Kiev – Eurovision: Jamala, a Tatar Crimea to the tragic family history – L’Express

Inspired by memories of her great-grandmother, deported from the peninsula in 1944 with almost all other Tatars, the Ukrainian singer wrote the song herself.

“ I wanted to make a song about my great-grandmother Nazalkhan and thousands of Crimean Tatars who have never been able to return to Crimea, on the year that changed their lives forever “, explained the brown and slender singer of 32 years in an interview with AFP in February.

From 18 to 20 May 1944, almost all of the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim people of Turkish origin then accused by Stalin of collaborating with the Nazis, were crammed into freight cars and deportees, most in Central Asia, where half of them died due to harsh living conditions.

Among them were the great-grandmother of Jamala with his four son and daughter. Her husband while fighting the Nazis in the ranks of the Soviet Army.

The family was “ locked in a freight car, like animals, without water, without food and sent to Central Asia ,” says the artist.

Just during this trip, about 8,000 people died of thirst and typhoid, including a child rear-grandmother of Jamala.

The daughter of Nazalkhan died and “ His body was thrown from the car as a junk ,” she said.

“ I needed ” that song “ to release me ” this pain and honor “ the thousands of Tatars Crimean “of which there remains nothing more,” not even photos , “said the singer, singer training became a jazz star in Ukraine.

She says writing his song, which starts with a shock sentence + They come into your houses to kill you +, “ powerlessness ” after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, emphasizing its commitment to the “ voice ” in the West.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday welcomed the “ amazing ” victory of the singer.

“ Yes !!! ‘he tweeted. “ A benefit and win amazing! Any Ukraine address a big thank you, Jamala. ”

The Crimean Tatars, who have begun to return to the peninsula after the fall of the USSR in 1991, were horrified to see annexed by Russia and remain largely opposed.

Since the annexation, Tatar activists were detained or had their homes raided, and community leaders were banned from entering the territory by Moscow.

In April, the Russian Justice also classified as “ extremist organization ” the meeting of Crimean Tatars, the Mejlis.

The abuses aimed Tatars were denounced in particular by the UN, the United States and the European Parliament.