The era of the Soviet Union, whose people made a huge contribution to the common treasury of achievements of the 20th century, is receding into the past. One of these people is Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov, a writer whose books have been translated into 176 languages of the world, a philosopher who during his lifetime became a classic of world literature, who glorified his beautiful Kyrgyzstan.
Childhood and youth
In 1928, on December 12, Chingiz was born in the small Kyrgyz village of Sheker, becoming the youngest, fourth child in the family of the peasant activist Torekul. My father, inspired by communist ideas, devoted all his strength to serving the new order, was transferred to Moscow, received an education and made a party career.
Mother, Nagima, was an actress, but she left everything and followed her husband, began to participate in his party affairs. She was a very educated woman, she knew several languages, had several professions. It was she who saved the children when the terrible 37th came.
Unrest and numerous arrests forced Torekul Aitmatov to send his loved ones to Kyrgyzstan, to his native village. He understood that there, perhaps, the wife and children would not be separated and sent to the camps. Nagima did not want to leave her love, but left for the sake of the children. Father was soon arrested and shot.
At home, in Kyrgyzstan, at first everyone was afraid to get involved with the wife of the "traitor", but the world is not without kind people and Nagima achieved her goal - she found a job, housing and arranged the children in a school in Kirovka, next to Sheker. To her surprise, no one treated them as "lepers", on the contrary, people treated them with sympathy and support, and this was especially pronounced in the attitude of teachers to the children of Torekul.
When the war began, all men over 16 went to the front. Nagima became the accountant of the local collective farm, and 14-year-old Chingiz became the secretary of the local council. The boy had to shoulder the responsibilities of an adult, a responsible man, while continuing to study at school. Next to him worked the same teenagers, who later became heroes of books: Aliman, Tolgonai …
Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov loved his native land and wanted to give them all his strength - the land, people. Like his father, he was eager to engage in peasant labor. After the 8th grade, he left to study in Dzhambul, where he graduated with honors from the zootechnical school, and then entered the agricultural institute in Frunze. After graduating from higher education in 1953, he worked as a veterinarian, publishing his stories about his native land in local publications.
Writing career
By 1956, Chingiz realized that he wanted to devote himself to literature and went to study at the capital's Higher Literary Courses, and a year later his story "Jamila" was translated into French. He worked as a correspondent for Pravda and some magazines. In 1965, the first film based on Aitmatov's book "The First Teacher" was shot. "The White Steamer", a story of the 70th year, becomes one of the most famous works in the whole world.
The interweaving of deep human drama, philosophy, mythology and bright Kyrgyz flavor in the works of Chingiz Aitmatov became an innovation in literature and won the hearts of many readers all over the planet. He spoke about the development of civilization, in which the main criterion should be not money, but simple sincere humanity and awareness of the fragility and beauty of the world around us.
Chingiz received his first high award in 1963 (Lenin Prize), and then not a year passed without a new title, medal, prize and honorary awards, each new book was translated into many languages, the writer becomes famous throughout Europe, in USA and the East.
Since the nineties, Aitmatov has become the Russian ambassador, first to Luxembourg, and then to all the Benelux states, as well as the representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO and NATO. He created an international charitable foundation, which he led until the end of his life. Aitmatov's biography and literature is studied in many European schools. But he remains an ordinary person who most of all values life, nature and ordinary people.
Personal life and death
The great writer was married twice. In the first marriage with Kerez Shambashieva, an honored doctor of Kyrgyzstan, two sons were born, Askar and Sanjar. The second wife was Maria Urmatovna, who gave birth to the legendary Chingiz a son and daughter. During his lifetime, Aitmatov saw three grandchildren.
In May 2008, Chingiz ended up in the Kazan hospital, from where he was urgently transported to a large medical center in Nuremberg. Turkey nominated the writer as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, but, unfortunately, this year, on June 10, Aitmatov passed away, several months before his 80th birthday. But his books continue to live, becoming classics of world literature.
