HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Khertek Amyrbitovna Anchimaa-Toka (russian: Хертек Амырбитовна Анчимаа-Тока΄ tyv, Анчимаа-Тока Хертек Амырбит уруу, translit=Anchimaa-Toka Khertek Amyrbit uruu; 1 January 1912 – 4 November 2008) was a Tuvan/Soviet politician who in 1940–44 was the
Chairwoman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of
Little Khural The Little Khural ( mn, Бага Хурал, ''Baga Khural'') or State Little Khural ( mn, Улсын Бага Хурал, ''Ulsyn Baga Khural'') was the presidium of the Mongolian People's Republic from 1924 until 1951 and then the standing legisla ...
of the Tuvan People's Republic, and the first non-royal female head of state."Khertek Anchimaa Toka: the world’s first female head of state"
Times Online. 2 October 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
She was the wife of
Salchak Toka Salchak Kalbakkhorekovich Toka (russian: Салчак Калбакхорекович Тока, – 11 May 1973) was a Tuvan and later, Soviet politician. He was General Secretary of the Tuvinian department of the CPSU from 1944 to 1973; previou ...
, who was the republic's supreme leader from 1932 to 1973.


Early life

Khertek Anchimaa was born in what is now Bay-Tayginsky District of
Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
, near the present day settlement of Kyzyl-Dag in 1912. Months earlier the
collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...
of imperial China's Qing dynasty had led to the end of the nominal Chinese rule over Tuvan territory and the establishment of the independent Tannu Uriankhai under Mongolian and Tuvan nobility. Anchimaa was born the third child in a family of peasant hunters. In the spring of 1918 a smallpox epidemic in the region claimed her father and one of her sisters, leaving her mother to care for Anchimaa and her four other siblings alone. To help make ends meet, the six-year-old Anchimaa was fostered out to a more prosperous branch of the family.


Career

A Russian protectorate was established over Tuva in 1914, however the region became a battleground in the
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
after 1917 Revolution, where effective control over the territory and capital Belotsarsk changed between the Red Army and
counter-revolutionary A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
forces several times. However conservative forces in Tuva were defeated in 1920 and the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva was proclaimed on 17 August 1921. The new Soviet-backed government greatly increased education opportunities, and subsequently in a period where very few Tuvans, particularly women, were literate Anchimaa managed to learn to write and read in Mongolian language. At the age of 18, when the first national Tuvan alphabet was introduced, she was one of the first to learn it, and was subsequently recruited by the state to teach the language to others as a member of the Revolutionary Youth Union (Revsomol), the youth wing of the
Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party ( mn, ᠲᠠᠩᠨᠦ ᠲᠤᠧᠠ ᠢᠢᠨ ᠠᠷᠠᠳ ᠤᠨ ᠬᠤᠪᠢᠰᠭᠠᠯ ᠳᠤ ᠨᠠᠮ, Tangnu Tuva-yin arad-un qubisγal-tu nam) was a political party in Tuva, founded in 1921. When the ...
(TNRP) and the functional equivalent to the CPSU's Komsomol. A year later, Anchimaa began working as a clerk and technical secretary for the Barun-Khemchiksky
kozhuun Kozhuun (; tyv, Кожуун, ) is the Tuvan term of an historical feudal administrative division known as a banner. The term ''kozhuun'' is used today as a unit in the system of the administrative divisions of the Tuva Republic of Russia.Const ...
, helping to oversee local economic production as well as continuing to work to eradicate illiteracy in the district. Her energy and success in these tasks brought her to the attention of the local party leadership. She was admitted to the TNRP and sent, among 70 others, to the
Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...
in Moscow, a journey of some 5000 km over three weeks. When asked by the university selection committee in Kyzyl "Where is Moscow" as part of her initial assessment, Anchimaa admitted she did not know but said "If you send me, I will know where it is." Apart from studying, students attended lectures of famous Soviet politicians; the meeting with Nadezhda Krupskaya is said to have affected Khertek greatly. Their education and living while in Moscow was completely funded by the state, however the education proved very challenging for the Tuvans sent due to their low level of basic education and requirement to becoming quickly fluent in
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
. Anchimaa was one of only 11 Tuvan students who ultimately graduated.


Revsomol

Upon her return in 1935, Anchimaa was one of several recent graduates of the University of the Toilers in the East to be placed in positions of political trust in the TNRP due to their political and administrative education in Moscow and their adherence to Stalinist ideology, beginning in 1935 when Anchimaa was put in charge of the propaganda department of Revsomol. In 1938 she became the director of Tuvan Zhenotdel (the analogue of the Soviet
Zhenotdel The Zhenotdel (), the women's department of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), was the section of the Russian Communist party devoted to women's affairs in the 1920s. It gave women in the Russian Revolution ...
), and Chair of the Women's Section of the Central Committee of the TNRP. In both these positions Anchimaa took a leading role in coordinating action for improving social and economic conditions for women, in particular the eradication of illiteracy and the promotion of employment and education opportunities for women in Tuvan society.


