Журнал Viche 2006 №12

№12, 2006

Kuban'.

A teared out page,or Does the World wants to know the truth?

About 12 yaears ago when with the initiative of DemPU (at that time of the national-democratic current) were collecting materials for a future "Black book of Ukraine", I was luky to see a bag - without exaggeration! - of the unique documents.It were a chirographically written remembrances of people, who went through the horrors totalitarian times. And the most of information in them was not about injustices of a post-war years, even not about repressions of 1937, but about starvation of 1932-1933.In Ukraine and beyond it, where long since lived Ukrainians.

We managed to find such figures.

At first an overall quantity of "kurkul'" families which have fallen under repressive measures was defined as 1.65 million. In December 1929 the Politburo of CC ACP (b) named the figure of 5-6 million persons that more or less co-ordinates with a mentioned number of families ( according to facts of 1927 a common "kurkul'" family consisted of seven persons, in other words 7-7.5 million of countrymen were subjected to withdrawing of their property).
According to official information, in 1935 24934 persons were arrested, in 1936 - 15717, in 1937 - 159573, in 1938 - 108006, in 1939 - 12000, in 1940 - about 50 thousand.Its clear that in order to understand a general image of repressions we have to add the number of prisoners in the internal prisons of c (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) (and they were overloaded), to analyse the death-rate in camps (according to some information in 1936 it was 2%, in 1937-1938 - 6-7%), to add the number of repressed countryman and the deported.
According to information of Ministry of labour and social policy of Ukraine, the number of rehabilitated people in accordance with the article first of the Law of USSR "About rehabiltation of victims of political repressions in Ukraine" is 26900 people, in accordance with the article three - 93100.The number of people who were imprisoned under 18 years was 2600.
Here are several fragments from the translation made by "Pamyatok Ukrayiny" (memorials of Ukraine") publishers with the first printed edition from Krasnodar magazine "Rodnaya Kuban'" ("Native Kuban'")

"17.2.1933"

Peering more attentively I saw a man in the snow.It was six o'clock in the morning.I wanted to call militia, and to bring a liyng man into a house so as to save him.But my colleagues-teachers told me such thing: "Its all vain.You have stumbled over a dead body of a man who died of starvation".

20.2

I was called to PCIA, where I was suggested to gather all Ukrainian textbooks, literature and to hand over everything there.

21.2

A troop train from BMD (Belorussian military district. -editors) arrived to the railroad station with migrants which "Had to compensate the decrease of population as a result of black years of collectivization, sabotage, repressions, starvation and resettle.An old teacher told me all that, a one of 3 or 4 who stayed in technical school.

26.2

Stanitsa (Cossack village) suffered from starvation.I was charged with to carry out the meeting of collective farmers in Zubryc'kyi collective farm.About 15 thin drawned in the face women came.Their faces were as if they were taken from icons.

Oksana HRECHYANYUK