Musa Cälil
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Musa Cälil[1] ([mu'sɑ ʓæ'lil]; Jaŋalif: Musa Çəlil; Cyrillic: Муса Җәлил; Russian: Муса Джалиль, Муса Мустафович Залялов) February 15, 1906 – August 25, 1944) was a Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter.
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[edit] Literary life
Cälil was born Musa Mostafa ulı Cälilov (/ja-lee-LOF/) in Mostafa, a village in the Orenburg guberniya. He began publishing poems as a teenager and became a member of the Communist Party. After studying literature in Moscow, he worked as a playwright at the Tatar State Opera in Kazan.
In 1935, the first Russian translations of his poems were published and in 1940, he became the chairman of the Tatar Literary Association. To this day he is regarded as one of the most significant authors in the Tatar language.
[edit] During World War II
After Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Cälil was conscripted and served as a political officer and war correspondent. In June 1942, he was seriously wounded and captured. He later joined the Wehrmacht propaganda unit for the Legion İdel-Ural, which consisted mainly of Tatars and Bashkirs, under the false name Ğömärov (/gher-ma-ROF/). There he organized a secret group which undertook various sabotage and subversive activities against the German invaders.
In August 1943, he was arrested with his comrades and sent to Moabit Prison in Berlin. He was sentenced to death on February 12, 1944 and executed at Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, on August 25.
[edit] Legacy
Cälil's writings were preserved by the Tatars Ğabbas Şäripov (/ghahb-BAHS shah-ree-POF/) and Niğmät Teregulov (/neegh-MAHT te-re-goo-LOF/) and the Belgian André Timmermans. They were published as two books under the title Moabit Däftäre (Moabit Notebook). Cälil's widow Äminä Zälälova (/a-mee-NA za-la-loh-VAH/) gave the originals to the National Museum of Tatarstan for safekeeping.
[edit] Writings
| 1929 | İptäşkä ("To Comrade") |
| 1934 | Ordenlı millionnar ("The Millions Decorated with Orders") |
| 1935-1941 | Altınçäç |
| 1940 | Xat taşuçı ("Postman") |
| İldar (opera libretto) | |
| 1943 | Tupçı antı ("The Oath of the Artilleryman") |
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Source
- (Tatar) "Musa Cälil/Муса Җәлил". Tatar Encyclopedia. (2002). Kazan: Tatarstan Republic Academy of Sciences Institution of the Tatar Encyclopaedia.
