Historic Photo - The Times Of Central Asia

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Kennedy’s 1978 Visit

Ted Kennedy’s 1978 Visit to Kazakhstan in Archival Photos

United States Senator Ted Kennedy’s visit to Alma-Ata in 1978 came at a time when foreign tourists were much less common in Central Asia than they are today. Most tourists from Western countries came through Intourist, the Soviet state travel organization that handled foreign visitors. Private enterprise was largely absent from the Soviet economy, although limited forms of individual work were legally permitted. But high-ranking visitors sometimes came to the region as official guests, most often to take part in international events. [caption id="attachment_57860" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Edward Kennedy (second from left) at a World Health Organization congress.[/caption] In September 1978, Kennedy, the brother of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, visited Alma-Ata, then the capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Kazakh SSR). He had first visited the Soviet Union in April 1974 and met with Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. During that trip, Kennedy discussed arms control and Soviet emigration policy and advocated a comprehensive nuclear test ban. [caption id="attachment_57864" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kennedy with surgeon K. Ormantayev at the WHO-UNICEF International Conference on Primary Health Care.[/caption] The senator also took part in the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata, jointly sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund. The conference adopted the Declaration of Alma-Ata, which identified primary health care as the key to achieving "Health for All" and as an integral part of national health systems. More than 3,000 delegates attended; 134 governments and 67 international organizations and agencies were represented. [caption id="attachment_57862" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kennedy (second from left) with Kazakh SSR Health Minister T. Sharmanov (second from right) and Zh. Kaliev, chairman of Kaz-ODKS (far right), at the airport.[/caption] Amid the Soviet Union’s Cold War with Western countries and its intensifying rivalry with China, the conference had a clear political dimension. David A. Tejada de Rivero, WHO deputy director-general from 1974 to 1985 and twice Peru's minister of health, noted that "the choice of Alma-Ata was due to two fundamental considerations: the dynamism and leadership of Kazakhstan's minister of health (Toregeldy Sharmanov was Minister of Health of the Kazakh SSR), and the ability to prepare the necessary physical infrastructure at very short notice. Alma-Ata, which means 'father of apples,' was in the republic where the Soviet Union had its Cold War space programs. It was also close to China." [caption id="attachment_57863" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Kennedy with A. Akpayev (center) and Zh. Kaliev (right) at the Medeo high-altitude skating rink.[/caption] Of course, people both inside the Soviet Union and abroad showed enormous interest in every detail of the stay of such a high-ranking guest from the U.S., a senator from a distant country across the ocean who bore such a famous name. For example, Dinmukhamed Kunaev, then first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, recalled his meeting with Kennedy in his book O moem vremeni (About My Time): "...He liked the capital of Kazakhstan, and especially the Memorial of Glory...

History

Rediscovering Mustafa Shokay: A Fragment of Kazakh History in an American Bookstore

While studying in the United States, I have spent my free hours chasing traces of home — fragments of Kazakh history scattered across libraries, archives, and private collections. Much of our past lies far from the steppe, carried off by the tides of empire and exile. My purpose has been simple: to return those fragments, in words and images, to our people. One afternoon in Washington, D.C., I wandered into an old bookstore. The two floors seemed to contain the intellectual wealth of the world — every shelf whispering stories of vanished nations and stubborn identities. I made straight for the section on Central Asia, where the spines of a few rare volumes caught my eye. As I turned the pages of one yellowed book, something stopped me cold: a photograph of Mustafa Shokay, the Kazakh statesman and intellectual who devoted his life to the cause of Turkestan’s autonomy. [caption id="attachment_37511" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Mustafa Shokay in his student days[/caption] A Visionary in Exile Born in 1890 in what is now southern Kazakhstan, Mustafa Shokay emerged as one of the most eloquent voices for Central Asian self-determination during the revolutionary upheavals of 1917. When the Russian Empire collapsed, he helped lead the short-lived Kokand (Turkestan) Autonomy, which sought to build a government based on equality and Muslim representation. Within weeks, the Bolsheviks crushed the movement. Forced into exile, Shokay continued his work from abroad — first in Turkey, then in France — editing journals and writing tirelessly about the rights and dignity of Turkic peoples. His story embodies the tragedy of a generation of intellectuals who dreamed of independence decades before it arrived. During World War II, Shokay’s moral integrity was tested once again. Arrested by Nazi forces after the invasion of France, he was asked to lead the “Turkestan Legion” — a military formation of Soviet prisoners of war. Shokay refused, condemning the brutal treatment of the prisoners and rejecting any collaboration with the Nazi regime. He died in captivity in 1941, but his name endures as a symbol of conscience and courage in Kazakhstan. Richard Pipes and the Rediscovery of Forgotten Nations The photograph I found was printed in The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917–1923, a classic study by Richard Pipes, the Harvard historian who helped introduce Western audiences to the complexity of the early Soviet era. Pipes’s research explored how the Bolsheviks built a multiethnic empire from the ruins of tsarist Russia, often manipulating national aspirations for political ends. Crucially, he paid special attention to the Muslim and Turkic regions — to the Caucasus, the Volga, and Central Asia — and recognized that their quest for self-determination represented the “Achilles’ heel” of the Soviet system. His work anticipated the eventual collapse of the USSR and the independence of states like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. In one recollection, Pipes described visiting Almaty in the 1950s and watching a May Day parade. As Kazakhs marched silently past portraits of Stalin, he turned to a Russian colleague...

