Deportations from the Region of Chernivci (Ukraine) and Edinets District (Moldova) by anna littke

THE DEPORTATIONS FROM THE NEIGHBOURING CHERNIVTSY REGION (UKRAINE) IN 1944-1953 AND FROM THE BRICHENY, OKNITSA AND EDINETS REGIONS (MOLDOVA) IN 1949-1951

Chisinau 2013

CZU [94(477)"1944/1953"+94(478)"1949/1951"]:94(470) L 78

Authors: Maryan LOPATA (Ukraine) Andrey MASTYKA (Belarus) Marius TARITA (Moldova) Editing and proofreading by: Ruxanda DRUŢĂ (Moldova)

This brochure is the result of one of 28 Geschichtswerkstatt Europa projects of the call "War, Post War, Cold War". Geschichtswerkstatt Europa is a programme of the German Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" (EVZ) addressing the issue of European remembrance. The Institute for Applied History coordinates the funding of projects in cooperation with the European University Viadrina. The International Forum is organised by the Global and European Studies Institute at the University of Leipzig. Copyright (c) 2013 by Geschichtswerkstatt Europa and the authors. All rights reserved. This work may be copied and redistributed for noncommercial, educational purposes, if permission is granted by the authors and usage right holders.

Descrierea CIP a Camerei Naţionale a Cărţii Lopata, Maryan. The Deportations from the neighbouring Chernivtsy region (Ukraine) in 1944-1953 and from the Bricheny, Oknitsa and Edinets regions (Moldova) in 1949-1951 / Maryan Lopata, Andrey Mastyka, Marius Tarita. – Ch. : S. n., 2013 (Tipogr. "Bons Offices"). – 176 p. Bibliogr.: p. 122. – 500 ex.

ISBN 978-9975-80-635-0

CONTENT 6

Introduction

Chapter I. The topic of the post-war deportations in the press (1989-1992) I.1 The press from the Chernivtsy region (the Ukrainian SSR) I.1.a „Радяньска Буковина” and „Буковинське Вiче” I.1.b „Зориле Буковиней” I.2 The press from the Moldovan SSR

12 12 22 25 34 34 34 41 45 56 56 65 72

Chapter II. The historiography of the deportations after the dissolution of the USSR II.1 The historiography from the Chernivtsy region (Ukraine) II.1.a In Ukrainian/Russian II.1.b In Romanian II.2 The historiography from Chisinau (Moldova) Chapter III. The image of the post-war realities in the press and the archives concerning the 1944-1949 years III.1 In the Chernivtsy region III.2 In the Northern Moldovan SSR

73 74 74 109 136 144

Chapter IV. The oral testimonies about the forced labour and the deportations IV.1 The Chernivtsy region IV.1.1 The former Northern Bukovina IV.1.1.a The Ukrainian villages IV.1.1.b The Romanian villages IV.1.2 The former Northern Bessarabia IV.2 The Northern nowadays Republic of Moldova

146 146 150

Chapter V. The mainlines of the oral testimonies V.1 The Ukrainian villages V.2 The Romanian-Moldovan villages

157

Conclusions 3

162 164 166 167 168 169 170 171

Bibliography and Sources The list of the interviewed Glossary Zusammenfassung Резюме (укр.) Rezumat Резюме (рус.) The list of the attachments

*The map was elaborated by the Authors.

The map of the Chernivtsy region (Ukraine) and of the Northern Moldova*

Introduction The topic When we selected the topic for our investigation we thought about the destiny of the Ukrainian, the Romanian and the Moldovan villages at the end of the World War II and in the first post-war years. Our intention was to study a neighbourhood region, referring only to the rural areas. We had the interest to see which methods of repression were used towards these groups and how they remembered that. Our main question, after the introductory one, should be – “How it happened”? The region of study The region of the Northern Bukovina and the Northern Bessarabia belonged to the Moldovan medieval state from the XIVth century to 17741775. In 1774, the so-called Bukovina (“the land of beech”) became part of the Habsburg Empire. On the other hand, all the Eastern part of Moldova became part of the Tsarist Empire in May 1812, after the peace Treaty from Bucharest (and received the name of Bessarabia). At the end of the First World War, both Bukovina and Bessarabia became part of Romania. In June 1940, after the ultimatum from Moscow, Romania ceded Bessarabia and the Northern Bukovina. The Northern Bukovina and one half of the former bessarabian Khotyn county constituted the newly created region of Chernivtsy in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. Bessarabia also lost its Southern part and was unified with a part of the former Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, creating the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. The first wave of the deportations in all these mentioned regions was on the 11th-13th of June 1941. Soon after that began the war, the territory was conquered by the Romanian and the German troops. The Red Army reconquered the territories in March-August 1944. The delimitations from 1940-1941 were taken back. After the dissolution of the USSR between the region of Chernivtsy and the Northern part of the Republic of Moldova appeared also the political border. 6

In the Chernivtsy region exists an important Romanian-Moldovan minority1 and in the Northern part of Moldova exists a Ukrainian minority.2 Our study visits To investigate our topic we made two trips – the first one in the Chernivtsy region (Ukraine) and in Bricheny (Moldova) – on the 20th-23rd of April 2012. The main points were our meetings in Boyan, were we found warm and open people who gave us many details. In Bricheny we went to the Ukrainian school and we established to come back later in this little town. Our press release appeared in the newspapers “Meleag natal” (Bricheny), “Curierul de Edineţ” (Edinets), “Meridian Ocniţa” (Oknitsa) and “Pasul nou” (Dondusheny) on the 15th of June 2012. The second trip, larger in time, took place only in the Chernivtsy region – on the 1st-20th of August 2012 (we didn’t succeed in visiting Bricheny in Northern Moldova). We met with several inhabitants of two Ukrainian and eight Romanian-Moldovan villages. Among them were the relatives of those who were forcibly resettled or forced to go to labour camps and some survivors. In Chernivtsy we visited the Historical Museum, but we hadn’t found there information on deportations. Another museum was the Ethnographical Museum, where we saw old houses from different parts of the Chernivtsy region. Also in Chernivtsy, at the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region, we consulted some documents referring to 1946-1949 and the regional press from the 1940s and the 1980s. In Chisinau, at the Archive of Social-Political Organizations, we consulted the funds concerning the Kulaks from the 1

In 2001 the Chernivtsy region had 922.800 inhabitants. Out of these Ukrainians were 75%, Romanians and Moldovans were around 19% and Russians were 4,1%. See http://www.ua.all.biz/regions/?fuseaction=admoda.showSection&rgn_id=6& sc_id=8. 2 The population of the Bricheny, Oknitsa and Edinets regions had 215.927 inhabitants in 2004. From these 65% were Moldovans, 24,71% were Ukrainians and 4,58% were Russians. Infomation taken from the site www.statistica.md on the 25th of May 2012. 7

Lipkany region (at the border with Ukraine) and also at the National Library, the post-war and Perestroika’s time press. A considerable part of our labour was linked with technical activity, such as writing and selecting the texts of the interviews. The results – parts of interviews, are published in the IVth chapter. Some of our findings were presented at scientific conferences and in the periodical press. On the 30th of November 2012, Marius Tarita participated at the International Conference “Politics and Practices of Memory in Eastern Europe: Between the Totalitarian Past and a European Future” (Chisinau, 30 November/1 December 2012).3 In his speech he referred to “Deportations and Forced Labour, Forms of Remembering in the villages of Boyan, Mahala and Arboreny (the region of Chernivtsy)”. On the 13th of December, at the Library of the Academy of Public Administration, was organized a discussion at which Marius Tarita presented the main results of our project. On the 27th of December, at the opening of the Annual Session of Scientific Reports of the Institute of History, State and Law, at the Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, Marius Tarita spoke about “The destiny of the Northern Bukovina villages in 1944-1945: in the press, recollections and interviews”.4 In „Funcţionarul Public” (published by the Academy of Public Administration), number 23 from December 2012 (p. 9), appeared an article about the discussion held on the 13th of December. In „Curierul Ortodox” from the 18th of December 2012 (nr. 12), on the p. 6, appeared an article about our project and the Onega camp especially.5 The first part of a final press release about the project appeared in „Funcţionarul Public”, number 24 from December 2012 (p. 9).6 3

Organizers – INIS “ProMemoria”, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Center for Advanced Studies and Education. 4 Avatarurile satelor nord-bucovinene în anii 1944-1945. Publicistică, memorii, interviuri. 5 Gerul năprasnic al uitării. 6 Despre deportările din regiunea Cernăuţi (Ucraina) în anii 1944-1953 şi din raioanele Briceni, Ocniţa şi Edineţ (Moldova) în anii 1949-1951. 8

The study This book contains the preliminary results of our research and is addressing to the large public from Ukraine and Moldova, and also from abroad, who is interested in remembrance and historical changes in Eastern Europe, at the end and after the World War Two. It also tries to present the destiny and the memory of a little multicultural region, during an age which recorded forced resettlements and broken destinies in the greatest part of the Central and Eastern Europe. The first four chapters of our brochure consist of two parts, in which we refer to the Chernivtsy region (the Ukrainian villages and the RomanianMoldovan villages) and to the Northern part of Moldova. The first chapter “The topic of the post-war deportations in the press (1989-1992)” includes an analysis on the basis of the materials from the Chernivtsy’s, Bricheny’s and Chisinau’s press. How the topic appeared and developed, which were the accents of the authors and the impact in time. In the second chapter – „The historiography of the deportations after the dissolution of the USSR”, refers to the books written in Ukraine, Russia and Moldova. Mainly, useful, for our research were the histories of the villages edited in the Chernivtsy region. The third chapter – „The image of the post-war realities in the press and the archives concerning the 1944-1949 years” stops on the materials and images from „Radyanska Bukovyna” and „Zorile Bukoviney” from Chernivtsy, „Biruintsa Sochialismului” from Bricheny, „Moldova Sochialista” and „Sovetskaya Moldavia” from Chisinau. This information was linked with that which we found at the State Archive from the Chernivtsy region and from the Archive of Social-Political Organizations from Chisinau (especially the materials concerning the Lipkany region). The fourth chapter, the main contribution to our subject, contains fragments of 15 interviews taken in Toporivtsy, Luzhany, Boyan, Arboreny, Malineshty, Dinautsy and Mahala. In the fifth chapter we pay attention to the main idea and the images which appear in the interviews, the differences and the common points.

At the end of the brochure is a list of attachments with the photos of the commemorative monuments, old style houses, portraits of the victims/ forcibly resettled, copies of newspapers or archive documents and others. The paragraphs referring to the Ukrainian press, archives and testimonies, were written by Maryan Lopata and Andrey Mastyka. The paragraphs referring to the Romanian and the Moldovan villages were written by Marius Tarita. Our gratitude Firstly we would like to express our gratitude to the Institut für angewandte Geschichte and to the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (programme Geschichtswerkstatt Europa), for supporting this project (nr. 12111) and for practical, interactive and informative courses we had during “Meeting on the Oder. February 8th to 12th, 2012” and to our mentor Dr. Ludmila Cojocari, Institute of Social History “ProMemoria” from Chisinau. Also we would like to thank the inhabitants from Luzhany, Toporivtsy, Buda, Mahala, Boyan, Arboreny, Horbova, Malineshty, Dinautsy, Dranitsya, and Bricheny, who helped us in finding survivors (deportees or indirect witnesses) or told us their rememberings. We would like to remark the kindness of the employees of the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region, of the Ethnographical Museum from Chernivtsy, of the Archive of Social-Political Organizations from Chisinau, of the Museum of the National Memory and of the National Museum of History and Archeology from Chisinau. The Authors

Chapter I. The topic of the post-war deportations in the press (1989-1992) In 1988 in the USSR, in the public sphere appeared the topic of the injustices committed in the 1930s-1940s and at the beginning of the 1950s. The decisions and the discussions at the Party’s level were reflected in the media which represented the CC, the Soviet Supreme, the regional Committees, the Communist youth, etc. In order to reconstruct the development of the theme of the deportations from the 1940s, in the late 80s of the XXth century, we consulted the press from 1988-1992. Regarding the Ukrainian SSR, we found at the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region, the collections of the Party’s newspaper – “Радяньска Буковина” (The Soviet Bukovina, in Ukrainian, 4 p.), “Зориле Буковиней” (The Dawns of Bukovina, in Moldovan/Romanian, 4 p.) and the independent newspaper “Буковинське Вiче” (The Polity of Bukovina, in Ukrainian, 4 p.). In the case of the Moldovan SSR, we paid attention to the republican newspaper – “Молдова Сочиалистэ” (The Socialist Moldova, usually 4 p.), “Literatura şi Arta” (The Literature and the Art, usually 8 p.), “Советская Молдавия” (The Soviet Moldova, in Russian, 4 p.) and the local “Вяца Ноуэ” (“Viatsa Noue” = the New Life, 2 p.) from the regional town Bricheny. These newspapers were consulted at the National Library from Chisinau. In the first part of the chapter we stop on the Chernivtsy’s Ukrainian and Romanian-Moldovan local press.7 In the second part we analyze the Moldovan press from the MSSR.

In future researches also could be consulted the local newspapers – “Червона зiрка” from Khotyn, “Прапор перемоги” from Zastavna, “Пе каля ленинистэ” from Novoselitsya, “Конструкторул комунизмулуй” and “Будiвник комунизму” from Hlyboka, “Сатул советик” from Storozhinets. 11

I.1 The press from the Chernivtsy region (the Ukrainian SSR) I.1.a „Радяньска Буковина” and „Буковинське Вiче” The topic of the deportations has become open and widely discussed quite recently. This theme is one among those which deals with the totalitarian period in the Russian history. It was integrated in the open discussions only with the beginning of Perestroika, in the second part of the 1980s. The subject became actively discussed and elaborated on with the emergence of the new states and the dissolution of the USSR. Simultaneously it was linked with the new social behaviour relations and with the formation of the new national ideologies. Meanwhile, with the development of the new national historiography and the changing of the political conjuncture, the approaches to the topic of deportations were changed as well. As one which deals with certain political, nationalhistorical and social issues, it has undoubtedly a politicized character and its own meanings in the post-Soviet area. The character of the interpretation of the forced resettlements in the late 1940s, is influenced by and influences itself the orientation of the state policy provided in both present-day Ukraine and Moldova. At this moment we are divided from those events with decades of neglecting and forgetting about the matter. The efforts to reconstruct the chronology of events would have in any case the form of interpretation and of reconstruction of remembrance. Also, the process of the problem's selfrebuilding from the forgetfulness, will have its own history. In order to reconstruct the historical framework of the emergence and popularization of the matter, in our research we turned to the press published at the end of the Perestroika-times, precisely - the moment when the policy of Glasnost was introduced. Then this painful subject for the Soviet society turned not to be forbidden. We turned our attention to the regional press, as we expected that those periodicals should reflect both the rebirth of the interest towards this topic and a relevant discussion. In such way, we shall try to analyze the 12

genesis of the problem, of how those events had been received already in the new period and the spread of attention among the wide public towards the subject of deportations. We will also try to understand whether the rethinking and the representation of the matter, was fully illustrated there. It will give a certain starting point for our following research, in which we shall try to reflect upon the chronicles of the deportation in the 1940s, in the collective memory of Bukovina inhabitants, on the basis of the recollections of the witnesses and those who had suffered from those repressions. The issue of the deportations from the 1940s comes up on the pages of the regional periodicals published in the Chernivtsy region, first and foremost, in a relation to the assignment of the USSR at the highest governmental level, to rehabilitate the victims of the deportations from the 1930s–the early 1950s. This was part of the policy for democratic changes in the epoch of Perestroika in the late 1980s, and partially connected to the acknowledgement and condemnation of the fact itself of the deportations in the USSR. While it had reflected on those processes, the local press turned to the decrees of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR from July 11, 1988, and to the decree of the Presidium of the Soviet Supreme of the USSR, from January 16, 1989, on the rehabilitation of the people unjustly convicted and sentenced in that tragic historical period. Simultaneously, the regular publications turn out to be dealing with the questions of rehabilitation only starting with 1990. The public opinion was already informed about this process. The first results appeared in the form of statistical data and the processed numbers.8 In general, the interest for the topic of repressions occurred on the pages of the periodicals, beginning with 1990. It was inside the wave of the common interest towards history, especially its most complex and problematic, undiscussed questions in the Soviet period. Many of them were even banned for the historical research not long ago. It was also caused by 8

Радяньска Буковина [Radyanska Bukovyna], 6th of March 1999, № 47, p. 3 - M. Pashkovskyi, Robota po reabilitatsyi tryvaye; Буковинське Вiче [Bukovynske Viche], 10th of October 1991, № 116 - I. Nagirniak, Chas zbyraty kaminnya. 13

the emergence of the national identity in the former Soviet states. This increased the trend of the revision of the USSR’s history and the revisionist approach to studying it by the nationally-oriented historians. Also it was the result of a considerable interest, among the wide public, for the history of the ethnic groups of the USSR, and first and foremost – for the historical traditions of their nations. The official policy concentrated on the open discussion of the problematic issues in history. The objective was the revelation and condemnation of the crimes and mistakes of the totalitarian regime. Here, a central place had the epoch of the cult of personality in the USSR. In this context appeared the mass movement for the preservation, restoration and commemoration of the repressed. That’s why, together with the notes regarding the terror itself and the deportations against the inhabitants from Bukovina, in those newspapers appeared material regarding some other, not less dramatic events and beliefs of the USSR in general and of Ukraine in particular. Some articles deal, among others, with the Holocaust,9 with the famine from the 1930s,10 with the events connected to the restoration and commemoration of the victims of repressions in other parts and Republics of the Soviet Union.11 From the materials published in the newspaper “Bukovynske Viche” we find out about the first memorial in the region dedicated to the victims of the Stalinist regime. This one was installed in the town of Zastavna in the July of 1991.12 The opening of the memorial was marked with a commemorational ceremony, which itself was seen as an event of 9

Radyanska Bukovyna, 19th of September 1990, № 179, p. 4 - L. Finkel, Pro te, shcho vazhlyvishe za zhyttia...; Bukovynske Viche, 9th of July 1991, № 77 - L. Prokipchuk, Vashi mogyly – bil’ uselyudskyi. 10 Bukovynske Viche, 22nd of January 1991, № 9 – I. Nagirniak, Lyudy maryly hlibom; Radyanska Bukovyna, 28th of January 1990, № 185 - I. Kushnirenko, Shcho ya znayu pro golod. 11 Radyanska Bukovyna, 25th of September 1990, № 183 - Pamyati bezvynnyh zhertv. 12 Bukovynske Viche, 18th of July 1991, № 81 - P. Petrenko, Pamyatnyk zhertvam terroru. 14

importance at the national scale. Thus it was important for the national identification, and had a special meaning. In the ceremonial was included the sacramental inauguration of the memorial through a church service. The commemoration of those events was portrayed and represented as the remembrance of the tragedy and the sufferings of the entire nation. The commemoration of it acquired a new national and spiritual orientation, which differed dramatically from the previously practiced Soviet formal approach towards issues of that kind. Regarding the topic of our research, the deportations of the late 1940s, in the Ukrainian regional press, it appears in general in connection with the repressions from the 1930s-1940s. As an exception, a humble-sized article by V. Velykyi - “The Deportation”, could be remarked. In this article the author introduces his readers to a topic which was not previously discussed in the Soviet history. Is presented a short historical introduction to the issue of the deportations of the local population, from the territory of the Chernivtsy region in the 1940s. The author divides this process into two phases. The first wave of deportations took place right after the annexation of Bukovina by the Soviet Union in 1940, with the aim of ensuring the security in the border areas. Then among the victims of the deportations were different “undesirable elements”, like those who had been related to the former Romanian regime, and such social groups as the “Kulaks” and the traders. The second phase took place right after the WWII and aimed to confront the campaign against the Soviet power organized by the Ukrainian nationalists, widely popular in the Western part of Ukraine. During the period of the deportations, the biggest of which was the operation “Запад” (Zapad = “West”) in October 1947, the victims of the deportations were the families of the Ukrainian nationalists and their supporters. In the article is mentioned that during 1944-1945, 950 “banderist” families and 2.675 members and supporters of the OUN (the Organization of Ukrainian

Nationalists) were relocated to special settlements. Totally 7.576 people13 were resettled under different claims and convictions. As we see, the problem of the forced resettlement described in the pages of the researched periodicals, is directly connected with the issue of the anti-Soviet partisan movement in the Western Ukraine, especially with the activities of the so-called “banderists” - members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. In the period when the analyzed articles were written, there was a sharp discussion regarding the role of the armed formations of the Ukrainian nationalists in the history of Ukraine. Precisely, the activities of those groups, as a rule, were seen as the main cause for the deportation of the Ukrainian population from the region, as a reaction of the Soviet power. It needs to be pointed out, that by the moment of writing the articles, which are being analyzed here, the deeds of the members of OUN and UPA (the Ukrainian Rebel Army), against the Soviet administration and against the civilians, were seen rather critically, hence, their role in the forthcoming tragic events was seen negatively. They were accused of the collaboration with the Nazi-German regime, of the aggression and of the violence committed against the civilians, particularly against certain ethnic groups, and of forced mobilization into their troops, etc.14 For this reason, the deportations of the 1940s (in the analyzed newspapers) were reflected as a result of the undertaking of a massive operation “Zapad” and of some local activities for the neutralization of the local Ukrainian nationalists in the region. Hence, the majority of the deportees were seen as the members of the nationalists’ families or as people somehow related to them. About the deportation it is also mentioned in the materials dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the unification of the Northern Bukovina and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940. Along with the mentioning of 13

It was said about the deported from the territory of the Chernivtsy region. Radyanska Bukovyna, 26th of August 1990, № 162 - V. Velykyi. Deportatsiya. 14 Radyanska Bukovyna, 27th of February 1989, № 40 - Komu stavyty pamyatnyky; Radyanska Bukovyna, 13th-14th of June 1991, № 112-113, p. 3 - V. Maslovskyi, Proty kogo vony voyuvaly. 16

the uniting part of the events for the Ukrainian nation, it is noted that the unification also resulted in the repressions and the mass relocations of the local population. All these were committed not exclusively against the ethnic Ukrainians, but against all the ethnic groups inhabiting the multiethnic region of the Northern Bukovina. For example, in the article written by I. Pikuza “Uroki istorii” (“Lessons of History”),15 on the basis of the earlier inaccessible archival documents of the KGB administration in the Chernivtsy region, in focus is the story of the instalment of the repressive totalitarian apparatus in Bukovina, after its annexation on June 28th, 1940. The author mentions the tragic outcomes for a considerable part of the inhabitants from Bukovina, which suffered from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, according to which Bukovina, along with other territories, had been annexed by the USSR. These can be proved by the documents cited in the publication on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the unification of Bukovina and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The article informs its Bukovinian readers about the whole history of the creation and the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (on the 23rd of August 1939). The author didn’t evaluate the document mentioned above, though he partially saw the Pact as a possible solution for Bukovina, not through a military conflict in that complex historical period. Although it is worth stressing the fact that, meanwhile the issue of critical rethinking of the outcomes of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, was widely discussed by the democratic movements in the East-Central European countries. It served as one of the major arguments in the favour of the justification for the crush of the Socialist regimes in the countries of the Warsaw Treaty and in the Baltic states. In general, we may conclude that, in the pages of the regional Ukrainian-language press, published at the end of the Perestroika period, the issue of the deportations from the late 1940s was elaborated quite modestly. One could say that the problem was only mentioned and the attitudes towards it only began to be formed. The issue of deportations was discussed 15

Radyanska Bukovyna, 13th of June 1990, № 112 - I. Pikuza, Uroky istorii. 17

only in the framework of the allowed discourse, aiming to the elaboration on the most tragic pages and harsh questions in the history of the USSR, which had not been discussed previously. This way, the press played its role only as a tool for providing the population with information about the process development, but nothing more than that. On the whole, the topic of deportations appeared on the pages of the regional newspapers together with the writing on similar historical issues, which had become popular during the analyzed period. This was a spectrum of problems in the recent and not so recent history, which shared the ambiguous nature and had a problematic reception in the society. Among the issues were - the Ukrainian nationalists during WWII and their fighting against the newly-established power after the war, the Greco-Catholic Church and its role in the Ukrainian society (in the periodicals, published in the analyzed period, the most relevant issue regarding the Uniate Church, was its relation to the Nazi regime), the Cossacks and their role in the historical memory of the Ukrainians, the role and place in history of different Ukrainian national activists, etc. In this way, a complex of important and inevitable questions, due to be resolved in the new historical realities, were seen by the authors of the articles, as important and as rediscovered for a free, objective analysis and research in the political and cultural changing perspectives.

