Case Study:

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 C. Victims

The Chechen death toll remains a controversial issue. Chechens lost all collective existence during their thirteen years of exile as special settlers. They were excluded from all population censuses. The NKVD, which administrated the special camps, regularly reported on the demographic situation. The official documents, partly accessible through the Soviet archives reproduced in Nikolaj F. Bugj’s almost inexhaustible collection of works, show that Chechens deportees suffered very high mortality rates in the special settlements. Soviet officials assessed that during 1944 to 1948, the three most terrible years, between 14.6% and 23.7% of the outcast population perished (Bugai, 1992:264-265). These rough figures, however, do not take into account those who died during the initial expulsion and journey.

The Chechen deportation gave way to violence and abuse. Unhealthy persons and those who opposed the expulsion were systematically shot on the spot. Testimonies also confirm the existence of mass killings in the mountains. To meet the objectives, soldiers were ordered to eliminate persons considered “unfit to travel”. About 700 persons originating from Khaibakh, a small mountain village and the surrounding farms, were killed. They were locked in a stable and burnt alive. It would have taken too much time to transport them to the valley on the snowy roads. The transport conditions were equally fatal to many Chechens: disease (like typhus), starvation and the cold took the most vulnerable persons. The non-respect of some traditions also caused the deaths of some Chechen women who refused to relieve themselves in front of men.

Testimonies state that women, children, and elders were severely affected. Men, whether expelled with their families or sent into exile after demobilization, also suffered from the very austere living conditions. From 1944 to 1948, the leading causes of death in exile were: disease, malnutrition (and even famine), lack of elementary supplies (like clothing or shoes) and absence of medical care. Hard winters carried off the most weakened special settlers. Many had to spend the freezing months in small makeshift shelters that they themselves had built. (Dzhurgaev, 1989).

Finally, despite incomplete and imprecise figures, the death toll among Chechens is one of the higher ever reached. A study based on the NKVD documents and demographic projections estimates that about 30% of the Chechens died between 1944 and 1952 (Ediev, 2003). In the same period, it shows that the demographic loss (deaths plus birth deficit) represents 54.3 %. According to Chechen historians, the death rate rose up to 50% during the journey and the first years of exile. This estimate does not rely on any scientific study, nor on any census, but on an approximation based on impressions and testimonies. It pertains to a larger strategy of victimization, and has a strong social resonance since the victims’ testimonies were basically the only ones that recount the deportation and exile during the late Soviet period.

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