Baymirza Hayit

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Baymirza Hayit
Born	December 17, 1917 Namangan, Russia
Died	October 31, 2006 Germany
Occupation	Historian, Orientalist

Baymirza Hayit (December 17, 1917 – October 31, 2006), also spelled Boymirza Hayit, was a historian and orientalist who specialized in the history of Turkestan and Central Asia.

Contents 1 Life 2 Partial list of published works 2.1 Books 2.2 Articles 3 References

[edit] Life

Hayit was born in the village of Yargorgan in Namangan province, located in the Russian-controlled Fergana oblast in the Fergana Valley in what was then part of the Russian Empire and is today a part of Uzbekistan. Born into a family of ethnic Uzbeks, Hayit was one of nine children raised by his mother Rabiya and father Mirza Mahmutmirzaoğlu. As a youth Hayit showed interest in literature and arts, and despite the deprivations of the 1930s he went on to graduate from Tashkent University in 1939. That same year he was called up to the military, where he served as a lieutenant. Just two weeks before he left for the army he married; he would never again see his wife Tahtalan and would not see his son Bekmirza until 1991. Hayit left Namangan in December 1939 and was stationed in Poland as a squadron tank commander.^[1] During World War II Hayit fought in the Red Army until he was captured by the Wehrmacht in 1941. He then became an officer in the Turkestan Legion, a division of Soviet Muslim POWs employed by the Germans to fight against the Soviet Union. While serving in the legion he met up with legendary Turkistani nationalist and fellow Uzbekistani exile Mustafa Chokaev.^[2][3][4]

After the war Hayit settled down in West Germany, where he became an active member in the Turkistani nationalist movement. In 1947 he enrolled at University of Münster in Münster and in 1950 he received his Ph.D. and published his thesis “Die Nationalen Regierungen von Kokand und der Alasch Orda.” That same year he married a German woman named Ruth, with whom he fathered two sons, Ertay and Mirza, and a daughter, Dilber.^[2][3] From the 1950s until his death Hayit wrote dozens of articles and fifteen acclaimed books in German, English, and Turkish on the history of Turkestan and the Turkestani nationalist movements. One of his most notable works is Basmatschi: Nationaler Kampf Turkestans in den Jahren 1917 bis 1934, which is a history of the Basmachi movement that raged in Central Asia from 1917 to the early 1930s.^[3] Hayit spent time lecturing at the University of London, Harvard University, Hacettepe University in Ankara, the University of Istanbul and Marmara University in Istanbul.^[3]

Hayit was deeply involved in the debate about extent of resistance in Soviet Central Asia. Hayit believed that Islam was fundamentally in opposition to Soviet rule and once wrote "The ideas of Communism stand in opposition to those of Islam."^[5] His contention that the Turkestan resistance against the Soviets was a continuous fight that lasted until the fall of the USSR was controversial, but because Hayit was a native of the region his theories were seen as more credible.^[4]Hayit was a strong advocate for the independence and unification of Soviet and Chinese-controlled Central Asia.^[6] His work was vilified in the Soviet Union.^[2] Even in independent Uzbekistan Hayit’s work was controversial. In 1992 he returned to Uzbekistan, but the government asked him to leave the country citing protests by veterans of World War II.^[7]

Hayit died at the age of 88 in Germany on October 31, 2006 and was buried in Cologne.^[4]

[edit] Partial list of published works

Works were published under the names Baymirza Hayit and B. Hayit.

[edit] Books

• “Die Nationalen Regierungen von Kokand und der Alasch Orda.” Ph.D. thesis for University of Münster, Munich, 1950.
• “Sowjetrußische Orientpolitik am Beispiel Turkestan.” Köln-Berlin: Kiepenhauer & Witsch, 1956
• “Documents: Soviet Russia's Anti-Islam-Policy in Turkestan.” Dusseldorf: Gerhard von Mende, 2 vols, 1958.
• “Turkestan im XX Jahrhundert.” Darmstadt: Leske, 1956
• “Turkestan Zwischen Russland Und China.” Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1971
• “Some thoughts on the problem of Turkestan”, Institute of Turkestan Research, 1984
• “Islam and Turkestan Under Russian Rule.” Istanbul: Can Matbaa, 1987.
• “Basmatschi: Nationaler Kampf Turkestans in den Jahren 1917 bis 1934.” Köln: Dreisam-Verlag, 1993.
• “Yeni Çag Türkistan tarihi kaynaklar.” Turan Kültür Vakf¸ 2000 ISBN 9757893285
• “Berichte und Forschungen über Turkestan.” Köln. 1997.

[edit] Articles

• “The Communist Party in Turkestan” London: Central Asian Review, 1957.
• “Turkestan as an Example of Soviet Colonialism” Studies on the Soviet Union. pp. 78–95 1961
• “Sowjetrußische Kolonialismus und Imperialismus in Turkestan.” Oosterhout. 1962
• “Turkistanda Emir haqqinda yeni fikir carayanlari.” Milli Turkistan. No. 126. 1969.
• “Der Islam und die anti-islamische Bewegung in der Sowjetunion.” Osteuropa 22(2). 114–118. 1972
• “Turkistan: A case for national independence.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 1. pp. 38–50. 1979.
• “Turkestan im Herzen Euroasiens.” Studienverlag (1), 1980.
• “Western Turkestan: The Russian dilemma.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 6 (I) pp. 137–51. 1985
• “Turkestan als historischer Faktor und politische Idee.” Studienverlag 17 1988

[edit] References

Persondata
NAME	Hayit, Baymirza
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hayit, Boymirza
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Uzbek 20th century historian of Turkestan and Central Asia
DATE OF BIRTH	December 17, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH	Namangan, Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH	October 31, 2006
PLACE OF DEATH	Germany