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“Kazakhstan has Become my Second Homeland…”

On February, 21, the Palace of Culture “Vyoshensky” was packed: the commemoration event dedicated to the memory of M.A.Sholokhov was visited by old countrymen, who knew the writer, veterans of the Great Patriotic war, school and college students and teachers, representatives of the institutions and organizations, and stanitsa’s guests.

This year commemorative celebrations were devoted to the long friendship of the Sholokhovs and the staff of the writer’s Museum-Reserve with Kazakhstan.

Wartime circumstances destined the writer for West Kazakhstan. From the summer of 1942 till the autumn of 1943, his family resided in the village of Daryinskoye, the Priuralsky District, in evacuation.

For 30 years after the war, Mikhail Alexandrovich often visited Priuralye, where he worked a lot, went on hunting and fishing. There he wrote a part of the   novel ” They Fought for Their Country”, the pages of the second book of “Virgin Soil Upturned”. In Kazakhstan steppes the writer learned about his being awarded the Nobel Prize.

Mikhail Alexandrovich travelled a lot about the region, met with its toilers. As the Deputy of the USSR Supreme Soviet he rendered his assistance to the farms of the region. Thus, on the writer’s application some trucks were allocated to the state farm “Brliksky”, the timber for housing construction was shipped for the state farm ”Pravda”.

Thanks to the assistance of M.A.Sholokhov, elite Edilbaev sheep and meat cattle of Kazakh white head breed were delivered from Kazakhstan to the Don. This contributed to the development of meat cattle breeding in the north of the Rostov Region.

Even in the writer’s lifetime a folk museum was opened in Daryinskoye Village. Now it is a memorial museum of M.A.Sholokhov. In the year of the 60^th anniversary of the first visit of the writer’s family to Uralsk a bust of M.A.Sholokhov was opened. The writer’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have become frequenters to Priuralye. The people of Daryinskoye often visited Sholokhov country as well.

The commemoration of Sholokhov in Vyoshenskaya was joined by the national choreographic group”Gaukhartas” from the Kazakhstan Republic and the national folk group “Kuanysh” from the Morozovsk District the Rostov Region. They excellently presented Kazakh culture in Sholokhov country. The audience was fascinated with Kazakh songs and dances.

The life of the great Sholokhov has really become a symbol of friendship of the Russian and Kazakh peoples; his name still brings different generations together.

Marina Popova
Svetlana Usova