Kazakh dissidents: Amangali Kenzheakhmetuly, known as the “Gang”
24.04.2021 1894

Amangali Kenzheakhmetuly (1887-1928) was one of those who protested against the injustice of the Soviet government in Naryn region in 1925, as a result of which he had been persecuted for a long time. He was not only an innocent slanderer, but in real life he also had the qualities of being honest, and had the talents like singing, horsemanship and wrestling.


It is known that Amangali was killed in 1928 during a shootout with the GPU-NKVD.

According to the researchers, Amangali is descended from the Berish clan (including Sebek), that belongs to the twelve ancestors of Baiuly.

There were ten children from one family. Amangali was the eldest of them. According to the notorious from June 1916 decree, he was recruited to the front. However, the following year, when the February Revolution (1917) came as a surprise, and the young men returned to their homes. Amangali was one of them who returned to the country and started to work for the government. He was also accepted to the police. In 1918-19, he took part in the establishment of Soviet power in the Naryn region. In 1921-22, he took part in the battles at the Naryn sands and fought against the White Guards, such as Serov and Kiselyov.

But Amangali, realizing that there is a big problem behind the system he is working on, gradually started to cut the horse's tail out of the red system. By the way, when he asked for it, a quarrel broke out between his brothers. Taking advantage of this, Amangali was angry to the people and went to the sand. Then, he did not return. Someday soon, it was rumored that Amangali had joined an anti-Soviet gang.

It is very noisy for a person who is committed to the system to leave the service, go to the sand and join the gang. Then, a special group was formed in order to capture Amangali. However, Amangali, who had mastered the art of war, was not easy to catch. On the contrary, an administrative detachment led by E. Shkokov, an administrative investigator from the Horde (Bokey province), was arrested there. An investigator E. Shkokov and 4 county members were among them.

Sensing that the situation was getting worse, a detachment leader Shkokov called the Amangli group for the agreement. He says the persecution will end if the prisoners are released and surrender their weapons voluntarily. Thus, an agreement was reached and the Amangali group released the prisoners.

However, the short-sighted activists did not stop Amangali. Amangali was forced to move to Bukhara in 1925. A revolutionary committee of the same region went to the village of Tobaniyaz Alniyazov and was hidden there. However, he is forced to arrest Amangali. He was arrested and sent to the prison of Uralsk. But, he was escaped from the prison. In 1926, Amangali, accompanied by two other innocent convicts, participated in the war.

But the path of struggle is not easy for Amangali. He loses his companions during the shooting. Amangali's son, Nagymzhan, his wife, Mukhsina, and other relatives were arrested and some were shot there. Amangali's wife, Mukhsina, and three brothers were acquitted, and two of his brothers (Mukangali and Andirgali) were shot and died too. Only one of Amangali's daughters survived there.

On January 11, 1928, Amangali and his nephew Tair died at the hands of persecutors.

A grave of Amangali Kenzheakhmetuly is located in Karagaily, Kurmangazy district of Atyrau region. The grave of his wife Mukhsina is located near the village of Kaztalovka, in West Kazakhstan region.

There are a lot of songs sung by Amangali. Several of them are included to A.V. Zatayevich's book “1000 Kazakh songs”.

A well-known composer and writer Ilya Zhakanov, Atyrau writers T. Tynaliev, poet T. Dossymov, as well as L. Kapashev wrote the literary, artistic works and research articles and made a documentary film dedicated to him. It should be noted that the protagonist of the novel “Bad Puppy” by Esenzhol Dombayev was a prototype of this Amangali.

A well-known writer and researcher Latifolla Kapashev's documentary “The Gang of Amangali” was published as well. In this work, the author focuses on how the Kazakh sergeant Amangali became a gang.

“Yes, how did this Kazakh hero become a gang? Or what tragedy made Amangali so upset? That's all I can say”, said the author. Seeing this, Amangali was forced to take up the arms and become a gang.

“In the early thirties, my older friend Nagymzhan Amangaliuly was in the FZO in Atyrau. Kair Karymbayev, the father of the girl who married Nagymzhan when he was a child, broke the blessing and did not return the bride. Amangali, who was created by Ardan, was forced to raid the village of Kair.

A judge Zhumagali Zhangozhin was not convicted at that time. The chairman of the village Otargali is the same. It is not a time for the elders to reconcile. A governor of Adai district, Tobaniyaz is also in trouble if he doesn't catch Amangali, who has been sentenced to death in his village.

