8 March 1944

This Friday is International Women's Day. It is also the 69th anniversary of the deportation of the Balkars from their Caucasian homeland to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Balkars are not a very large nationality even by the standards of the North Caucasus. Their history is nonetheless representative of a number of small ethnic groups in the USSR. Most notably in the fact that the decision to deport the Balkars was made before the regime concocted the false charges of treason used to justify this ethnic cleansing. If you are looking for material on the Balkars or any other national group from the Northwest Caucasus some of the best writing comes from my good friend Walter Richmond. I have linked to two of his pieces above.