Son of Revolutionary tells family tale
This is an interview with Ulzi-khishig, the son of D. Losol – one of the seven Mongolian National Revolutionaries. Ulzi-khishig is a State Honored Architect and only the ninth person to become an architect in Mongolia. Translated from Undesnii Shuudan newspaper.
In Elementary school, we had to memorize the names of seven Mongolian National Revolutionaries: D. Sukhbaatar, Kh. Choibalsan, D. Losol, D. Dogsom, D. Bodoo, S. Danzan and D. Chagdarjav. Were there times when you were proud to be the son of D. Losol? Or were there times when you had to hide your father’s identity?
I realized I was the son of D. Losol when I arrived from Russia after graduating. I do not know much about my father. He passed away when I was two years old. I was born in 1937, born in the Year of Ox. It is said that my father was arrested in 1939. I do not know much about him, and there are many speculations and a lot of gossip surrounding my father. I never told people that I was the son of D. Losol.
Did your mother ever talk about your father?
Not very often. My mother has seen the worst of life; she is a very strict person.
She would say, “Your father was a very neat person. The night before he went away, he neatly folded his clean shirt and jackets and packed his cigarettes. When I asked him what he was preparing for, he said that he was going away to the countryside tomorrow. He was arrested the next morning, on July 15th.
What ranks and positions was your father holding at the time of his arrest?
He held many positions, including the then Minister of Finance and President of the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions.
It was depicted in the movie ‘Khorlogyn Choibalsan,’ which was released in 2011, that your father was a close friend of Marshal Choibalsan. What can you say about this?
I have not yet seen this movie. It is said that the night before he was arrested, my father and my mother visited Kh. Choibalsan and his wife Gundegmaa at his home, and the four of them had a long conversation. It is believed that that was when he realized that he would be arrested the next day.
There is a film entitled ‘Doloon Burkhan Kharvadaggu’ about the seven National Revolutionaries. Were you interviewed by the filmmakers to provide historical accuracy for the film?
No, I was not asked to speak about my father. I will watch the film when the film is released on March 18th.
Is it true that as soon as D. Losol was arrested he was sent to the Soviet Union?
Yes, documents provided by Russia show that he was arrested and transported to somewhere in Chita, Russia after he was arrested. From there he was transferred to Buterin Prison in Moscow and was held for a year there before receiving a death sentence in July 1940. I understand, as the documents seemed to imply, that he was not executed but died in prison before his execution took place.
How was your family treated after your father’s arrest?
I was denied entry to elementary school in 1946, and after my mother realized it was because of my last name D. Losol, she had it changed to her last name, Davaajav. Afterwards I joined Elementary School No. 1 in 1947 and graduated in 1957.
Has your family endured any more pressure and discrimination for being the family of D. Losol, who was deemed an anti-Revolutionary by the Soviet Union?
A lot of people ask me that – whether me or my family was oppressed. I do not know, for all I know it never happened. The only instance that I thought my father’s name would cause a difficulty was when I graduated elementary school. They could have blocked me from studying in the Soviet Union, but they did not. I studied as an architect there and met my wife, a Russian native, whom I have lived with for the past 50 years.
Where have you worked since you arrived back in Mongolia?
For 15 years I worked at the Architecture Design Institute as the head of a bureau. Then in 1980 I joined the Commission of Construction and Architecture, working as an expert for seven years.
One’s profession never gets old nor does it run out of demand. I am still working as an expert and sometimes I advise on construction projects. Some of the large projects I have worked on include the Zaisan Tolgoi, the memorial of Soviet soldiers in Ulaanbaatar, and the Friendship Memorial in Erdenet.
How many siblings do you have? How large is the family of D. Losol?
I am not the family’s blood-related son, I was adopted. I am the son of Navaanzaya, I have heard this from my mother. When I was a child, I was constantly sick – and my parents asked a monk about the problem. The monk said that I was “not their child,” and since the Navaanzaya family were close friends with my parents, my family adopted me.
Did D. Losol have any blood-related children?
No, he never had any. Before he adopted me, he had adopted a girl. My sister Amgalan passed away last year. She knew more about my father than me. She used to say that she and my father travelled to Russia, even to the coasts of the Black Sea.
My father was born around 1895 in Batnorov sum of Khentii Province. It is believed that he is a year older or younger than Kh. Choibalsan. In 1996 I travelled to that location and searched around for my father’s relatives; and I had met with my father’s younger sister Yanjin.
When my father was arrested, his two younger siblings stayed in their home province. There was another relative named Sukh-Ochir, who passed away shortly after I had met with him in Khentii Province.
Are there any places or structures named or that honor after your father?
I spoke to the mayor of Khentii Province Altangerel, to ask if it is possible for me and the province to build a small memorial or an honorary board for my father. They approved it, but later when I visited to see the memorial it was a small statue of my father with a label that said, “partisan,” his name was not even on it.
Shorty l after I visited the province administration and expressed my disappointment, they called me on the phone to say that they placed the name Darizavin Losol on his memorial.