Amangali, who was escaped from the Uralsk prison, is no longer alone to save his life. This was what the GPU needed to incite the country's leading figures. He put a cavalry force at the end of Amangali and persecuted all his relatives in the country. At the same time, a Russian soldier, Nagym from the Amangali group, was captured too. The atrocities did not stop with him. We came to say that Zhumagali's brother and son were killed by Amangali.

Will he come back when he is not named? But later, when he regained consciousness and opened his eyes, I heard from the country that they had been killed by Chekists belonging to Amangali's group. That is true. I bet, because I couldn't go home with Oralgali and kill an animal”, he says in his poem. The author notes in his book.

According to the author, Amangali could not have been saved for a long time, no matter how much the people begged and hid.

“No matter how much the country hides Amangali, it has not been able to keep him for more than three years. In addition, a lot of young men were conspired as well. After that, Zhumagali, Otargali and Tobaniyaz, who were used against Amangali, were killed by the same GPU, and the same NKVD.

“Amangali's ancestral home is Tuma, east of the Naryn sands, and it is also called Kokalashagyl. A pasture of the wide sphere “Naryn” of the present Inder district. It is a continuation of Molshagyl sand.

Amangali has twelve ancestors from the Berish clan of Baiuly. Including Kemesey-Sebek Berish. His father was Kenzhakhmet and his great-grandfather was Korzhymbay. His mother is Tagzhan. Years of birth of Kenzheahmet and Tagzhan children:

Amangali 1888 Ziyash (daughter) – 1890 Mukangali – 1892 Kuangali – 1894, Sakysh (edge) – 1896. Andirgali – 1899, Kadisha – 1900. Sundetkali – 1902 Umbetkali – 1905, Nasiya (daughter) – 1902.

Amangali is the eldest one from those ten children. He is an arrogant, proud, very smart, heroic wrestler, as well as an entertaining horseman. When a horse enters a race, he is a horse trainer, a hunter who runs and hunts the greyhounds”, the author writes.

According to Latifolla Kapashev, Amangali inherited all his art from his father.

Until this day, there is a story about him among the brothers. Kenzheahmet must have been young. One day, when Kazakhs and Russians went to the fair, several Cossacks found themselves beating up a lone Kazakh. Apparently, those Russians are a little familiar to Kenzheahmet. He took off all his clothes, rode on another horse with a drink, took a whip and fell among them alone. The Cossack-Russians were beaten to the right and left, chased from house to house, and the Kazakh brother was intercepted too. Now close your eyes, or they will kill you. “The beheaded Kazekem barely escaped. The Cossack-Russians, dressed in Kenzheahmet's clothes and riding on their own horse, gathered all the selenium. The Russians were looking for the Kazakh who had beaten them. Unable to find him, the Cossacks and Russians, exhausted, found Kenzheahmet and ordered him to retaliate.

A book “Gang of Amangali” says that Kenzheahmet's ancestors were wealthy, and Begaly was the clerk of the ruler once.

Amangali's godmother's name was Sabila. According to the author, he is from the Begis clan of Berish. A daughter of Kubash, the son of Haji Aldongar. Amangali had five children.

In 1920-1921, the dynasty of Amangali died twice. First, his father Kenzheahmet died from an illness in the winter, and Amangali's godmother Sabila died next summer.

According to Amangali's eldest daughter, Rahilla, when Sabila died, their youngest son Kadyrzhan was only fourty days old.

By the way, in this work, Uncle Latifolla says that there are many things about Amangali that have not been explored yet, and they are left out on the attention of historians.

One of them is that he went to the sand.

“It is true that Amangali served as a policeman in the first years of Soviet rule in the Naryn region. It is also true that Serov, who was defeated by the Reds during the Civil War, marched against the Kiselyov detachment in Sholaktau, commanded 30-40 Red Army and worked to liberate the Kazakh land from the bloodshed of white gangs. That period still needs to be properly studied”, he said, citing a number of reasons why Amangali went to the sands.

“At that moment, Amangali's ex-cousin Kair Karymbayev, a member of the Zhappas clan, appeared on the stage. Who is the beggar? He is a contemporary of Amangali living in one of the neighboring villages and a rich merchant. He is also very fond of card games. Kair's godmother was a bloodless man, she had only one son and one daughter. Amangali gave a cradle to her son Narymzhan and gave her cattle”, he said, quoting a well-known writer, Khamit Ergali.

