View source for Musa Cälil

{{Short description|Soviet-Tatar poet and fighter (1905–1944)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Musa Cälil
| native_name      = Муса Җәлил
| image            = Musa Dzhalil, 1930s.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = Musa Cälil 1930s.
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Musa Mostafa ulı Cälilev
| birth_date       = {{OldStyleDate|15 February|1905|2 February}}
| birth_place      = [[Mustafino, Orenburg Oblast|Mustafino]], [[Orenburg Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1944|8|25|1906|2|15|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Plötzensee]], [[Nazi Germany]]
| occupation       = [[Poet]], [[playwright]], [[journalist]], [[Editing|editor]], [[resistance fighter]]
| nationality      = [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]
| period           = [[Interwar period]]
| genre            = 
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| spouse           = Äminä Zalilova
| partner          = 
| children         = Çulpan Zalilova
| relatives        = 
| influences       = 
| influenced       = 
| signature        = 
| awards           = [[Hero of the Soviet Union]]<br/>[[Order of Lenin]]<br/>[[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]]
| website          = 
}}

'''Musa Cälil'''{{efn|Also [[Transliteration|transliterated]] as Mussa Jalil, Mussa Djalil, Musa Dzhalil, Mussa Dshalil, Mussa Jälil, Musa Celil, Moussa Jalíl.}} ({{langx|tt-Cyrl|Муса Җәлил|translit=}}, {{IPA|tt|muˈsɑ ʑæˈlil}}; {{langx|ru|Муса Джалиль|Musa Dzhalil}}; {{OldStyleDate|15 February|1905|2 February}} – 25 August 1944) was a Soviet Tatar [[poet]] and [[Resistance during World War II|resistance fighter]] during [[World War II]]. He is the only poet of the [[Soviet Union]] awarded simultaneously the [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] award for his resistance fighting and the [[Lenin Prize]] for having written ''The Moabit Notebooks''; both awards were bestowed upon him posthumously.<ref name="kmetyuk">Mussa Jalil. Selected poems. Poetry of Truth and Passion. Rafael Mustafin, translated by Lydia Kmetyuk. Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1981</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Musa Cälil was born in [[Mustafino, Orenburg Oblast|Mustafino]], a village in [[Orenburg Governorate]], to a family of [[Rag-and-bone man|junk dealers]]. He graduated from {{Interlanguage link multi|Husainiya Madrasa|tt|3=«Хөсәения» мәдрәсәсе}}{{efn|also spelled ''Xösäyeniä''}} in [[Orenburg]]. His first published works were revolutionary verses. The [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] ''[[aruz wezni]]'' poetic rhythm is seen in Cälil's early works, which is attributed to ''[[Gisyanism]]'' ({{lang|tt|ğıysyanizm}}; гыйсъянизм), a [[Romanticism|romantic]] poetic style celebrating revolution that was often found in young Tatar poetry of the 1920s.{{efn|The word Gisyanism comes from the {{langx|ar|عصيان|'esyan|lit=rebellion}}.}} In 1919, he joined the underground [[Komsomol]] cell in Orenburg (the region was under the control of [[White movement|White Russians]] at that time). Then, Musa participated in the [[Russian Civil War]] against pro-White forces; due to his young age, he did not fight at the front, instead serving in a [[Red Army]] unit. In 1920, Cälil returned to his native village, establishing the pro-Communist youth organization The Red Flower there. He also became a Komsomol activist in Mustafino. He represented his village at the governorate Komsomol conference.<ref name="mustafin">{{cite book|last=Mustafin|first=Rafael A.|title=Муса Джалиль: Жизнь и творчество: Довоенный период|trans-title=Musa Jalil: Life and Creativity: The Pre-War Period|lang=tt|date=1986|location=Kazan, Russia|publisher=Татарское книжное издательство}}</ref>

===Literary life===
In 1920, the [[Tatar ASSR]] was established and [[Kazan]] became its capital. In 1922, Musa, along with other Tatar poets{{Who|date=July 2010}}, moved to Kazan. During this time, verses that he wrote include "The Red Host", "The Red Holyday", "The Red Hero", "The Red Way", "The Red Force", and "The Red Banner". In Kazan, Cälil worked as copyist for the [[Vatanym Tatarstan|''Qьzьl Tatarstan'']] newspaper and studied at [[rabfak]] of the Oriental Pedagogical Institute. He became acquainted with Tatar poets such as [[Qawi Näcmi]], [[Hadi Taqtaş]], and [[Ğädel Qutuy]]. In 1924, he became a member of the literary society October, backing [[Proletkult]]. Since that year, his poetry departed from Ghisyanism and aruz and turned to the Tatar folk verse. His first collection of verses, ''Barabız'' (''We are going'') was published in 1925. One concept that the verses dealt with was pre-revolutionary life.<!--The royalties were transferred to the Международный фонд помощи иностранным рабочим--><ref name="mustafin"/>