I.1.b “Зориле Буковиней” After the central decisions made in Moscow in January 1989, some results became visible in the Moldovan press from Chernivtsy, in May of the same year. On the 18th of May 1989, Shtefan Miheylyan16 wrote about the young men who were killed at Fyntyna Albe (ukr. Bela Krinytsa) on the 1st of April 1941. The title of the article was “The last cross”. It was a metaphor

Зориле Буковиней, 18th of May 1989, № 92, p. 3.

expressing that people forgot about that tragedy. In the next years, this tragedy was commemorated by mourning meetings. After that publication, in “Зориле Буковиней” appeared many articles about the deportations from 1941 and the repressions, and the forced labour after 1944. Among the first very precise formulated views of remembering, were two paragraphs by Dumitru Kovalchuk, in the article “Notes for a monograph”.17 “But others were restrained at the frontier points, despite the fact that they had all the documents in order, still they were taken to Onega, to the Komi Autonomous SSR, to Karelia, to exhausting labours. Against those who succeeded to come back home and to fill their relatives with the joy that the forced travel ended, were organized raids every night – in order to catch them and to take to Donbass, for the restoration of the coal mines”. It was for the first time when in the public sphere of the Romanian language press from the Chernivtsy region, was said about two points of the painful memory for the inhabitants – Onega and Donbass. During that year were published several rememberings about these places. On the 23rd of June 1989, G. Podolyan wrote about the decree from the 16th of January 1989. “Were cancelled all the extra judiciary sentences, passed in the period of the ’30s-40s and at the beginning of the ’50s, by the so-called commissions formed by three persons”. In accordance with the decree from the 16th of January – “all the citizens repressed on the basis of the decisions of these bodies, were rehabilitated”.18 On the 28th of October 1990, appeared several articles about the victims. The third page had the title – “The voice of truth” and was organized by the Society for Culture “Mihai Eminescu”. The readers were informed about the inauguration of a monument in Poyeny-Bukovina, where 22 villagers didn’t return after they were deported.19 Near was an article by 17

Зориле Буковиней, 18th of June 1989, № 116, p. 3. Зориле Буковиней, 23rd of June 1989, № 120, p. 1. 19 Зориле Буковиней, 28th of October 1990, p. 3. 18

G. Frunze, in which, among others, was remembered how a big group of villagers were taken to Finnish Karelya. The author mentioned only one name from the several villagers who didn’t return to Sineutsyi de Sus – Valeryan Frunte and one who survived – Ilie G. Skripa. Skripa mentioned that to the railway station they were escorted by soldiers. He also remembered that before dying, V. Frunte was very ill and the conditions in which they were living at Onega were terrible. After this text, is the remembering of Grigore Nidelku about the Onega Lake camp and about Kafan in Armenia. He came back home after three years. The press also wrote about many reunions at which were commemorated the victims or were presented books. In 1991 in Bucharest, at the Humanitas Press, appeared the book written by Anitsa NandrishKudla from the village Mahala – “20 years in Siberia”.20 The book was presented in April 1992 in Mahala. At this event participated several Romanian intellectuals from Chernivtsy.21 Anitsa Nandrish was deported in June 1941 and began to write her book in Siberia. In the 1980s the manuscript had 360 pages. On the 21st of July 1992, in Proboteshty was inaugurated the “monument of the soldiers dead in the WWII and of the victims of the Stalinist repressions”. Also, in Patrautsyi de Sus was inaugurated a monument dedicated to those who were sent far away from home in the 1940s. There were commemorated those who were taken to Onega. The villagers still remembered the victims – “He was taken to Finland”, “He didn’t come back from Onega”.22 We mentioned only a little part of the articles from “Zorile Bukoviney”, but they are enough for a general image. We can conclude that the Romanian language newspaper “Зориле Буковиней” from Chernivtsy, reflected as much as it was possible, about the destiny of its inhabitants in the context of the rehabilitation of the victims of the Stalinist regime. On the 20

Aniţa Nandriş-Cudla, 20 de ani în Siberia, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1991. Зориле Буковиней, 15th of April 1992 – …Май екзистэ лукрурь сфинте. 22 Зориле Буковиней, 28th of July 1992, p. 3. 21

agenda was the commemoration of the massacre from Fyntyna Albe (Byala Krynitsa) on the 1st of April 1941, the deportation from the 13th-15th of June 1941, the forced labour at Onega and also in Donbass, the famine, the forced collectivization and others. We can observe that the articles mainly referred to the inhabitants of the former Northern Bukovina. The information about the destiny of the inhabitants from the villages located to the East and NorthEast from Noua Sulitsa (Novoselitsya), appeared rarely.

I.2 The press from the Moldovan SSR On the 6th of January 1989, the CC of the CP of the USSR and the Soviet Supreme of the USSR on the 16th of January 1989, decided the organization of special commissions for studying the past and for the rehabilitation of the historical and social justice. V. Tsaranov wrote that this process began earlier, in 1988. After the decision adopted in Moscow, the Council of Ministers from Chisinau, on the 24th of June 1988, created the governmental Commission for the analysis of the declarations of the former forced settlers. This Commission studied the documents and in result, proposed to the government to cancel its decision from the 28th of June 1949.23 In that context, the first newspaper from Chisinau which wrote about the deported people, was “Literatura şi Arta”, edited by the Union of Writers. On the 6th of April 1989 were published, on a half of page, the rememberings of Tamara Oala-Pleşca from the village Sofia (the Drokiya region).24 She mainly referred to the deportations from June 1941, but, in some sentences she pointed out that some persons were deported to Siberia for the second time in March 1949.

В. И. Царанов, Операция «ЮГ», Кишинев, 1998, р. 90. Literatura şi Arta, 6th of April 1989, № 15, p. 8 – «Ку бочетул ускат ын черул гурий…». 24

On the 10th of April 1989, the Council of Ministers of the MSSR canceled its decision from the 28th of June 1949. The title of this decision was – “About the deportations from the Moldovan SSR of the families of Kulaks, former landowners and big merchants”. All the deported were rehabilitated. After that, appeared series of new articles about deportations in the same “Literatura şi Arta” on the 29th of June 1989.25 But it referred mainly to the deportations from the 12th-13th of June 1941. Many important steps during the process of rehabilitation were taken by the Party's institutions. The Bureau of the CC of CPM, adopted a decision about the commemoration of the victims of the repressions from the 30s-40s and from the beginning of the 50s. The information was published in “Советская Молдавия”26 and in “Молдова Сочиалистэ”.27 The day of 6th of July 1989 was declared the day of memory of the victims of the Stalinist repressions. It was considered as rational to open a monument for the victims in the capital of the Republic - Chisinau. Responsible for the project were E. V. Sobor (Ministry of Culture) and V. G. Dobre (Chisinau’s city Committee). On the 3rd of July 1989, in “Молдова Сочиалистэ” was written a recommendation of the CC of the CP of the USSR, for the executive bodies of the Soviets. They had “to solve the problem of finding financial resources necessary for the care of cemeteries and for building monuments”. On the 5th of July 1989, M. S. Platon, the President of the Governmental Republican Commission for the examination of the complaints and demands of the former deported and of their relatives, responded to the questions of “Молдова Сочиалистэ” – “The return to the

Literatura şi Arta, 29th of June 1989, № 27, p. 7 – De profundis; Să rămînă nepoţilor; „Ciujdîi element”; Glasuri din infern; Vagoane înşurubate and Plecaţi în Ucraina. 26 Советская Молдавия, 2nd of July 1989, № 152, p. 1, 2. See also Советская Молдавия, 4th of July 1989, № 153, p. 1 – Реабилитируются жертвы репрессий. 27 Молдова Сочиалистэ, 2nd of July 1989, № 152, p. 1, 2. 22

truth”.28 “We will mark tomorrow a really bitter and sad jubilee. Reconstituting the truth, we all recognize, that during the process of the collectivization of the individual households from Moldova, in the post-war years were perpetrated very serious mistakes, caused by the ignorance of the Leninist principles in the agricultural cooperation”. An article about the deportation from the 6th of July 1949, was published by the historians N. Movilyanu and I. Shishkanu, in “Советская Молдавия” on the 6th of July 1989.29 They specified that on the initial lists were 13.077 families, but in fact were deported 10.651 families from all the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. Before the deportation, 1.292 families were excluded from the lists, because they had members who died as soldiers during the Second World War. Other 1.134 families simply had run away. The deportation began during the night of 5-6 July 1949. The same authors had a similar article on the same date in “Молдова Сочиалистэ”. The title had another shade than in the Russian version. “Дурере нетрекэтоаре” which means “Lingering pain”. In the case of the Russian version, the accent is on the justice, while in the Moldovan version, the most important was the emotion, the pain.30 In the decision of the CC of the CP from Moldova from 1989, was written – “the unjustified, the inhuman dekulakization was a horrible crime not only against the peasants, but also against all the people. In the fight with the Kulaks the unjustified violence was applied on the greatest mass of the medium peasants and even to the poor peasants”. On the 6th of July in Chisinau was organized a meeting near the railway station. V. Dobre declared that the monument is “necessary as a symbol of not forgetting those who remained to lay in the frozen land of the distant Siberia and after the Polar Circle. It will become a tower which will 28

Молдова Сочиалистэ, 5th of July 1989, № 154, p. 1 - “Ынтоарчеря ла адевэр”. 29 Советская Молдавия, 6th of July 1989, № 155, p. 3 – Н. Мовиляну, И. Шишкану, Восстанавливая историческую правду и справедливость. 30 Also on the first page was published the poem of Serafim Belikov – “The neighbours”, which referred to the year 1953. 23

remind us about the tragic pages of history and warn about the danger of the return of those times”.31 At the meeting also spoke G. S. Russu, M. S. Platon, Yu. I. Roshka, S. A. Begansky, I. K. Chobanu. Also there assisted the second Secretary of the CC of the CP from Moldova, V. K. Pshenichnikov, the Secretary of the same CC, I. T. Gutsu, and the second Secretary of the Chisinau’s city Committee, I. I. Leshanu. In the local newspaper from Bricheny – “Вяца Ноуэ” (The New Life) - in July 1989 appeared two articles. The number from the 6th of July 1989, had on the first page written with bold letters as a motto – “Through the decision of the Bureau of the CC of the Communist Party from Moldova, were sustained the proposals of the men of labour, of the social organizations and today, the 6th of July, was declared in the Republic, as the day of memory of the victims of the Stalinist repressions”.32 On the pages 12 was published the article of the same N. Movilyanu – “Tragic pages from our history”.33 Referring to the deportation from the 5th-6th of July 1949, he underlined – “the guiltiness for this tragedy is of the Stalinist leadership and of its promoters on the terrain, of the “vigilant” villagers of those deported”. On the 8th of July, in “Вяца Ноуэ” on the first page appeared the article “In the memory of the victims of the Stalinist repressions”.34 This one was similar with the text which appeared in “Советская Молдавия” on the same day. The text probably was elaborated by the republican news agency ATEM. But in general in “Вяца Ноуэ” hadn't appeared articles about deportations based on the testimonies of the local victims. One year later, on the 6th of July there was no article about the deportations. The decision number 509 (adopted by the Supreme Soviet in June 1949) was published by Nikolaye Movilyanu in “Moldova Socialistă" on the 31

Cоветская Молдавия, 8th of July 1989, № 157, p. 1, 3 – Митинг памяти и надежды. 32 Вяца Ноуэ, 6th of July 1989, № 81, p. 1. 33 Вяца Ноуэ, 6th of July 1989, № 81, p. 1, 2 – Николае Мовиляну, Пажинь тражиче дин история ноастрэ. 34 Вяца Ноуэ, 8th of July 1989, № 82, p. 1 - Ын мемория виктимелор репресиунилор сталинисте. 24

5th of July 1990 – “The criminal deportations”.35 In 59 short mentions was specified the number of the deported families from different towns and regions. In this case the total number of families was 11.342. The number of those deported, from the regions which we approached was - 233 families from Bricheny, 284 families from Edinets, 224 families from Lipkany and 194 families from Oknitsa. In 1991-1992 the literary review from Chisinau – “Basarabia” (former “Нистру”) opened a new heading – “Martirologiu” (“sau Pagini pentru Cartea memoriei” – “or Pages for the Memory Book”). There was published the information received from the readers, with the names of the victims. Concerning our regions of interest - Lipkany-Bricheny-Edinets-Oknitsa appeared the next information. In the nr. 1/1992 (p. 116-117) about the people from the village of Ruseny (the Edinets region) - 4 families deported in 1941, two died of famine in 1946-47 and 5 families in 1949 (other 2 don't have the year of the deportation). From those deported in 1949, two were sent to the Kurgan region and three to Habarovsk. In the nr. 7/1992 (p. 147) and nr. 8/1992 (p. 120) appeared information about 19 persons deported in 1941 and 40 deported in 1949 from the village of Hinkautsy, the Edinets region. In 1995 appeared a book of interviews with the deported – “Besarabia in Gulag”, published by the writer Serafim Saka.36 It is important to underline that in the second part of the 1990s, the interest for the forced settlements and for different tragic phenomena from the post-war years diminished. The economical problems and the political transition from the socialist society (which was expected to end till 1995), determined the indifference of the mass media and of the civil society for solving the historical tasks which were opened in 1988-1989. The 1940s weren’t reflected in literature and in theatre. On the other hand, the

Moldova Socialistă, 5th of July 1990, № 154, p. 4 – N. Movileanu, Deportări criminale. 36 Basarabia în Gulag/ Serafim Saka, Chişinău, Editura Uniunii Scriitorilor, 1995, 344 p. 25

historians continued studying this period of the 1940s as we will see in the next chapter. We can conclude that in the case of the MSSR, existed a general interest in Chisinau to restore the unknown pages of history. On the 6 th of July 1989, the entire Republic had to commemorate the victims of the deportation from the 6th of July 1949. This tendency existed for some years in Chisinau, but in the regions, especially in the Northern part, this interest, in the press was short. For example “Вяца Ноуэ” from Bricheny pointed out some moments in July 1989, but after that there was no interest. It remains an opened question if the intellectuals from this region were not interested or the people who survived, lived their rememberings otherwise. Here it is important to point out that the interest in Chisinau was greater than in Chernivtsy, but if to compare the Northern Moldova with the Chernivtsy region, the image changes. On the other hand the Chernivtsy region wasn’t homogenous. If to compare the interest of the Chernivtsy’s Romanian language press, on the topic of the deportations, with those of the Ukrainian language press, the comparison was in favour of the first. On the other hand, we have to distinguish the interest of the inhabitants from the former Northern Bukovina and some kind of passivity of the inhabitants from the former Northern Bessarabia. The first, published several memories and testimonies, and also inaugurated many monuments dedicated to the victims of the Soviet policies from the 1940s. Finally, it is clear that the inhabitants of the whole Chernivtsy region were much more active in the remembering policy, than those from the Northern part of Moldova. What could be pointed out as positive, in the case of Edinets, is that they sent to the review “Bessarabia”, the lists with the names of those who suffered. These lists were partially published in 1992 in several numbers of this journal.

Chapter II. The historiography of the deportations after the dissolution of the USSR II.1 The historiography from the Chernivtsy region (Ukraine) II.1.a In Ukrainian/Russian The topics related with the repression policy of the Soviet power in Ukraine during the period of the mass terror of the 30s-40s, are very present and of interest for the Ukrainian society after the 25th of August 1991. The first articles devoted to the themes of the mass repressions, were written by the Ukrainian historical scholars in emigration, already in the 1950s.37 Nowadays the first scholar research of the problem of the forced resettlement of nations from the territory of Ukraine, might be considered the brochure of M. Buhay “According to the messages of NKVD of the Soviet Union, were resettled…”.38 The base of the innovation at that moment, were the newly revealed materials from the archive funds of NKVD-NKGB of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile this topic was debated among publicists in the press,39 and often appeared articles in the scholar journals.40 37

А. Микулин, Концентраційні табори в Совєтському Союзі, 1958. М. Ф. Бугай, “За повідомленням НКВС СРСР, були переселені...”. Про депортації населення з України у 30–40-і роки, Київ, Видавництво товариства “Знання” України, 1992, 47 c. 39 Депортация. Берия докладывает Сталину…// Коммунист, 1991, № 3; «Погружены в эшелоны и отправлены к местам поселений…»// История СССР, 1991, № 1; Шли поезда на Восток// Полит. Собеседник, Минск, 1991, № 5. 40 Н. Ф. Бугай, Депортации народов с Украины (30-50-е годы)// Український історичний журнал [УIЖ], Київ, 1990, № 10, 11; Idem. Депортации крымских татар в 1944 году// УIЖ, Київ, 1992, № 1; Л. П. Полевой, Б. В. Чирко. Национальные меньшинства украинского села в условиях коллективизации// 38

Regardless of the active beginning of the researches in this field, it could not be said that the topic of the deportations, was entirely investigated to that day in the Ukrainian historiography. Up to now doesn’t exist a special monograph devoted to the operation “West” and a chain of other actions of forced resettlement of the population from the West of Ukraine, which took place in 1944-1953. In this case we are interested in the historiography exactly of those events, which have direct relation to our research. Meantime, the history of the second tremendous operation with the name “Visla” - the deportations of the Ukrainian population from the Eastern and the SouthernEastern Poland, was sufficiently well described by the Ukrainian and the Polish researchers, and had an important amount of scholar publications and different works.41 The topic of the Crimea’s Tatars also was deeply reflected in separate studies.42 Perhaps the problem of the insufficient investigation of the deportations of the Ukrainian inhabitants from the Western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, consisted in that the topic was mainly studied only in the context of the armed fight of the UPA and the OUN against the Red Army and the Soviet УIЖ, Київ, 1993, № 4-6; І. Винниченко, Україна 1920–1980-х: депортації, заслання, вислання, Київ, Рада, 1994, p. 126. 41 О. Буцко, Украина - Польша: миграционные процессы 40-х годов, Київ, Інститут історії НАН України, 1997, 217 p.; Ю. Шаповал, ОУН и УПА на территории Польши 1944-1947, Київ, Інститут історії НАН України, 2000; Ю. Ніколаєць, Проблема ОУН-УПА та масових депортацій у повоєнний період в українській історіографії// Історія України: маловідомі імена, події, факти, Київ, Інститут історії України НАН України, 2008, № 35, p. 329-347; И. Цепенда, Операція Вісла в польській історіографії// УIЖ, 2002, № 3; K. Miroszewski, Ukraińcy i Łemkowie w Centralnym Obozie Pracy Jaworzno, Pamiętny rok 1947, Rzeszów, 2001. 42 В. Н. Земсков, Вслед за крымскими татарами// Таврические ведомости, 1992, № 22; Idem, Спецпоселенцы из Крыма. 1944-1956 гг.// Республика Крым, 1992, № 7; В. Е. Возгрин. Исторические судьбы крымских татар, Москва, 1992; B. G. Williams. The Crimean Tatars. The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of Nation, Leiden-Brill, 2001, p. 488. 28

power. That is why the forced actions of deportations, which were directed against the civil population and in particular against the families of the UPA’s members, were considered exclusively as a measure of destruction of the national movement.43 However such a consideration of events reduces from the social, economical and ethnical factors. Thus the attention is concentrated only on the political and the military aspects. The topic of the massive deportations of different peoples from the territory of Ukraine, is also on the general agenda of the Russian historians, who deal with the deportations of the peoples of the USSR. The scientific literature on this topic is sufficiently large and includes not only the problem of the deportation of the Ukrainians, but also of other peoples as the Crimea’s Tatars, the Poles, the Germans and other national minorities. Concerning the deportations from the Western Ukraine in the second part of the 1940s, the Russian authors analyze this topic in connection with the armed fight and the partisans movement against the Soviet power, which continued on this territory till the beginning of the 1950s.44 But in this case the subject of study is the deportation itself. The attention is paid to the statistical information about the number of the deported, the process of deportation, the geography of the forced migration far into the USSR and the conditions of life in the special settlements. In these articles the accent is made on the study of the documental sources, which became open for the researchers at the central historical archives of the Russian Federation, at the 43

See: В. Сергійчук, Боротьба совєтської влади проти ОУН-УПА в післявоєнний період// Визвольний шлях, 2000, № 11, p. 42-58; Літопис нескореної України: Документи, матеріали, спогади// Упоряд. Я. Лялька та ін., Львів, Просвіта, 1993, Кн. 1; М. В. Коваль, Организация украинских националистов (ОУН): уроки истории// Отечественная история, 2003, №1; В. Полищук, Гірка правда, Торонто; Варшава; Київ, 1995. 44 Н. И. Владимирцев, А. И. Кокурин, НКВД-МВД СССР в борьбе с бандитизмом и вооруженным националистическим подпольем на Западной Украине, в Западной Белоруссии и Прибалтике (1939-1956), Москва, 2008, 370 c. 29

beginning of the 1990s. Among the most important works dedicated to this topic, it is important to mention: P. М. Pоlyan, “Not from their will… History and the geography of the forced migrations in the USSR”,45 D. M. Ediyev, “Demographical losses of the deported nations”,46 V. N. Zemskov, “Deported in the USSR. 1930-1960”,47 G. Коstyrchenko, “The secret policy of Stalin. Power and anti-Semitism”.48 The most profound presentation of the process of deportation from the Western Ukraine, is in the works of N. F. Buhay.49 This historian studied the resettlement of the peoples from Ukraine in the 1930s-50s, using the documents from the archive funds of NKVD-NKGB of the USSR, MVDMGB of the USSR and the “Special folder of Stalin”.50 In his monograph «Народы Украины в «Особой папке Сталина» (Мoscow, 2006), he wrote about the deported from the Western Ukraine - “In the middle of November 1949, according to the information of the SSS of the MIA of the USSR,51 from the regions of the Western Ukraine, to the region of Kemerovo arrived 10.216 families of “Ounists” and the members of their families (30.179

П. М. Полян, Не по своей воле… История и география принуд-ительных миграций в СССР, Москва, О.Г.И – Мемориал, 2001, 328 c. 46 Д. М. Эдиев, Демографические потери депортированных народов, Ставрополь, 2003, 336 c. 47 В. Н. Земсков, Спецпоселенцы в СССР. 1930-1960, Москва, Наука, 2005, 306 c. 48 Г. Костырченко, Тайная политика Сталина. Власть и антисемитизм, Изд. 2-е доп., Москва, Международные отношения, 2003, 781 c. 49 Депортации народов с Украины (30-50-е годы)// УIЖ, 1990, № 10, 11; «По сведениям НКВД были переселены…», Київ, 1992, 48 с.; Л. Берия – И. Сталину: «Согласно Вашему указанию…», Москва, АИРО-ХХ, 1995, 320 с.; «Обязать НКВД… выселить греков», Москва, 1998, 159 с.; Депортация народов Крыма, Москва, ИНСАН, 2002, 240 с.; Народы Украины в «Особой папке Сталина», Москва, Наука, 2006, 272 с. 50 Документы переписки И. Сталина с руководством НКВД СССР, а также материалы переписки с другими министерствами и наркоматами СССР, управлением ГУЛАГа и т.д., связанные с решением межнациональных вопросов в Союзе ССР и процессом укрепления советской власти на местах. 51 Section of the special settlements of the Minister of the Internal Affairs of USSR. 30

persons)…52 The general number of the families deported from the Western Ukraine at that moment was – 25.877 families (74.799 persons)”.53 The same author describes the material situation and the conditions of life of the deported. The situation of the “Ounists”, as also of other groups of resettled, remained hard for a long time. Especially it was hard for the deported from Kazakhstan, where it was a lack of houses and products. This is confirmed by a letter written to Moscow, requiring help for 3.162 families of the “Ounists” who were working in the coal industry. The situation was hard (sometimes impossible conditions of work and life) in other distant places of deportation too, for the Ukrainians and for other ethnic groups. Often the deported had bad conditions in dwellings. Their rooms needed a complete repair, the climate conditions being extreme. For example in 1945, from those deported to the Molotov region, 182 persons died (3,45%). Also among the “Ounists” resettled to the Komi ASSR, from 1945 to 1949, 1.661 men died (they were 1/3 of all). There were also deported from the Chernivtsy region.54 In the reports of NKVD of the USSR the “Ounists” were underlined in a special row. They were counted separately. Their number was permanently growing, as a result of the new resettlement operations of the nationalists and of their families, from the Western territories of Ukraine. The deported from Ukraine were mainly distributed to work in the wood industry. Even if the conditions of living were very poor and the food was bad, the resettled people had to complete 100% of norm in different sectors of the wood industry. And they succeeded in this.55

