Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims
130
File No.54
Record of Examination
On this 13th day of December, 1918, in Guba
Novatski, the member of the Ad Hoc Investigation Commission
established by the Government of Azerbaijan, examined the following
person as a witness, pursuant to the Criminal Court Regulations:
Witness: Meshadi Soultan Asgarov, aged 42, a Guba resi-
dent, literate.
I am a survivor of the events31 in Baku of March 18 and 19 this
year when the Armenians attacked the Muslims and slaughtered
them. In late March I returned to the town of Guba. About a month
later, the talks were spread of the Armenian advance on Guba. I made
little account of that for I did not really believe this may happen. So
it was totally unexpected to hear gunfire in the town’s outskirts one
morning. It turned out that the Armenians really attacked the town.
Together with my family, I hastily fled to Nugedi village and then into
the forest leaving my household and all personal assets to the mercy
of fate. I was so much taken aback that I even forgot to collect money
and other valuables from the safe box. Other Guba residents followed
us with their wives and children. While in the forest, we had to subsist
like beasts, with no home, food or a place to sleep. We suffered from
the cold, starvation and other deprivations. We all got sick. Many of
us are still affected by the shock, just like my daughter. I got a pal-
pitation, so I still have not recovered from the physical and mental
distress. It is hard to describe all the ordeal and moral travail that we,
the Guba residents, had suffered. We spent 11 days in the forest and
returned only after we got to know that the Armenians had with-
drawn from the town.
I found my home totally plundered with doors and windows
smashed out, wardrobes cracked, chests broken through and the safe
box forced. All our movables were looted, including those from the
safe, i.e. 8 thousand rubles cash and valuables with pendent alone
worth 18 thousand rubles. A well-to-do man, I am a complete beggar
at the moment.
A number of luxury houses in town were set ablaze. The Muslim
residents lost their last shirt. The number of those slain was over-