It was not I who betrayed the Soviet regime, but it who betrayed me. And not only me alone - the whole mountain people. She took away our freedom, land, joy, our mountains and even our delicious air. I respected Lenin infinitely, believed Stalin. I was a patriot to the bone. I remember inspired I was by songs about Lenin, about Stalin, with what enthusiasm I sang:
My native land is wide,
There are many forests, fields and rivers in it.
I don't know any other country like that,
Where man breathes so freely!
I sang until 'my homeland' threw a noose around my neck. That's when I caught my breath... Everything changed at once on 23 February 44 [The day the deportation of the Ingush people began]. When I was cynically told: "Since you are a patriot, help us deprive you of your homeland, parents, and even your life," I finally understood what Soviet power is."
Ingush sniper
Laysat Baysarova (1920-2005) was an Ingush communist party worker turned abrek who became a sniper against the NKVD after being asked to assist in the deportation and exile of her people. While hiding in the mountains of the Caucasus from 1944 to 1957, the period of her nation's exile, she targeted and killed multiple Chekists in revenge for their deportation of mountain peoples, having been previously trained in sharpshooting with the Komsomol before the decree declaring Ingush people official state enemies.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alternative Names:
Laysat Tangieva
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Не я предала советскую власть, а она меня. И не только меня одну – весь горский народ. Она отняла нашу свободу, землю, радость, наши горы и даже наш вкус- ный воздух. Я беспредельно чтила Ленина, верила Сталину. Была патриоткой до мозга костей. Помню, как меня вдохновляли песни про Ленина, про Сталина, с каким воодушевлением я пела:
Широка страна моя родная,
Много в ней лесов, полей и рек.
Я другой такой страны не знаю,
Где так вольно дышит человек!
Пела до тех пор, пока «страна моя родная» не накинула мне петлю на шею. Вот когда дыхание перехватило... Все разом изменилось 23 февраля 44-го. Когда мне цинично заявили: «Раз ты патриотка, помоги нам лишить тебя родины, родителей и даже жизни», пришлось, наконец, понять, что есть советская власть.