Zaki Validi Togan (b. December 22, 1890; d. July 26, 1970) dedicated the last years of his life to writing his "Reminiscences". Without his memoirs, it would have been difficult to get the adequate idea of the biography of the leader of the Bashkir national movement, the Orientalist and Turkologist. The first book of "Reminiscences" was printed in 1994 translated into Russian by Gazim Shafikov and Amir Yuldashbayev.
       Akhmetzaki Validov was born in the aul of Kuzyanovo, Sterlitamak uyezd, Ufimskaya Guberniya (now Ishimbaiski District). His father ran a medrese and was the village imam. His mother conducted classes for a group of girls at the medrese. Akhmetzaki's father instructed his son in Islam and the Arabic language. From his mother, the boy learned the basics of Oriental literature and Persian.
       The scholar later recollected his childhood and young years with warmth and kindness: "I loved my native auls greatly. But the backwardness of your routines made me look down at the life as if in a condescending manner. It is much later that I grasped why the Russian writers Tolstoy and Aksakov would idealize the Bashkir life philosophy. The intellectuals of that social circle introduced me to Turkic, Arabian and Persian cultures, to some of the great thinkers of the East and the West. They gave me the moral ideas and the political goals that I never had to adjust later". The researcher recollected: "Our simple life in the mountains, the charming stories of the past and legends alive in the heart and soul of the people, penetrated so deep into my childish conscience that later, during the liberation struggle, they made me act most resolutely, encouraged me to draft most resolutely the present and the future development of the research into Turkology and Islam. This demonstrates that my destiny should be perceived as a continuation and result of the historic reminiscences still alive in the soul of my people".
       In 1908, Validov studied at "Khusainia" Medrese in Orenburg and then at "Qasimia" Medrese in Kazan where he later taught history of Turkic peoples and Arabian literature.
       It is there and then that his creative and scholarly activities started which resulted in the book "Turk and Tatar History" (1912). The year 1915 finds Zaki Validov teaching history of Turks and Turkic literature at "Usmania" Medrese in Ufa.
       The scholar Gaisa Khusainov divides Zaki Validi's activities into three periods. The first one - lasting until 1916 - is the beginning of his research and pedagogical work and signifies his establishment as a historian. The second period - 1917-1922 - is the time of turbulent public and political activities as the leader of the Bashkir national movement, as one of the founders of the Bashkir government. The third period, spanning 1923-1970, embraces emigration and the time when Zaki Validi developed into an Orientalist of the world calibre.
       Historians and writers investigated the second period of Validov's life and activities most fully, Marat Kulsharipov's research being one of the most comprehensive ones.
       It will be more difficult to conduct a historical research into this third period of his life. Validi spent many years living abroad. The documents relating to his activities are scattered all over the world and can be found in Turkey, Austria, Germany, France, the USA and Italy. It would be a challenging task to put them all together and make available for researchers.
       Many of the blank spaces of his biography, however, could be filled in without trip abroad.
       Akhmetzaki Validov's "Reminiscences" contain short chapters entitled "A Conversation with Maxim Gorky", "Meeting Consul Karim Khakimov", "Meeting Famous Plekhanov", "Getting Acquainted with Chaliapin", "Encounters with Frunze". One can only guess how many contacts Validov used to have with prominent scientists, poets and public figures of Russia and the world about which the author mentions very briefly in his writings.
       If one looks into more documents, memoirs, printed periodicals, one is sure to find more details on Validov's contacts with these people, Chaliapin for example. It is in Kazan that Validi heard the operatic singer for the first time.
       Below is an excerpt from his memoirs:
       "As I continued my teaching at the medrese I was also preparing for my gymnasium curriculum exams. My teachers of Latin and German contributed to my closer contacts with Russian intellectuals. I would often accompany them to the Russian city theatre. That was good schooling of sorts for. I once watched "King Lear" with Chaliapin being a guest star performer of the opera. Later, in 1935, I met the great singer in Austria and told him about my first impressions of his performance in the opera".
       Akhmetzaki Validi was a participant in and one of the speakers at the VII All-Russian Congress of Soviets held in Moscow on December 10, 1919. He recollected:
       "The congress was crowned with a major concert. Chaliapin recited the highly popular Russian song "Dubinushka". His strong voice sounded very clearly over the two thousand-strong audience that was quite noisy. I approached Chaliapin after the concert. Though many people considered him a very arrogant person, he talked to me in a very kind and amicable manner. When were trying to reach peace accords with the Soviets in late 1918, I asked support from Gorky and Chaliapin. He exclaimed jokingly as soon as he saw me: "You wrote me a latter but I could not be of any use. If you launch another movement of that kind, do not write any more letters to me, I beg of you!" His laughter was uproarious. In other words, he regarded me as a person capable of staging another insurgence. He said that, however, only because there was nobody close by. "I am joking! I am sure you will be more cautious next time. It is very difficult to believe these people [Bolsheviks]", he added. Indeed, Chaliapin later left Russia never to come back. I met him later in Austria in 1935, and our first acquaintance had been back in 1915 in Mustamyaki where he was staying with Gorky. I had heard him as an operatic singer since 1910 and enjoyed his singing greatly. His appearance as Boris Godunov was the most impressive and was always received with a storm of applause".
       These events generate many questions that need to be answered: the two first met at Gorky's place in Mustamyaki, Validov and Chaliapin maintained correspondence, they met at a theatre in 1919 and then in Austria in 1935. Some correspondence should have survived, and Gorky must have remembered those encounters and conversations. It is quite understandable since Akhmetzaki Validov had for a long time been considered an enemy of the Soviet Power. Any mention of him must have been deleted from the collections of Gorky's works and from Chaliapin's autobiographical books. But the times are different now, and such documents need to be unearthed and made public. This is a challenging but noble task for historians, literary critics and connoisseurs of local lore, especially those from Bashkortostan.