17 April 1938 marks the day of remembrance for Usein Bodaninsky, a prominent Crimean Tatar artist, historian, ethnographer, museologist, and the founder and first director of the museum at the Khan’s Palace. On this very day, the so-called troika handed down his sentence, and he was executed by shooting in Simferopol that same day.

Usein Bodaninsky was born on 13 December 1877 in the village of Bodana, Simferopol district, into the family of a Crimean Tatar language and literature teacher. He studied at the Tatar Teachers’ School in Akmesdzhit (Simferopol) and later pursued art at the Stroganov Higher School of Art and Industry. He worked in Paris, Istanbul, Dresden, and St. Petersburg, and studied Renaissance monumental painting in Italy. He spent nearly two decades outside Crimea, honing his artistic and professional expertise.

He returned to his homeland during the revolution in 1917 and immediately engaged in active public life. He became a delegate to the First Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People, held in November 1917, and settled in Bakhchysarai. It was here that his life’s main mission began: the preservation of cultural heritage. In 1917, he took charge of the newly established Museum of Turkic-Tatar Culture at the Bakhchysarai Khan’s Palace, transforming it into a scientific and cultural centre.

It was thanks to his dedication that the palace itself was preserved and enriched with historical content. He organised a branch of the “Society for the Protection of Antiquities”, initiated archaeological research at Chufut-Kale, Mangup-Kale, Eski-Kermen, and Tepe-Kermen, and secured state protection for dozens of historical sites. He assembled and systematised a vast ethnographic collection, which included over 3,000 of his own drawings and watercolours. These artworks documented vanishing crafts, traditional clothing, ornamentation, and architectural details, playing a crucial role in preserving Crimean Tatar heritage.

In 1925, he led a major ethnographic expedition that, according to his diary, “travelled 500 versts, visiting 64 settlements in Crimea. In 42 days, approximately 150 ethnographic household items and 50 epigraphic monuments (as individual manuscripts) were collected. Around 1,000 folklore samples were recorded, 200 monuments were photographed, and 300 were sketched”. The researchers recorded folklore, documented the daily life and traditions of the Crimean Tatars, and gathered unique collections of everyday items, including exquisite filigree jewellery.

As an artist, he painted portraits of prominent Crimean Tatar cultural figures, created sketches of local daily life and architecture, and provided illustrations for historical publications (such as the book “Crimean Tatar Children’s Songs”). He also painted landscapes of Bakhchysarai and the Crimean Mountains, including his famous work “Moonlit Evening”.

His artistic and academic work made a profound contribution to the preservation of Crimean Tatar heritage. However, this very dedication to his people and his desire to protect their culture ultimately led to his persecution by the Soviet authorities. In 1934, he was dismissed from his position as the museum’s director. In August 1937, he was arrested on fabricated charges of “counter-revolutionary activity” and “espionage”. His sentence was handed down at the height of the Great Terror, swiftly and with no right to a fair trial. The NKVD “troika” operated with ruthless efficiency: arrest, torture, a closed trial, a verdict with no right to defence or appeal, and finally, execution.

Usein Bodaninsky was executed by firing squad on the very day the decision was made — 17 April 1938. His burial place remains unknown. The subsequent fate of his family, who likely also faced persecution, is equally unknown.

For many years, his name was erased from the public sphere; he was only posthumously rehabilitated in 1957.

Despite this, the historical monuments, museum collections, and ethnographic materials he safeguarded remain the foundation for the study of Crimean Tatar culture today. His name stands as a poignant reminder of the ultimate price paid for the right to preserve it.