During 1925 and 1926, Cälil became an instructor of [[Orsk]] [[uyezd]] Komsomol cell, where he visited Tatar and [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]] [[aul]]s, agitating for Komsomol there. In 1926, he became the member of Orenburg governorate Komsomol committee. In 1927, Musa moved to [[Moscow]], where he combined his study in the [[Moscow State University]] and job in [[Tatars|Tatar]]–[[Bashkir people|Bashkir]] section of the Central Committee of Komsomol. Cälil joined the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|All-Union Communist Party (b)]] in 1929, which was the same year that his second collection, ''İptäşkä'' (''To the Comrade''; [[Yañalif]]: ''Iptəşkə'') was published. Living in Moscow, Cälil met Russian poets Zharov, Bezymensky, and [[Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov|Svetlov]]; Cälil also attended [[Vladimir Mayakovsky]]'s performances. He entered the [[Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers]]; he became its third secretary and a leader of its Tatar section. By the end of the 1920s, lyricism appeared in Cälil's poetry.<ref name="mustafin"/>

In 1931, Cälil graduated from the literature faculty of [[Moscow University]]. Until 1932, he was a chief editor of the Tatar children's magazine ''Keckenə iptəşlər'', which was later renamed to ''Oktəbr Balasь'' (''[[Little Octobrist]]''). Then, he managed the section of literature and art in the central Tatar newspaper ''Kommunist''. In 1934, Musa Cälil published two collections. The first of them, ''The Millions, Decorated with Orders'' was devoted mostly to youth and Komsomol, whereas in the second, ''Verses and Poems'', was a general compilation of his writing. However, a number of his lyrical poems weren't published due to being at conflict with [[Stalinism]].<ref name="mustafin"/>

In 1935, the first Russian translations of his poems were published. During the 1930s, Cälil also translated to the [[Tatar language]] writings of poets of the USSR peoples, such as [[Shota Rustaveli]], [[Taras Shevchenko]], [[Pushkin]], [[Nikolay Nekrasov|Nekrasov]], [[Vladimir Mayakovsky|Mayakovsky]] and [[Vasily Lebedev-Kumach|Lebedev-Kumach]]. In the late 1930s, he tended to write epic poems, such as ''The Director and the Sun'' (1935), ''Cihan'' (1935–1938), and ''The Postman'' (1938). As a [[playwright]] of the [[Tatar State Opera]], he wrote four librettos for Tatar operas, one of which is ''Altınçäç'' (''Golden Hair Maiden'') of [[Näcip Cihanov]].<ref name="mustafin"/> In 1939 and 1940, he served as the chairman of the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers.<ref name="TES">{{TES|Муса Җәлил}}</ref>

===During World War II===
[[File:Памятник Мусе Джалилю в Оренбурге.JPG|Musa Cälil monument in [[Orenburg]]|thumb|right|300px]]
After the [[Axis powers|Axis]] [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]] in June 1941, Cälil volunteered for the Red Army. Graduating [[political commissar]] courses, he arrived at the [[Volkhov Front]] and became a [[war correspondent]] in the ''Otvaga'' newspaper. Cälil also wrote verse, which was at first patriotic but later evolving into lyricism concerning war and people experiencing war.

In June 1942, during the [[Lyuban Offensive Operation]], Cälil's unit was encircled; when his unit tried to run a blockade he became seriously wounded, shell-shocked, and captured. After months{{When|date=July 2010}} in concentration camps for Soviet prisoners of war, including [[Stalag-340]] in [[Daugavpils]], [[Latvia]]<ref>[http://www.rosculture.ru/milestones/day/show/?id=22958 Федеральное агентство по культуре и кинематографии - Муса Джалиль<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and [[Spandau]], Cälil was transferred to [[Dęblin]], a fortified stronghold in [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|
German-occupied Poland]]. There, the [[Wehrmacht]] were assembling prisoners of [[Idel-Ural]] and Eastern nationalities in the camp. Cälil responded by forming a resistance group.

