Salavdi Gugaev

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Salavdi Gugaev (1917–2010) was a Chechen-American who worked to help Chechens and Ingush who were forced to move to Central Asia during Stalin’s deportations. He was born on October 25, 1917, in Shatoy, Chechnya. He served in the Soviet army and was captured by the German army during the Continuation War, spending years in a prisoner-of-war camp. After his release, he moved to the United States, where he spoke on Voice of America and Radio Liberty to raise awareness of persecution under Stalin. His most important act was an appeal to the United Nations on July 1, 1955, just before Nikita Khrushchev arrived for the UN General Assembly. The appeal described the deportations of Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks, Balkars, and Karachays to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Siberia, with facts and eyewitness accounts; a UN staff member helped deliver the message. He died on April 11, 2010, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, at age 92.