...to the Chelyabinsk region – 2.433 (7.183), to the Karaganda region – 3.055 (8.122), to the Molotov region – 2.923 (8.261), to the Irkutsk and Chita regions – 1.227 (4.091), to the Omsk region – 5.264 (15.202), to the Krasnoyarsk region – 659 families (1.691 men). Totally – 20.613 families, 59.587 persons. 53 Н. Ф. Бугай, Народы Украины в «Особой папке Сталина», Москва, 2006, p. 139. 54 Ibidem, p. 134. 55 Ibidem, p. 136. 31

The deportations from the territories of the Western Ukraine continued till the first part of the 1950s. On the 11th of February 1952 to Tyumen, was sent a train with the special resettled (families of the OUN’s members) – 293 families (1.057 persons). For appreciating the results of the deportations from that period, it is also possible to refer to such a document as «The note about the number of persons who were resettled to special settlements in the Northern and the Eastern regions of the country from the territories of Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia and the Pskov region, during the period between 1940 to 1953, without the right to come back to the former places of living». The statistical information about the deported from the Ukrainian SSR was – 328.011 men.56

II.1.b In Romanian The information about the tragic destiny of the inhabitants from the Northern Bukovina, appeared in the histories of the villages, which were written in Romanian. These histories referred mainly to the villages from the former Northern Bukovina. Dumitru Kovalchuk edited the history of the village Oprisheni (in the Southern part of the Chernivtsy region) – “Oprişeni, un sat la răspântiile istoriei”. There appears short information about the Onega camp and the labour in Donbass. “More than ten men from the village, were raised and under the pretext that they were mobilized to the “Soviet Army of labour”, were escorted, during the summer and autumn of 1944, to camps of extermination from Karelia or to forced labour in the region of Donbass. There, at Onega and in Donbass, died of hunger and frost: Birău Sârbu, Oloier Visarion, Ostafi Pamfil”.57

Ibidem, p. 140-141. D. Covalciuc, Oprişeni un sat la răspântiile istoriei, Cernăuţi, Zelena Bucovina, 2008, p. 217. 57

In 1945, 44 Poles who lived in Oprisheny, were sent to Poland. Besides of other phenomena, this contributed to the substantial diminishing of the number of the inhabitants from the village. The teacher Vasile Bizovi, in his history of Boyan published (appeared postmortem in 2006) the list of those repressed in 1940-1941 (64 persons), the list of those who died at Onega in 1944-1945 - 95 men and those who died in jail in 1945-1953 - 14 person.58 “The stories of those who came back from the Stalinist “heaven” are so terrible, that it should be written a book apart about the sufferings of the deported, about their life in the forests of Siberia and in gulags. It was written much about this and for all that few...”.59 To our regret, he had no time to collect histories of the victims and as we see above he expressed the hope that somebody will write a book about these. Igor Kretsu wrote the history of Tereblechya – “Tereblecea un sat la margine de ţară”. He took an interview with one of the survivors from Onega - Vasile T. Shlemku.60 Also, he published a table with the names of 47 men, who were forced to go to Onega and from who 17 died there.61 After this paragraph, he inserted the rememberings he had from his father, who also was there for the “so called restoration of the national economy of the Soviet Union”. As Vasile T. Shlemku remembered, that when he was 20 years the mayor and two “striboks” (ukr. marksmen) took him to the railway station after they told him to take some food and clothes. The train departed on the 4th of August 1944. After 12 days they arrived to the Onega camp. It was hard, because they didn’t know the Russian language. They had to cut trees and to throw them into the river. Many began to die in September, when the winter came and they had no winter clothes. The survivors used the clothes of the dead. At some moment, a part of them was transferred to the Belomor 58

V. Bizovi, Boianul, Cernăuţi, Bukrek, 2005, p. 181-183. Ibidem, p. 186. 60 I. Creţu, Tereblecea un sat la margine de ţară, Cluj-Napoca, Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2010, p. 86-89. 61 Ibidem, p. 89-90. 59

(= White Sea) channel. Those who had money could buy some products from the local people. Few of the sent letters arrived home. He worked 10 months at Onega. “I thank God, only He gave me days to be on earth till today”.62 The author of the book remembers how his father came back in the summer of 1945 and had only 49 kilos. His father survived in the camp with the help of a Jew doctor – “he protected him as much as it was possible… he made him a worker at the sick room, to maintain the things in order”. The doctor also didn’t include him in the list of the first liberated, who in reality were sent to mountains in Armenia and came back only in 1947.63 Kretsu also described the situation of a girl, who was arrested during the famine in 1947 and was sent to the Kemerovo region to work at a factory. There also were written the histories of Mahala, Tarasautsy,64 Kupka, Chiresh-Opaitseny and others, which we hadn’t found to consult.65 An article about the forced labour at Onega, was published in the review “Ţara Fagilor”, nr. XVIII from 2009. Ion A. Posteucă, wrote about the men taken from Staneshty in the second part of 1944. He remembered the case of Konstantin Nikita Petreuchyan. This one was called to the Mayoralty and was told that he had to leave for two months to participate at the reconstruction of some building destroyed by war. He worked on the bank of the lake Onega, where he had to angle the logs from the water and then to turn to the train. Many died because of hunger or inhuman work. Some died because of smoking. Totally, there died nine men from Staneshty. 62

Ibidem, p. 89. Ibidem, p. 91. 64 Arcadie Moisei, Antonie Moisei, Tărăsăuţi – Din margine de cronici, Cernăuţi, Zelena Bukovina, 2001. 65 Ion Nadriş, Satul nostru Mahala, din Bucovina, Sibiu, Casa de Presă şi Editura Tribuna, 2001, 435 p.; Petru Ciobanu, Vasile Slănină, Reveca Prelipcean, Cupca, un sat din Bucovina. Monografie istorică, partea I (anii 1429-1944), Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Editura Amadoros, 2004; Ilie Dugan-Opiţi, Date pentru monografia comunei Cireş-Opaiţeni, Rădăuţi, Editura Septemtrion, 2008, 186 p. www.crainou.ro – Mihai Iacobescu, Tereblecea – un sat la margine de ţară /31.05.2011/ [consulted 28.12.2012]. 63

After nine months, those who survived were liberated, but they didn’t receive money. They came back home with a train which transported goods.66 Many of the Bukovinians’ testimonies, were selected and published in a volume coordinated by Liliana Corobca and Dumitru Kovalchuk in 2009.67 It comprised mainly the stories of the repressions and the deportations from May-June 1941, 1944, 1945-1951 and the folklore of the deportees.

II.2 The historiography from Chisinau (Moldova) Two authors-historians mainly wrote about the deportation from 1949. Valeriu Pasat, edited in 1994 the collection of documents – “Трудные страницы истории Молдовы 1940-1950е гг”. In 1998 appeared another book – “Суровая правда истории. Депортации с территории МССР 4050e гг”, in which a chapter was dedicated to the year 1949. Pasat used documents from the Russian archives. In the same year, Vladimir Tsaranov published – “Операция “ЮГ” (102 p.), in the name which the deportation from 1949 had. He used documents from the Moldovan Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, from the Governmental Archive, from the Archive of Social-Political Organizations and from the Russian archives. From the documents published by V. Pasat, results that the State’s Security bodies from the Republic began the pursuit of the Kulaks already at the 10th of July 1944. In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the CC of C(b)P from Moldova, Salogor N. L., it was said that to the Eastern regions returned 205 families of Kulaks (406 members) and that “we prepare the

Ion A. Posteucă, Patru decenii şi jumătate n-a bătut din palme, fiindcă n-a avut cui şi pentru ce// Ţara Fagilor, 2009, XVIII, p. 176-181. 67 Goglota românească: mărturiile bucovinenilor deportaţi în Siberia/ D. Covalciuc, L. Corobca (ed.), Bucureşti, Editura Vestala, 2009, 399 p. 35

measures for the extraction of the Kulak element, which came back to the former places of living in the Moldovan SSR during the occupation”.68 As it results from the book of Tsaranov, an anticipation of the repressive measures were the statistical and the territorial identification of the Kulaks families. The authorities calculated the number of 10.154 farms in 1947, but in 1948 excluded 4.507 of them, as mistakenly attributed.69 Tsaranov stops also on the opposition towards the collectivization of one part of the Kulaks. He also mentions some cases when the chief of the Kolkhoz was killed. One of these happened in our area of interest, in Kotyuzhani, the Lipkany region - D. A. Markautsan. The conclusion of Tsaranov is that “analyzing the stage, the volume of this fight (against Kolkhoz - A/N), with the similar ones from other Republics and regions of the former USSR, we can not remark that in Moldova it was significantly less according to its volume and intensity”.70 Knowing less or more the real number of the Kulaks families, the second step was made in December 1948. The Minister of the State Security of the MSSR - I. L. Mordovets, wrote a letter to the Minister of the State Security of the USSR - V. S. Abakumov, in which he said that it was necessary to deport, in the context of the collectivization - 9.259 men and with their families totally - 33.640 people.71 In the second part of March 1949, V. A. Ivanov, N. G. Kovaly and G. Ya Rudy, wrote a letter to Stalin, in which demanded the CC of All-Union C(b)P to permit the resettlement out from the MSSR – of the Kulaks, former landowners, big traders, the collaborators of the occupation (1941-1944), totally 39.091 men. They argued that these men, during the inter-war period, and after that, were members of different “Bourgeois parties”, promoted an anti-Soviet policy in the rural area, were the agents of the special services in the fight against the

В. Пасат, Трудные страницы истории Молдовы 1940-1950е гг., Москва, Терра, 1994, p. 221-222. 69 В. Царанов, Операция “ЮГ”, Chişinău, 1998, p. 12. 70 Ibidem, p. 29. 71 Ibidem, p. 33. 36

revolutionary working masses.72 As a consequence of this letter, on the 6th of April 1949, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted the decision N 1290-467, according to which - 11.280 families of Kulaks and other persons (totally - 40.850) had to be deported for eternity to the Eastern regions of the USSR. For the realization of the deportation had to be mobilized 3.389 militia, 9.050 soldiers of the Ministry of State Security and of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 22.850 representatives of the local authorities, 3.071 autos and 1.736 train wagons.73 Officially it was permitted for each family to take personal objects - clothes, shoes and others, with maximum weight of 1,5 t, for each family.74 The operation began at two o'clock, on the 6th of July 1949. About the number of the deported exist several versions. Tsaranov cited one document from 1952, in which was said that were deported 11.253 families and 2.741 solitary persons, totally - 35.796 men.75 The deported were transported mainly to the Kurgan region, to the Tyumen region, to the Altayski “kray”, and the other part, to the Buryat-Mongolyan Autonomous SSR, to the Irkutsk region, to Alma Ata and to other places.76 At the end of his book, the historian Tsaranov wrote – “the brutal violence of the state against the wealthiest peasants-producers was an illegal and antihuman measure, which was irrational also in the economical plan, not looking at that, that the repressed communities had a little percent in the agricultural production. Voluntarism in the solving of the socio-economical problems, is very vermin and dangerous. It drives usually, to bad and unwished consequences in the society”.77 The subject of the deportations in general appeared several times on the pages of the Republican newspapers. The most important for us articles, contained the stories of the deported families. Also it changed the accent in 72

Ibidem, p. 35. Ibidem, p. 38. 74 Ibidem, p. 50. 75 Ibidem, p. 62. 76 Ibidem, p. 67. 77 Ibidem, p. 94. 73

some titles. For example, on the second of July 1999, in “FLUX”, the historian Elena Postică, entitled the article – “the Stalinist repressions from the 6th of July 1949, were the culminant point of the red terror in Bessarabia”.78 She mentioned that on the 29th of January 1949, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a confidential decision (nr. 390-138), in which were specified the categories of the citizens due to be deported. She underlined that the decision of G. Rudy (the President of the Council of Ministers of the MSSR) and of I. Diachenko (the Chief of the Administrative service of the same Council) wasn't respected. Mainly, the families didn't have the right to take something with them (clothes and food). On the same page were the rememberings of three families - Covaliu from Kurky (deported on the 6th of July 1949, came back in 1956), Kotovich (Gribinchya) from Kosteshty (the Yaloveny region) deported first time on the 13th of June 1941 and after that, in 1949 sent with her mother to the camp “Valley of fortune”, and then to Omutinka, from the Tyumen region (they came back only in 1959) and the Karaman family from Gratieshty (near Chisinau). Paraskovya Karaman said that “to Siberia also were deported Germans, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Russians and Jews”. The Karaman family came back in 1956. After the year 2000 appeared a national collection named “Cartea Memoriei” – the “Book of Remembrance”, in which were written all the victims of the 1940s and the 1950s, by their village. For example, in the third volume were the villages from the region Bricheny.79 The name of each victim is followed by the year of birth, the form of repression and the year of rehabilitation, if any. We can take as example the Ukrainian village, Khalakhora de Zhos, from the Edinets region. There were 39 victims from 1941 to 1951. Five persons were deported in June 1941 to the Omsk region. 14 persons were deported in 1949 to the Kurgan region, for different reasons 78

FLUX, 2nd of July 1999, № 27, p. 5. Cartea memoriei: Catalog al victimelor totalitarismului comunist/ Elena Postică, Chişinău, Ştiinţa, 2003, IIIrd volume, 424 p. 79

– political or religious. And the last 20 were deported to the Tomsk region in 1951, because they were witnesses of Yehova.80 If to compare with this case, we can appeal to the dates from a mixed Moldovan-Ukrainian village – Markautsy. There, 29 persons were deported in 1949 to the Kurgan region, mainly under the label of “Kulaks”. One person (the year of birth 1876) was condemned in the same year to 5 years of correctional jail, because of not completing the plan of agricultural products to be delivered to the state. And the last, Kulak, was condemned in 1950 to 10 years of jail.81 From one Moldovan village – Bulboaka, in 1949 were deported 11 persons as Kulaks or traitors, to the same region of Kurgan. We observe that there is no important difference. The Stalinist system identified the enemies among the Kulaks or among the religious communities. For some years the subject of the deportations disappeared from the public agenda. Politics determined the revival of the topic which still has not come to an end from the scientific point of view. Many articles about the deportations appeared in the Moldovan press in 2010-2011. The new aspect which seemed sharp was that the politicians who represented the new power pretended that they are the first who spoke about the deportations after 69 years (counting from the first wave of deportations in June 1941). The main article from “Timpul” on the 14th of June 2010, was entitled – “The democratic government condemns the deportations”. “There had to pass 69 years, for us to begin to speak openly and seriously about what happened with our people”, said the Prime Minister at the commemorative meeting.82 Memories of the deported, or articles based on archive materials, were published in “Timpul”, “Jurnal de Chişinău” and one in “Adevărul”: 1. “Pantofiorii” [Little shoes] and “Tatăl meu a fost gardian public” [My father was a public guardian] – “Timpul”, 11th of June 2010, p. 12, 20.

Ibidem, p. 222-223. Ibidem, p. 238. 82 Timpul, 14th of June 2010, p. 2. 81

2. “Frica de a fi deportat” [The fear to be deported] and “Troiţa durerii de la Sărătenii Vechi” [The crucifix of pain from Sărătenii Vechi] in “Jurnal de Chişinău”, 6th of July 2010, p. 8. 3. “Neocomuniştii fac orice ca sa rămânem nedreptăţiţi” [The neocommunists make everything for us to remain wronged] in “Timpul”, 7th of July 2010, p. 5. 4. “Operaţia «Iug»” with information from the Security's files, by Mihai Tashka, in “Timpul”, 9th of July 2010, p. 8, 18. 5. “Calvarul deportărilor” [The ordeal of the deportations] – “Jurnal de Chişinău”, 14th of June 2011, p. 8. 6. “Teroare şi omoruri în noaptea deportărilor” [Terror and murderers during the night of the deportations] – “Jurnal de Chişinău”, 12th of June 2012, p. 6. 7. “Operaţia “Sud”: faţa nevăzută a deportărilor din 6 iulie 1949” [Operation “South”: the invisible face of the deportations] – “Adevărul”, 5th of July 2012, p. 8-9. 8. “Averea deportaţilor basarabeni, furată de activiştii sovietici” [The fortune of the Bessarabia’s deportees, stolen by the Soviet activists] – “Jurnal de Chişinău”, 6th of July 2012, p. 15. 9. “Vlad Filat: “Monumentul deportaţilor trebuie edificat cât mai curând” [The monument of the deported has to be build as soon as possible] – “Timpul”, 6th of July 2012, p. 12. It is important to mention that several times, referring to the deportation from the 11th-13th of June 1941, the journalists published fragments of testimonies about the 6th of July 1949 and its results. Among the last books bound with the deportations are “Operaţiunea “Sud” Chişinău” (2010), written by Gheorghe Cojocaru and “RSS Moldovenească în epoca stalinistă (1940-1953)” (2011), written by Valeriu Pasat. Even if Gh. Cojocaru refers only to Chisinau, he made some important remarks. “The massive collectivization was a direct result of the deportations. In the same time, the developed feeling of the private property and the spirit of the free man, master of his own destiny of the Bessarabian peasant, was strongly shaken. This one was forced to reeducate himself in the spirit of the new labour “in the community”, to bow in the face of the chief of the farm, to renounce to his peasant origin, which had hundred of 40

years, to renounce to the individual responsibility for the labour on the field and, often to his own human dignity”.83 In the case of Chisinau and its villages, which were included in the capital from the administrative point of view, Cojocaru calculated the percentage of different ethnical groups. From the Kulaks “around 64% were Romanians, 28% Russians/Ukrainians, 6,5% Jews and 1,5% Armenians”. The largest category of the deported, were the traders (rom. comercianţi). “From these – around 49% of families were Jews, 27% were Russians/Ukrainians, 21% Romanians, 2% Gagauz/Bulgarians and more than 1% Armenians”.84 Ion Varta published in 2011 a study about the deportation of the teachers from the Moldovan SSR, on the 6th-7th of July 1949.85 On the 6th of July 2010, at the National Museum of Archeology and History from Chisinau, was opened the exhibition “Imprisoned destinies”, which contained several photos, letters of the deported, maps from 1949, copies of documents referring to the deportation (“Timpul”, 6th of July 2010). At the moment, this exhibition has the status of a permanent one. Recently, on the 6th of November 2012, at the same Museum, was presented the exhibition of the historical documents accumulated by V. Pasat, with the title – “13 ani de Stalinism. RSS Moldovenească în anii 1940-1953” (=13 years of Stalinism. The Moldovan SSR in 1940-1953). At the opening ceremony the director of the Museum, S. Sava, declared that in the society at this moment there are three conceptions about what happened (these could be – pro-Soviet, anti-Soviet and neutral? – A/N). The President of the Academy of Sciences from Moldova, underlined that the lack of the idea which could unite the society, could be completed with the reality that the majority of the inhabitants from Moldova had relatives who were repressed or deported.

Operaţiunea Sud. Chişinău/ Gh. Cojocaru, Chişinău, Bons Offices, 2010, p. 244. Ibidem, p. 246. 85 Ion Varta, Deportările cadrelor didactice din R.S.S.M. în zilele de 6-7 iulie 1949// Revista Limba Română, 2011, XXI, № 7-8. 84

In an interview for the newspaper “Панорама”,86 V. Pasat declared – “In a politicized society it is usual to represent this period in dark, or in light colours. I am far from such an approach. Who desires, can find at this exhibition documents which confess about the greatness of the traversed way, about important achievements. And they will be right. But we can pay attention also to the documents of opposite character – about the terror, about the deportations, about the repression of those who thought otherwise. And they will also be right. Our history has different colours, and we have to reflect it in such way, as it was in reality, with all the contradictions and expenses”. In fact, it is the difference of the official/positivist history and what the simple people felt. The official documents and the historiography, mainly don’t operate with emotions and perceptions. 29 men deported from Markautsy in archives are a statistical number. In reality this was a tragedy for 29 men, for their relatives, for their values, for their lives. And it would be important to organize in the future an exhibition on how this deportation was seen from inside, from the perspective of the inhabitants of the rural area. We can underline that in this case, the historiography from Chisinau was very precise in editing the Catalogue of the victims by their village. On the other hand, the authors (mainly journalists) from the Chernivtsy region, were more active in writing the histories of the villages. These are important, because they contain several times the rememberings (it’s true that in a short form) of those who were taken to the Onega camp, to Donbass or to Siberia. In this second case, it is important to mention that the Romanians from Bukovina were more active than the Ukrainians. But here, complementary could be made the remark that this activeness is belonging dominantly to the former Northern Bukovina, while the local intellectuals from the former Northern Bessarabia are passive. And here it is a similarity with the atmosphere from the Northern Moldova, where didn’t appear monographs of the villages with the testimonies of the deported. 86

Панорама, 7th of November 2012, № 126, p. 6.

Chapter III. The image of the post-war realities in the press and the archives concerning the 1944-1949 III.1 In the Chernivtsy region The Press One of the aims of our research, was an effort to reconstruct the context, in which the forced resettlements took place in the end of the 1940s. What was the political and the social background for those repressions to take place? Also we have made an effort to understand whether there had been any context or any reason which could serve as a justification or as a whitewashing of those actions. Was it an exclusive political decision, which had been motivated by the political sphere and had only pragmatic intentions? Were these intentions justified only afterwards, in a form of ideological setting for the tranquillization of the society and for the prevention of negative reactions from the rest of the population? With this question in view, we made a research in the local press once more, this time in the post-war press. We also studied the Soviet newspapers published in Bukovina, in the period immediately after the region was annexed by the Ukrainian SSR, i. e. in 1940-41. We were interested in that period, because these two time stretches are very similar. One could even say that it is one and the same period interrupted by war, and one could call it the period of establishment of the Soviet power. Both periods are characterized by the attempts to breach with the older, “bourgeois” traditions and customs, by a restructuring of the society. In both cases, the social and the political transformations were followed by repressions against certain strata. We attempted to analyze the newspaper “Radyanska Bukovyna” (= the Soviet Bukovina), which was published by the Chernivtsy’s regional Committee and by the city’s Committee of the C(b)P of the Ukrainian SSR, from 1940. In the beginning of the 1940s, the newspaper usually praised the Soviet regime, propagandized its strengths and told about its victories and 43

achievements. The former traditions were criticized, the former regime was stigmatized, in this case the Romanian one. A lot of attention was paid to the questions of cultural development, and, first and foremost, of the development of the Ukrainian national culture inside the united Soviet Ukrainian Republic. The education questions were addressed as well, and was stressed the possibility of the free education in the Ukrainian language.87 The problematic of the collective economy and the social problems was not so thoroughly covered. Although the Kolkhozes were mentioned with propaganda purposes,88 they did not become the central topic in the periodical press. The problem of the Kulaks and of their liquidation didn’t become dominant, too. The topic gained importance in the post-war period. At that time, the articles about the collectivization started to appear in the newspapers. Every new Kolkhoz, from the different areas of the region was mentioned.89 On the front page start to appear the topics of the socialistic competition, of the contests for the greatest results in agriculture and industry.90 It is characteristic that in the periodicals of that time, there is plenty of pictures and impressive photos, which try to describe the transformed life of the Soviet Bukovina population, and to show the strengths of the collectivized economy. A lot of attention is paid to constructing the image of the Soviet labourer: the peredovik, the kolkhoznik, or the worker. Pictures are widely used for propaganda and agitation, which are present in every issue of the newspaper (see attachment № 5). The problem of the Kulaks is present only as a negative factor, that impedes the development of the collective sector and that serves as an 87

Radyanska Bukovyna, 19th of July 1940 - Gotuvatis' do novogo navchal'nogo roku; Radyanska Bukovyna, 28th of July 1940 - Mіsyats' vіl'nogo zhittya. 88 Radyanska Bukovyna, 10th August 1940 - Ol. Sokol, Aktiv sіls'koі rady. 89 Radyanska Bukovyna, 11th of February 1945 - V. Podolets', Pershiy kolgosp na Bukovinі “Bіl'shovik”; Radyanska Bukovyna, 5th of July 1945 - Trudoviy den' bukovins'kogo sela; Radyanska Bukovyna, 14th of March 1945, p. 3 - Shlyakh do zamozhnogo zhittya. 90 Radyanska Bukovyna, 8th of September, 1945, p. 3 - І. Ustіnov, V borot'bі za pershіst'. 44

obstacle for the restoration of the region after the war. On the other hand, the existance of the Ukrainian nationalists and their armed groups became an issue. UPA and OUN were widely condemned, and called “fascist henchmen” and “Romanian helpers”. Firstly and foremost, the articles discredit their activity during the war and the occupation. They described the acts of terror and gave examples of the collaboration between the Germans and the Romanians,91 creating a menacing and criminal image of the latter. We couldn't find any examples of the nationalists' activity in the post-war years (most likely, such information was classified), but the problematic of the “banderovshchina” (in rus. banderism) on the pages of newspapers, implies the permanent threat of these forces in the region, in the examined period. It was that threat, that caused the ideological struggle with these groups, through propaganda in newspapers.

