultan-Galiev, and Deren-Ayırlı all condemned their previous political activities. Sultan-Galiev was released in 1934, and Deren-Ayırlı in 1935. Firdevs, however, was refused release, as Stalin viewed him as a more serious threat to his rule than both of his cellmates. According to Soviet authorities, Firdevs was additionally involved in spreading propaganda amongst Solovki prisoners. As a result, on 9 October 1937, Firdevs was again sentenced to death by a NKVD troika. On 27 October 1937, he was executed.

On 14 March 1989, Firdevs' case was reviewed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and he was rehabilitated. On 12 May 1990, the Tatarstan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union conducted its own review of the case, and rehabilitated him within the party.