In late 1942, the Wehrmacht started forming what they called "[[Wehrmacht foreign volunteers and conscripts|national legions]]". Among others, [[Volga Tatar Legion|the Idel-Ural legion]] was formed in [[:pl:Obóz_szkoleniowy_Lager_Jedlnia|Lager Jedlnia]], [[General Government]], consisting of prisoners of war belonging to the nations of the [[Volga]] basin. Since the majority of the legion were [[Volga Tatars]], the Germans usually called it the [[Idel Ural Legion|Volga-Tatar Legion]]. The Wehrmacht began preparing the legionnaires for action against the Red Army. Cälil joined the [[Wehrmacht]] propaganda unit for the legion under the [[Pseudonym|false name]] of Gumeroff. Cälil's group set out to wreck the [[National Socialist]] plans, to convince the men to use the weapons they would be supplied with against the [[National Socialists]] themselves. The members of the resistance group infiltrated the editorial board of the ''Idel-Ural'' newspaper the German command produced, and printed and circulated anti-Hitler leaflets among the legionnaires into esoteric action groups consisting of five men each. The first battalion of the Volga-Tatar Legion that was sent to the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] mutinied, shot all the German officers there, and defected to the [[Soviet partisans]] in [[Belarus]].

====Capture and death====
On 10 August 1943, he was arrested with his comrades by the [[Gestapo]] and sent to [[Moabit]] Prison in [[Berlin]]. He sat in a cell with [[Belgium|Belgian]] patriot and resistance fighter [[André Timmermans]] and a [[Polish people|Polish]] prisoner. Cälil studied the [[German language]] in prison to communicate with his cellmates. In prison, he compiled verses composed in the prison into self-made notebooks. He and his group of 12 were sentenced to death on 12 February 1944 and [[guillotine]]d at [[Plötzensee Prison]], Berlin, on August 25. His body was never recovered.

===Prison notebooks===
[[Image:Moabit Notebook1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Moabit Notebook''s title]]
[[Image:Moabit Notebook2.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Moabit Notebook''s title]]
Cälil's first notebook was preserved by the Tatars [[Ğabbas Şäripov]] and then [[Niğmät Teregulov]], both of whom later died in Stalin's camps. Şäripov was also imprisoned in Moabit and received Cälil's and [[Abdulla Aliş]]'s writings when the prison guards hid from bombing. To preserve the writings, Cälil's group fenced him off.<ref name="qassaf">{{in lang|ru}} Мусса Джалиль. Моабитские тетради. Татарское книжное издательство. Казань 1963. Составитель - Г. Кашшаф.</ref> The second notebook was preserved by the [[Belgium|Belgian]] cellmate André Timmermans. Those notebooks were passed to the Tatar ASSR Union of Writers in 1946 and 1947 correspondingly. They were published as two books under the title ''Moabit Däftäre'' (''The Moabit Notebook''). Cälil's widow Äminä Zalyalova gave the originals to the National Museum of [[Tatarstan]] for safekeeping.

One notebook was brought to the Soviet embassy in [[Rome]] by the ethnically Tatar [[Turkey|Turkish citizen]] Kazım Mirşan in 1946. However, this notebook was lost in the archives of [[SMERSH]], and pursuits for it since 1979 have had no results.{{Citation needed|reason=date  July 2010|date=July 2010}}
These notebooks were in [[arabic script]].

==Legacy==
In 1946, [[Ministry for State Security (Soviet Union)|MGB]] opened a file on Musa Cälil branding him as a traitor. In April 1947, his name was included in the list of wanted "dangerous criminals".

Then Tatar writers and the Tatarstan department of state security proved Cälil's [[Resistance movement|underground]] work against the [[Third Reich]] and his death. In 1953, ''The Moabit Notebooks'' were published in Kazan<ref name="TES"/> and the Russian translation also was published in ''[[Literaturnaya Gazeta]]'', owing to its editor, [[Konstantin Simonov]].<ref>{{cite book
|title= he Crisis of Socialist Modernity: The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 1970s
|author1=Marie-Janine Calic |author2=Dietmar Neutatz |author3=Julia Obertreis |year= 2011
|publisher= Vandenhoeck & Ruprech
|isbn= 9783525310427
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPkEFdSDqqEC&q=The+Moabit+Notebooks&pg=PA157
}}</ref> Musa Cälil was awarded the star of the [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] in 1956 and Literature [[Lenin Prize]] in 1957 for ''The Moabit Notebooks''.<ref name="kmetyuk"/>

A monument to Musa Cälil is placed near the [[Kazan Kremlin]]; the museum in his flat was opened in Kazan in 1983.<ref name="TES"/> His poetry was popularized in the Soviet Union and the [[Warsaw Pact]] countries.

Soviet Tatar composer [[Nazib Zhiganov]] wrote an "opera-poem" ''[[Dzhalil (opera)|Dzhalil]]'' based on the life of Cälil. This was premiered in Tatar in Kazan in 1957, and later recorded by conductor [[Boris Khaykin]] for Moscow radio.