The Archive The study of the documents from the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region (SACR) helped us in understanding the context, in which the events in question happened. In this archive, there are materials on the socioeconomic situation of the region, various documentation on office work, in different Soviet administrative bodies from the 1940s. It is interesting, how the official position on collectivization and on social transformation of the socialist type, is characterized in the stenogram of the intelligentsia meeting of the Chernivtsy region, on the 17th of January 1945. It was a politicized meeting, and there the Ukrainian nationalists and the Kulaks, were discussed of as one and the same: “the Ukrainian-German nationalists are an offspring of the Kulaks. They are the people, to whom the Kolkhoz will not bring joy, whom the Kolkhoz will force to toil”.92 Statements of that kind were repeated by other participants. One of the 91

Radyanska Bukovyna, 22nd of August 1944 - O. Gutorovich, Khto vbivtsі?; Radyanska Bukovyna, 13th of March 1945 - Zabuyalo zhittya v Sergiyakh. 92 The State Archive of the Chernivtsy region [SACR], Fund Р-4, Inventory 9 VIII 73, p. 91. 45

participants, describing the “nationalists”, said: “they are the remnants of the exploiting classes… they are the former landlords and their henchmen…, they are the Kulak scum, who with dogged stubbornness cling to their former “right” to exploit the masses”.93 Immediately he cites examples that prove, on the one hand, the connection between the output shortages and the social differentiation in the villages, and on the other, of the presence of rich families in the villages, whose members join the armed OUN and UPA groups. Consequently, such families conducted the sabotage in the villages; agitated against the Kolkhozes etc.94 Assuming that the nationalists and the Kulaks were the same, this legitimized the repressions against both groups as a uniform hostile unit. This thesis about the “equivalence”, had possibly become the ideological base of the Party, against the part of the population that could be characterized as the Kurkuls or the families of banderists. A similar relation established itself in the public sphere, in the form of propaganda and agitation, which we can observe in the periodicals. It should be noticed, that on this meeting were mentioned only non-violent forms of struggle against the nationalist ideology and the conservative views of the Kulaks. To mention a few of them: propaganda and educative activity, aimed at developing the political and cultural Soviet-type self-consciousness of the population, as well as, strengthening the positions of the rural chiefs and the orientation towards the peasants of average means, and especially, towards the poor.95 However, it should not be forgotten, that at the time of the meeting, the war still hadn't ended, and the territories of Bukovina and the Western Ukraine were only recently liberated from the German presence. That’s why there was no possibility for any radical means of struggle against the civilian population, in the rear of the advancing Soviet Army. On the contrary, one had to find peaceful means of influence and encouragement in the region, where the relationship towards the Soviet power has always been contradictory – and this was also mentioned by the 93

SACR, F. Р-4, Inv. 9 VIII 73, p. 46. SACR, F. Р-4, Inv. 9 VIII 73, p. 111. Stenograma Oblasnoі naradi іntelіgentsіі Chernіvets'koі oblastі shcho vіdbulasya 17 і 18 sіchnya 1945 roku. 95 SACR, F. Р-4, Inv. 9 VIII 73, p. 111, 124-125. 94

Soviet intelligentsia at the meeting. But the ideological foundation was laid and a line was drawn between a certain hostile group of inhabitants “with a low consciousness” (from the Bolshevik point of view - A/N), and the rest of the population. The situation changed after the victory and the strengthening of the Soviet power in the region, when the collectivization and the struggle with the armed anti-Soviet groups could be continued radically and uncompromisingly. In our case, the analysis of the archival data showed an important aspect of the post-war life. Thus, in the first post-war years in the studied region, one could observe constant migrations of great masses of people, caused mostly, but not solely, by the consequences of the war: the return of the population which migrated or was evacuated during the war. There was also a constant movement of large groups of people, military and civilians, caused by the cease of the military activity and the related changes in the economy, and in the society. In the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region there are, e. g. the following materials of the Repatriation Department of the Chernivtsy’s regional executive Committee: “The lists of the repatriated Soviet citizens, returned after the repatriation”96 from 1948, “The registered citizens repatriated from France in 1946-1949”,97 “The statistics on former repatriates and migrants, their settlement, the economic involvement and the material aid in 1947-1948”98 (such documents are present from the year 1945, but as an example we mentioned only those from 1948). In this collection of documents we can see, for example, the estimated number of the migrants who arrived: by the 1st of March 1948, it stood at 53.697,99 and by November 1948 – 56.096.100 Thus, in that period about 2.500 migrants arrived, and during the whole post-war period the amount rose to tens of thousand. It follows, that the migrations were an ordinary phenomenon, and the newly arrived people occupied the places of individuals or of whole 96

SACR, F. Р-2428, Inv. 1, Folder 34. SACR, F. Р-2428, Inv. 1, F. 13. 98 SACR, F. Р-2428, Inv. 1, F. 29. 99 SACR, F. Р-2428, Inv. 1, F. 29, p. 46. 100 SACR, F. Р-2428, Inv. 1, F. 29, p. 297. 97

families, who disappeared during the war (the fact was mentioned in the same documents): killed, lost in action, or simply fled. Later, we shall see that the places of the deported citizens were also taken by the newly arrived, and the latter moved into the houses of the former. Another type of migration, characteristic for that period, was the socalled labour migration or resettlement. The disproportions between the economies of different regions, the losses of manpower during the war, the development of thinly settled regions, caused the mobilization of population from some regions, to the others that needed workforce. Such an example, was the mobilization of the young people from the local inhabitants that were forced to work in the coal-mining enterprises of Donbass. In the local newspapers there were propaganda articles on the topic that praised the successes and the labour achievements of the fellow countrymen, who went to work in the industries of Ural, Donbass101 etc. The official data and the archival sources102 that illustrated the organization and that provided press coverage of the labour mobilization, described the whole process as voluntary and stated that the participants were unemployed youth. But the witnesses and the participants themselves, testify that the mobilization was often compulsory – obviously, in the absence of initiative, the volunteers were simply appointed. So, the respondents described the event as being “taken” or “sent” to Donbass, and because of that those who met the requirements and could be sent, tried to avoid the mobilization by all possible means (see the testimonies from the IVth chapter). Judging from the material we have studied, we could say, that at the moment when the deportations were conducted there was a certain psychological background, when the different forms of migration and resettlement became a usual occurrence, and the deportations and the 101

Radyanska Bukovina, 1st of June 1945 - V. Gregorenko, Protsujemo postakhanovs'komu; Radyanska Bukovina, 1st of June 1945 - Pro Ural. 102 SACR, F. Р-105, Inv. 1, F. 11 - Spiski krest'yan chlenov-supryazhnikov i mobilizovannykh na trudovye raboty. 1944 g.; Spiski zhitelei s. Grushevka prinimavshikh uchastie na polevykh rabotakh, lesozagotovkakh i mobilizovannykh na rabotu v Donbass; Delo po mobilizatsii naseleniya na rabotu za 1944 g. 48

repatriations, were deemed to be a measure necessitated by the result of the war, and an unavoidable outcome of that war. It should be kept in mind, that the movement of different groups of population was often conducted by force and was militarized, that is, they were conducted with the presence and participation of soldiers or special forces. And even if the actions did not take the form of military operations conducted by the government, a certain degree of compulsion was still present.

III.2 In the Northern Moldovan SSR The Press The situation in the region of the Northern Moldova, after the war was complicated - poverty, diseases, many families lost their members. In that context, the Party hadn't promoted immediately the idea of collectivization, but the idea of the enemy was introduced in the press. In October 1946, the Republican newspaper from Chisinau, “Moлдова Сочиалистэ”,103 wrote on the first page – “In the Lipkany region the fight for bread is absent”. The newspaper informed the readers that in the region of Lipkany, only 38% of the state plan was completed. Were criticized the Kulaks from the villages of Pererytoye, Gramadzyan, Bogdaneshty. “It is enough to say that in the entire region of Lipkany, only three Kulaks were sent to be judged for the sabotage of non-delivering the bread to the state”. In this sense, the region of Lipkany was on the last place in the county of Beltsy. The CC of the C(b)P of the MSSR warned the chiefs and the public prosecutor of the region. The recommendation was – “to organize a real fight for bread, mobilizing all the region's and village's activists, in the fight against the trials of the hostile Kulak elements, that sabotaged the deliveries of bread to the state”.

103

Молдова Сочиалистэ, October 1946, № 213, p. 1 – Ын районул Липкань липсеште лупта пентру пыне. 49

After the forced deliveries, the peasants from all over the MSSR remained without grains. The results were the tragic famine, which began soon after that. Some hundred thousand of people died of malnutrition. The next signs of the offensive on the so-called Kulaks, appeared in the public space clearly only in 1948. For example, in the local newspaper from Bricheny – “Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй”, on the 18th of August 1948, appeared such a motto – “We announce the decisive fight with the Kulaks saboteurs, who trouble the completion of the bread delivery plan”.104 This was a sentence from the editorial, which usually was written by somebody from the regional Committee of the C(b)P from Bricheny. The most criticized village Soviets, were those from Markautsy, Bricheny, Trestieny and Karakusheniy-Veky. The chiefs of these village Soviets didn't make conclusions from the Bolshevik teachings, after the mistakes made in the Kotovsk region, didn't tell the peasants the necessities of the village, they did not fight against the saboteurs who trouble the completion of the bread plan, as a result, these village Soviets did not complete the bread delivery schedule (title – “Will complete the bread delivery plan on the 20th of August”). The green light for the fight against the Kulaks was given on the 14th of November 1948, in the newspaper “Советская Молдавия”.105 In his discourse at the XVIIth plenum of the CС of the C(b)P from Moldova, the Secretary N. G. Koval said: The Party’s village organizations are not only few numerous, but also weak from the organizational point of view. They realize very insufficiently their tasks in the village, in the sense of the consolidation and the political education of the Kolkhoz workers, of the pauper men and the middle men. They hadn’t led the fight of the middle-pauper masses against the Kulaknationalist elements. Often, they don’t have the initiative in the cause of creating the Kolkhozes. 104

Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй [=The victory of the Socialism], 18th of August 1948, № 12, p. 1. 105 Советская Молдавия, 14th of November 1948, № 227, p. 3. 50

After the deportation from the night of 5-6 of July 1949, the local newspaper “Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй”, wrote as if it nothing happened. In the number from the 10th of July, on the first page the titles of the articles were – “The tasks of the village's agitators in the harvest campaign”, “Bread - for the state”, “Ending the repair of the school”, “Our obligations in the honour of the holiday”, “The overcompletion of the work norms”.106 Also on the first page was announced that in the village Karakushenii-Veky appeared a new Kolkhoz, on the 8th of July. This one was created by 76 householders. This information is important, because it shows us that one of the immediate results of the deportations, was the fact that other peasants decided to enter too or to create a Kolkhoz, even if they didn't want that till that moment. We remark that in August 1948, Karakusheniy-Veky was mentioned as one of the four villages, which had the worst results in completing the state's plan of bread. On the 4th August 1949, in the same newspaper the motto, were the words of Stalin that “the first order is to complete the bread delivery plan”. In the main article are compared the results of two Kolkhozes. Those from Khalakhora de Sus were presented as a successful one, and those from Khalakhora de Zhos – “the harvesting works were bad organized”.107 From 130 men, only 110-116 worked, and from 176 hectare, only 74 were harvested. There was no accusation of sabotage (as one year before) and no mentioning of the Kulaks. In fact, the “enemy” disappeared and the only problems could be of administrative order. In this situation, the only way was – “the administration of the Kolkhoz must be more serious concerning the objectives showed in the decision of the government and of the Party “About the achievement of gathering the harvest and the preparing of the agricultural products in the year 1949”. That's why, the comrade Gavrilyuk

106

Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй, 10th of July 1949, № 55, p. 1. Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй, 4th of August 1949, № 63, p. 1 – Доуэ колхозурь – доуэ резултате. 107

has to take quick measures for the improvement of the works of harvesting, of thresh and of bread delivery to the state”. The Archive To reconstruct an image of that time, we consulted the Fund nr. 146, from the Archive of Social-Political Organizations of the Republic of Moldova (from Chisinau). This Fund contains the documents concerning the Regional Committee of the C(b)P of Moldova from Lipkany, after 1944. On the 5th of July 1944, at the Party's closed assembly from Lipkany, was said – “the difficulties in our activity at this moment, consist in the fact that we do not possess the Moldovan language and it is by far not sufficient, so it must be organized the question of the selection and education of the personnel”.108 In the decision of the assembly was written – “it is necessary to manifest large help for the bondsmen and for the poor farms in protecting the horses, the cows and other cattle, and also to give land to the peasants without land or with small terrains, from the account of the landowners and of the Kulaks’ farms”.109 The social enemy was identified at the closed assembly, but it still wasn't declared as enemy. One explanation could be that it was wartime and the Party needed silence at the local level. The first serious discussions about the troubles and the mistakes (from the Stalinist point of view), appeared on the 12th of April 1945. Beley, the chief of the Communication's regional office said – “the peasants saw the special representative of the regional Committee – as the collector of bread, and as the agitator. When you came to the village, the first question of the peasants was – “With which problem You came, not for bread”? If You responded that you came with report, all of them gathered in with pleasure to listen”.110 The senior lieutenant, Lukashchenko, said that they “should know the peculiarities of the ideology of the inhabitants... If we will not solve

108

The Archive of the Social-Political Organizations from the Republic of Moldova [ASPORM], Fund 146, Folder 6, p. 2v. 109 ASPORM, Fund 146, F. 6, p. 4. 110 ASPORM, Fund 146, F. 14, p. 10. See the attachment № 3. 52

correctly the agricultural problem, we will not find the common language with the peasants”.111 Till the end of the year 1945, in the attitude and discourses of the Party's local activists, appeared the revolutionary watchfullness. On the 27th of November 1945, Rotar, the chief of the local office of NKVD, mentioned – “sometimes we do not verify their social past. In our practical activity it is necessary to lean upon the poorest part of the peasantry and to help them in the work. There were cases when the class enemy, with all the forces, insisted to obtain the post in the village's Councils, to harm our Soviet state in some activity we unfold”. Sidorov appreciated that “we have to high our revolutionary vigilance, and to clean the village's Councils from the hostile elements”. Among the mistakes of the staff were – “the origin of the villages' Secretaries of Komsomol, of not being from poor families, but from the Kulaks”. Kryukov identified as the enemy's elements, the former gendarmes and the former members of the LNCD Party.112 At the next closed assembly, on the 12th of December, Rotar mentioned the class struggle – “we have a series of facts, when the inimical elements appeal to the class struggle... There are cases when among the agitators do not get our men, those that were not verified by us. In one village was a case, when an agitator became an inimical man, who in the past served the Romanians and the Germans”.113 We would not enter here in more details, till the year of 1949. The preliminary conclusion which can be made on the press and on the archive materials, is that in the last part of the 1945, the Soviet structures perceived the rich peasants as enemies. This perception was only for internal use. Later, in 1947-1948, in the press appear clear accusations towards the Kulaks-saboteurs. The green light of fight with them is given by the Secretary of the CC - N. Koval. The rich peasants were seen directly as enemies in the last part of 1948. The discourse against the Kulaks 111

ASPORM, Fund 146, F. 14, p. 10. ASPORM, Fund 146, F. 15, p. 3-3v. LNCD = LANC in Romanian. 113 ASPORM, Fund 146, F. 15, p. 14. 112

disappeared after the deportation from the 6th of July 1949. Now all the problems in the agricultural sphere were explained by technical and organizational mistakes.

Chapter IV. The oral testimonies about the forced labour and the deportations

When we wrote the method paper of the project, we thought about a questionnaire. In our vision, it had to contain the following questions: a) How did You remember the end of the war? What was the atmosphere in that period, what hopes and fears did You have? b) When had the collectivization in Your village began? How did You report to that? c) What was important for You in that period? The family? The faith? etc. d) What did You remember from the period immediately before the deportation? e) How this happened? f) What did You take with You in this forced travel? Were there people from your family or neighbours also? g) What was the place to which You were deported? In what conditions did You live there? Which was the attitude of the authorities towards You? h) What did You remember from Siberia? i) When did You return home from Siberia? j) How did You perceive Your village when You returned? What was different for You? In the Vth chapter, we will stop on how we succeeded with these questions, which new questions appeared and which were the mainlines of the narrations.

IV.1 The Chernivtsy region From the testimonies of the people with whom we spoke, there can be noted three main phenomena which were traumatic for the inhabitants. 55

These are - the forced sending to the labour camp from Onega (in August 1944), the labour in the Donbass region and the deportations from the postwar years (1946, 1949). In April 2012 and in August 2012, we visited the villages – Boyan, Dranitsya, Horbova, Toporivtsy, Hertsa, Luzhany, Gáy (Arboreny), Malineshty and Dinautsy. We divided our interviews in two parts – those from the former Northern Bukovina, including the Ukrainian and the Romanian villages, and those from the former Northern Bessarabia (the Khotyn county), including three Moldovan villages. It is important to note that, we didn’t know that in the language and the perception of the villagers, the Romanian words “ridicat” (=raised, we translated as arrested) and “deportat” (deported) didn’t refer exactly to the same phenomena. This created confusions among our interlocutors sometimes and also for us, in some cases. “Ridicat” refers sometimes only to those taken to the forced labour. In other cases, it is synonym with “deportat”. Their traumatic memory begins with the deportations from June 1941, in the case of the former Romanian Bukovinian villages and has a crucial point at the Onega camp. The moment of Onega isn’t present in the memory of the Moldovan villages from the former Northern Bessarabia.

IV.1.1 The former Northern Bukovina IV.1.1.a The Ukrainian villages The village of Luzhany-Mamaevtsy th

On the 6 of August we went from Chernivtsy to Luzhany. This is a large village which includes besides Luzhany itself, some little villages. The microbus stopped not far from the memorial of the victims of the World War II (or of the Great Patriotic War). When we came closer, we saw that there were two separate monuments. One is dedicated to the soldiers of the Red Army, who died in the fights for the village in 1944, and the second one is 56

dedicated to the rebels of UPA, who died defending the independence of Ukraine, including the fights with the same soldiers of the Red Army. On the way to the village’s Council, we saw a big and beautiful church, which was in restoration. Not far was also the old Church of the Ascension – one of the oldest from the region, built in the XVth century. We spoke with the priest of this Church, but he is not from the village and he had few time, as he was nominated as priest for Luzhany. That’s why, he couldn’t tell us sufficient information about the history of the village and its inhabitants. As we remarked, the village is a large and developing one, and it looks like a little town. That’s why, it was hard to find the old people from this locality. We decided to ask at the village’s Council, about the old men and about possible repressed people. The worker from the Council helped us to find the house of Ivan Hrushka, one of the old-timers of the village. He told us his remembering, which was very painful for him. He also has shown us information from his personal archive – clippings from newspapers, on the topic of repressions, photos of the Luzhany inhabitants, from the interwar period. He also gave us to copy his article about the tragedy of one of Luzhany’s family, which was persecuted and deported. He gave us a gift, the book of his comrade, Teodor Antemiychuk – victim of the repressions from the 1940s. We included pieces from this work in attachment № 1.

Ivan Hrushka (85 years old). 6th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Ukrainian language. „We were afraid, the arrests started, and it wasn’t important if You were guilty or not”. - What happened when the Soviet power came? - The “liberators”, the Russian Soviet power appeared in 1940. We were afraid, the arrests started, and it wasn’t important if You were guilty or not. - What repressions were held in your lands? Who were the victims? 57

- In 1940 the arrests started from the first days. - Whom? - The chief of the village, the rich men. Our captain – Mandryk [was arrested]. He was of ours from Luzhany and his fate was unknown later. The mayor of the village was Dzinyniy Ilchuk. Later, others were taken. But not all the people were deported, because the war began and the Soviets fled. They retreated and the Germans chased the Russians away to Moscow, but the Germans were defeated and retreated to Berlin. There were people taken to the frontline and later were no news about their fate. Such as was the father of Dzys Bahrij. Up to now he didn’t find his father. We respect the day of victory [9th of May – A/N], but he said it is the day of mourning for him. The guy remained without father, but I believe that he survived, because many people fled the Soviet Union and didn’t confirm their origins, while the Soviets searched for them in the foreign countries. - Why was KGB looking for the inhabitants of the Luzhany village? - They searched properly. There existed of ours who denounced. When the Russians came, somebody went to my father-in-law and set fire to the stable. These were bad men from our village. - What was the destiny of your family? - My father was soldier during the First World War. He wasn’t injured and returned from Italy. He built railroads and became richer, because at the railroads was paid a good salary. We had a horse, dray and other instruments. In 1940, the Romanians started the evacuations of the population to Romania. One wagon was provided for two families. I was already thirteen. Father ordered to get ready for departure. Father told me to gather the instruments. It was afternoon already, but I still played. And father shouted and I said at that moment – “Father! You were never linked with politics. So we don’t depart then”. And so, the landowners, that were ready to depart, remained here. Those who were rich were deported. Many of them were taken to our village Luzhany. At the rail station in Luzhany, people were loaded in closed wagons and no one knew where they were deported. In 1944, the Communist power enforced. There was “troyka” [three judges – A/N] that accused the humans of all the sins. If somebody was taken to the court, it was prohibited for him to return. Behind you were 58

the witnesses, who testified against you. The condemned people recognized by voice, those who were witnesses and knew that the witnesses lied. - Who were those witnesses in such cases? - My sister-in-law studied in the college and had many books. She was arrested for having books. There three witnesses testified against her. Nine months she was under investigation. The judge said it was no base for accusation. My sister, Kormish Hanna, lived at my father. She was taken for ten years to labour camps. Then, five years she couldn’t return home, because it was forbidden. - What was the accusation? - It was an article from the criminal code. They accused her of politics and that’s all. For politics You received 10 years and the discussion was ended. After the penalty, she returned home. In jail she learned how to be a dressmaker and she made their military clothes. Later, there she studied as mechanic for sewing machines. When she came home there were no free working places. The Jews were mechanics here. But then, the Jews began emigrating to Israel and she became mechanic - she repaired the sewing machines. And it was easier for her. She was taken in 1941. In 1947 Fayna was taken. The power became strong and it had its counselors here. To the structures were called the poorest men, who hated the Kulaks, even if the Kulaks sustained them. - How did the collectivization unfold? - They imposed. And they took the bread from the people. Everybody had to give bread, meat, they took everything that people had. And the people had no other choice, than to go to the Kolkhoz and to work for nothing. Who didn’t desire – that was considered a Kulak. They manufactured the case and that’s all. What could he do? During the night the «black raven» [ukr. чорний ворон114] was travelling. And in the morning, you learned that those and those were taken. They didn’t take in mass, because they took in mass from other villages. They took everything, 114

