In Memory of Roza Aitmatova
Roza Aitmatova died on October 26, 2026, at the age of 89. She was the younger sister of Chingiz Aitmatov, one of the most important writers of the 20th century. With her death, Kyrgyzstan has lost an invaluable witness to its history. She succeeded in turning the tragedies endured by her family into part of her nation's collective memory. Roza was born in Moscow on March 8, 1937. She was just six months old when her father, Torekul Aitmatov, a prominent political figure who had played a role in establishing the state institutions of the young Kyrgyz Republic, was arrested during Stalin's purges. He was executed in November 1938, but his family remained unaware of his fate for decades. His wife, Nagima Abduvalieva, left alone with four children, continued to hope that her husband was still alive, somewhere in a distant Soviet labor camp. Roza grew up alongside her brothers and sister, Chingiz, Ilgiz and Lyutsiya, in an atmosphere of hardship and uncertainty. As the children of an "enemy of the people," they faced discrimination and financial difficulties. During the war, the family lived in modest homes in the Talas region, relying on the support of relatives and fellow villagers. Chingiz, the eldest child, had to take on adult responsibilities at an early age: while still a teenager, he worked as secretary of the village council. For Roza, her elder brother had been a source of support and a role model since childhood. It was Chingiz, then a young agronomist, who told the family in 1953 that they might be able to move to the capital, Frunze, now Bishkek. Before leaving, Nagima wanted to have a photograph taken with all four of her children. As Roza later recalled, this seemingly simple gesture symbolized the end of their most difficult years and the beginning of a new life. In the years that followed, Chingiz gained international recognition with works such as Jamila, The First Teacher and Mother Earth. Roza had by then devoted herself to the natural sciences, having studied physics and mathematics. She followed her brother's literary achievements closely. Yet their relationship remained, above all, a deeply personal family bond, built on intimate conversations, shared memories and boundless love for their mother. One episode recounted by Roza reveals just how closely the writer's work was connected to his family history. In 1962, following a severe deterioration in Nagima's health, Roza went into her brother's study to tidy his desk. Among the pages of a new manuscript, she discovered a dedication to their parents: to their father, whose burial place was still unknown, and to their mother, who had raised four children on her own. It was the first draft of Mother Earth, a novella in which Roza recognized many aspects of Nagima's life, her courage and her resilience. When their mother died in 1971, Roza saw her brother, by then a celebrated writer, weeping inconsolably in a hospital corridor. Behind the image of a man known throughout the world was...