Education

Anchimaa's education meant she had been absent during the height of the 'cultural revolution' of Tuva in the early 1930s, during which time the local nobility, lamas and
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
monasteries had much of their wealth and power stripped. Tuvan herds and agricultural endeavors were aggressively collectivized along the lines of the Soviet model, however the reforms proved deeply unpopular and were gradually reversed. However, Soviet interference in local matters was frequent, and the TNRP was successively
purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...
d to ensure its adherence to Stalinist ideology. The purges of 1932 had seen the fervently pro-Stalin
Salchak Toka Salchak Kalbakkhorekovich Toka (russian: Салчак Калбакхорекович Тока, – 11 May 1973) was a Tuvan and later, Soviet politician. He was General Secretary of the Tuvinian department of the CPSU from 1944 to 1973; previou ...
assume the party chairmanship of the TNRP after the execution of his predecessor
Donduk Kuular Donduk Kuular ( tyv, Куулар Дондук, , 1888–1932) was a Tuvan monk, politician, and prime minister of the Tuvan People's Republic. Born in Tannu Uriankhai during the rule of the Qing dynasty of China, Donduk was originally a Lamaist ...
The Great Purge took root as well during the late 1930s, with operations mounted by the NKVD in the Tuvan Republic to expose 'right opportunists'. Leading 'counter-revolutionaries' and 'Japanese spies' exposed included Council of Ministers Chairman Sat-Churmit Dazhy and Chairman of the Presidium of the Little Khural Adyg-Tyulyush Khemchik-ool. As a leading party member Anchimaa sat on the Special Court convened to investigate the charges, which unanimously found all nine defendants guilty and sentenced them to death. Though very small by comparison to the purges happening elsewhere in the Soviet Union, combined with summary arrests and executions by the NKVD, complete domination of the TNRP and the republic by pro-Moscow Stalinists was now assured.


Chair of the Presidium of Little Khural

In April 1940 Anchimaa became the Chair of the Presidium of Little Khural, the head of state for the Tuvan People's Republic. In doing so she became the first female head of state in the modern era (who did not inherit the title). In doing so she surpassed the achievement of fellow Soviet
Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (russian: Алекса́ндра Миха́йловна Коллонта́й, née Domontovich, Домонто́вич;  – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist the ...
, who had become the world's first female government minister in 1917. However, the Tuvan Republic's lack of diplomatic recognition, the scant information and reporting available outside the Soviet Union concerning the extremely isolated Republic (particularly during a period when world attention was focused on Nazi Germany's assault on Denmark and Norway, the opening salvo of Second World War's western front) meant that this fact went unnoticed for some time. Anchimaa would also hold the record as the longest serving non-royal female head of state until Iceland's Vigdís Finnbogadóttir broke it in 1985. In 1940 Anchimaa also married the General Secretary of the TNRP
Salchak Toka Salchak Kalbakkhorekovich Toka (russian: Салчак Калбакхорекович Тока, – 11 May 1973) was a Tuvan and later, Soviet politician. He was General Secretary of the Tuvinian department of the CPSU from 1944 to 1973; previou ...
. She retained her maiden name after marriage (which was very common among the communists and revolutionaries) and only changed it after her husband died in 1973. The marriage was of two of the Tuvan Republic's most powerful political figures, and together Anchimaa and Toka would dominate Tuvan politics for the next three decades. As Chair of the Presidium she had an extensive correspondence with her equivalent Soviet colleague, Mikhail Kalinin. Her term coincided with World War II in which she took a leading role in mobilizing the resources and manpower of the republic to assist the Soviet Union in defending from the German invasion. Within two years over 200 volunteers had joined the Red Army and the republic's economy was entirely dedicated to serving the cause of the war. Tuvan orientation towards Moscow intensified during the war, with
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = Gr ...
script replacing the Latin alphabet for the writing of Tuvan, Russification of social and economic practices, and virtually all opposition to Stalinist policy eradicated. These trends culminated in 1944 in the petition, masterminded by Toka and Anchimaa, for the republic's
annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
to become a constituent state of the USSR. The Soviets, desiring the mineral resources of the republic and a permanent end to Mongolian-Chinese geopolitical intrigues over the region, acceded to the request and the state formally ceased to exist in November 1944. After that the TNRP became a local branch of the CPSU, which Salchak Toka continued to lead. Anchimaa became the deputy chair of the executive committee of the Tuvan CPSU branch, maintaining a leading role in social affairs within Tuva and continuing her work on art and literacy. In 1962 she became vice-chairwoman of Tuvan Council of Ministers, the number two position in the Tuvan Soviet government, being responsible for social welfare, health, education, culture, sports and propaganda.


Personal life

She retired in 1972, acquired the family name "Anchimaa-Toka" after her husband's death in 1973 and led a quiet life until her death. Anchimaa-Toka died November 4, 2008, in Tuva. She was 96.


References


External links


Article in Times Online about Khertek Anchimaa




{{DEFAULTSORT:Anchimaa-Toka, Khertek 1912 births 2008 deaths Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni Female heads of state Heads of state of former countries Heads of state of states with limited recognition People from Tuva Tuvan people Soviet women in politics History of the Tuvan People's Republic