NKVD automobile. 59

destroyed the houses and the auxiliary constructions, and forcibly resettled to Donbass and to Khersones. Those men lived there. During the Soviet Union, when I once came back from the seaside through those villages, I saw crosses of our type, I saw houses of our type. People told me – here nobody would tell You anything. What You took from the Kolkhoz, nobody would ask You if you brought this or if you brought it with bags. Nobody [would ask you]. The people were solitary and they didn’t see each other. - Did somebody return after this forced movement? - Usually they didn’t come back from Siberia. One guy was taken to Donbass. He had no work. The chief of the village’s Council sent him to Donbass, he got married there and died there. He lived not far from me, was my neighbour. - What happened during the years of war? - The Moskals had partisans and against them fought the banderists of UPA. UPA began to go against the Moskals. We didn’t have UPA in the village, but they hid themselves here, because here was silence. By night they [the banderists – A/N] went through villages and took the collaborators and liquidated them. But their number diminished. In ’46, I worked at the railroad junction. Being young guys, we went in the evening to dances and arrived home at 2 o’clock. Mother said – “where have you disappeared”? The telephone rang up and we were called to the station. I went with my colleague from work. The train was waiting. There were three armed men with red epaulettes. We took the instruments and went, because in Snyatin was no connection. We sat down in Vorchintsy and from there we went further and arrived to the bridge. And there was silence, because on the bridge was the connection from Snyatin. One guard was looking around. Everything was silent. We went passing Zavalyn, and there the wires were suspended like a guitar’s strings. The train stopped. We united the wires. And the train went to Snyatin, and after that, to Kolomiya. And there we also stopped. We knew that the banderists had done that, but they could also kill us. After that, we went to Snyatin. And then, we went home. The chief of the station lived at the station. Somebody wrote on his door – «Тібє остайотса жить троє суток» [= You have three days to live]. The chief then was – 60

Cherchenko – marine commander. In that time, UPA passed through Snyatin to the Carpathians. They gathered at the station and departed. Long time after that, KGB-ists met, looked for, searched. Later, the chief of the station was taken to the station from Larga, 100 km away from here. And he worked there. But when it was a train from Moscow or Kyiv, he went out and escorted the train. And one woman recognized him. She went to the “Raykom” [= the Raion Committee] of the Party and from “Raykom”, that chief of the station was called for the Party’s ticket, and after that he was taken and nobody saw him. - What’s Your attitude towards the Soviet power? - We felt from the beginning that people were arrested and that deportations took place. Father worked at the station, but my mother and I spent the nights in rubbish, at the end of the road and slept there. How could I have a good attitude towards the Soviet power, if so many people were arrested? In 1944, I worked in Chernivtsy and I was very vigilant. I felt that I was among enemies. I signed statements about “not divulgating the state secrets”, because I could hear something, which and where the trains drove. We had a telegraph and there arrived telegrams about trains. So I had the possibility to read them. - Thank You. Hrushka also wrote an article in the press, in which he referred to the oppressions of NKVD.115 He gave us this article and we present the aspects to which he hadn’t referred during the interview. In 1940, the “long-awaited liberators” arrived to Bukovina. During the first night, after they had come, the mayor of our village, Dioniziy Juriychuk and a former captain of the Polish army, Mykolay Mandryk, were arrested. They were very respectable householders. That is why, such people were considered to be precarious. The new power abhorred them. The wealthy families spent the nights not in their own houses, but at the end of their gardens, where they slept keeping the vigilance. The honest people tried to help them, because these householders supported them in hard 115

Родина, з якою розправився НКВД. 61

times. But the scoundrels appeared one Sunday and set fire to the stable of Illya Todoschuk. He was the vice-mayor of the village before the new power came. The entire house burned, but the cattle survived. Five brothers gathered and went with carts to seek wood. Illya said - “Let’s go to Drachyntsy, to the crony Tekeli, who is grateful, humane and with a big heart”. Ivan Semenovych Tekeli didn’t expect such a meeting, but when he heard about the catastrophe, he geared up the horses and we went together to the forest. We found the forester and told him about our intentions. The forester answered - “It’s my forest. Do what you have to do”. The brothers worked very well, they loaded the wood in the carts and after that left. They stopped near the household of Tekeli, because they considered they had to pay for the help. But Tekeli vehemently refused the money and told us -“God help You. The forest is big and will grow. If you need anything, come and ask for this”. After the war, the “brothers-liberators” [the Soviet Russians – A/N] extended their “dark deeds”. The mass repressions and the arrests had started. The servants of the new overlords prepared the lists of the wealthy peasants and of the so-called “Kulaks”. Ivan Tekeli also got on this list. In 1945, Tekeli was arrested and deported to the Komi Autonomous SSR and sentenced to seven years of hard labour. Next year, his wife Eugenia also was deported to the Hubacha settlement, in the Perm region. In 1950, in the grasps of the NKVD appeared their son Mychaylo, his wife Frozyna and two sons, who were deported to far and rage lands. The rest of the children – Ivan, Mykolay and Vasyl, had time to escape from the house and in such way they escaped from hard labour camps. These guys were too young in that time. They stayed alone as orphans without parents. The good men supported the young boys: they hid them and supplied with food. However, they knew what could happen to them, if the power found out about that. The Communist agents hunted them with the aid of the local servants, but without any success. But Vasyl was caught by “striboks” and delivered to the village Council. At that time, Ivan Avram and the wife of one of the “striboks” were on duty. The guy was afraid he would be revealed, looking at the woman who knew him. It was a wonder, that both were sorry for the 62

boy. Perhaps the conscience awaked and the woman said - “Who are You? It is not the guy we are looking for. He is not Tekeli”! Ivan Avram gave him a sign to run and the guy ran with fear, through ravines, through hills and he stumbled on the corn field. Being unconscious, he slept the whole night in the open air. At 16 years old, Vasyl went to work to Chernivtsy in the building sphere. Afterwards, he took a part of the field and built a house on it. At this time, his grandfather, Ivan Tekeli, ended his seven years of hard work, but it was forbidden to return home. Then he went to his wife to the Hubacha settlement. There also arrived their son, Mychaylo, with all his family, being amnestied with his two children, who were born in the deportation camp. Mychaylo called his eldest son Ivan, from Drachyntsy. Later, to them came the younger son, Mykolay. The years were running out. The time of the duty to become a soldier approached for Vasyl. Vasyl requested the authorities to release the family. But it was useless. The family of Tekeli returned to the native Bukovina only in 1960. But Ivan didn’t come back. He died in Ural, where he was buried. The family didn’t remind about the lost property, because it gained no compensation for this.

The village of Toporivtsy We went to Toporivtsy on the 2nd of August. Even if it was a working day, the village was full of life, in the centre were many men. As we found out, in this day the inhabitants were celebrating the holiday of the foundation of the village and this time it was its 600 years anniversary. So we saw the celebration of this event from inside and assisted at a large concert and here sang the local folkloristic collectives. We could hear traditional folk music and saw folk dances. We couldn’t take any interview that day, because the village was embraced by euphoria and it was hard to find somebody home. However we met with the local churchwarden, who showed us the old church from Toporivtsy. It was built in the XVIIth century and passed 63

through several hard moments during its history. Nevertheless, it preserved its initial treasures. Among this, the local churchwarden has shown us the memorial table installed in the chapel, with the names of the inhabitants repressed and deported from the village. He also told us about Petro Afanasiyovich, a man who is interested in the history of the village and who collects memories about the important persons and events in the history of the village. Particularly, Petro Afanasiyovich was the initiator of the memorial table. The next visit we made was two days later. The churchwarden escorted us to the house of Petro Afanasiyovich, who helped us to find the persons to be interviewed. We also took a little interview from him. He has shown us photos from his personal archive. Also in his house we took an interview with Afanasiy Tryfonenko, who was deported being a child, with his family, to Udmurtia and also with Danka Pirogova, the witness of those tragic events from the second part of the 40s. Afanasiy Tryfonenko also has shown us rare photos, made in the special settlement, which permitted us to have a clearer image of the daily life of the deportees (see attachment № 7). After the break, we had one more interesting interview with Mariya Tsibulyak-Bondar, who told us about her experience in the Soviet camps. Petro Afanasiyovich (70 years old). 4th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Ukrainian language. About the post-war years. - Please tell us about the collectivization in Your village. - There existed the Kolkhoz of “Lenin“. At that time, I was young, I was only three years old, when we went for sugar beet. The people harvested the wheat. I remember that there was one stationary machine, where the wheat was thrown and after that threshed. My mother went to help one woman from the neighbours and took some maize. She was taken and condemned to six months of forced work.

In winter there was no work at the Kolkhoz. I also went to work during 6 months, I did it for my mother. I remember that year – ‘47, but in ‘46 my mother died and father brought another woman. We had two cows. - Did You starve? - We didn’t, only those who were very poor were starving. Some went to Galitsia to buy starch. The central road was here and also the troops were dislocated. My father made me a wooden-gun, as for children. And when I saw one column which began to move, I turned the pistol in their direction. They came, took me in their hands and dressed me with their clothes. I think it was a trophy overcoat. They gave me a Tommy gun and made me a photo. They returned from war and they were very glad. - Was there collectivization in Your village? - After the war, began the collectivization. The people entered in the Kolkhoz voluntarily-forced. Those who refused to enter were called individualists [ukr. “особняки” – A/N]. They were very humiliated and forced to enrol. Who had a big farm, they ruined it, and the auxiliaries were taken to the Kolkhoz. The people who had high principles and were well-todo, didn’t desire to enter in the Kolkhoz. There was an entire team of “striboks”. They frequently had meetings at the village’s Council. One evening, the men from UPA surrounded the village’s Council and shot all the “striboks”, and also Mychaylo Hutsulyak the mayor of the village. - Did the insurgent movement continue in Bukovina? - The persecutions of the local population extended till the ‘60s. The fights against UPA were still going in the ‘50s. - What did You remember about the army? - In 1961, one hundred guys from the Vyzhnytsia, Kitsmany and Zastavna districts, were conscripted into the army and sent to the border with China. We were trained for one month and then compelled to hack the wood. We lived in the barracks and worked three years. It was vengeance for our relatives. In my personal folder was written that my father was in Brazil. In those times they asked if somebody had relatives abroad.

Danka Pirogova (86 years old). 4th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Ukrainian language. About the deportations. - What happened here in the 1940s, were there deportations? - In June 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied Bukovina, they began to forcibly resettle the people, especially the village’s intellectuals and the rich men – „Kurkulis“ (ukr.). During the leadership of the Romanians in these territories, it was hard to live, but under the Soviet Union, the status of the local inhabitants worsened considerably. When the Soviet armies came in 1944, they began to torture the local people and to deport them to Siberia. - Which methods they used towards the local people? - They imposed us to cut trees without instruments, we even had no gloves. Our men were taken to Siberia. In the night appeared “the black raven” [ukr. “чорний ворон”], and our neighbours were taken to the village’s Council. And from there, they were taken to Chernivtsy and in result, to Siberia. Nobody knew precisely where they were taken. My father’s brother was taken to Siberia in the same way, because he was a rich villager. If the man had a house with complex roof, he was considered “Kurkul”. Many houses of this type were ruined after their owners were taken. My uncle died in Siberia, because he couldn’t endure the separation from his relatives and those conditions in which he worked in the camp in Siberia. His son and daughter remained in the village and survived the war.

Afanasiy Grigoriyvich Tryfonenko (72 years old). 4th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Ukrainian language. About the deportation – the childhood spent in the special settlement: Izhevsk – Kilmets, from the Udmurtian Autonomous SSR. - I was born on the 24th of March 1940. I had relatives - father Hryhoriy and mother Oleksandra, and a brother. Father was much older 66

than mother, because she was his second wife. His first wife to that time was dead. From the first marriage remained a guy, from 1924. My mother’s marriage with father was in 1939 and I was born in 1940. My elder brother, Konstantyn Tryfonenko, was only with 9 years younger than my mother. My mother was born in 1915. - What happened during the war? Was your family affected? - The war had started in 1941. Afterwards the Romanians appeared. During the war here existed a Romanian regime. After the Russian forces retreated, the Romanians came and remained here until 1944. Some people served in the Romanian army. When in 1944 the Soviet Army appeared, the Germans were retreating and the Soviets conscripted the people to the frontline. They took the men who had an appropriate age. In 1944, my father was taken to Kyiv for work. He was 47 years old at that time (he was born in 1897). He wasn’t taken to the frontline but for work, because Kyiv was completely destroyed and it needed to be renewed. My brother was taken by the Romanians, because they needed guys with drays to bring them to the Romanian unoccupied territories. My brother had returned without drays and without horses, because it was wartime. - Was anyone else affected in your village? Was anyone killed? - We had a neighbour - Mychaylo Hutsulyak, the leader of the battalion of interceptors. He called Kostya to conscript in the battalion, because the one who went in the battalion wasn’t taken to the frontline. There were given machine guns near the village’s Council. And Konstantyn went there. My father was injured by a car at a crossroad in Kyiv, in autumn 1944. He was taken to a military hospital. He was in a coma for six days. Nobody knew about it and we had no news from Kyiv, because for a long time he hadn’t sent anything. My brother patrolled the streets by night. During one night, at the end of October 1944, he didn’t return home. In the morning mother was called to the village Council and was asked - “What is it”? She was asked why her husband and her son disappeared. They considered that father escaped from the work to the native land and didn’t know that he was in the hospital. The 67

son also disappeared and they told my mother - “You must know where your husband and son are. Tell us where they are or we will send you to the place, where the white bears live”. In a couple of months, from Kyiv came the news that father was in the hospital. Now we knew that father was alive, but there were no news about my brother. Just now one man told me, that my brother was in UPA and he was called “Holub” [ukr. – the pigeon]. He died in 1945. At that time he was 20 years old. - What happened with You? Tell us in what way You were deported? - My father returned in the spring of 1945. In July, the militia from Sad-Hora [Sadagura in rom. version] appeared. The leaders of the department were Sisov and Rodin - both Russians. The interception battalions had surrounded our home and made searches, and made the description of our property. They told us to go to the car and delivered us to Chernivtsy. We were settled under the open sky and they held us perhaps for one week, until enough people gathered for the echelon. Entire families were delivered from all the surroundings. It was in 1945. In May, the war ended and we were deported in July, sixty seven years ago. At home we left two cows, pigs, sheep, goats and much wheat. We were loaded in freight wagons. The wagons were with holes, because the war just ended and the wagon seemed to be damaged by bullets. Under the control of the convoy, we were driven to Siberia. Sometimes the train stopped, the people left the wagons and cooked, because inside the wagon it was forbidden to make fire. The train gave the starting signal and the convoy ordered - “To the wagons”! The one who cooked anything and didn’t prepare it in time, had to get on the train and depart. When it rained, we laid the dishes in which the water flowed. We looked through the window - everywhere were tanks and destroyed aircrafts. It was just a few months after the war ended and nothing was cleaned. We were delivered to Ural, the city of Izhevsk – the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Udmurtia. From Izhevsk, we drove 150 km till our destination – the station of Kilmets. The railroad ended there and from Kilmets we drove by car 12 km. We had to cross a river by boats. And so we had reached our final destination – the barracks. There lived the local inhabitants – the Russians, the Tatars, generally seven families. There 68

were four barracks. There were the families of Shyshkin, Maslov and Shmykov. We were settled in a common barrack. Only the curtains divided the barracks from each other, so that the women were able to change their clothes. There were few men. In those barracks once lived other prisoners, who were delivered to other camps, and we arrived instead of them. In winter, the temperature dropped to -40° C. They gave us saws and axes and told us - “You would be here the entire life. You must work and fulfill the norms, to prepare the wood”. The forest was so vast, that no human set foot there before. If a tree was fallen, it remained that way. We had to fulfill the norm – we had to saw. There were the German horses, trophy of war, used to bring logs to the trestle. There was a narrow railroad. Some woman sawed wood, some sawed the branches with axes. There was a man, who sharpened the axes, the so-called saws sharpener. At the beginning there was no technique, everything had to be done manually. Also, there was a man who controlled all the process. The women returned to the barracks sweaty and tired. In the barrack there were two stoves, in different sides of it. Sometimes we received parcels from home. - How did You live in the camp? Tell us about Your feelings! - I wasn’t separated from my mother. I worked with my fellows. The year of 1947 began. We were already for two years in the camp. My father died, because he was too ill. It was a hard psychological shock for me. I was only seven years old. I didn’t play, didn’t want to speak. The body of my father was delivered through the river, to the station. There was the cemetery, where all were buried except the Muslims. They were buried apart. There was no cemetery in the district of the barracks in which we lived. The hunger began. They gave only 400 grams of bread per worker, but for the old people and for the children, they didn’t give food. It was because they were considered people who could not work and therefore, should not receive bread. The bread consisted of oat’s chaff and was sodden. That bread was too little for a normal feeding. It was a card system, there were stamps. The person who went to the shop, took one stamp and went to buy bread on it. The cards were given for the entire month. It was awful if someone lost it or if it was stolen from someone, he could stay 69

hungry for a month. My mother shared the food between us. Though it hardly could be called food â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sodden bread with chaff? We also bought grits. If we received the parcel from home, we economized the grits to make a soup. - Who lived beside You? - On one side there were very poor houses covered with moss. There lived the Udmurts. Nearby those villages were situated fields, to which we went in spring to seek potatoes. The potatoes were rotten, but under the peel of those potatoes was the starch, from which we cooked tasty pancakes. We were young, but we cooked already. Also we ate orache. In summer we ate blueberries, raspberries, currants from ravines. These were our little pleasures. This way we survived, but not all the people saved themselves. Some people died. It was too hard. We wanted very much to eat bread. Mother spent all the time at work, meanwhile I learned. In this barrack where I lived, it was one room, which was a school in someway. There was one teacher for all the beginners â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the first, the second, the third and the fourth classes. The teacher distributed different exercises for us. We lived in this settlement since 1945 till 1951. Afterwards, we were moved to the Kilmets station â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at the end of the railway station, where was situated a seven-year school. There, I graduated the school. Then, when I was fourteen years old, I went to work at the building of the railway. We dumped the sand there where it was necessary. We stayed there till 1956. In 1953 Stalin died. In his place came Georgiy Malenkov. We wrote a petition that we wanted to return home, because we were innocent. We also wrote to Bulganin, who replaced Malenkov. Mother fell ill. I was sixteen. We returned home at the end of February 1956. We were the first settlers from that settlement who returned home. During the next two years after we returned, all the inhabitants who lived in the camp returned home. Excepting the Ukrainians, there were also Germans from Ukraine, who were not war prisoners, but deportees. Nobody remained there. - What happened when you came back home? - When we had the permission to return in Bukovina, we were called at the militia department in Chernivtsy. They told us, that we were under the 70

question – whether to allow us to return to our native lands or not? We were considered as real enemies and we were told that we would live under their surveillance. - What happened with your property? Did You regain anything? - When we returned in our village, our house was confiscated and considered as a property of the school. There lived veterans, teachers. At the beginning, there were few local teachers. Many came from Dnieper. Our house was at the end of the village. There lived a man - Fedir Parashchuk. He allowed us in the house and gave us a room. In one room he kept his own instruments, because he built a new house for himself, near the school. In other room we stayed. When the director of the school found out that Fedir Parashchuk allowed us to return to our home, he started shouting - “What right did you have to accept strangers in the house”? Fedir Parashchuk answered that he had no right to prohibit to any people to return to their own home. Two years later, the director of the school called me and my mother and said that we lived in this house for two years and we had to pay for that. Otherwise, he would sue us for it. At that moment I worked on the railroad. I gave him all the money I had. Later, I was taken to the army, in Moscow, where I spent three years of my life. Afterwards, I became a teacher at the school. In 1991 we were called to the commission for the deported, to receive the money for the goods which were confiscated from us. I received for everything 400.000 “karbovantsy” [ukr. money in use after the dissolution of the USSR]. With all these money I could buy only one cow. - Did You remember some national or ethnic conflicts? - There were no national conflicts. Sometimes, indeed we were called banderists, but we were equal with others, we had the right to vote. This was because we weren’t political inmates, but we were simply resettled men. The Commander lived with us. When somebody wanted to drive to the city, we had to obtain a written permission from him and then we went. We received money as local inhabitants. When we came to the new place, there were mechanization and electric saws. I wasn’t in Bukovina when the collectivization was organized. 71

Maria Tsibulyak-Bondar (86 years old). 4th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Ukrainian language. About the deportation. “The decision was – 10 years deprivation of citizenship, with deportation to distant labour camps”. - Please tell us something about Your childhood, about Your family? - My name is Maria Tsibulyak, but right now my last name is Bondar. I am 86 years old, because I was born in 1926 in Romania. In 1933 I went to school. My family had a medium household. Since I was six, I worked as a shepherd of cattle. Afterwards, one cow was sold to cure my brother, because he could not speak. He had such an illness as diphtheria. His eardrums didn’t function. In 1935 we destroyed the house, to build a new house instead of the old one. Three classes I attended normally at the school, but in the fourth and the fifth years of studying, I attended only a half of days. My teacher was asked, why he transferred me to the next year, if I had attended only a half of days. My teacher answered that when I had attended school, I had only marks of 10 [the highest mark in school in that time – A/N]. He did rightfully. And so I remained with only 5 classes of school. I still remember that the school was Romanian, and I didn’t forget Tata nostra116 [rom. Our Father] and the songs from that time. I became a cook, when we started to build the home. Before that moment every woman had the privilege to be a housewife. Mother didn’t have a proper education. Mother once told me, that she wasn’t educated and still lived, and that I could live so. I wiped, because at school it was a break and at home only labour. - What did Your parents do? - My family was big and rich. We had a tremendous field. Father to that time bought new piece of field, to seed beetroots. For the beet You could have good money. Father gathered money and made a new home roofed with tin. That was the most excellent house in the whole village. We were very glad for this. I had prepared sour cream in the store we had. Also we 116

Correctly – Tatăl nostru.

produced milk. All these happened in 1938. It was all normal, until the Russians arrived. It was said that abroad people lived very well. Three men left our village. But when the Russians appeared, all this stereotype disappeared. During the Romanian leadership it was hard, because not everybody had footwear. We met the Soviet soldiers and shouted “Ura” (rus. Hurray), but the soldiers only laughed. That time the Soviets seemed very honest. But when they established the new authority, the deportations and the investigations had started. We hid, and escaped from home, because they looked how many people in the village had field. They found out all the information at the village Council. The secretary of the village Council showed the documents to the Soviets, but in front of us he hid them. - What happened when the Soviet Army came back? - One year later the Russians retreated. In 1943 the Russians had returned and all the Germans were deported to Siberia for work, where the Germans froze, because they had easy clothes. During the German and the Romanian times, it was easy to live, in comparison with the Soviet period. We also wanted the Russians, but when we found out that they deport people, we wanted to give the last shirt, only not to see them again. When the Germans arrived, the life of the local population facilitated. Once father returned home and told, that the Germans fled – it was incredible, we hoped that it would be better, but the Germans fled. When the Russians invaded, they restarted the searches in the houses to find the goods they needed. One man from our village who knew the Russian language, informed us about the control. Father came to the barn and ordered me to escape from home. When the Russians came for the first time in 1940, they took one part of our field, broke the fence and made a garden. The Germans gave us our property back. Father considered that the Soviets will never return back and took it. But when the Russians came, they condemned him for destroying the garden. He scarcely avoided the deportation. - Who was deported by the Soviet power? - All the people trembled, because they were afraid of the deportations to Siberia. Were deported, Shmerechynskyj – a rich and 73

hardworking man, Revega - also rich and Vasyl Korbut. The last one from all of the deported returned home, the rest did not. The “black raven” took them mainly at night. It was 1940. In 1944 the deportations renewed and enforced. There occurred situations, when instead of one man, they took another, because someone tried to aid the first. There was such a man – Kozuba, that had a well educated son, who was a member of the OUN (Ukrainian Nationalist Organization), at the University. He was arrested and his parents were deported to Siberia. He was shot. Such accidents occurred very often. People asked when Ukraine will become independent. The militants of UPA came to eat by night. I also helped them. At that time I had a jealous husband, who had forbidden me to listen to their conversations. In 1947, I was taken with my husband, which was the leader of UPA in the surroundings. A little suspicion and right away you were arrested. - In what way You were judged? What did the investigators ask you? - When I got in the prison? In our village was the street sweeper, Herasym, who protected me in the court. There was the so-called “troika” [three judges – A/N]. I stayed in the prison of KGB. They called me and asked me about all the prisoners. I decided not to tell them anything, because it would have been the end. However, I didn’t assassinate any person, but the prosecutor requested for me to be condemned to 25 years. Kuznetsov was the investigator that dealt with my case. He put the instruments on the desk and told that iron sticks would be on my shoulders. I felt dozens of stings, but I didn’t cry. I thought it’s better to die. Afterwards came the investigator and told me - “Mariya! You will be judged!”, because he saw I was calm and thought I wanted to escape. I asked him - “How many years”? He answered that I would spend three years in the camps. He gave me the permission to meet with my father, but prohibited to speak with him! What meeting was it without any conversation? The investigators changed. When the judgment began, the judge and the prosecutor came. The prosecutor told me - “You tortured us so much time! I will condemn You to 74

