ASTANA– Apresentation of the book “History, Memory,People,” which depicts the losses of Kazakhstan’s Jewish community in the 20th century, will be hosted by the Central State Archive April 28 in Almaty.
The Mitsva Associationof Jewish organisations announcedthe authors and publishers wanted the book to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan (APK) and 70th anniversary of victory in World War II.
The book consists of four thematic sections. The first part includes 20 articles on the subject“Eurasia in the 20th century: evacuation, resettlement, refugees,” while the second portion concentrates on the history of individual Jewish communities in various parts of Kazakhstan.The third section features stories of outstanding figures among survivors of the ordeal of bothworld wars, the Stalinist purges, persecution, displacement, deportation and evacuation. It stresses the remarkable contributions made by KazakhJews to the progress of their newly-acquired homelandas they worked in various industries, taught, pursued science, saved lives and helped build cities. The finalportion,dedicated to the victory against Nazism, includes articles about the roles of Jews in the Soviet Union and Allied military efforts.
The publication is theresult of aninternational project involvingmore than 50 authors from Belarus, Canada, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russia and Uzbekistan. “History, Memory, People”recountsthe fate of thosewho lived through the tragic events that left deep scars in the hearts of the individualswho faced so much injustice. Many articles came from presentations made in September 2014 by professors, researchers, journalists and archivists at aconference in Almaty dedicated to mass deportations of the Second World Warperiod and the losses of Jewish communities at the time.The conflictforcedmasses of peopleto move across Eurasia. Many of those who survived did not return to their former homes and chose or were required to stayinrelocation sites, contributing to the multicultural make-up of Kazakhstan’spopulation.
As the Mitsva association notes, this year marks the second decade of APK – a consultative body under the President which plays an important role in ensuring religious freedom and human rights in the country. APK consists of 384 representatives of all ethnic groups drawn from the regional assemblies of the people and delegates nine deputies to the national parliament.