What is the social basis of Amangali's destiny? Kair is rich ... Ras, Kair and Amangali are cousins. Only a man knows who pushed him to beg. A nature of the process is inconsistent. A beggar refused. Amangali said and was insulted, “You are poor, you are not equal!”. He did not give his daughter.

Similarly, in the second version, it is said that the cause of the fire between the two gods was a galloping horse. Amangali's daughter, Rakhila is quoted as saying:

In another story, Rakhila says, “There were three horses that my father loved, the horse trainer who always added a stallion to the race. One of them was a sprinter called “Kara Zhorga”, who crawled on the leash, and Kaiyr asked him to join the bride.

The next time, my father was upset when Kaiyr asked the second runner, “Black Bedouin” for the wedding animal. She said, “A divorced friend asks for a man's back, and he told Kaiyr that I can't give you my name”. Kaiyr was disappointed as well. Thus, the fire of internal enmity flared up at another meeting.

There is also another version that the book was written by Amangali's cousin Abdrakhman. It says that Amangali lost his name while playing the cards in a village next to Kaiyr. Amangali, who was on the foot, came with her husband to Kaiyr and asked for the horse to get to the village. Kaiyr was alone at home, he told Amangali that he had a lung that he couldn't name before, and he didn't look cold. In addition, the rich Kaiyr ignored Amangali, who had recently become a little poorer. It seems that Amangali heard a bad story about his cousin in the country at that time. It seems that Kaiyr tricked again and secretly engaged to give his daughter to the police chief, who told Hagmzhan. There was a private quarrel between the two in-laws. Amangali's younger brother Mukagali came to the two angry cousins ​​and told him about his brother. Then his brother said, “We are good people”, but Amangali, who had a good temper, refused and said to Kaiyr, “You go and get the mare at the well early, cut the line, and take the rest of the horse!”

At that time, Amangali lived in Bokei province (center of the Horde) in Tengiz district (Ganyushkin). That's what Kaiyr complains to Ganyushkin.

According to the singer Kuangali Zhumaliev: “At that time, the police found Amangali's godmother Sabila's brother, Aldongarov Tabyldy and gave themselves up.

By the way, this book is a memoir of an old man from Atyrau, Mubarak Kenzhegali. In his memoirs, the old man mentions Amangali as a victim of tyranny.

“Amangali was an ordinary citizen like us. But stubborn and one-dimensional. And, he was a big and strong man.

The main reason for the Amangali incident is the tyranny of the rulers and rich people over the poor and the poor. After the fall of the tsarist government and the arrival of the Soviet government, illiterate activists. “We will unite the country in partnership, there will be a big change. We will drive out the rich and establish the power of the poor”, he said. At that time, the country needed a policeman, and Amangali persuaded him to be compatible. It was 1920, when his father, Kenzhakhmet was a middle-class man who divided his livestock into six children, leaving six poor families.

He handed Amangali a rifle and said he was nervous when he explained his duties. Everyone in this country is a brother and knows everything. In the same year, the head of the administrations from above came and hid a rich man from the village for the first time and sent him to Uishik (Atyrau) prison. He is taken to Amangali. Amangali handed over his weapons and documents to the district police department and returned here. He explained to his acquaintances: “I don't like this job, it's not easy task to take my well-known brothers to the prison”.

A quarrel between the two in-laws turns into a conflict. When Amangali took his cattle from Kaiyr, he was speechless. One week later, a judge Zhumagali Zhangozhin summoned Kaiyr and said, “Hi, Kaiyr, Amangali slaughtered you and took your cattle. Why don't you come to me?” – he scolded. However, before that they all played the cards together, Zhumagali and Kaiyr agreed in advance and won Amangali. Please

– There is a reason to buy the cattle, they just added it, but let the rest do it, I would like to tell you that the government will take the cattle.

Then Zhumagali said:

– Oh, do you tolerate the violence? Do you have any livestock left? Now write an application to the governor. Let's bring Amangali to the justice! – he said.

And persuade him. Zhumagali takes the complaint to the district administration, tells him what happened and asks for the response. The people came to Amangali village and returned their cattle to Kaiyr. Then Amangali was invited to the district, but he did not go. A police detachment will arrest him. Amangali shoots, but does not give up. Realizing what had happened, Amangali went to Kaiyr and Zhumagali villages, but they ran away and did not go home. “Zhumagali was so scared that he repeatedly called the police to abduct Amangali, but he could not be apprehended, so he moved to Ayla”, the elder recalled.