On December 29th 2011, Batnorov sum’s elementary school was named after D. Losol; the administration there invited me to attend but I was unable to.
D. Losol’s birth date is speculated about among historians. There are many more mysteries to his life.
What was your mother’s profession?
She was a musician at the State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, playing shanz and huuchir (traditional musical instruments) with the State Honored Actor Dashdeleg.
Kh. Choibalsan told my mother that a wife of a prominent Government member need not work, and thus she left her work and stayed home. My mother and I would do a lot of things to live; she used to make and sell children’s gloves and boots.
After my father’s arrest, there was only me and my mother at home. Our neighbor, a silver smith, gave me his equipment and wares before leaving for his home province, telling me that I would need them. I used his tools to make spoons out of discarded lids, teapots made of aluminum, copper and bronze items.
I would make and sell earrings and rings out of the bronze items I find. Making these things really improves one’s creativity. After I got more experienced I began melting glass to make ornaments and decorations for the earrings and rings I created. I would dip it in a thick tea and polish them with ash – and it would shine like gold. This is how I lived until I graduated elementary school.
My sister’s husband worked in the third sector of the Ministry of Social Protection. My mother never liked him very much, saying that he was responsible for my father’s arrest.
At school, I always thought of how good it is to have a father. When I get into conflict with the kids, they would say that they will tell their father about me. In those times, I would think of my time when I had the chance to say “father.”
Only my mother and I lived in the fenced property, and whenever there are footsteps or noises near the gate, she would say “I think it could be your father.” I think she has always waited for him.
In which year was D. Losol acquitted?
He was posthumously acquitted in 1961. An apartment was given to my mother and we began receiving a monthly pension of 400 MNT. This was a very large amount of money at that time.
Have you inherited anything form your father?
I have my parents’ photograph, and another photograph of my father.
In 1964 when I arrived in Mongolia from the Soviet Union after graduating, I was called upon by an official from the Ministry of Social Protection (MSP). I was both cautious and scared; when I got there a Major named Batsukh gave me two photographs – one photograph of my father with my mother. The other one was my father’s photograph, which was apparently taken when he was in prison. He looked very exhausted and skinny, he was barely recognizable.
Later in the 1990s, many people approached me, some of them from the MSP, asking for information about my father, about his belongings; saying that they would offer legal assistance in finding and obtaining my father’s properties. I was very much annoyed and told them that if they want to know anything about him, browse through the archives, I didn’t know anything about him.
In Elementary school, we had to memorize the names of seven Mongolian National Revolutionaries: D. Sukhbaatar, Kh. Choibalsan, D. Losol, D. Dogsom, D. Bodoo, S. Danzan and D. Chagdarjav. Were there times when you were proud to be the son of D. Losol? Or were there times when you had to hide your father’s identity?
I realized I was the son of D. Losol when I arrived from Russia after graduating. I do not know much about my father. He passed away when I was two years old. I was born in 1937, born in the Year of Ox. It is said that my father was arrested in 1939. I do not know much about him, and there are many speculations and a lot of gossip surrounding my father. I never told people that I was the son of D. Losol.
Did your mother ever talk about your father?
Not very often. My mother has seen the worst of life; she is a very strict person.
She would say, “Your father was a very neat person. The night before he went away, he neatly folded his clean shirt and jackets and packed his cigarettes. When I asked him what he was preparing for, he said that he was going away to the countryside tomorrow. He was arrested the next morning, on July 15th.
What ranks and positions was your father holding at the time of his arrest?
He held many positions, including the then Minister of Finance and President of the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions.
It was depicted in the movie ‘Khorlogyn Choibalsan,’ which was released in 2011, that your father was a close friend of Marshal Choibalsan. What can you say about this?
I have not yet seen this movie. It is said that the night before he was arrested, my father and my mother visited Kh. Choibalsan and his wife Gundegmaa at his home, and the four of them had a long conversation. It is believed that that was when he realized that he would be arrested the next day.
There is a film entitled ‘Doloon Burkhan Kharvadaggu’ about the seven National Revolutionaries. Were you interviewed by the filmmakers to provide historical accuracy for the film?
No, I was not asked to speak about my father. I will watch the film when the film is released on March 18th.
Is it true that as soon as D. Losol was arrested he was sent to the Soviet Union?
Yes, documents provided by Russia show that he was arrested and transported to somewhere in Chita, Russia after he was arrested. From there he was transferred to Buterin Prison in Moscow and was held for a year there before receiving a death sentence in July 1940. I understand, as the documents seemed to imply, that he was not executed but died in prison before his execution took place.
How was your family treated after your father’s arrest?
I was denied entry to elementary school in 1946, and after my mother realized it was because of my last name D. Losol, she had it changed to her last name, Davaajav. Afterwards I joined Elementary School No. 1 in 1947 and graduated in 1957.
Has your family endured any more pressure and discrimination for being the family of D. Losol, who was deemed an anti-Revolutionary by the Soviet Union?
