An abrek was called a man who had gone into the mountains, living outside power and the law, leading a secretive lifestyle and periodically commit predatory raids. Among the North Caucasian peoples, an abrek is an exile from a clan who had to lead a wandering and half-robber life for a crime. And what does history say about such characters? According to the assumptions, the word “abrek” came from the Ossetian name “abyraeg” or “abreg”, which translates as “wanderer”. Later, the designation "abrek" began to be gradually perceived as a "bandit" and "robber".
Literary illusions
For quite a long time Russian society looked at the highlanders through a certain poetic prism. After all, often it was the works of Russian poets and writers that contributed to the creation of enchanting images of “children of the mountains”, such as Kazbich, Ismail-bey and Hadji Murat. Over the years, the poetic fleur more and more irrevocably went into oblivion. He was replaced by a time of harsh real prose. No matter how beautiful and romantic the equestrian men looked in the mountains, in the souls of some people they settled fear and unwillingness to face them.
Descriptions without romance
The Russian authorities in the Caucasus had to face the Abrek movement. But even at the beginning of the 19th century, Bronevskaya in his classic book "Caucasians" very picturesquely and reliably described the robbery of the highlanders. He told how the Chechens, risking their own lives, crossed the Terek River and waited 2-3 days on the road for a lone merchant or officer to appear. And having waited, they attacked him, tied to a log and thus transported through a powerful mountain stream to their possessions. After that, they contacted the authorities or close relatives of the abducted person and demanded a ransom. Quite often they managed to gain good money for their captive. And so in reality the word “abrek” changed its meaning his enthusiastic categorically opposite.
Causal Origins
Historians try to subdivide all abreks into two groups. The composition of the first is characterized as follows: an abrek is one who once opposed the colonial policy of tsarism and its guides. The second group includes ordinary bandits engaged in armed assaults and robberies for personal gain. Nevertheless, the same methods of the first and second put them on a par with criminals. The Russian and Cossack authorities of the North Caucasus Okrug were never considered “political criminals”.
Partly the highlanders were driven by the economic reasons for the robbery, because in the mountains no matter how much work you put in, you still can’t grow a good harvest. Cattle breeding also did not help. And on the plain they were outcasts. This led to the fact that men in the mountains decided to sorties, robberies and robberies. Among the rocks, they built stone towers in which they hid stolen livestock. A wild rule was born at that time: if you manage to drive the stolen cows or sheep into your tower and close the gate, then these animals become yours.
From lawlessness to lawlessness
Since the end of the XIX century, numerous cases of abrechestvo began to spread throughout the Terek region, which grew into problems of a rather serious scale. For example, in 1910, 3,650 armed robberies were committed. The mass capture of wealthy inhabitants, the destruction of administration officials, attacks on trains, postal carriages, on treasuries and banks, on shops and stalls with goods, systematic theft of cattle and horses - only the above has strengthened the belief in people that an abrek is evil and lawlessness, from which there is practically no protection. But not everyone was like that, and just below we give for comparison two people, two social outcasts, and you draw your conclusions.
Abrek Osman Mutuev (Grozny District)
Osman belonged to a prominent Chechen family, once famous in the war under the leadership of Shamil. The career of a warrior and the rebel laurels did not interest the guy. He studied in Grozny and dreamed of becoming a good translator to get into the public service. The loss of parents made the young man forget about his studies and return to his native village, where the villagers had already accepted him not as their own, but as a “newcomer”. Osman hardly made ends meet, but to commit anything illegal was never in his thoughts.
And when the district administration, in connection with the growing lawlessness and the increasing incidence of robberies, demanded to hand over the "vicious members" for deportation to Siberia, the dishonest villagers gave Osman and all those for whom there was no one to stand up for reprisal. The guy escaped from Siberia, and, not hiding, came to the authorities with a request to sort out the error. At that time, General Tolstov served as the head of the region. He honestly approached the issue, examined the case and officially declared Osman innocent. But again the same villagers who again wrote a false denunciation on him again did not give him peace. And again Siberia, the escape. But, having returned to his homeland, now Mutuev hid in the mountains.
Chechen "Dubrovsky"
So, what kind of thought does the expression “abrek” convey? The meaning of the word is often compared with nobility, as is the case with Osman Mutuev. Suffered from human betrayal, Osman did not harden in his soul and did not become embittered. An intelligent and honest person - this world holds such - became a defender for all unjustly offended. For this he was always cordially accepted and even called his prince. And only the family, which had once slandered Osman, still continued to set authorities against him, blaming and attributing to him everything that other abreks did. Osman died in another sweep organized by the authorities on another unjust denunciation.
Abrek Iski
You can watch endlessly on the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, here you can take the most mysterious and beautiful photos. Abrek, appearing against this beautiful background, at one moment made me forget about all the lyrics. Claims are the exact opposite of Osman. Escaped from prison at the cost of killing several people, he went into abreks. The suit was short and thin, and with an evil expression on his face and his whole figure he resembled a monkey.
A distinctive feature of his crimes is the bestial, merciless and senseless craving for murder, sometimes he did not even rob his victims. Such an abrek - it was a beast in human guise. The suits terrified both the Russian and the mountain population. Everyone hated him, regardless of nationality. The beast-man paid everyone an even tougher coin.
Conclusion
The word used to call wanderers who do not recognize the laws of society or simply want to live outside it, has acquired a negative connotation over time. Abrekov was afraid. But as elsewhere, some are born and remain human, others are transformed into animals. Perhaps the matter is not in the circumstances, but in the strength and nobility of the spirit?