In December of the winter, he wrote a letter to Amangali, saying, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” he wrote a letter. In this way, Amangali will be arrested and convicted. Even so. Those who have already prepared for the meeting will attack Amangali. But he managed to escape.

As we mentioned at the beginning, Amangali crossed Bukhara and went to Tobaniyaz, the ruler of Adai.

“Amangali will be there for two months without any worries. At that time, the district police completely lost sight of Amangali. But he plans to send spies and dead bodies everywhere. The same suggestion applies to Tobaniyaz. He summons Amangali and advises him.

– You. Amangali, don't be afraid of anything! You did not kill, you did not take anything from anyone. What are you doing here? You are busy, there is no peace, and sometimes the country is in turmoil. The Soviet government does not touch the innocent, poor person. I know the heads of counties, I know them from the police, I will tell them. What if you admit some wrongdoing and apologize?

After Amangali thought for a while and agreed, Tobaniyaz called the district police. The Kazakh greeted the officer and the soldier, invited Amangali and entertained him with the officer. He explained everything to everyone and wrote the paper. Amangali left his weapon in Tobaniyaz and went to Uishik with the visitors. But here Amangali was charged at the request of Kaiyr, Zhumagali, Otargali and deported to Uralsk for five years.

I got acquainted with the first and third archival cases in Almaty in the building of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1993-1994 (December-March), and the second (92) cases in May 1993 in the office of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

By the way, it is said that those who followed Amangali spread the rumors in order to intimidate people and discredit him, saying, “Be careful, they will cut down your villages and loot your cattle”. In fact, Amangali did not harm the general population. As evidence of this, we would like to share the memory of another witness.

He is a resident of Almaty, an independent retiree. Oraikhan Kuspangaliev is the eldest one. He was born in 1915 in the village of Tolybai, Inder district, Atyrau region. He says:

“I think it is right thing to raise the issue of Amangali. It is necessary ... Especially young people need to know, learn from it ...

Amangali's story is the result of a class struggle at that time. He was a simple, black peasant, and a middle-class peasant. – But a hero, a noble character. We believe that the fate of Amangali is the work of the rich person. His cousin Kaiyr Karymbayev, a doctor Otargali Mukushev and the judge Zhumagali Zhangozhin were also rich people. They wanted to attract an ordinary Amantali to them, and wanted to take his head for themselves. He disrespected Amangali and said he was poor. Maybe they wanted to use Amangali as a hostage, who knows. They live side by side, they are villagers who mix with each other. Then, there are those who call Amangali a gang.

Not only that, but they called from Uralsk, Orda, Atyrau, and from time to time there were the skirmishes and shootings. Otherwise, Amangali did not harm the black masses. His people always welcomed him with open arms, sang to him and listened to his songs. I heard from the village elders in the country: “Will those rich people return to the end of Amangali? They said that it is possible not to worry. Once there is a country, there will always be such arrogant, self-centered, unyielding and heroic people in the village.

Now let me tell you a couple of episodes about Amangali. One of them is that we were just a peasant village. Our village Amangali was not harmed at that time. As a child, I went for a walk in the summer to my uncle's village. When I went, the village was quiet. Oh, Amangali is coming. If he comes, he will attack the village. “The yurts were removed from the brown, planted in the sand, in the hollows, guarded by gravel. I found all this annoying. Amangali did not come with him. Then the village forgot about him.

Interestingly, although the cases against Amangali were preserved, no documents were found during the interrogation.

“But the truth is that Amangali was immediately sent to Uralsk, not to Atyrau (Guryev). Then, he was held at the cell of the prison. He had been investigated for so many times. Unfortunately, in the archives there is no record of Amangali's interrogation. Only in one of the corners of the thirteenth volume of such a large archival case is the conclusion of the accusation against Amangali recods. It is only the conclusion of the accusation. From its content, we understand that Amangali had a separate case in the Uralsk prison, because in the end, the accusation referred to its pages. And, what questions Amangali was asked, how he answered them, unfortunately, he does not know. Only Amantali, who was arrested, was ruthlessly piled up, the outcome of the accusation was clear and his contents were rewritten from the very beginning.

Was Amangali convicted after that, and what was the punishment for him? No documents have been preserved about him. Of course, Amangali was not convicted by Zhumagali Zhangozhin under the Soviet law. This is the truth! An indictment was prepared in the end of 1925.

According to the order of the checkpoints, “The cases stored in the archives are reviewed and the documents are checked every year. Some of his invalid or superfluous pages will be removed from the archives. Were such sheets removed from Amangali's case? It is natural that such a dubious idea arises”, the author said.

