Uzeir Abduramanov

Uzeir Abduramanovich Abduramanov (, ; 25 March 1916 – 19 January 1991) was a sapper in the Red Army during World War Two. After securing the safe transfer of troops across the Sozh river under heavy enemy fire and through icy water he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for his bravery but was exiled soon after for being a Crimean-Tatar.

Early life Abduramanov was born on 25 March 1916 to a peasant Crimean-Tatar family in either Kashik-Degirmen or Jag'a Mamish, Crimea. After completing trade school in 1933 he worked in Simferopol until he was drafted into the Red Army in 1939. He was very supportive of communism and an active member of the Komsomol. Before World War II he participated in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.

World War II Abduramanov was deployed to fight in World War II shortly after the start of Operation Barbarossa. He fought on the Southwestern Front until April 1942, the North Caucasian Front until February 1943, and then on the Central Front. He saw action in the Battle of Stalingrad before advancing on to Byelorussia. For his resilience and bravery at the Sozh crossing he was declared a Hero of the Soviet Union by decree of the Supreme Soviet on 15 January 1944. He had been previously recognized for his bravery in the Sev and Desna crossings.

At the award ceremony in the Kremlin, Mikhail Kalinin remarked on how short he was while giving him his gold star.

Life in exile He never lived to his native Crimea again despite being individually given permission to return in 1948, since he would not be allowed to bring his extended family with him, and his grandfather pointed out that there were no other Muslims left in Crimea. In 1951 he moved to Gijduvan in Bukhara region, where he worked at a cotton processing facility, and in 1962 he moved to Navoi, where he worked at a uranium plant. However, that did not stop Soviet media from outright claiming or implying that he was not a Crimean Tatar. Issue No. 45-46 Ogonyok magazine in 1944 included his portrait in a photo gallery of Heroes of the Soviet Union celebrating the ethnic diversity of Soviet soldiers; but the caption for Abduramanov's picture said he was ethnically Azerbaijani, not Crimean Tatar. Abduramanov had no Azerbaijani ancestry or ties to Azerbaijani and never identified or labeled himself as an ethnic Azerbaijani. as the term "Crimean Tatar" was not in official use since Crimean Tatars were not a recognized ethnic group. In 1976 an article in Sovet Uzbekistoni newspaper quoted him talking about the river crossing that he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for and emphasized the heroism of ethnic Uzbeks in the war, but made no mention of the fact that he was not an Uzbek but a Crimean Tatar. However, the newspaper Lenin Bayragi, marketed exclusively to Crimean Tatars, did acknowledge that he was a Crimean Tatar.

Awards and honors Hero of the Soviet Union (1944) Order of Lenin (1944) campaign and jubilee medals

Footnotes