25 years”. I returned back to the cell. After that, I went for the second time to court. The prosecutor was absent and I was judged. I was taught there. The whole day I had nothing to eat and I waited. Only in the evening I was taken. At the process was a prosecutor, six investigators and a lawyer. The article was changed - instead of 11, “organization of gang”, they gave me the article 54a. I didn’t know what it is to be an organizer. Allegedly, I organized everything and everyone in the village. I was no organizer. I only listened and I told nothing. And when the process ended, I was given the last word and I told – “I am 21 years old and I want to stay a little at Freedom” (I was twenty, when I was arrested). With that verdict, I went to the prison. My mother waited near the court and she had the permission for us to go together. I was thrown in a one-person cell. The verdict deprived me for ten years of citizenship, with deportation to distant labour camps. I was glad, because now I received 10 years. Every night I was called and threatened. Once I was called to wash the floor. One man asked me to how many years was I condemned. I answered, that I had 10 years. There was a high window and I climbed on the radiator to see the children. That man opened the small window of the cell and told me that I will be transferred to the basement and with only 300 grams of bread per day. No luck. Afterwards, I was called to wash the floors again. Some people said it’s good to be condemned to 10 years. Afterwards, I was delivered to the prison on the “Soviet” Square. There were many Ukrainians. I cleaned the floors there. They gave me a plate of solid porridge. We had the privilege to receive the food first. I ate the porridge, but I didn’t touch the bread. I kept it for later. But when I saw the people in that prison - that most of them looked worse than me, I asked the supervisor - “Could I give them the bread?” He answered - “Yes”. I broke the bread into pieces and distributed it. There were peasants from my native village, Toporivtsy – Herasym, Tsybuliak, Makarenko. They thanked me and said after returning home, that it was the tastiest bread in their whole life. - What occurred in the prison? How was the deportation held? - There were many people of ours and you could speak with them. We drove to Irkutsk, in Siberia, during one month. There were 26 camps and a 75

point of transmission. One Jew from Chernivtsy saw me and told me that my husband wept very much for me. My husband saw when I was taken and said that we would never meet again. From the point of transmission, I was delivered to the third point, after that to the fourth point, then to the Ursoli city, where I worked as a stoker. I had a lot of work, but I liked it, because I gained points – one day was counted as three days of work. I didn’t earn much. When I returned home, a year and a half I spitted with soot. My returning to my home lasted one month. When at last I returned, I had nothing to live on. My parents lived poorly. I couldn’t regain my house. My father had bought the house when I got married for the first time. Once, came one old man and asked me if I wanted to buy a house or shoes. There was a house in the centre of the village, where previously lived Jews, but they departed to Romania. The Jew woman said I must pay 4.500 rubles for it. I had only 2.000 rubles for shoes and 1.500 rubles for the sold field. But when I came back to this house, there lived some teachers, that didn’t want to return me the house, for which I paid. I was judged without the confiscation of the property, because the house wasn’t yet legally issued on my name. And so according to the documents - I bought a house, which was not given to me. I started to work at the school at which I was approved. The director of the school asked me, where was I all this period of time. I answered that I was in Irkutsk. “What was the reason”? – he asked. I answered - “For Ukraine”! He advised me not to tell anyone. He told me to go home and to write a petition, and to write about the period of my imprisonment, to tell that I was at the household all this time. He persuaded me that my petition would be safe in his desk and that nobody would see it. I was not so educated, because five years of school were not sufficient, but I was writing songs. In the prison I repaired floors also. - Tell us what happened in the prison? Whom You were acquainted with? - We drove for one month in a freight train. My father brought for me, to Lviv (it was a transfer station), dried bread, sugar, 2 kg of butter, because he knew I would go to Siberia. At Lviv, in the cells were so many people, 76

that we felt as canned food and lay as logs of trees near each other. The cell was too small for such a number of people. I received the parcel of food from my father and the people advised me to put it on the window above, because it was too hot in the hall and it might melt. People said “Stand on our shoulders and put it near the window”! I kept the dried bread. At one moment, I saw that one hand from outside took my butter. Around there were many guards and people. I had time to take my sugar from the window and laid it in the sleeve of my jacket, otherwise it could have been stolen. And so I went to sleep. The men saw that I had something, when the lists to camps were read. We were distributed into wagons. Those with political articles, were considered the most dangerous ones. They were thrown to a separate wagon. The rest – the scoundrels, watching where I went, followed me, because I had something. This was a wagon for those condemned with the 58th article. The boards in the wagon were made from pine trees and were wet. The pallets were randomly installed. The thieves had approached to me and asked where the bag with dried bread was. I took the dried bread and climbed under the roof, because the wagon was very high. The thieves looked for me till morning. Then, they became quiet. In the wagon it was too dark to see anything. I got down slowly and found somebody – Marusya and gave her the bag with 3 kilos of sugar, because she couldn’t be suspected of having anything. But I needed to distribute the dried bread, because they didn’t forgive this. I had a fur coat, woollen socks and a woollen scarf. One morning, I awoke and saw that all was stolen by the thieves, because it was cold for them to sleep above. It was December. I slept and I heard nothing. On the floor was a stove. The cook and the guardsman brought tea and food for us. I had told the guardsman, that my clothes were stolen. I was punched by the people who were behind me. They told me not to say, but I answered - “What would be with me”? I told that this woman wore my socks, that man had my fur coat and my scarf. The guardsman ordered them to return all my goods and the thieves did it. I sat near the stove and drove on. Once, fell a small window from the wagon and it became colder. Some woman proposed me to move closer to them, because I had a very warm coat. There was one thief - Lyuba Sherbata, who 77

was imprisoned three times. She proposed me to watch over, meantime they would steal. In the wagon were some nails, so I repaired the window. All praised me for this deed. Sometimes, our train permitted to pass the more important trains. Once, we were expelled from the wagon and it became very cold, we sprang to some pit houses. But there was not warm, only light. After they accepted the documents, we were counted and divided into groups of five people to the barracks. Those were pit houses, only a window could be seen from outside. Inside it was so cold that the icicles hanged on the ceiling. The icicles melt and dropped on the floor. They gave us skilly [rus. “balanda”], radish soup in iron dishes. There, I met the prisoners from many wagons and the people with whom I had been in one wagon – with the political inmates. There was one old woman with the family name – Treonovych. She prayed all the time, holding the holy beads. I brought soup to her all the time, and helped her, because she was too old. After that we were taken to labour. We received old uniforms, taken from the frontline – sweaters, jackets, hats. The clothes were old, shabby. On the hats was visible the blood. There were no other clothes for us. At night we came to the shed. In that place walked the security men with the dogs. We heard shootings. On the ice we loaded the timber, because there was the rafting of wood. With crowbars we broke the ice to release the logs. There were not enough crowbars and people had to get the logs, even if they didn’t have instruments to do it. - What conditions existed in the camp? Who helped You? - When I drove in the wagon, I had two shirts. But it was prohibited to hold something; otherwise You would go to the cell. Very often, in the camp were held searches. It was one month during which I wore only one shirt. I had washing soap, but not much. That’s why, I saved it for washing the clothes. I washed on the ice, and while bringing the clothes into the barrack I had to be aware, because they could have been stolen. I pushed the shirt under the jacket and laid the sweater on it, because the shirt was as hard as 78

a bone. There was a cabin near the barrack. In this cabin, I put a stick and laid the shirt on it and I sat nearby, because it could have been stolen. I was a strong believer, but in the camp were no icons. Once, on the Baptism celebration [Epiphany – A/N], I met one friend, Halyna from Bukovina and saw that she went somewhere. I asked her, where was she going. She made me the proposal to go together to pray. I gladly agreed. In one barrack there were some old women. One of them took the Bible from the mattress and we prayed together, and quietly sang songs, because it was forbidden. It became easier for me and appeared a hope. - What did You do in the camp? - When we worked, the guardsman said - “lie down” and all lay down, regardless of what was under their feet – snow or swamp. And then, you had to continue working. When I worked as a stoker, there was one man, Igor Ivanovych from Galitsia. I also was a plasterer. Once, we were delivered to the quarry and they ordered us to dig a ditch. The leader of the group measured the norm. It had 8 m depth and 6 m in width. We made the stairs, because there would be installed water and gas pipes, electricity. Afterwards, came the leader of the group and called a brigadier. The brigadier told us - “Do it girls. You need to fulfill the norm”. Then, our norm of food was reduced to 700 gr of bread, because of the unfulfilled norm. The bread was humid, that’s why I was hungry. Sometimes they gave spoiled bread. After that, the fourth camp, where the political prisoners sat, was disbanded. We were told that we would move to Karaganda. It seemed that life would be better there, as it was closer to Ukraine. We were told that people would have subsidiary households there. All the people were withdrawn, but my form disappeared. I cried. Then I was delivered by two convoys to the barrack, where only the thieves lived, condemned [original “criminated”, A/N] to 25 years, and were imprisoned several times. They approached to me and asked if I would live there with them or not? I confirmed that. They walked into the kitchen, because for them it was obvious, that they were condemned till the end of life. Afterwards, appeared two convoys and read three names – my name, the young Viktoria 79

Mysnova’s and another Ukrainian’s. We entered the car and reached to one factory. The brigadier said that the new workers appeared and ordered me to go to the cabinet of the master of the drying bricks. The master asked me where I was from and said that I could gain here the points. With one girl from Galitsia, we began to plaster the walls. This was too difficult for girls. But our main goal was to gain as many points as possible. We made floors also. As soon as I could gain many credits, I would become free. Once, when I worked as a stoker - I couldn’t see anything, all around was only soot. One time when the stoker wasn’t at the place, where only the soldiers worked, I told to my fellow Olya, that I wanted to be a stoker. It was because it should give me points. She had a conversation with the leadership and told me that I was accepted. It was very hard, but I succeeded to do it. At night, you had to work twelve hours. All the teams had a lot of work. I obtained there three years of points. In summer there was the same work. The factory had to be supplied with water. That’s why, I stood beside the water tank and worked there, but the points were calculated day by day. There was easier, because I had the possibility to wash my goods and to wash myself with hot water. It was before the leaving from the prison. Afterwards, a year and a half I spitted soot. In the camp, I purchased a beautiful coat and winter boots and so I returned to my native Bukovina. In 1954 I was released, because I had the privilege of the gained points. I wrote a petition for rehabilitation and three prosecutors reviewed my case, and decided to rehabilitate me. My daughter, as a lawyer, helped me to write that petition. But the prosecutor told me, that I knew what was happening in the village. My case from 1947 was closed. - What happened after You returned? - I got married with a doctor. I become a cook in Chernivtsy, afterwards my father died. - What happened with your former husband? What other repressions were applied to You? - My former husband was condemned to 10 years. He betrayed his people. I had the witnesses, that he had testified against me. One of them was the brother of my husband. I made shirts for those from UPA. My 80

husband accused me that I was “komsomolist”, because in that time were held deportations to Donbass [laughing – A/N]. Except my father, only I was workable in the family and we had 5 ha of field. We needed workers. The paupers, that worked on our field told, if Mariya Laikova (me) wouldn’t be removed, they also would stay here, because I “walked in silk”. The director told me to enrol quickly to the courses of bookkeeper, to postpone the trip to Donbass. I went to study. I knew only the Romanian grammar and it had to be written always in Cyrillic. However, I had graduated only five years of school, I attended the courses (for attending them You needed to graduate ten classes, not five). When the teacher explained, I wrote it, but I could not read the material I had written. When my classmates attended the cinema, I rewrote the conspectus and soon obtained good marks. However, there were no books, but I had the best marks. My father brought food for me, Galitsian dishes; meantime I learned the conspectus, because I was less educated. After I finished the courses, I got married for the first time. - How were the villagers deported to Donbass? - This was terrible, when we entered in the yard and heard the shots. “Strebky” shot with weapons. Then, we the girls, jumped into the ravine and in such way we escaped from the disaster. Entire trains of people were sent to Donbass.

IV.1.1.b The Romanian villages The village of Boyan th

On the 18 of April 2012 we made our first visit to Boyan. We were at the Mayoralty, but the officials were out of the village with some activities. We stopped at the monument of the victims of the Stalinism, made some photos and wrote the names of the post-war repressed.117 The monument 117

Hauca, Iurcu, Michirean, Niscoromni, Dărda Florean, Dumitru, Filimon, Andruseac, Botă, Cuciurean, Ghibac, Rusu, Scrumeda, Iliese, Juc, Suhani. 81

refers to the victims from four neighbouring villages – Boyan, Lehacheny (now Priprutya), Arboreny (now Gáy) and Kotul Khotinuluy (now Boyanivka). After that, we went to the village’s school. The vice-chief for education, Elena Khauka, indicated us where Eleonora Bizovi lives and escorted us till that place. At the question about the deportations, she told us about her grandmother, who was taken to Arhangelsk, but this was during the First World War. From Boyan we went Easterner, to Noua Sulitsa, with a microbus, had a break there and continued our road to East, till Dranitsya (the Negrintsy part). There, we shortly visited the families of Oleg Melentiy and Yurie Melentiy. And from there, we went to the border point, at Mamalyga-Kriva. We spent the night at some relatives, in Beltsy. On the 19th of April we were in Chisinau. On the 20th of April in the morning, we departed to Bricheny. There we looked for the Ukrainian school. With the help of the locals we found the school, situated farer from the centre of the town. We spoke with persons from the secretariat. They explained us where to find the editorial office of the local newspaper, in which we intended to publish our first press release. They also told us about the Ukrainian villages from the region. We also agreed to come back and to discuss with the director and the teacher of History (who couldn’t come that day to the school) about the post-war realities. From Bricheny, we took a microbus to Lipkany and from there we went with another one to the border. We passed the border by foot and had a microbus only to Tarasautsy. From Tarasautsy, somebody took us to Boyan. In the evening, in the hotel we discussed which next steps we had to do, where to publish the press release and how to plan our next trip to be more efficient. On the 21st of April in the morning we went to Eleonora Bizovi. She told us about the Onega labour camp and moments from the history of the village after the war (see the first interview with her). She gave us the book about the history of Boyan, written by her husband. She recommended us to find Vasile Bota and to speak with him about deportations. He told us that he could organize for us meetings with old persons, one of them being his father-in-law, who lives in Arboreny. He showed us also some books. He 82

gave us his phone number and required to call him before our next visit. At 16 and some minutes we separated in the centre of the village. One went to the Ukrainian-Moldovan border and another to Chernivtsy. We came back, this time the entire team, to Boyan on the 9th of August. We went to Eleonora Bizovi, who responded at our questions (see the second interview with her), showed us different photos and traditional Romanian dresses. Her sister-in-law, Eleonora Sfekla, escorted us to Shtefan Bzovi, where we made the photo of their traditional house and established to come back on the 11th of August, for an interview. From Bzovi, we went to Vasile Bota, who organized for us a car to go to Arboreny, to make an interview with his father-in-law, who survived at Onega. From Arboreny, we came back to Bota’s house, who organized a delicious supper for us. On the 10th of August in the morning, we went to Shtefan-Nikulaye Bzovi. In the evening, Maryan departed to Lviv. Two of us remained in Boyan. On the 11th of August, we had a trip to Malineshty. We departed on the 12th of August from Boyan to Chernivtsy, after the Liturgy. One of us came back to Boyan on the 14th of August and took the third interview with Eleonora Bizovi, about traditions and customs.

Eleonora Bizovi (79 years old). The first interview. 21st of April 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita and M. Lopata. In the Romanian language. The story of the book “Boianul” (2005). At our questions about the deportations, she referred to the book written by her husband (dead in 2000) and published by her in 2005. - I insisted to publish it, I published it very hard, in 2005. My husband died in 2000. With the help of the good people I published, because before he died, he said that it must be printed. In 1944-1953, the rich men were taken to Siberia. Some came back. Those who fought in the Romanian Army were persecuted. At Onega, the men also made a channel. In those forests they died of starvation. Very few came back. You can see at the page 184 from the book, that many who came back, died in a short time after that. At Onega [in the 83

list from the book – A/N] number five is my father-in-law, the father of the author of the book. He was taken to Onega. One of his cousins came back. He said that they received little bread. And he [her father-in-law – A/N] collected the bread to eat it while escaping. On that place [later – A/N] were build houses and roads. He had seven children and despite this, they took [him to forced labour – A/N] him. From those seven children, the eldest was my husband. He grew them as a father. My father remained here, but he was called every day to the interrogation. They asked him for whom he voted. He worked at the mill, he made flour from wheat, for the village, that’s why they didn’t take him. Nevertheless, he died in 1945… They didn’t look at the nationality, they took anybody. The churchkostyol [the Catholic Church from the village – A/N], was transformed in storehouse. It’s awful how they destroyed everything. During the Bolshevism, only our Orthodox Church of Nekulche [the nephew of an important Moldovan chronicler from the beginning of the XIXth century– A/N], was open. The Poles came to us. When the Russians came, many of them repatriated… The Bolsheviks made everything they wanted with us. This village always was a Romanian one, but now it is pitiful. It is a pity to loose all this information, it is very well what You do. Now You can find [traditional clothes – A/N] only at weddings. There remained some Poles. The Orthodox also gave money for the repair of their church. The church from Arboreny was destroyed. They [inhabitants of Arboreny – A/N] came from the village Arbore, from Romania, they were colonized. Our Boyan was at the border of three empires – the Ottoman, the Austro-Hungarian and the Russian. And it was completely destroyed three times. At the end she remembered that one of her mother’s sisters died in Bucharest, during the bombings from 1944. Other sister died in Timisoara. Her father – Ilie of Ion Hyrka died in 1945. 84

Eleonora Bizovi (79 years old). The second interview. 9th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita, M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Romanian language. About the post-war years, about Onega and about the deportations. - How was the end of the war for You? - The end of the war was awful for us, because we lost our father. We were four kids… And before father died, he told our mother – “sell everything you have, for children to have education”. And mother did her best for us to study… The situation in the village was awful. When the Soviets entered the village, they bombed the National House. There was a remarkable library in the name of “Mihai Eminescu”… Our house was near the National House. When they bombed the House, on our home fell bricks. It was awful. - What results the war had for You? - The results of the war were awful for all the villagers. For all the children who desired to go to study somewhere. My husband studied at the normal school. And when he came in 1940, the normal school moved to Abrud. - In Transylvania? - Yes. He arrived in Abrud hungry, but glad that he arrived at school. And after that, we can say that they [the Soviets – A/N] hunted him and brought him to the camp in Chisinau. And he came back home. When he came home from Chisinau, his father was taken [see the photo of Shtefan Bizovi in the attachment № 11 – A/N]. They were well-to-do peasants. Why I say it? The results were very awful. They raised the father [of her future husband – A/N] and took him to Onega, to labour. And there he died. - But did You see how they were raised? - I remember, because I had a classmate. My father escaped, because he transferred to work at the mill. But I had a very good classmate and I keep in mind when they raised her – Dascal Kuciurean. What had they done? They drew them out from the house… - But who, the soldiers? 85

- There were also soldiers, but were also “axe handles”. If You understand what it means? - From the village? - Yes. And yet there were good men in the village. She was young, considered good for marriage. They made clothes for her. Every girl has to sew national clothes. They didn’t permit her to take even the national clothes. But a good man, my neighbour, who lived here, Bizovi Nikolay… bought, on his money those clothes, boots, packed them and sent to her. And she cried when she received them. She told me – we have good people in this world, there are also “axe handles”, and good people. Not only they were raised, in the village many were raised. I have somewhere in the book “Boianul”… - She came back? - Yes, they came back, because they were rehabilitated. She is very ill. She is the same age as me, but she is very ill. - Do You have letters or photos received from Onega? - It is very hard. My husband couldn’t receive from his father neither letters, nor photos. After he died, he [her husband – A/N] desired to go to the place, where he [his father – A/N] died. He wrote and they told him that there is nothing to search on that place, and that on the bones of those who died, were made roads and were built houses with many floors. - How did You remember, who were raised first, those for Onega? - Firstly were raised those whom they named “Kyabury” [Kulaks in rom. – A/N], rich men who were in Canada, who worked there, came here and bought land. And after that, they were raised and taken to Onega in 1945. On our monument is written. There were three periods. I don’t want to tell You lies, but I didn’t remember the periods which were. [After she looked into the book, she continued] - [First period was – A/N] in ’40-’41, when they came for the first time. In ‘44-‘45 [the men from the village – A/N] dead at Onega. And then happened the dispossession of the Kulaks – in ‘45-‘53. Some came back, some did not. Here are written only the names of the heads of families, the children are not written. It was impossible to establish. This was made by 86

my husband. He went through the village, from house to house, and with all these he couldn’t do everything. - Who took them to Onega, the soldiers? - I don’t know. But I heard, as the men from the village said, they were caught by night. For them came soldiers, but also came those from the village. Those [military – A/N] that knew where from and whom [to take – A/N]? - How had the collectivization began? - First, there were written those who had nothing, those who were poor. Better is to say, those who were lazy. It is my opinion. And they made a group, to begin the collectivization, without horses, without instruments. They began the agitation. As I remember, that my grandmother said and my mother said, they didn’t make well the collectivization, they made the famine in ‘46-‘47. They starved all the peasants. So the peasants had no choice and they enroled in the collectivization process. - Many died of famine? - A lot. And many died of typhoid fever. I even had one very clever uncle who also died. - Did You remember with what they were taken? By train? - With cattle train. I don’t know in which direction. I only know that they were taken to Noua Sulitsa [Novoselitsya in ukr. – A/N]. If they were taken to Noua Sulitsa, this means through this direction [East to Boyan – A/N]. I can’t tell You precisely. My husband had one relative, who also was drawn out of the house, with little children. But they didn’t take her, because she had little children, but her man was taken and carried. He left young and came back old man. She lives in Priprutya. You know, these people have a wound at heart. And we must not open this wound. She lives alone Harasym Eleonora. - Last time [on the 21st of April 2012 – A/N], You told us that from Onega came back one cousin of Your husband. - He came back. They were three cousins there. - What did he tell You, what happened there? 87

[At some moment in the room entered one of the sisters-in-law of Eleonora Bizovi – Eleonora Sfekla] E.S. – Yes, he told. He worked there. If somebody died in winter, they were thrown and the wolves, bears, others, ate their bodies. - Mainly the men were taken? E.S. – Yes, the men, they took the men, those who were the thriftiest. - How were the houses in ’44 and how were after? What can You tell us about the construction of houses? - After the First World War everyone built his house as he was able. After the Second World War, when they worked in [the Kolkhoz – A/N], it was a time when nothing was built. But after that they learned how to steal from the Kolkhoz [she laughs] and they began to build. And they began travelling. They saw the houses from Europe. And You can see now what kind of little town Boyan is. - Do You have traditional Romanian houses in the village? E.S. - If You’ll go to my mother, the “Casa Mare” [rom. the room for guests – A/N] is that old house. It remains like museum. We are proud that this is our house [see the attachment № 11, the house of Nikolaye-Shtefan Bzovi]. Eleonora Bizovi (80 years old).118 The third interview. 15th of August 2012. Interviewer – M. Tarita. In the Romanian language. About customs and traditions. - What happened with the customs when the Soviets came? - The men began to drink. This trait of character – the drunkenness, was brought by the Soviets. They [the villagers – A/N] began to steal. From where? The leaders [of the village’s Soviet – A/N] organized the Kolkhoz and they were saying that this is not their property. The locals went and stole from the fields of the Kolkhoz. As I remember, it even was a song. „At the Kolkhoz, on the high hill, those who steal, those have”. So sang the men 118

She turned 80 years, a day before.

in the village, You know, people have talent. And these changes led to the prohibition of the customs of faith. Nevertheless, some are lost, but with all this, the custom of singing carols on Christmas remained. And at us it is organized very wonderful. If You have the occasion to come on the New Year, You could see the customs. It is organized in the centre of the village. It remained the custom from Easter, to bless the Easter bread, because our church wasn’t closed. To us also came the Poles and the Ukrainians, to bless the Easter bread. Everybody came here because it was the only church from this big village. The only church which functioned all the time during the... - Soviets. - ...the Soviets. I regret that we lost such a beautiful tradition as that of the round dances [rom. hora – A/N], on the day of the village’s holy protector [rom. hram – A/N]. On this day, on Easter, on Sunday, it was a beautiful tradition - the round dances from the village. They said [the newcomers – A/N] – „this is not nice, it is better at the disco”. At the village’s round dances – the youth remained for 2-3 dances and after that every young man escorted the girl he sympathized. I really regret that now we don’t have the round dances in our village. It was a very beautiful tradition in Boyan. On the holy protector’s day, there came people from all the surrounding villages. Vasile Bota (62 years old). 21st of April 2012. Interviewers – M. Lopata and M. Tarita. In the Romanian language. About Onega. - My father (was born in 1899), was in the camp at Onega… Where was he arrested? At Onega, the Karelian-Finnish land, there were the German camps. The only reason was that they were Romanians... My fatherin-law was there, he came back and is alive. He can tell You more [see the picture of his father, in the attachment № 11].