The result of the indictment

On the prosecution of Almangali Kenzhekhmetov, a citizen of Uralsk province, Bokei district, Shalandy volost, the second village.

Amangali Kenzheakhmetov was involved in the kidnapping of horses in 1922 (page 40) along with others. In addition, Amangali Kenzheakhmetov, a former police officer and platoon commander, fought against the White Guard gangs. In 1921, he gathered the criminals and non-partisans around him and began the military operations in the Uralsk province.

1923-25. Over the years, Amangaly Kenzheakhmetov have repeatedly challenged the Soviet authorities and individuals with weapons. The Soviet institutions attacked and arrested government officials. They were disarmed, sealed and other documents seized,

In May of this year (hence, 1925 – L.K), Amangali Kenzhakhmetov and his companions destroyed a veterinary station in Baet village, took another wife to the doctor's wife and took her with them.

Then, he crossed the Baet volost and went to Adai district, where he had been hidden for a while.

Amangali Kenzhakhmetov's crime was proved by the agency information. The papers were presented by the Uralsk Provincial Department of the OGPU and other bodies, several districts

A preliminary investigation revealed the following:

An accused Amangali Kenzhakhmetov, as he confessed, gathered around him a group of fugitives and formed an armed group. He had previously tried to provoke a tribal strife with some residents of the Baet district. These social and living conditions (as noted by Amangali, forced him to form an armed group (Pages 67-74).

In 1924, Amangali Kenzhakhmetov and his accomplices carried out several provocative actions, including a meeting on the proper use of arable land, that led to the public riots, gunfire and the dispersal of people (Pages 47-48).

On May 1, 1925, he attacked the veterinary station of Baet district and took the wife of the doctor Mukushee Otargali with him (pages 32-42).

In 1923, when one of his companions was arrested by the district police chief, Comrade Aldizharov (probably Aldiyarov – L.K.), he was attacked and demanded the release of his accomplice (pages 47).

In 1924, Amangali ordered the arrest of officials, Shkokov, an inspector of the provincial criminal department, Erekenov, the chairman of the Bolsheviks, and Lukpanov, a member of the RCP (b), some of whom were beaten there (Pages 45, 105).

In 1923, he was expelled from Bokei province to destroy his group. Amangali sent the CHON detachment (leader Ageev) shot at them, the purpose of which was to avoid capture (Pages 47-48).

In 1924, near the village of Kalmykovo, the Amangali group fired under the guard of the telegraph line. A detachment of eight people did not stop when they tried to cross the Amangali road, and finally got into a boat and went to the sea (Page 119).

In 1925, a police detachment of six men, led by an assistant to the GPU's Plenipotentiary Representative, chased the Spanish Amangali and hid for some time in Adai district. (A page of the case – 117). He was handed over to the authorities for his crimes soon.

Amangali Kenzhakhmetov received several acquittals from the residents of Bokei province and local authorities, promising to extradite the accused to higher authorities, but he rearmed and resumed his actions.

In the question-and-answer protocol, Amangali Kenzhakhmetov pleads guilty (Case – 97).

Summarizing the above, we can make the following recommendations:

Amangali Kenzhakhmetov is 37 years old, a citizen of Bokei uezd, Sholandy volost, Uralsk province, and also, he is a villager, herdsman, married guy who has 6 people in the family, not a member of the party, illiterate, has a cow, mother, camel, housewife, but he had been judged for the above crimes in accordance with the Article 76 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Therefore, in accordance with Article 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), the case should be sent to the provincial prosecutor's office.

A well-known writer and researcher Latifolla Kapashev expressed his concern that Amangali was still unjustified in this work.

“Amangali is a person with the same destiny as Kunyskerey, Keiki Batyr, Shakarim khaji, Zhakypberdy. Amangali was shot dead by the group of volunteers from the GPU-NKVD, Zhanibekov Gabbas and Zhumagali Zhangozhin, and Shakarim was killed by the NKVD spokesman Karasartov. Kunyskerey changed his name and died far from his hometown. Keiki Batyr was a victim of the Red Terror. Jakypberdi was killed by the Chinese law enforcement officers. These people do not have timely court decisions. Therefore, no place or body can justify it. Their noble character and ambitious art are preserved in the minds of the people. That is why, the people justified and respected Shakarim and Jakypberdi. Only the people can justify Amangali”, he said.