The role of Colonel Bell in helping the starving Bashkirs in 1921-1923.

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In February 1921, on the territory of historical Bashkortostan, a "great famine" began and captured a significant population. The territory of modern Bashkortostan was one of the most affected: 80% of the population was starving. Cannibalism has spread.
During the famine, the population of Bashkortostan was reduced, according to various data from 650,000 to 1,500,000 people. There has never been such a mass famine in the history of the region, in the people's memory it remained as the “Great Hunger” (“Kur aslyk”).
Great help to the starving population of the region was provided by the American Administration for Assistance (ARA). In November 1921, in Ufa, on the instructions of the head of the American Administration for Assistance to Herbert Hoover and with the support of US President Warren Harding, the Ufa-Ural district office was opened under the direction of Colonel Walter Bell.

Bell Walter Lincoln (1874, New York, USA - 1946, Danbury, Connecticut, USA), military and public figure, colonel of the US Army. He began his military career in cavalry during the Spanish-American War of 1898. He participated in the Mexican campaign of 1914, in the First World War as part of the British Army, with the rank of captain. Upon returning to the United States in 1918, he served in the National Guard of New York. In August 1921, after the signing of the Riga Agreement between the RSFSR and the American Administration of Assistance led by G. Hoover, on the supply of food and medicine to the starving population of Soviet Russia, according to the personal recommendation of US Secretary of War J. O'Ryan, he was appointed head of the regional office of Ufa -Ural "- one of the largest and most affected by hunger districts. He worked closely with the head of ARA, the future 31st President of the United States, Mr. Hoover.
Colonel Walter Bell is the only US county governor who has worked continuously in one district for the entire duration of the ARA's activities in Soviet Russia. Possessing uncommon administrative abilities, he managed to establish good relations with local authorities and attain uncommon prestige among the indigenous people of the region.
In the spring of 1922, Colonel U. Bell initiated a campaign to tidy up the urban economy, as well as to restore and develop the infrastructure of the BASSR.
At the end of the work of ARA in Soviet Russia in 1923, the activities of Colonel U. Bell were marked by the leadership of the country and the republic. In fact, Moscow addressed to the leadership of the BASSR the following: “When the ARA leaves, greetings, thanks, seeing off can be arranged, but should be absolutely official in the name of local tsik, sncoms, executive committees. In no case should behalf of the population of acts of appreciation and speeches. "
Despite all this, for the local population, Colonel W. Bell was not just a friend and a hero, but a congenial brother. The Bashkirs, not only awarded him the title of an honorary citizen of Ufa, introduced him to one of the rare manuscripts of the Holy Quran. Also, he was allowed, the only foreigner, to attend the elections of the supreme mufti.
And as the American journalist W. Duranty wrote on the New York Times page, in 1923. "If the United States some day recognizes Russia,” say the Bashkirs, “and the autonomous Bashkir Republic will be allowed to have its foreign representative in Washington, they should be Colonel Bell. "
But it so happens that for many decades the Bashkirs will forget Colonel U. Bella, and the “big hunger” will remain in the memory of the people without names and names. All those who knew the colonel and could write about American aid would fall into the millstones of repression, and the last batyrs of the people would be sent to the slaughter on horseback against tanks. Only a century later, historians will begin to collect the truth bit by bit. But that people and the elite of which Colonel Bell saw is no longer there, leaving the land of "great hunger."

 

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Sorry, ARA is "American Relief Administration".