Cultural Heritage

The Photographs of Prokudin-Gorsky: A Glimpse of a Lost World

Using the emerging technology of color photography, Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944) undertook several photographic expeditions to capture images of the Russian Empire. Most of his work took place between 1909 and 1915, though some photographs date as early as 1905. At the time, the Russian Empire stretched roughly 7,000 miles east to west and 3,000 miles north to south. It encompassed one-sixth of the Earth’s land surface, making it the largest empire in history, spanning what are now eleven time zones. [caption id="attachment_32008" align="aligncenter" width="484"] Abutment for a dam and house belonging to the government. [Kuzminskoe] Prokudin-Gorsky, Sergey Mikhaylovich, 1912[/caption]Tsar Nicholas II supported Prokudin-Gorsky’s ambitious endeavor by granting him travel permits and access to various modes of transportation, including trains, boats, and automobiles. His journeys are preserved in photographic albums that include the original negatives. One album also features miscellaneous images, including scenes from other parts of Europe. The photographs capture a broad array of subjects: religious architecture and shrines (churches, cathedrals, mosques, and monasteries); religious and secular artifacts (such as vestments, icons, and items linked to saints, former Tsars, and the Napoleonic Wars); infrastructure and public works (railroads, bridges, dams, and roads); a variety of industries (including mining, textile production, and street vending); agricultural scenes (like tea plantations and field work); portraits, which often showed people in traditional dress, as well as cityscapes, villages, natural landscapes, and blooming plants. Besides being a photographer, Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a chemist who is renowned for his pioneering contributions to color photography in the early 20th century. In 1901, he traveled to Berlin to study photochemistry before returning to Russia, where he outfitted a railroad car as a mobile darkroom with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. As he traveled across the Russian Empire, he documented its people and landscapes, eventually earning recognition in Russia, Germany, and France. In 1906, he was appointed head of the photography section of Fotograf-Liubitel, Russia’s leading photography journal. One of his most famous works is a color portrait of Leo Tolstoy, taken in 1908. “By capturing the result of artistic inspiration in the full richness of its colors on the light-sensitive photographic plate, we pass the priceless document to future generations,” wrote Prokudin-Gorsky. As a nobleman, inventor, professor, and pioneer of color photography in Russia, Prokudin-Gorsky had a deep sense of national identity and heritage. Although he was unable to complete his grand project due to the outbreak of World War I and increasing social unrest across the Russian Empire, he still managed to capture photographs in regions such as the Urals, Siberia, Crimea, Dagestan, Finland, and Central Asia, as well as along the Volga and Oka rivers. Unfortunately, much of his photographic archive was lost in the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution. Prokudin-Gorsky created unique black-and-white negatives using a triple-frame method, taking three separate exposures through blue, green, and red filters. This technique allowed the images to be printed or projected in color, often for magic lantern slide presentations. The complete collection of 1,902 triple-frame glass...

Historic Photo

Photograph of a Kazakh Female Harvester Preserved in a U.S. Library

In the 1940s, British researchers William and Zelda Coates traveled to Kazakhstan and later published a book titled Soviets in Central Asia. The book included a previously unpublished photograph of a Kazakh female combine operator. The English caption identified her as "A typical Kazakh collective farm woman – Kudyash Avnimasova, of the 'Red Kombine' farm." The book also offers detailed insights into Kazakhstan’s agriculture and industry during the Soviet era. The authors highlight the significant progress made in food production over the previous decade, noting the establishment of numerous factories in southern Kazakhstan. They report that the country had five sugar factories, four distilleries, ten canneries, and three starch factories. Additionally, they emphasize the impact of large-scale industrialization, pointing out that Kazakhstan’s industrial workforce grew dramatically from just 20,000 in 1920 to nearly one million by early 1945. The Coates focus not only on economic and industrial developments but also on the aspirations, perspectives, and reform-driven mindset of smaller nations. The inclusion of the Kazakh female combine operator’s photograph is intentional; it complements the broader discussion on production and labor in the region. The authors present data showing that in 1938, Kazakhstan had 191 state farms, 363 machine and tractor stations, 25,646 tractors, and 9,522 combines. By 1947, those numbers had grown to 254 state farms and 670 collective farms, with 12,000 combines and tens of thousands of tractors operating in the fields. There is a common saying: 'History is a mirror.' Indeed, recorded history does not fade; rather, its significance deepens over time. The image of this female combine operator, preserved in the British scholars’ book housed in the Gelman Library at George Washington University, serves as a powerful representation of the resilience, determination, and vitality of Kazakh women in the 20th century.