Imprisoned for his participation in the “Krychylsk Youth OUN.” He was released early but was returned to serve out his 25-year sentence on suspicion of collaborating with the underground organization “Obyednannia” (Unity). He participated in protest actions. Historian.
From a peasant family. As a student at the Kyiv Institute of Hydro-Melioration, he was arrested in the spring of 1952 as a participant in the underground youth group “Krychylsk Youth OUN” for his connections with the underground. He was arrested with leaflets and held in the Sarny prison. During the investigation, Stepan insisted that he had found the OUN leaflets. He was then taken to Krychylsk, supposedly for a re-enactment of the crime on-site, but in reality, he was subjected to the so-called “barrel” trick. The road to the village passed through a forest. In the forest, they were attacked by KGB agents disguised as insurgents who “rescued” Stepan. He believed they were real insurgents and told them the whole truth. They recorded everything in detail. Then, KGB agents attacked the pseudo-insurgents and captured Stepan along with the protocols.
On August 26, 1952, the Military Tribunal of the MGB troops of the Rivne oblast sentenced Soroka to 25 years of imprisonment. Along with him, 7 other young men were sentenced to 25 years, including his brother Semen Soroka, Kyrylo Banatsky, and the brothers Sydir and Ivan Kharechko (although S. Soroka later wrote that Ivan Kharechko had created this organization on the orders of the KGB—which didn't prevent him from receiving a 25-year sentence and serving 4 years).
S. Soroka served his sentence in the camps of the Komi ASSR, first in the Vorkuta mines, then in Inta. He was acquainted with the founders and members of the underground nationalist organization “Obyednannia” (Unity), created in Inta in 1956, and knew about its activities.
In the summer of 1956, Soroka was released early by a commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, with his conviction expunged. He settled in the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv oblast.
In the autumn of 1957, his friend and fellow villager, Kyrylo Banatsky, recently released from prison, arrived in Bila Tserkva from Inta with his wife, Olena Kulish. At the request of the deputy leader of “Obyednannia,” Volodymyr Leoniuk, they brought about 1,300 leaflets from Inta, titled “To the Kolkhoznik!” and “Citizen!”. They settled in the same building where S. Soroka lived. On the instructions of V. Leoniuk, K. Banatsky took part of the leaflets to former Inta prisoners in the Kirovohrad and Rivne oblasts, and hid the rest in the attic. The leaflets were distributed in the Kirovohrad and Rivne regions and were seized from Yosyf Slabina, thus falling into the hands of the KGB.
Of course, S. Soroka knew about the leaflets. It is possible that their appearance in the city of Sarny was his doing.
The authorities were alarmed by the appearance of the leaflets, and the KGB began an investigation. To neutralize people possibly involved, Volodymyr Horbovyi, Mykhailo Soroka, Kateryna Zarytska, and M. Stepaniak were transferred from their places of imprisonment to the KGB pre-trial detention center in Kyiv as a precaution. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office of the Ukrainian SSR annulled a number of decisions by the Commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the early release of several dozen people. K. Banatsky and S. Soroka were caught in this “purge”: in early 1958, they were captured in Bila Tserkva and sent back to serve out their 25-year sentences, especially since the leaflets were found in their home during a search.
S. Soroka served his sentence in the camps of Chuna (Irkutsk oblast), then in Mordovia, and in the Urals (camp VS-389/35, Vsekhsvyatskaya station, Perm oblast).
In the camps, Soroka communicated with the Sixtiers, studied history, and wrote a number of academic works, which, unfortunately, could not be published. However, they were read by his fellow prisoners. He was respected by political prisoners of various nationalities.
S. Soroka took part in protest actions and in the observance of commemorative dates, as well as religious and national holidays. For example, CCE No. 38/19 reported on his discussion with a delegation of the “Ukrainian public” in zone No. 35 in July 1975 about the murder of Yaroslav Halan. It also outlined the content of his statement to the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee dated June 3, 1975, where he stated that he had been arrested based on a slanderous denunciation that he was preparing an assassination attempt on N.S. Khrushchev. When the lie was revealed, he was not released because, as a KGB major named Ruban said, “How can you release Soroka? He'll go out and tell people about it!”. “It turns out that my greatest crime is my innocence,” Soroka wrote in this statement.
In September 1975, S. Soroka, among 28 political prisoners, sent a warning about a possible renunciation of Soviet citizenship. On October 30, the Day of the Soviet Political Prisoner, a visiting consultant psychiatrist summoned S. Soroka and threatened to commit him to a psychiatric hospital if he did not stop writing applications to official institutions. On Human Rights Day, December 10, 1975, S. Soroka sent a statement to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and to the British Embassy renouncing his Soviet citizenship (CCE No. 39/05). In Document No. 87 of the Moscow Helsinki Group (authored by Valeriy Marchenko, 1978), it is recorded: “S. Soroka, on Christmas Eve, placed a candle and a fir branch on his nightstand—and was sent to the punishment cell.”
After his release in 1979, S. Soroka moved to Ukraine. He brought with him a great deal of historical literature and his manuscripts. Only a few of these were later published in the local press.
During the perestroika era, he took an active part in public and political life. He was a member of the UHG, URP, NRU, and “Prosvita.” In his later years, he lived in Sarny and was a deputy of the district council.
He died in 1999 and was buried in the city of Sarny.
Bibliography:
Chronicle of Current Events, no. 38/19; 39/05.
Dokumenty Moskovskoy Khel'sinskoy Gruppy. 1976–1982 [Documents of the Moscow Helsinki Group. 1976–1982] / [Moscow Helsinki Group; “Memorial” society; compiled by D.I. Zubarev, G.V. Kuzovkin] – Moscow: Moscow Helsinki Group, 2006. – pp. 52, 100, 360.
Leoniuk, Volodymyr. “Na priu staie Obyednannia” [Unity Joins the Fray]. Zona, no. 6, 1994, pp. 163–180.
Khrystynych, Bohdan. Na shliakhakh do voli. Pidpilna orhanizatsiia “Obyednannia” (1956-1959) [On the Paths to Freedom. The Underground Organization “Unity” (1956-1959)]. – Lviv, 2004. – pp. 173-174.
Compiled by Vasyl Ovsiienko, February 26, 2009. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. This profile requires further additions and revisions.
SOROKA STEPAN KLYMENTIJOVYCH