The heroism of Bediuzzaman and his students in defending the east against the Russians and Armenians became legendary among the people of the area. They told also of how the Russians had tried to kill Bediuzzaman on his surrendering to them, and how this desire had been transformed into wonder at this courage, since Bediuzzaman did not so much as wince when they handled his broken leg. [^269] Also one of his students who fought alongside him tells of Bediuzzaman's anger on learning, when being questioned by the Russians, that the Armenian interpreter was misinterpreting what they said, so that the Russians brought a Tatar interpreter, and his rejection of the Russians' proposals that he should write letters to all the tribes calling on them to surrender their arms. [^270]

[^269]:Sıddık Alp, in Son Şahitler, iv, 347.

[^270]:Molla Münevver, in Son Şahitler, i, 80-1.

Further interesting documents which have recently come to light in the archives of the Prime Minister's Office in Istanbul show that in September 1916, Bediuzzaman was still in Tiflis in Georgia, presumably receiving treatment for his leg. The first, dated 9 August 1332 (22 August 1916) is from Memduh, the deputy governor of Bitlis, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Istanbul. It states that the officials held as prisoners-of-war in Tiflis required their salaries to be sent to them. Also in need of money there was Bediuzzaman Said-i Kürdî, who had saved eight large guns from Mu_ during the fall of Bitlis and had gathered together volunteers. The second, dated 7 Eylül 1332 (20 September 1916), is from the Interior Minister, Tal'at Bey, to the director of the Ottoman Red Crescent Society, Besim Ömer Pasha, requesting him to send sixty lira to Bediuzzaman in Tiflis by special courier. And the third is Besim Ömer Pasha's reply, dated three days later, informing Tal'at Pasha that the sixty liras had been changed into 1254 marks and despatched as requested. [^271]

[^271]:Şahiner, article in Zaman Gazetesi, 28 Ocak 1992, p. 12.

#### The Prisoner-of-War Camps

The Prisoner-of-War Camps

Bediuzzaman was sent to the province of Kosturma in north-western Russia, Firstly, to the town of Kologrif, and then — according to one source, after a period in a large camp further into the northern wastes — to a camp in the town of Kosturma on the River Volga. It was here that a large part of his two years of captivity was spent. There are various accounts of him and his activities in the camp from a number of his fellow prisoners. As the commanding officer of a regiment, he was in a position of authority.