A lot of people ask me that – whether me or my family was oppressed. I do not know, for all I know it never happened. The only instance that I thought my father’s name would cause a difficulty was when I graduated elementary school. They could have blocked me from studying in the Soviet Union, but they did not. I studied as an architect there and met my wife, a Russian native, whom I have lived with for the past 50 years.
Where have you worked since you arrived back in Mongolia?
For 15 years I worked at the Architecture Design Institute as the head of a bureau. Then in 1980 I joined the Commission of Construction and Architecture, working as an expert for seven years.
One’s profession never gets old nor does it run out of demand. I am still working as an expert and sometimes I advise on construction projects. Some of the large projects I have worked on include the Zaisan Tolgoi, the memorial of Soviet soldiers in Ulaanbaatar, and the Friendship Memorial in Erdenet.
How many siblings do you have? How large is the family of D. Losol?
I am not the family’s blood-related son, I was adopted. I am the son of Navaanzaya, I have heard this from my mother. When I was a child, I was constantly sick – and my parents asked a monk about the problem. The monk said that I was “not their child,” and since the Navaanzaya family were close friends with my parents, my family adopted me.
Did D. Losol have any blood-related children?
No, he never had any. Before he adopted me, he had adopted a girl. My sister Amgalan passed away last year. She knew more about my father than me. She used to say that she and my father travelled to Russia, even to the coasts of the Black Sea.
My father was born around 1895 in Batnorov sum of Khentii Province. It is believed that he is a year older or younger than Kh. Choibalsan. In 1996 I travelled to that location and searched around for my father’s relatives; and I had met with my father’s younger sister Yanjin.
When my father was arrested, his two younger siblings stayed in their home province. There was another relative named Sukh-Ochir, who passed away shortly after I had met with him in Khentii Province.
Are there any places or structures named or that honor after your father?
I spoke to the mayor of Khentii Province Altangerel, to ask if it is possible for me and the province to build a small memorial or an honorary board for my father. They approved it, but later when I visited to see the memorial it was a small statue of my father with a label that said, “partisan,” his name was not even on it.
Shorty l after I visited the province administration and expressed my disappointment, they called me on the phone to say that they placed the name Darizavin Losol on his memorial.
On December 29th 2011, Batnorov sum’s elementary school was named after D. Losol; the administration there invited me to attend but I was unable to.
D. Losol’s birth date is speculated about among historians. There are many more mysteries to his life.
As his son, what can you say about your father?
When he was a young man, he was a monk; and later became the head monk of all the soldiers in Mongolia. There are numerous versions of his autobiography. To me, being one of the seven National Revolutionaries, I think he was a brave person. At the time, there were two underground nationalist groups, and were united under one objective and oath. Not many people would do such thing. They were people with brave hearts who dedicated their lives to better lives of Mongolian people.
What was your mother’s profession?
She was a musician at the State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, playing shanz and huuchir (traditional musical instruments) with the State Honored Actor Dashdeleg.
Kh. Choibalsan told my mother that a wife of a prominent Government member need not work, and thus she left her work and stayed home. My mother and I would do a lot of things to live; she used to make and sell children’s gloves and boots.
After my father’s arrest, there was only me and my mother at home. Our neighbor, a silver smith, gave me his equipment and wares before leaving for his home province, telling me that I would need them. I used his tools to make spoons out of discarded lids, teapots made of aluminum, copper and bronze items.
I would make and sell earrings and rings out of the bronze items I find. Making these things really improves one’s creativity. After I got more experienced I began melting glass to make ornaments and decorations for the earrings and rings I created. I would dip it in a thick tea and polish them with ash – and it would shine like gold. This is how I lived until I graduated elementary school.
My sister’s husband worked in the third sector of the Ministry of Social Protection. My mother never liked him very much, saying that he was responsible for my father’s arrest.
At school, I always thought of how good it is to have a father. When I get into conflict with the kids, they would say that they will tell their father about me. In those times, I would think of my time when I had the chance to say “father.”
Only my mother and I lived in the fenced property, and whenever there are footsteps or noises near the gate, she would say “I think it could be your father.” I think she has always waited for him.
In which year was D. Losol acquitted?
He was posthumously acquitted in 1961. An apartment was given to my mother and we began receiving a monthly pension of 400 MNT. This was a very large amount of money at that time.
Have you inherited anything form your father?
I have my parents’ photograph, and another photograph of my father.
In 1964 when I arrived in Mongolia from the Soviet Union after graduating, I was called upon by an official from the Ministry of Social Protection (MSP). I was both cautious and scared; when I got there a Major named Batsukh gave me two photographs – one photograph of my father with my mother. The other one was my father’s photograph, which was apparently taken when he was in prison. He looked very exhausted and skinny, he was barely recognizable.
Later in the 1990s, many people approached me, some of them from the MSP, asking for information about my father, about his belongings; saying that they would offer legal assistance in finding and obtaining my father’s properties. I was very much annoyed and told them that if they want to know anything about him, browse through the archives, I didn’t know anything about him.
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