Nikolaye-Shtefan Bzovi119 (67 years old). 10th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita, M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Romanian language. About Donbass. After he described his childhood, he told us that his brother, Toader, was taken to Donbass. - When did they take him? - After the war they took him, to “raise” [rebuild – A/N] Donbass, because it was desolation there. And they took not only him; they took many from here, from Boyan – those who were unmarried, who hadn’t children. Those who had children remained. He worked in a mine. - He came back? - The mine crumbled. And he still has signs on his back. Then he came home. - How were they taken, from the Soviet Council? - Which Soviet Council? They were taken and that’s all! - By train? - Yes. My brother-in-law, Ionel Bosovichy, was caught three times and every time he ran away. He escaped through the window. They shot at him. He went through water. Then they caught him and he ran away again. In this last case, [he ran – A/N] from the train, when it stopped. I don’t know for what reason…

The village of Gáy (in Romanian - Arboreny) Vasile Bota from Boyan, found a driver to carry us to Arboreny. This village is a little bit isolated, nine kilometres Northerner from Boyan. To the East from Arboreny, which belongs to the historical Bukovina, is the village of Rokitna (Răchitna), which belonged to the county of Khotyn till 1944. V. Bota escorted us directly to the man who was at the Onega’s labour camp. 119

Because of a mistake his name is written in documents Bzovi and not Bizovi.

After we spoke with Nikulaye Skripkaryu and his wife, we returned to Boyan with the same driver. Nikulaye, son of Ion Skripkaryu (87 years old). 9th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita, M. Lopata and A. Mastyka. In the Romanian language. About the Onega labour camp and the labour in Armenia. - How did You remember the end of the war? - A-ha, this which began in 1941 to us [our times - A/N]? - Yes. - I don't even know how to tell you. The war was a difficult age for the humanity. When they took us the war wasn’t ended, when they mobilized us from these parts of Bukovina, of Moldova, from all these parts, Moldovans, Romanians, took us for labour, you know? They didn't take them to front, but there were great difficulties. We were taken in different ways. We were taken to Finland, to Onega, to work, where the Finland’s front was. Later we were moved from there, they took us to work in Armenia at mines of copper and aluminium. After that, sometime in 1948 we were liberated and we came here, and began the collectivization. We had shortages and many deportations. Many people were deported from here. (...) From Mahala they took around 600 families, till the beginning of war. (...) - How did they take you? - It was August. We stayed till 1948 in Armenia. We came the last from there. - First time at Onega? - Yes, in the Karelo-Finnish... - How, who came for you? - KGB took us to Chernivtsy, to the Eye Hospital, retained us for 3 days, after that they put us in such trains, for animals and we went for 13 days till Medvezhagorsk. There we worked at “lesosplav” [rus. rafting of wood]. 91

- And were there many Moldovans? - We were 2000 in one camp. 2000 men, but from 2000 remained some 500. [The rest... – A/N]. …died in the forest. - Was there somebody else from your village? - Yes, there were some 15-20 persons from here. There were from Boyan. All those who were younger than 50 years were taken. - And there, who waited for you, the soldiers? - There they settled us in one camp. There was a German camp and there stayed the Russian prisoners. The Russians drove away the Germans and took the camps and settled us there. And in those camps – in a part, stayed the Germans, and in a part, stayed we - these, taken from the part of Bukovina. From Moldova there were. We worked very well. And after that they separated us. - There, what did they feed you with? - Hey Mister, let me tell You with what they fed us. When we arrived, our train with - 2000 men, they put a caldron. They put water in it and boiled it and put in soy grits, and in those soy grits they put some dry fish which was not clear, was not washed. (...) [they made a protest, but after that the soldiers came armed and some of them told – “we didn’t bring You here to fatten You, you can die here”, after that the revolted men calmed]. To run away, you had nowhere. There were the fights with the Finns, to run back, where to run? And so it passed... In February, they put us in a train and sent us to a warm country Armenia, “Kazheranstroy”, the town Kafan. And there I worked as I told you, at the mines of copper and of aluminium, till I came [back]. ...I left a fortune here. They stole everything. And nobody of them exists now. But I am still living. Understand? I told to many - I hadn't taken, what wasn't mine, and I hadn't judged anybody, but I was condemned without guiltiness. I let a fortune here at home. Everything was stolen. Many lost themselves. Their bones remained in the forests, in foreign lands. Even my father-in-law, the father of my old woman, is lost there. And where is he 92

buried? ...the snow was thrown from the trench and there were put their bones. ...Many died because of that food, many died. You know, the man condemns himself. We had 700 grams or 500 grams of bread per day. And there were smokers, and changed the bread for “mahorka” [rus.]. So they didn't die? They died, of hunger died. Or the cooks gave only 100 grams of bread per day to one man and one hundred gram of grits. They put 50 grams of oil or a piece of fish and were of these – “postoroniiye” [rus. outsiders]. ...Many difficulties were and all of them were made by the regime. - What concretely did You do there? - They brought trees from the forest, where they cut them and we extracted the water, cut, dried, and put the wood into trucks and sent to the paper factory. We cut and put into wagons. Where they took, in Siberia, God knows, but we didn't know. - Did You work in the morning? - There is winter time and it is daylight only at 11 o'clock. We were drawn out at 8 o'clock and stayed in the forest till the daylight... At those frosts we heard how the trees burst. I told them so - May God not give even to the whelp of snake, to return those times with such sufferings and difficulties. ...When we arrived there [to Armenia – A/N] 10-12-14 men didn't wake up, they died there. - But when did they liberate You, in 1948? - They gave us “otpusk” [rus. leave] for 45 days, no paper, nothing. 45 days “na Rodinu” [rus. to the homeland], wherever you wanted. What to do, to come back there? Without any evidence, without anything, without any work. It's good that someone gave us money for train and for a piece of bread. 9 days we went from Armenia to Chernivtsy. They didn't give us evidence... We came back only two, because they let us by twos.

Domnika (daughter of Toader) Vyntu-Skipkaryu.120 9th of August 2012. Interviewer – M. Tarita. In the Romanian language. About arrests. Native from the village of Buchy,121 which was destroyed after the World War Two and the houses transferred to Arboreny. This short interview was taken separately, after we spoke with her husband (see the text above). - Your father, he didn’t come back home? - From where? He died there, of hunger he died. - Did You receive letters? - No, I hadn’t received anything, later, when my man came, he told me how he died and buried him among stones. What to tell You, we had many difficulties. - When they took him, who took him, the soldiers or?.. - The Soldiers? I don’t know who were. I can’t remember. I was a little child. They told him to go out, to wear something. He went out and left and he didn’t come back… The train with don’t know how many wheels, took him, and he didn’t come back. We had famine, and we didn’t have what to eat. We ate weeds from the field. And I thank God that I lived till these days. What to do? But You, for what You (are doing) these? - We are writing a book. - For people to know what was once? - Yes.

The village of Mahala In this village, closer to the town of Chernivtsy, the inhabitants are not opened to dialogue and it took a lot of time till it was possible to find somebody to interview. 120

The wife of Nikulaye Skripkaryu. She wrote an article about that period – A fost un sat românesc cu numele Buci...// Ţara Fagilor, 2009, XVIII, p. 161-167. 121

Domnika Semionovna Hostyuk (85 years old), spoke about how she was deported in June 1941 to the Republic of Komi. She called also two of her neighbours – Maria Vasilievna Yuri (83 years old), who in 1944 lived in Ostritsya, a village near Mahala, and Mosoryuk Magdalina of Ion (84 years old), whose family was deported two times (in 1941 and in 1949) [see their photo in the attachment № 10]. The interview was taken on the 17th of August 2012. Interviewer – M. Tarita. In the Romanian language. – What do You recall, after the “raising” from 1940, were there other “raisings”? M. V. Yuri – It happened once, one evening there were arrests. Afterwards, the men were taken away to Onega. My father was 49 years old, he was old at that moment, and they caught and took all of them, all of them to Onega. And we were left alone at home. - Who took them to Onega, the soldiers? M.V.Y. – The Russians, the Russians took them to Onega, to work. But he was 49 years old, do you believe he was able to work? So many died there! And we were left at home. When my father left there wasn’t famine. But after that, they came and took all our bread to the state and we had no bread left. And people left the village in search for food. Famine. Troubles. The ones who stayed, had been in deep mourning… And there were hard times after that. We remained without bread. There was no harvest. And we left. We were children of 14 years-old. We went further through Broskautsy. And they gave us food because there wasn’t famine. And we stayed there one year. They didn’t pay us, but we were fed by one householder. After that, we came back home. And we had sowed the field in the spring. And thanks God, there was a rich harvest after the famine. D. S. Hostyuk – Tell him what they had done with the people, what the state gave them, where it took them? M.V.Y. – They collected the bread. What shall I say? People who stayed were mainly – old men, children, orphans… They created the 95

Kolkhoz. But I wasn’t there in the Kolkhoz. I got married at 19 years, in winter. And I came here, before I lived in Ostritsya. Because I came here, I went to the Kolkhoz. And I worked at the Kolkhoz till the age of 50. By the time I was 50 years old, I had 6 children, one died before. I retired and I didn’t work anymore. - But how did You find out that Your father died at Onega? M.V.Y. – There came two men and told me that he died… - From Ostritsya or Mahala? M.V.Y. – Then, they told me where my dear uncle died, the brother of my father, and about my father. He was at Onega, but from Onega they sent him further to Asia. And there he died of hunger. - Their names? M.V.Y. – Father – Shtefan’s Nikolayevich Vasile, and the other also had the name, Shtefan’s Gheorghe Nikolayevich. Both went and none of them came back. - Did they live in Ostritsya? M.V.Y. – Yes, yes. - But those who came back what did they tell You? M.V.Y. – Poor them, they all died of starvation, they had nothing to eat, they… D.S.H. – Is in our village some of them who is still alive? M.V.Y. – No one from Onega... There was Druta, he came back from Onega… but he died long ago. M.I. Mosoryuk – Did anyone come back from those who were at Onega? Came. D.S.H. to M.I.M. – This man is from Chisinau and he wants to be told how You were arrested [rom. “ridicat”]? We were arrested in May. M.I.M. – We were arrested two weeks later, in June. On Duminika Mare [Christian holiday 50 days after Easter – A/N] we were arrested. There came two young militia and they sat down at the table and began to write. And they kept on writing. One of them, who was a good boy, told to my mother in Russian – to take more clothes on us and something to eat. “Start packing, because You go far”. They were two, only two. But I don’t 96

remember who was from the village. In Sadagura they kept us for some time, almost two weeks, till the echelon was full. And they had driven us, I can’t remember how long they had been driving us. When we arrived to Kuybysh, the city inhabitants came to the station. Oh God, they were starved, dressed with torn clothes. And the militia which was with us were chasing them away – didn’t allow them to see what was going on. And they drove us… not to Omsk, but in the “oblasty” [rus. region] Omsk. Kruchiunski “raion”. There were 20 houses, not more. And they started dragging us into a “zemlyanka” [rus. pit house]. God, there were so many people dying. But we went three and we came back also three. But those who had little children, they stayed. There were born lots of children. They were born, they died... D.S.H. – Tell him, what did You work there? M.I.M. – I used to work when I was 14 years old, then they took us and we worked a little bit during that winter. In Autumn I was 14 years old. Troubles, sorrows, uphhh… I worked at “selkhoz” with calves. And after that they transferred me to the cattle. D.S.H. – You worked with the cattle? I worked in a forest. - Was it cold? M.I.M. – It was freezing cold, 55º degrees below zero. - How many years did You stay there? M.I.M. – We stayed there six years and after that we ran away. For the second time they didn’t take me in the same “raion” but in another one. - Did they take You to Sadagura again? M.I.M. – To Sadagura. The train was full and then they took us away. They took us to Omsk and there we stayed two weeks in “inkryminarye” [some kind of jail – A/N]. And after that they sent us to “selkhoz”. And we were working. - Were there also any other Romanian-Moldovans in the train? M.I.M. - No, no, not many. Just some Russians, and with us there were two Estonian women. They were sentenced to 25 years. And we managed because we were liberated, but the poor women still remained there. 97

- But here, in Sadagura, when they took You in 1949, who else was there, any men from the region? M.I.M. – No, there was nobody. Only our family, they took us in a wagon and drove us there… But from our village no, only we were taken. - But from other villages? M.I.M. – With us were only two Jews from Sadagura. They were taken so. It seems that they also ran away or what else could they have done? I don’t know, because many years have passed since that moment. Do I remember?.. And after that they kept us for 10 years. Then they released us and we came home. - When You came home, did You come back to Your old place? M.I.M. - Yes. - Was there a house? M.I.M. - It was the old house. We stayed at an aunt’s place. The house… was bought and it wasn’t [ours anymore – A/N]. D.S.H. – The house was bought from the state… We took five years, but they took 20 years. That was a punishment for them. M.I.M. – They considered that we were guilty. [Question for M.V.Y.] – Why was he arrested at Onega? M.V.Y. – I don’t know. - But who, the militia? M.V.Y. – The militia came from the Mayoralty. - Do You remember where they were taken, to Sadagura or to Noua Sulitsa? M.V.Y. – To Chernivtsy. And in Chernivtsy they were taken into cattle wagons. Lots of them were taken. - Did he write You anything from that place? M.V.Y. – No, poor man. - And then some men came back and told You about these? M.V.Y. – Yes. He was at Onega and from Onega they sent him to Asia. The men that came back were from Ostritsya. But I can’t remember who said that. Poor father, he had problems with the stomach. 98

D.S.H. – My father-in-law had also been taken to Onega. From each house they took to Onega. M.V.Y. – From each house they took to Onega. D.S.H. – The Russians were afraid that the Germans could come and would take him [her father – A/N] to the army and they [the men from the village? – A/N] would fight against them. And so they took them and drove them away. M.V.Y. – Father was 50 years old. We tried to give a mare, a colt to the mayor. He refused. Mother died before the war. Just one man managed to escape. Not one escaped, but two. They didn’t have any children. They ran away from the train. And they stayed as fugitives more than one year. And after that they came back. M.I.M. – I remember the moment when they draw us out from the house – the men were lined up separately from the women. And there were such very big grey dogs. And they set us in pairs. And they took us to the wagon. M.V.Y. – We were four in a row. And there militia was on both sides, in front and behind. But those two ran away. They didn’t have children. They stayed for a while. They didn’t look for them. - Only men? M.V.Y. – Not women. Men between 15 to 50 years old. - Were You there at the station and did You see it? M.V.Y. – I saw it. I was at the train station. We were little kids. We were yelling strongly. M.I.M. – There were children crying. M.V.Y. – In cattle wagons. M.I.M. – As animals. D.S.H. – Do You know something about the way the girls were taken to Donbass? M.V.Y. – Sure I do. We had a sister-in-law who was arrested. D.S.H. – She was arrested, not taken to Donbass! M.V.Y. – They demolished her house. When the poor woman came home she entered to the Kolkhoz. And when she went to Donbass they had to 99

give her something from the Mayoralty… And they came and demolished her house. The house was old, it was a wattle house. They took her clothes outside. D.S.H. – One day the Mayoralty had such a task – to take 4-5 persons and to settle out if they had found out something about them. But the girls for Donbass, when they gathered them… One of those girls was bride that Sunday. They spoilt the wedding and what she had to leave? - Everything! M.V.Y. – I don’t know why they hated that woman. She was a girl, she wasn’t married. They destroyed her house. They didn’t have the right to crush her house. D.S.H. – I am glad that I lived to this age. M.V.Y. – The young men, nowadays, they don’t like to speak to the old people. - Did they come back home alone or there were other people from those who were taken to Donbass? M.V.Y. – They didn’t come back. One of my sisters-in-law got married there to a Ukrainian. My brother-in-law had a sister, she had been taken. She married there. Here was a girl, also got married there. She didn’t come home. Many poor girls had been taken. They had taken more girls than men. [Question for M.I.M.] – Did You come alone from Siberia or with some other people with other families? M.I.M. - By train. We came alone from there. They gave us documents and we came alone. We paid for the train. We came with our money. - Why did they release You? M.I.M. – The period of 20 years time was completed and they liberated us. Father was 80, mother was 78 years old.

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IV.1.2 The former Northern Bessarabia The village of Dranitsya In fact this village consists of two different villages – Shendreny and Negrintsy, united under one administration. The persons with whom we talked were from Negrintsy. Ivan Kukuruzyak (86 years old), spoke about something different, but we included his opinion because this is his perception about deportations. He remembered that when he came back from Romania, where his lyceum was transferred (before 15th of March 1944), his father wasn’t home. He was arrested at Corabia, near Danube and sent to Chisinau. There he worked for some days at a labour camp. After that he came home. Later, somebody who came back from Donbass told him that his father, Vasile, died at one factory while assembling rockets. One of these rockets exploded. We hadn’t identified the people deported after the World War Two. The sister of Ivan Kukuruzyak – Ludmila, went to study in Syberia during the war, but in fact she was thrown into a mine. Later she succeeded in coming back home. The family of Alexandru Melentiy and Vera Rusu (they married in 1934), was deported in June 1941 and remained in there for 20 years, despite the changes from 1953 and 1956. There they had two kids – Emil and Lyuba (see attachment № 6). The families of their nephews – Yurie Melentiy and Oleg Melentiy, have many photos from the Tyumen region, the land of Tamal, the village Yaltyk-Sale (they scanned them and sent to us in February 2012). But they didn’t remember the exact story of their grandmother and grandfather. Mainly they know that the reason of the deportation, was that the Melentiy family was a family of landowners and that the action of deportation had to convince the others to enter into the Kolkhoz. Many Moldovans died there. Those who survived ate crude fish. We made a short visit in Dranitsya on the 18th of April 2012. In August we got the information that in Negrintsy lives a woman who was taken to Donbass, but we couldn’t organize a special visit to take an interview. 101

The villages of Malineshty and Dinautsy We got to Malineshty one Saturday (11th of August 2012). Firstly, we travelled with the microbus from Boyan to Novoselitsya. There we had a break and a discussion about which direction to choose,122 in such way as to have a transport with which to come back to Boyan. Finally we decided to choose Malineshty. The driver of the microbus told us to look for Pintiley Kioresku and Porfir Sandulyak. From the centre of the village where is the Orthodox Church, one woman explained us how to find the house of Pintiley Kioresku. He spoke mainly about the war and the post-war years. From some moment his responses were calculated and he explained that he is old and couldn’t remember. He indicated us to go to Yevgeniy Kupriashin (88 years old), who established in the village after the war. He was born in Astrahany. He fought under Stalingrad and after that was punished for several years. The information from the interview with him was not linked with our research. Finally we got to Porfir Sandulyak, who treated us very openly. He responded to the questions, sang for us songs and showed the books he wrote. He recommended us to search somebody from Mahala, who could tell us about the deportations. From Malineshty we went by foot to Dinautsy. We made photos of some old houses in Dinautsy and had a short dialogue with Ostina Fedotovna Skripnik, who told us that her brother Vasile was taken to Donbass. We considered that it was too late and we hadn’t looked for that man, but went to the road Khotyn-Chernivtsy. After an expectation which seemed to be long, a driver of a microbus took us to Boyan. Pintiley Kioresku (91 years old). 11th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita and A. Mastyka. In the Romanian language. About the post-war years.

122

We had two possibilities – Cherlena-Koteleva or Malineshty-Dinautsy.

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He was enrolled in the Red Army in 1945-1946. After he came back home, he worked in the Kolkhoz. After he ended his narration about the World War Two, we asked him if there was arrested somebody from their village. - If were arrested? Yes were arrested, but I forgot whom. Those who had land were counted as very rich. - Was this after You were taken to the army? - Before I was taken to the army. And then they took the rich ones, who had farms. The poor remained, only the rich were taken. But later they took everybody [laughs – A/N]. - After You came back from the army was there somebody arrested? - No. - In other villages the people told us about those who were taken to Donbass. - Here it was, but I can’t remember. - Did You remember, was this till You got to the army? - Yes, yes. This was till I got to the army. They took to Donbass. They took girls to Donbass. - And young men? - Young men also, but also a lot of girls they took. - Did You remember which month was it? Was it in summer? - It was summer, not winter. But I can’t remember which month. It was at sometime in September-October, these months of autumn. - Did you remember the name of the girls? - I don’t remember. If I wouldn’t be ill… - But in Donbass what did they do? - The people went there to gain money. - But did they desire to go or they were taken? -… - Somebody came back? - I don’t remember… They took girls from other regions.

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[It was difficult to maintain the discussion because he didn’t remember many things or simply passed to other aspects. After that he told us about his family, life during the Soviets and about the Church].

Porfir Sandulyak (91 years old). 11th of August 2012. Interviewers – M. Tarita and A. Mastyka. In the Romanian language. About the post-war years. [He was soldier in the Romanian Army and was demobilized in October 1944]. - In ‘45 we were under the Russian domination and some went to Donbass, but it was not voluntarily. They were forced to go to FZO,123 but FZO also was a specialized school. - Were You on the front, when they began to take to Donbass? - No, it was in ‘45. I was at home. When the war ended they took to Donbass and to FZO. How the guys were running and deserting! They caught them, forced them and carried them there. - Somebody came back home? - There are three, maybe they are still alive. But they became intelligent men after the courses at FZO. - Were there deported, “raised” in your village? - We had Simyon Zhitary and Vasile, his son. This was in’46-‘47-‘48. Before began the Kolkhoz, we had “edinolichniki” [rus. individualists] and they were rich. It could be said – “well-to-do men”. They had also mill and they were very proud and they didn’t subjugate. To them came to require hay for the state. But they were counter. They were taken and deported. They came back. They stayed there more time. - In which regions? - Somewhere in Kazakhstan, there, I don’t know where. But they [authorities – A/N], took his house and made there the headquarters of the leadership of Kolkhoz. But he made himself a small house, so very small. But his son got his house, because his wife remained home. 123

In Russian – ФЗО.

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- Only these two? - Those that were raised [“ridicat” in rom.] as You say… There are deportees in Mahala. You have to go to Mahala. There were a lot. Mahala, Boyan, Tsureny… [He made literary digressions. Showed us books of the stories he wrote. Among them, one had the title – “Life in the Soviet”. Spoke to us about the survival and about the victory of the religion and cross. I strongly would like that You put in that book also the Holy Cross. Look, this priest [from 1937-1940 – A/N] had two sons in Romania. They both died, young. They were born in our village. But he, this priest, also was a compositor. And when he came from Romania, he took the Holy Cross. And You know why?.. He taught us the song – „The abandoned Holy Cross, on the margin of a road. Your roof is deteriorating with the nowadays Christians...”. He sang so fine, in round dance... They [the Soviets – A/N] humiliated the churches – they made „skladuri” [rus. storehouses – A/N]... of different types they made. Here the post office was in the church, also in Noua Sulitsa. In Chernivtsy [the Iesuit Church – A/N] was made archive, “oblasnaya arhiva” [rus. archive of the region – A/N]. They did a lot of… made cattle-stables. They’ve done what they wanted from churches. They pulled down the crosses. But now, the crosses, the churches are renewed. The crosses are rising and shining to the sky. Do You understand? At the end we asked him about the relatives of those two persons deported from Malineshty and he told us – “the granddaughter is alive, but she is in Italy”. And at the question about those “raised” from Mahala and Boyan, he added the region of Hertsa – “there were many raised”].

