Kazakh Writers Illegally Accused of “Opposing Soviet Power”: Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly

During the repression in Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Auezov was accused because his works on Kazakh Literature were considered nationalistic, and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly was illegally prosecuted due to false errors in his research work. The article examines accusations that Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly, who studied the works of the Kazakh poet and writer Abai Kunanbayev, promoted nationalism that contradicted the policies of the Soviet government, leading to their illegal persecution. During the totalitarian period, Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly focused their works on Kazakh national traditions and literature. The purpose of the article is to reveal the mechanism of repression by studying the illegal persecution of Kazakh writers Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly carried out by the Soviet government. During the study of the history of repression carried out by the Soviet government against the Kazakh intelligentsia, it was revealed that the work of Kazakh writers Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly was not directed against the Soviet government but, on the contrary, aimed at developing the science of Kazakh literature. Their literary heritage is of high scholarly value for Kazakh literature and contains many documentary sources. The questions raised during the study will help readers who place particular importance on getting to know specialists in Kazakh literature to analyze our past in a new way. Today, Mukhtar Auezov and Kaiym Mukhamedkhanuly are among the scholars who have made significant contributions to the development of Kazakh literature through their educational work.