57
The same Aliabbasbey Alibeyov whose testimonies are viewed
as the most trustworthy ones provided a very important piece of in-
formation regarding the fate of Guba’s numerous Jewish community
that was forced to make probably far not the best decision right be-
fore Amazasp’s withdrawal from Guba: “On the 9th day when I atten-
ded Amazasp to get permission to bury the dead bodies, in my pre-
sence he addressed the local Jews in the following way: “Woe on you
when just in an hour or at night the Muslims and Lezghins attack you
and massacre you all to the last person”. This caused panics among
the Jewish population, so about 6 thousand out of them left the town
with the Armenians”. (155)
This latter information by A.Alibeyov is further confirmed in the
report by the Commissar Kasradze from the Joint Red Army Batta-
lions that took off from Khachmaz towards Derbend on May 16, 1918.
Kasradze wrote: “On the way back from Khachmaz we witnessed a
panic flight of the Jewish masses from Guba and other villages. Bare-
foot, tormented, homeless and living in mud they inevitably became
a source of epidemics of typhus, smallpox and other diseases”. (156)
The question arises: did the Muslims and Lezghins pose a real
danger to the Jewish population of Guba? So far, there is not a single
hint, even an indirect one, which would indicate any hostile intents of
Guba’s major population towards the town’s Jewish residents, neither
before, nor after the tragic events. It should be also hereby noted that
after Amazasp’s withdrawal, by and large, the Soviet rule was restored
in town and around, dominantly represented by ethnic Georgians. No
interethnic tensions or crackdowns on any particular ethnic group of
the town, let alone the Jewish one, were registered ever since.
The new political regime was trying, even though in vain, to re-
establish contacts even with such recognized local figures as Alibey
Zizikski, Muhubali Efendi and others. Upon collapse of the Soviet re-
gime in late July that year, it were these leaders who, together with
representative of Guba’s other ethnic groups like Russians, Jews, etc.,
kept the overall situation in the area under control, effectively preven-
ting hostile actions by certain groups. Guba retained peace and stability
throughout the whole period of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan.
As of December 1918, the Ad Hoc Investigation Commission’s
group led by A.F.Novatski started operating in Guba. The group ad-
dressed both the authorities and the population to provide any infor-
Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination
of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population