“I Hid Food in Plain Sight. ” The Holodomor in the Fates of Dissidents

On November 26, at the Yavornytsky Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, an exhibition titled “The Subjugation of Will,” dedicated to the Day of Remembrance of the Holodomor Victims, will open. Told through documents, photographs, and personal belongings, it recounts the family histories of those who survived the famines—in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Specifically, it features the stories of Dnipro dissidents whose older relatives, or even they themselves as children, endured this traumatic experience of starvation. The exhibition’s author, museum researcher Iryna Reva, says that this experience shaped their worldview and motivated them to resist the Soviet system. Most of the exhibition’s artifacts are being shown for the first time.

“He Writes Clearly: Stalin Knew What Was Happening”—The Story of a Repressed Teacher

The manuscript of memoirs by Oleksandr Yevmenovych Solony—a teacher from the village of Krynychky in the Dnipropetrovsk region who was repressed in the 1930s—came to researcher Iryna Reva by chance. She said that about 10 years ago, she met his great-granddaughter, Yana. The girl was doing a homework assignment—creating a family tree—and became interested in the life stories of her ancestors.

Oleksandr Solony was born in 1911 and worked as a teacher in his native village. He survived the famines of the 20s and 30s, which he later wrote about in his memoirs, notes Iryna Reva.

“In his memoirs about the 1920s, he wrote: the village was starving, a canteen opened in the village, it was Lenin who saved us from starvation. He was just a small child then and perceived it that way. However, his recollection of the 1932–33 Holodomor was different. There is no longer any faith in a ‘benevolent tsar’ he writes clearly: Stalin knew what was happening,” says Iryna Reva.

This year, the researcher requested Solony’s criminal case file from the archives of the SBU Administration in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It turned out that the reason for his arrest and long-term imprisonment was a letter in which he openly spoke about collectivization and the famine.

“He writes a letter to the wife of the repressed school director, where he expresses his views on collectivization and recounts how he refused when they, the teachers, were sent to the villages to take the last of the people’s food. He writes the letter—and sends it not to the director’s wife, but to the party authorities. In 1938, he was arrested. He was charged with anti-Soviet agitation. In fact, the basis for the accusation was this single letter. And a couple of teachers testified about an incident at the school when he said that education in Germany was better than in the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to be shot. The case includes his cassation appeal, where he asks for a lighter sentence. And there is also a letter with a plea for clemency. It’s interesting that the letter is typed in Russian, but the handwritten signature is in Ukrainian: ‘Solony Oleksandr.’ His sentence was commuted to 10 years in correctional labor camps, and he served it from start to finish,” said Iryna Reva.

“He Remembered Dekulakization, Collectivization, the Holodomor”—The Story of Dissident Bereslavsky

The story of Oleksandr Solony is one of nearly a dozen stories of people and families who survived famine and repression in the region, collected by Iryna Reva. One of the photographs shows Hanna Kulibko, born in 1900, the mother of dissident Mykola Bereslavsky. She lived in the village of Novospasivka in the Berdiansk district of the Zaporizhzhia region and survived the famines of 1921 and 1932–33.

“In the 1920s, the Red Army was stationed in the village. The village was starving. Her sister Kylyna died of starvation at the age of 22. But she survived, because she cooked for those soldiers. She was very beautiful; the commander courted her and even wanted to take her with him. But she didn't go—she hid at her brother's house. She also survived the famine of the 30s. She said that half-dead people were taken to the cemetery to ‘pass on’ there. She also recounted that when the ‘activists’ came, she hid food in plain sight. She put it in some box, covered it with rags. And she hid a small goat in a chest. It could have bleated. So, she said, her heart nearly stopped while the search was going on. There was a case of cannibalism in the village when a crazed mother hacked her 6-year-old child to death,” recounted Iryna Reva.

Her son, Mykola Bereslavsky, who attempted self-immolation in protest against the Soviet regime, survived the famine of ’33 when he was 9 years old, adds Iryna Reva. This could not but influence his views and perception of the world.

“He remembered dekulakization, collectivization, the Holodomor. He recalled how in 1938, in one night, 112 people in their village were repressed. He remembered all of this. His opposition to the regime is completely understandable: having lived through such an experience, he could not have acted otherwise,” says the museum specialist.

The museum exhibition features a Bereslavsky family heirloom—a portrait of Shevchenko. It is a reproduction of a painting by Mykola Bozhii, made by Mykola Sarma-Sokolovsky for Mykola Bereslavsky.

A Breviary with the Inscription “Stalin”—The Story of a Repressed Priest

Another significant exhibit is a “Breviary” with the inscription “Stalin” on the cover, belonging to the repressed priest Mykola Fedorovych Avramenko (exact date of birth unknown, approximately the 1910s). Iryna Reva says this was a method of self-preservation—to conceal one's true views, to camouflage, to lead a double life.

The book was brought to the museum by the priest’s granddaughter, Anna Zubkovska. She explained that her grandfather served as a priest in churches in Taromske, Petrykivka, and Kamianske.

“This wasn't spoken about in the family. Anna’s father was a Party member. But Anna spent a lot of time with her grandmother and grandfather in Kamianske. They spoke of God, told stories about the Holodomor. Her grandfather had been imprisoned. This was during the ‘Khrushchev Thaw.’ He was restoring an old church in Kamianske, he had his own parish, and worked semi-legally. But then—another anti-religious wave, and a decision was made to liquidate the church building and stage a show trial against him. He was ordered to repent and publicly renounce his faith. At the trial, he publicly crossed himself and said: ‘I believe in God and I believe that the Lord will save me.’ He was convicted, served his sentence, and returned,” the researcher recounted.

Stories of the Residents of Kamianka-Starozhytnia

Iryna Reva has also collected several stories of families who lived in the area of ancient Cossack settlements, particularly Kamianka-Starozhytnia (now within the city limits, in the Amur-Nyzhniodniprovskyi district). This photo shows Melania Saveliyivna Varushko, the grandmother of Dnipro resident Olena Tkach. She told her descendants about the famine of the 1920s.

“There were three children in her family. In one of the years in the 20s, her father went to work in another village, where he earned a sack of grain and was returning to Kamianka, where his family lived. But while he was on the train, the sack was stolen. He arrived to be met by his starving children and wife. He couldn't bear it. He climbed onto the stove and died by morning, as Melania Saveliyivna told it. But the family survived—they moved to a neighboring village, settled with a priest, worked for him, and thus survived the hardest times. This woman used to say: ‘We survived three famines,’ meaning the 20s, 30s, and 40s,” recounted Iryna Reva.

Zinaida Rud-Volha, born in 1929, also left handwritten memoirs about her experiences for her descendants. Her father, Yakiv Korsun, participated in the destruction of the church in Kamianka-Starozhytnia. Zinaida herself survived the famine of the 30s.

“There is a striking moment in these memoirs. Her mother died, and her father remarried. She was 12 years old. And so she and her younger brother went out among people. Hungry, looking for work. Someone says: ‘Come, I will feed you.’ And she—as she writes in her memoirs: ‘I cannot eat what I have not earned.’ This is that traditional Ukrainian consciousness… Dignity,” says Iryna Reva.

The museum staff plans to publish the memoirs of Zinaida Rud-Volha and Oleksandr Solony.

In total, the exhibition “The Subjugation of Will” at the historical museum features dozens of unique artifacts—about the Holodomor-genocide of 1932–1933, the Holodomors of the 1920s and 1940s, and political repressions in the region. On November 26, the exhibition will be presented to a small circle of historians and journalists. It is planned to open to the general public after quarantine restrictions are eased.

Source: Radio Liberty