Musa Cälil Tatar Library was opened in [[Constanța]], [[Romania]], in 2014.<ref name=nazar>{{cite web|last1=Nazar Look|title=Musa Ğelil Kitapkanasî - Musa Jalil Library|url=http://www.nazar-look.com/musa-jalil-library|website=www.nazar-look.com|publisher=Nazar Look Journal|accessdate=5 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413004922/http://www.nazar-look.com/musa-jalil-library|archive-date=2015-04-13|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Symphony-poem "Musa Jalil" written by [[Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Tatar]] composer [[Almaz Monasypov]] in 1971 was dedicated to the poet. A [[minor planet]] [[3082 Dzhalil]] discovered by Soviet astronomer [[Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova]] in 1972 is named after him.<ref>{{cite book
|title= Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, page 254
|author= Schmadel, Lutz D.
|year= 2003
|publisher= Springer-VerlagBerlin Heidelberg New York
|isbn= 3-540-00238-3
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWrB1jPCa8AC&q=3082+Dzhalil&pg=PA254
}}</ref>

On October 13, 2021, a monument to Cälil had its grand opening in the [[Sverdlovsk Oblast]] within [[Yekaterinburg]].<ref>{{Cite web|lang=en|url=https://tatar-congress.org/en/news/the-grand-opening-of-the-monument-to-the-tatar-poet-hero-of-the-soviet-union-musa-jalil-will-take-place-in-yekaterinburg/|title=The grand opening of the monument to the Tatar poet, Hero of the Soviet Union Musa Jalil will take place in Yekaterinburg|website=tatar-congress.org|date=10 October 2021|access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref>

==Writings==

{|
| 1929 || ''İptäşkä'' &nbsp;{{smaller|("To the Comrade")}}
|-
| 1934 || ''Ordenlı millionnar'' &nbsp;{{smaller|("The Millions Decorated with Orders")}}
|-
| 1935–41&nbsp;&nbsp; || ''Altınçäç''
|-
|rowspan=2 valign=top| 1940 || ''Xat taşuçı'' &nbsp;{{smaller|("The Postman")}}
           |-
           || ''İldar'' &nbsp;{{smaller|(opera [[libretto]])}}
|-
| 1943 || ''Tupçı antı'' &nbsp;{{smaller|("The Oath of the Artilleryman")}}
|}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
<!--These are dead links. My cursory attempt to find replacement working links did not produce useable results
* [http://jalil.mirgt.com/ Musa Jalil poems in English]
* [http://kitapxane.noka.ru/authors/caelil/?en Musa Cälil's poetry]
* {{in lang|tt}} [http://shigriyat.ru/autors/author.aspx?name=djalil Musa Cälil's poetry] -->
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.poesis.ru/poeti-poezia/djalil/photos.htm Images from Cälil's archive]
<!--The next link contains some extracts of his writing, including a poem, translated into English -->
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171113113635/http://en.all-abstracts.com/4-628.html/ Excerpt from Cälil's writing - the original excerpt that has been copied by the former UKTA Vice-chairman to create a page in UKTA website in February 2013]
* [http://www.doipo.co.uk/musa_jalil/ Excerpt from Cälil's writing on doipo.co.uk backup page, by Vice-chairman - the creator of the UK Tatar Association and the page dedicated to Musa Cälil's poetry. Vice-chairman left UKTA in June 2013 because of a chairman's offense involving dishonesty deception, such as fraud] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113113411/http://www.doipo.co.uk/musa_jalil/ |date=13 November 2017 }}
* [http://tatar.org.uk/en/109th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-poet-hero-musa-jalil/ Excerpt from Cälil's writing on UK Tatar Association page. Note by the author of the UKTA website; UKTA website has been collapsed in 2015 due to chairman's lack of knowledge in IT.]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 
* [http://kitaphane.tatarstan.ru/eng/jal_3.htm Cälil's poetry at National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929200144/http://kitaphane.tatarstan.ru/eng/jal_3.htm |date=29 September 2015 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calil, Musa}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Sharlyksky District]]
[[Category:People from Orenburgsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]]
[[Category:Tatar poets]]
[[Category:Translators from Russian]]
[[Category:Translators to Tatar]]
[[Category:Soviet male writers]]
[[Category:Soviet poets]]
[[Category:Soviet translators]]
[[Category:Moscow State University alumni]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Soviet war correspondents]]
[[Category:Soviet partisans]]
[[Category:Soviet prisoners of war]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:People executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison]]
[[Category:Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Soviet people executed abroad]]
[[Category:Executed people from Orenburg Oblast]]
[[Category:Executed Soviet people from Russia]]