Sultan Majid Ganizada

Sultan Majid Ganizade (; 1866 – 22 March 1938) was an Azerbaijani writer, educator, playwright, theatre figure, translator, and politician. He was active in the educational and cultural life of Azerbaijan, served as a deputy of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and was later a theorist of public education in Soviet Azerbaijan.

Biography

Ganizade was born in 1866 in Shamakhi, in a merchant family. He was a grandson of the poet Agha Masih Shirvani. He graduated from the real school in Shamakhi and in 1887 completed the Alexandrov Teachers' Institute in Tbilisi.

In 1887, together with Habib bey Mahmudbeyov, Ganizade opened the first Russo-Tatar public school in Baku and served as its director. He later worked as an inspector of public schools in the Baku Governorate and Dagestan Oblast. He later served as a deputy of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, where he belonged to the Ittihad faction.

After the Soviet takeover of Azerbaijan in 1920, Ganizade emigrated for a period and later returned to the Soviet Union. He was arrested in June 1936. In March 1938, an NKVD troika sentenced him to death. He was executed during the night of 21–22 March 1938. He was later rehabilitated posthumously.

Selected works

Letters of Sheyda-bek Shirvani Fear of God Goncha Khanum Evening Sneezing for Benefit (1904) Dursunali Ballybady (1904) Khor-khor (1905) Take It, but Remember (1908) Selected Works (Baku, 1965)