That famous sniper I saw in the museum, her name was Aliya Moldagulova.

portrait of aliya

At 18 years old she joined the 54th shooting brigade, and in her brief time on the front she killed 91 fascists. She died on the 14th January 1944 and was posthumously given the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union.

This is the monument to her and Manshuk Mametova in downtown Almaty:

statue of Aliya

Her story is legendary, and it’s been integrated into popular consciousness, I’ve seen antifa graffiti somewhere near her statue.

Does Kazakhstan suffer from modern neo-nazi movements in the same way that European post-socialist states do? I’m not sure whether to consider the National Bolsheviks as proper fascists. Most of the disenchanted voices here seem to get diverted into religion.