Sengepov Pyotr Ivanovich

31.12.1922 - 12.04.2014

performer of sacred songs of the Bear's Holiday

Pyotr Ivanovich Sengepov was born in a camp located in the upper reaches of the Lyamin River (the right tributary of the Ob River) in the family of the hunter Sengepov Ivan Timofeyevich. According to archival documents, his father's social status was classified as «kulak» and «shaman on an axe». According to the indictment no. 2/49 about the counter-revolutionary action against the Soviet power of the natives of the Kazym tundra, in 1934, his father and brother, Kirill Ivanovich Sengepov, were sentenced by the court to be shot with confiscation of property. His father and brother were directly involved in the capture and execution of the P. V. Astrakhantsev’s group. During the rebellious events, brother Kirill was chosen by the «Kazym world» as a messenger («esaul»), whose function was to participate in negotiations with the «Russians» as an interpreter. During the defeat of the Kazym Rebellion, Pyotr was 11 years old. When his father and brother were taken away by the operations group of the Joint State Political Directorate, Pyotr and his sister Darya were sent to a boarding school (the village of Vershina of Khanty-Mansiysky District). Children who suddenly became «children of enemies of the people» had to endure humiliations from other children, and perhaps teachers. There is evidence that the children of persons who were indicted in case no. 2/49 on the counter-revolutionary action against the Soviet government of the natives of the Kazym tundra were subjected to humiliations and insults initiated by the teachers themselves. That’s why unable to withstand insults and affronts little Pyotr ran into the forest in search of a quiet life. Barely alive, he was picked up by a Khanty family at a camp located on the Lyamin River (Surgutsky District). As A. M. Sengepov points out in his book "The Stories of the Old Khanty" in this family (he does not give the exact name) P. I. Sengepov grew up and became an adult: «his hand became a hand, his foot became a foot». Having settled on the ancestral camp on the Syun-Yugan River ( the tributary of the Kazym River ), since 1956 he worked at various jobs in the agricultural artel «Pravda». Then, in 1961, he worked in the state farm «Kazymsky» as a fisherman and a hunter, and later Pyotr Ivanovich worked as a foreman of the reindeer herding brigade no. 17. For a long time, he did not want to recognize the existing government, although he worked in «Stakhanov style», was reputed to be a successful and good hunter. Arrest of his father and older brother, and the hardships and resentments at the boarding school, were the reason for Peter's rejection of the Soviet government. Later, at the beginning of the 1950s, Pyotr Ivanovich Sengepov, as a good hunter, was presented to the state award – awarding the order of Lenin – for his special achievements in collective farm construction. However, Pyotr Ivanovich categorically refused to accept this award, and the order of Lenin was never awarded to him. According to his oral story, which was recorded in 2014, he never came to terms with the arrest and imprisonment of his father and brother, and his public refusal of the high state award is related to his personal protest against the injustice of the Soviet government. However, later, in 1967–1969, for high production indicators in the development of reindeer husbandry and for execution of socialist obligations in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin, he was listed in the book of Honor of the state farm «Kazymsky». Obviously, his personal consent to this procedure was not required. After retiring (in 1980), he started breeding and keeping personal deer at his camp on the Syun-Yugan River. He died in 2014.