How Genghis Khan's family ended: the tragic story of the last queen of Mongolia

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Navaanluvsangiin Genenpil was the last queen or, more correctly, the khatan (princess) of Mongolia. The image of Queen Amidala in Star Wars was inspired by her. She was the last of the Borjigin family (direct descendants of Genghis Khan). Genenpil suffered during the repressions along with other representatives of the ancient Mongolian clans. They were ordered to destroy, wipe out from the face of the earth, along with all national traditions and relics. In this regard, the history of the last khatans is most revealing. But once an old seer predicted her a martyr's death at the hands of traitors …

Khan the reformer

The political repressions of the 1930s claimed the lives of several tens of thousands of people in Mongolia. Among them were representatives of the aristocracy, ministers, officials, lamas, and ordinary Mongols. Not only men were arrested, there were also many women. One of them was unlucky to become the last khatan VIII Bogdo khaan Genenpil.

The eighth Bogdo Khaan was a highly religious theocrat. He took over the rule of the country at the end of 1911, after its liberation from the rule of the Manchu Empire. Bogdo VIII tried with all his might to consolidate the country and avoid social upheavals. He always advocated strengthening the institution of the family, called for an end to all civil strife and tried to do everything so that the upper classes did not oppress the poor. His decrees dealt with all possible topics - religion, government regulation and management, international relations, finance, customs regulations. Khan took care of nature conservation, always compensated people who suffered as a result of various disasters. He took all measures to defeat hunger in the country.

Khan Bogdo organized the upper and lower chambers, founded five ministries. He significantly eased taxes and transport duties. Important laws were issued that governed all areas of the state's existence. The ruler also organized a military school, where Russian instructors were invited. Under Bogdo VIII, workshops and factories, hospitals, a power station, a telegraph and many other important infrastructure facilities were built. Khan encouraged not only religious, but also secular education, called for respect for their history.

Khan's wife

It was customary to worship the Khan. Buddhists considered him a living divine incarnation. At some point, Bogdo decided to get married. This was an unheard-of event. This has never happened, with any of his previous seven incarnations. The khan's chosen one was Dungaa, who received the religious name Dondogdulam. In 1902 she received the title "Mother Dakini of the State" and "White Tara", as well as the official title of the wife of Khan Bogdo. Dondogdulam was a very educated woman at that time. She perfectly knew how to read and write, knew the Tibetan language, in her homeland she was called a "master". White Tara initiated the adoption of children from poor families where they were dying. One of these children was Mordorj, who later became a famous composer and author of the Mongolian anthem.

The mistress died in 1923, having lived in a happy marriage with the khan for more than two decades. But it will not be about her at all, but about a completely different woman. A woman who became, albeit for a short time, but still a hatan Bogdo khaan.

Minister Bogdo selected a dozen women who matched the khan's date of birth. A lot was cast according to the canons of Buddhism. The name Zengpil dropped out. The ruler gave her a new name - Genenpil. She was designated the next reincarnation of the Dondogdul. They did not live in marriage with the khan for a year. He died, and Genenpil was sent back to her parents with rich gifts. In her small homeland, which is the current aimak Khentiy, she remarried. Her chosen one was a former wrestler named Luvsandamba. As a result of this union, three children were born: two girls and a boy. Now children from her middle daughter Tsermaa live there.

False accusation

Unfortunately, the repressions did not escape this woman. For the Soviet regime, albeit the former, but still the queen, was a direct threat to the communist ideology. In 1932, the khatans were saved from arrest and execution. But the purges of 1937-1939 did not pass her by.

At the end of the thirties, in order to fight the Mongol intelligentsia, the Soviet government specially fabricated a case. It said that some counter-revolutionaries wanted to destroy the people's power, resorting to the help of the Japanese imperialists. Many arrests have been made in this case. The best representatives of the intelligentsia were killed. Among them was the last wife of Bogdo khan, Genenpil. She was charged with treason. The arrest decree was signed retroactively by a local representative of the Ministry of the Interior. It was a cruel and cheap farce from beginning to end. It was necessary to give legality to the arrest of an innocent woman. Genenpil has been in dungeons for more than a week and has survived more than one interrogation.

All the property of the former khatans was confiscated. It is not known how many interrogations there were; the protocols of only three of them have been preserved. They read: “My name is Navaanluvsangiin Genenpil, I am 33 years old. Originally from the Khentiy Somon Dadal aimag. I roam in the town of Bartsyn Bulan. I live with my husband and children. Father Navaanluvsan is 60 years old, mother Tungaa is also about 60 years old. Luvsandamba's husband is 38 years old. Daughter Tsermaa is about 10 years old, daughter Dorjhand is over 10 years old."

Torture and confession

Khentiy, a compatriot of Genenpil, learned well from the Chekists to conduct interrogations and obtain the necessary confession. Khatan was found guilty on all political issues. It was said that she called on the herders to revolt, overthrow the Soviet regime and restore the power of Bogdo Khaan. White container has become a political criminal. From the surviving interrogation protocols, it is clear what kind of torture the innocent woman went through. Despite all this, there is no evidence of a confession. There is not even a signature under the protocols, although the khatan was very good at writing. There are only fingerprints stained in purple ink.

Genenpil was starved and not given water. She was tortured in the cold. It becomes scary at the thought of what this fragile, still so young woman had to endure, who was only to blame for the date of her birth. The arrest of the khatan was signed retroactively, and so was the verdict. When the special commission "decided" the fate of Genenpil, she was already shot. In absentia, she was found guilty of the struggle against the people's power and the desire to restore the monarchy in Mongolia with the support of imperialist Japan.

Only more than half a century later, when checked in connection with the cases of the repressed, her good name was restored.

The formation of the Soviet state did not always go smoothly. Read our other article about why there were no days off in the Soviet Union for 11 years.