Ostina Fedotovna Skripnik. 11th of August 2012. In the Romanian language. Short discussion by M. Tarita and A. Mastyka. We asked her if somebody was taken to Donbass. - From ours? From the locals? 105

- Yes. - One of my brothers was. - Is he still alive? - He lives, but not on this road, but on the other one, up. - He desired to go or he was taken? - He was taken, he was taken. - Did many from the village go? - Yes, yes. - And not all came back? - Some died. - They were paid something? - No. - But you don’t know, in the mine? - Not in the mine. In Donbass, the Donetsk region, but not in the mine. - We are writing about these post-war years. - Off… - It was hard everywhere. - We had to pass through different difficulties. With the war, we were little, the famine, difficulties of all types we had to pass through. But now we are old and that is. - Is there any other old house of this type in the village? - So, this house, I don’t know if it is some other house older than ours or not. But we are glad with this one we have. - May we make a photo, to introduce it into the book? - You may. - But what’s the name of Your brother? - Skripnik Vasile Fedotovich. - And there were many from Your village gone there? - There were, there were. Yes, there were. - May God protect You. - Good, thank You. - Goodbye. 106

IV.2 The Northern nowadays Republic of Moldova We hadn’t time to carry on a terrain research, in the Northern part of the Republic of Moldova. We made a short interview about how the architecture changed in this region.

Rodion Bogdan (60 years old, native from Shaptebany, the Ryshkany region (in the South of Edinets), the former county of Beltsy). October 2012. In the Romanian language. About house building. - How were the houses in Your childhood? - The houses were healthy, ecologic. Our houses had thatched roof or shingle cover. I lived in such a house, not with thatched roof, but with shingle roof. - When did such houses disappear? - They began to disappear between 1960 and 1970. It began the boom… they began to built with slate. If You had iron roof you were noble. - The Communism had any impact on house building? - They introduced the so-called Finnish houses. They gave You materials to build houses according to their projects. There was everything. After the Russian system – there were wood panels which you had to plaster up, then appeared the iron panels. It’s normal that things changed. They changed. Our houses were long and with porch of wood. In their place appeared the square houses. We also found some interesting materials at the Museum of the National Memory from Chisinau. This museum is a private initiative, and contains photos and materials brought by different people. The materials are not so clear systematized, but there could be found many less known data. We visited this museum on the 1st of December 2012. We saw several photos concerning the deported from the Northern part of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. The director of the institution gave the permission 107

to make photocopies. In the attachment â&#x201E;&#x2013; 4, the reader can see the photos of: - the Chyubotaru family (three persons Alexandru, Natalia and their son, Nikolaye) from Khlinaya, the Edinets region, in 1953 in the Kurgan region, the village of Chistoozerskoye. - Chyubotaru Ilaryon, from the same region, deported to the Kuybyshev region. - Alexandru Pripa from the village Pelinia, the Beltsy county, in 1956, at the tomb of his mother in Siberia, before he came back to Moldova.124

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There were also photos of families deported in 1941, which in the 1950s still were in Siberia. This is the case of Ekateryna Rotaruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family from the village of Tsarigrad, the Edinets region, and her three daughters who were sent to the Novosibirsk region. 108

Chapter V. The mainlines of the oral testimonies V.1 The Ukrainian villages Among the representants of the Ukrainian population from the Northern Bukovina, we have organized interviews in the villages of Toporivtsy and Luzhany, from the Chernivtsy region. These villages are mainly populated with Ukrainians. After the annexation to the USSR, the inhabitants of these villages have been exposed to the socio-economical transformations, that anticipated the establishment of the Soviet power and of the socialistic system. One of the tragical aspects of the coming changes, was the serial forced resettlement of the local population to the distant regions of the USSR. That is why, the important problems of these repressive forces were the solving of the socioeconomical contradictions (from the perspective of the Party). As a result, the Ukrainians from the Northern Bukovina found themselves under the impact of that form of repression. As we know from the words of those interviewed, beginning with 1940, the first victims of the resettlements were those who were from the â&#x20AC;&#x153;exploiting groupsâ&#x20AC;?, such as: merchants, gendarmes and other power representants from the previous system. Also were affected the well-to-do peasants, the so-called Kurkulis or Kulaks. Thus, after 1944 the representatives of the national armed groups and illegal organizations became the most targeted group for resettlements and repressions. These were the so-called banderists, those who helped the partisans and/or their relatives. Firstly, the banderist element wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so important in the studied question, at least, in the central areas of the Chernivtsy region. There are not so favourable conditions for the existence of the partisans, as in the Southern areas, which are more mountainous and afforested. The repressive measures of the new powers, directed to the elimination of the activity of the Ukrainian nationalists, were in connection with the repressions of the Ukrainian population in general. 109

The main amount of time for interview we have spent in the Toporivtsy village. This big Ukrainian village has deeply felt those changes, that the Soviet Union brought. We have had here two interviews with the inhabitants of the village, who have been the witnesses of those events and of the incoming changes. They also could render the existing atmosphere of those post-war years. We should emphasize, that in this case we deal with the representatives of the remembrance of two different generations. If the first interviewed, Danka Pirogova, at that time was a young woman, then the second interviewed, Petro Afanasiyovich, was a child. So that the last one told us about his childhood impressions and about his parents’ experience. This fact conveys his understanding of those events, especially in the question of his departure to the military service, to the Siberian regions. It was a result of the mistrust which existed in the ‘60s, towards the native population from that region and could also be a punishment in connection with the following generation of the Bukovina inhabitants. We also took two interviews concerning the deportation events from the ‘40s. One of this contains the remembering of Afanasiy Grigoriyvich Tryfonenko, who spent his childhood with his parents in special settlements for the deportees. He relates in details about the deportation reasons, connected with the dramatic fate of his elder brother - participant in UPA. Than he describes the deportation itself, to the Udmurtian ASSR in July 1945, the life in that labour settlements locations. The story is full of information about the people’s daily life, in the hard conditions of those locations, the relationships inside the village and the connections with the outside world. Also, he touches the question of the juridical and civil restrictions of the deported people, especially the judicial consequences and the influence of the deportation fact on the social position, after returning home. The narration of the second interviewed goes a little bit out of the line of the researched group. Maria Tsibulyak-Bondar was not deported, but accused by Court, for link with the nationalistic partisans (her husband was UPA’s member). She was condemned to camps. Though Maria’s story proved to be interesting enough and factual - she spent the imprisonment 110

time in different places and working in various correction institutions of the USSR. Her story is also rich in details, from the daily life of the inmates, the survival strategies in the camps and the conditions in prisons. Is also interesting the gender aspect in the survival, in the conditions of the repressive institutions. In the Luzhany village we have spoken to the local old man, Ivan Hrushka. This man kept the memory about the tragical events, connected to the people’s deportation and about the repressions beginning with 1940. If in 1940 to deportation have been taken the representatives from the local administration and from the former Romanian leadership, after 1944 the repressions took place according to the collectivization and fights with the banderist partisans. During the discussion the interviewed kindly showed us his newspapers articles. In one of them, he tells the story of one of the deported families, whom he has known well. We have considered necessary to introduce this article additionally to our research. It was written from the author’s words, in the shape of a sketch, about the destiny of a family from the Northern Bukovina, in the context of the historical events that have affected the village in the 1940s and have influenced his further life in a radical way. Additionally, we have introduced a short resume of the book of Teodor Antemiychuk - “The Norylsk camps. Memoirs”. He is native from the small village of Vernichyanka, that is located not far to the North of Chernivtsy. In this book, the author has showed us his vivid memories about the life of his village during the instauration of the Soviet power, and also his dramatical experience during the imprisonment in the Norilsk camps, those difficulties and the true terror, through which he passed. It is important to underline the fact that, in the case of these testimonies, the references to the religious life are rare. Especially, only Mariya Tsibulyak evoked the holiday of the Epiphany and the secret celebration organized by a group of old women.

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V.2 The Romanian-Moldovan villages In the case of the Romanian-Moldovan villages, the direct and indirect testimonies refer to Onega, to Donbass, to Siberia and to the processes linked with the Sovietisation, which took place in the post-war years. In the case of the Onega labour camp, we had the testimony of Nikulaye Skripkaryu, from Arboreny, who was taken in August 1944. He described the hard conditions in which they worked (and lived) and its tragic results. Being among those who survived, in January 1945 he was sent to Armenia. This second experience is described shorter and without many details. He was sent back home only in 1947. Complementary, we had indirect information about these labour camps from his wife, Domnika Vyntu, whose father was arrested, but without details. Among others, Yuri Maria from Mahala (in 1944 lived in Ostritsya), remembered that her father who had 49 years, was taken to Onega. From the villagers who came back, she heard that her father died later in Asia. Vasile Bota from Boyan, told us that his father was sent to Onega, but without any details and Eleonora Bizovi, remembered that the father of her future husband, having seven children, was arrested. He died at Onega. Here we can mention that our interviewed from the former Northern Bessarabia, the village of Dinautsy – Pintiley Kioresku and Porfir Sandulyak, didn’t tell us anything about Onega. They mainly referred to the deportations and the arrests for Donbass. All of the interviewed from Mahala, Boyan, Malineshty and Dinautsy, mentioned Donbass, as the place to where young people, especially girls, were taken after the war. As they remember, few of those taken to Donbass came back home. In the case of the two interviewed from Malineshty (Kioresku and Sandulyak), in the same discourse appear critical and some positive remarks. The interviewed from Mahala (Hostyuk, Mosoryuk and Yuri) and from Boyan (E. Bizovi and N. Bzovi) have painful remembering, as indirect witnesses of those taken to Donbass. Yuri remembered the case of a woman, whose house was demolished and she was taken to Donbass (Hostyuk said that – “arrested, not taken to Donbass”) and Hostyuk mentioned a girl, whose wedding was spoilt one Sunday and she was taken 112

to Donbass. It is important to specify here that Yuri completed – “they didn’t have the right to crush her house”. N. Bzovi from Boyan mentioned that his brother, Toader, was taken to Donbass to work in a mine. Also there were three attempts to arrest for Donbass, his brother-in-law, Ionel Bosovichy, but this one escaped every time. From these testimonies we can conclude that the people remember the young men and women, usually without families, who were taken to Donbass. About the deportation itself, the main testimony was that of Mosoryuk from Mahala. Her family was condemned to 20 years in 1941. After the war, her family came back and was sent for the second time in 1949. It is interesting to underline, that Mosoryuk stopped more on the moment of the deportation and the circumstances, and less on their experience in the Omsk region. It is also important that she mentioned people of other ethnicities, whom they met during the deportation – in her case, these were Russians, Jews and Estonians. E. Bizovi from Boyan, referred to the deported who came back but asked us, in the case of those who are still alive, not to search for them, because of their trauma. Sandulyak from Malineshty, mentioned two men deported from their village (but it is not clear if it was in 1941 or after 1944). The reason was that they didn’t want to enrol in the Kolkhoz. One of them lost his property, but the other had the wife who remained and came back to his own house. Sandulyak mentioned among the places from where many were deported – Boyan, Mahala, Tsureny, the former county of Hertsa. If to compare with the Ukrainian testimonies, in the case of the Romanians (the former Northern Bukovina) and the Moldovans (the Northern part of the former Khotyn county), there appear two differences. The Ukrainians mention precisely the names of the persons involved in their trials, in deportations or in the collaboration with the Soviet power. On the other hand, the religious references are rare for the Ukrainians. In the case of the Romanians, religion is very present as point of reference. Skripkaryu from Arboreny, concludes before the end of his testimony – “May God not give even to the whelp of a snake, to return those times with such sufferings and difficulties”. Mosoryuk from Mahala, pointed out that they were taken 113

during a Christian holiday. Kioresku from Malineshty, said prayers during the interview. Sandulyak from the same village, remembered about the closing of the churches and also a Romanian poem – “The cross”. E. Bizovi from Boyan, referred to the churches from the village and to the Christian customs and traditions. We can also point out that in the discourse of the representatives of these rural communities, there is a lack of information about the other ethnical groups. The Ukrainians didn’t refer to the Romanians in their testimonies and the Romanians and Moldovans, didn’t remember anything about the Ukrainians. An exception was the remembering of E. Bizovi from Boyan, who mentioned the Poles and the Ukrainians, who participated with the Romanians from Boyan, at the religious ceremonies during the Soviet time. In the discourse of the interviewed from all the visited villages, the Mayoralty is perceived as an institution which had repressive meaning. In Toporivtsy, the activity of the authorities was supported on the “striboks” (marksmen – A/N), who helped to arrest people. In Boyan and in other Romanian villages, are mentioned the so-called axe-handles (rom. “cozi de topor”), who were the local inhabitants who helped in arresting or betrayed their co-villagers. At the question who came for them or for those taken, the interviewed from the Romanian villages are not precise if these were militia troops or soldiers. As an exception, Mosoryuk from Mahala, specified that for her family came two militias. Those deported were transferred mainly to Sad-Hora/Sadagura rail station, near Chernivtsy, where they could wait till one week for the completion of the echelon. The same Mosoryuk and also Yuri, remembered that the guards had also big dogs. Also appears another rail station name – Noua Sulitsa/Novoselitsya. The witnesses also indicate that the process of taking to Donbass, was a brutal one. In the case of the Ukrainian villages, appears also the information about the NKVD’s car, which travelled by night – the “black raven”. Those who were judged were taken to Chernivtsy. This process is described in details by Tsibulyak. 114

The greatest part of the interviewed also referred to the enrolment in the Kolkhoz and the process of collectivization. One substantial difference between the discourse of the two different ethnical communities from the Northern Bukovina, the Ukrainian and the Romanian, is determined by the existence of the partisan movement. The UPA groups were formed by the Ukrainians and had support in the middle of the Ukrainian villages. The interviewed, except Tsibulyak from Toporivtsy, who was in touch with such a group, have neutral opinion on this topic. The subject was painful for A. Tryfonenko, because his brother was killed being UPA rebel in 1945, being twenty years old. It also was painful for Hrushka, because his sister-in-law was investigated for nine months and his sister was taken for 10 years to labour camps. The witnesses from the seven villages we had interviewed in the fourth chapter, show that the arrival of the Soviet power broke the world in which the villagers were accustomed to live. In 1944 the first victims were the young men. A part of them was taken to the Onega labour camp – the case of the Romanian villages (e.g. Arboreny, Boyan, Mahala). Other young men were taken to Donbass, after the war. This second phenomena referred to all the villages – Northern Bukovina’s Ukrainian and Romanian ones, and also from the Northern part of the former Khotyn county. There were also cases of deportation from the Romanian and the Ukrainian villages. The witnesses from Toporivtsy show the existence of such a wave in summer 1945. There also existed such cases, as those of the Mosoryuk’s family, which was deported for the second time. The new regime also changed the traditional order based on the religious beliefs and on traditional culture. E. Bizovi mentioned that in their village only one church remained functional, and to the Romanians, there besides came the Ukrainians and the Poles. The importance of the customs and their survival in the face of the Sovietisation, was proved by some of the interviewed with post-war photos, in which they dressed the traditional clothes. On the other hand, the impact also existed in architecture. We had no time to develop this direction in our research. Here we can mainly refer to the interview with E. Bizovi and R. Bogdan. In attachments we have 115

several photos, which show how the traditional houses in the region looked and in some places they still could be seen. With all the challenges from the post-war period, after our trips during which we took the interviews and got many pictures, we can conclude that the rural communities of this neighbouring region had preserved a considerable part of their strong traditional culture and their local peculiarities.

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Conclusions The topic of the deportations in the Chernivtsy region, in the Ukrainian language, appeared on the pages of the regional newspapers together with the writing on similar historical issues in 1989-1990. This was a spectrum of problems which shows the ambiguous nature and the problematic perception of the society: the Ukrainian nationalism during WWII and their fighting against the newly-established power after the war, the Greco-Catholic Church and its role in the Ukrainian society, the Cossacks and their role in the historical memory of the Ukrainians, the role and the place in history of different Ukrainian national activists, etc. The topic of the deportations and of the victims of the Stalinist age didn’t have a central place in redefining the Ukrainian identity and the historical conception at that moment. On the other hand, the Romanian language newspaper “Zorile Bukoviney”, from Chernivtsy, reflected the destiny of its inhabitants in the context of the rehabilitation of the victims of the Stalinism. On the agenda were the most traumatic events – the commemoration of the massacre from Fyntyna Albe (Byala Krynitsa) on the 1st of April 1941, the deportation from the 13th-15th of June 1941, the forced labour at Onega and also in Donbass, the famine, the forced collectivization and others. Here it is important to mention, that the articles referred mainly to the former Northern Bukovina, the readers from the Moldovan villages being less active. In the Moldovan SSR, during the same period, grew the general interest for the restoration of the unknown pages of history. On the 6th of July 1989, the entire Republic had to commemorate the victims of the deportation from the 6th of July 1949. This tendency existed for some years in the capital, but in the regions, especially the Northern part, this interest in the press was short. Here it is important to mention that the interest in Chisinau was greater than in Chernivtsy, but if to compare the Norhern Moldova with the Chernivtsy region, the image changes. On the other hand, the Chernivtsy region wasn’t homogenous. It remains very important the 117

fact that, “Zorile Bukoviney” published several memories and testimonies of the victims. Finally, it is clear that the inhabitants of the whole Chernivtsy region were much more active in the remembering policy, than those from the Northern part of Moldova. Concerning the scientific literature of the subject, the situation is again less homogenous. This topic is not reflected so much in the Ukrainian historiography. Nowadays, this topic is mainly studied from the perspective of the fight of the Ukrainian nationalists against the Soviet power. The Soviets responded with ferocity, deporting the families of those who were in the armed movement and those who supported their activity. That’s why in the historiography, the region of Chernivtsy is analyzed as one of the regions of activity of OUN and UPA. For us this literature has a general character, reporting to the events which we selected for study. This perspective excludes or diminishes some important specificities of the region – the position near the political border of the USSR, recent incorporation in the USSR, the existence of the considerable elements of the Romanian inter-war regime, the existence of a considerable Romanian ethnic group, the objectives of the class fight and the process of collectivization. Also the authors ignore such specific treasures of the region as the conservatism and traditionalism of the local people, who didn’t have any historical tendencies or feelings, towards the Russian statehood or towards the socialist ideas. It is hard to say that it exists a pure scientific historiography in the Romanian language, in the Chernivtsy region (because maybe of the provincialism), but the journalists and the writers, even the simple inhabitants, began to write actively from 1989. Very important are the histories of the villages, which contain the rememberings (it’s true that in a short form) of those who were taken to forced labour at the Onega camp or in Donbass, or were deported to Siberia. In this second case, it is important to mention, that the Romanians from Bukovina were more active than the Ukrainians. But here complementary, could be made the remark that this activeness is belonging dominantly to the former Northern Bukovina, the local intellectuals from the former Northern Bessarabia are passive. 118

In the same context, in Chisinau, appeared several books based on the statistic data from the Moldovan and the Russian archives. Also exist several opinions on the subject, some of them trying to diminish the tragedy of the second part of the 1940s. In fact, this is a result of the difference of the official/positivist history and what the simple men felt. The official documents and historiography mainly don’t operate with emotions and perceptions. For example, 29 men deported from Markautsy in 1949, in archives are a statistical number. In reality this was a tragedy for 29 men, for their relatives, their values, their lives. It remains a task for the future, a history through the testimonies of the deported. We can underline that in the case of the historiography from Chisinau, an important achievement was the Catalogue of victims from Moldova, by their village. On the other hand, in the Northern regions of Moldova, the local intellectuals were passive in comparison with those from the Chernivtsy region. Here didn’t appear monographs of the villages with testimonies of the deported. The archive materials from the Chernivtsy region, show that at the moment when the deportations were conducted, there was a certain psychological background. Then, the different forms of migration and resettlement became a usual occurrence and deportations and repatriations, were deemed to be a measure necessitated by the result of the war, and an unavoidable outcome of that war (from the perspective of the documents). It should be kept in mind, that the movement of different groups of population was often conducted by force and was militarized, that is, they were conducted with the presence and the participation of members of the army or special unities. In the case of the Northern Moldova, the analysis of the documents and of the press revealed how the fight against the Kulaks was directed. In the case of Moldova it didn’t exist such phenomena, as forced labour at Onega or in Donbass. The young inhabitants mainly fought in the Red Army. The Party’s regional documents show that the Kulaks were identified, but behind the closed doors, as enemies only in the last part of 1945. In the public discourse, the accusations towards the Kulaks appear clear during the 119

summer of 1948. And finally, the discourse of the CC Secretary, N. Koval, showed the green light for the offensive on the Kulaks and for the forced collectivization. After the deportation from the 6th of July 1949, the Kulaks disappeared from the public discourses. The interviews we took in several villages from the Chernivtsy region, show the attachment of the villagers to the traditional rural order (which disappeared in time), where the religion and individualism played a central role. This is a specific treasure to the Ukrainian, the Romanian and the Moldovan (Northern Bessarabia) peasants. The Soviet power was a shock for them. From one side the policies â&#x20AC;&#x201C; such as the collectivization and the forced contributions, were breaking the traditional order. On the other hand, the brutality of the authorities, in taking people to forced labour to Onega or to Donbass, created a deep precipice between the villagers and the Soviet power. Here it is important to mention a difference. As the interviews and memories show, for the Ukrainians, even if they were not participating at this, the armed movement was something normal. In the case of the Romanians and the Moldovans, especially in those villages where people were deported or sent to forced labour, it was an apparent acceptance of the system â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in fact formal. This is also confirmed by the media and by the discourses of the simple men, and by the letters after January 1989. They had shown the greatest activeness in remembrance for the Romanian communities, in comparison with the Ukrainian communities or the regions of the Northern Moldova. We can also point out that in the discourse of the representatives of these rural communities, there is a lack of information about the other ethnical groups. The main problem for the future researches, remains the fact that with every year the number of the witnesses diminishes. The Chernivtsy region and the regions from the Northern Moldova, are still waiting for a book about their destinies from the second part of the 1940s. This book should not be written from the positivist perspective, but having the experience of the remembrance, as point of departure. 120

Finally we would like to underline, that beside the introductory character of the first three chapters and the conclusions we made, the reader could pay attention by himself to the interviews from the fourth chapter, which are the most important part of this book, due to that how the post-war period is remembered, in the case of at least seven villages of the nowadays Chernivtsy region.

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подпольем на Западной Украине, в Западной Белоруссии и Прибалтике (1939-1956), Москва, 2008, 370 c. 11. Земсков В. Н., Спецпоселенцы в СССР. 1930-1960, Москва, Наука, 2005, 306 c. 12. Пасат В. И., Трудные страницы истории Молдовы 1940-1950 гг., Москва, ТЕРРА, 1994, 800 с. 13. Полян П. М., Не по своей воле… История и география принудительных миграций в СССР. Москва, О.Г.И – Мемориал, 2001, 328 c. 14. Царанов В. И., Операция «ЮГ» (О судьбе зажиточного крестьянства Молдавии), Кишинев, Академия Наук Молдовы, 1998, 104 с. C) – Newspapers I. Printed in Moldova: 1. “Mолдова Сочиалистэ” (Chisinau), the numbers from 1946-1949, 1989-1990. 2. “Советская Молдавия” (Chisinau), the numbers from 1946-1949, April-July 1989. 3. “Бируинца Сочиалисмулуй” (Bricheny), the numbers from JulySeptember 1949. 4. “Вяца Ноуэ” (Bricheny), the numbers from July 1989, July 1990. 5. “Литература ши Арта”/ “Literatura şi Arta” (Chişinău, weekly), the numbers from April-July 1989. II. Printed in Ukraine: 6. “Радяньска Буковина” (Chernivtsy), the numbers from 19461949, 1989-1991. 7. “Буковинське Вiче” (Chernivtsy), the numbers from 1990-1991. 8. “Зориле Буковиней” (Chernivtsy), the numbers from 1946-1949, 1989-1990, 1992.

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The list of the interviewed A. By village I. The village of Arboreny (Gรกy) 1. Skripkaryu Nikulaye, son of Ion (87 years old). Was at the labour camp at Onega and in Armenia. 2. Vyntu-Skipkaryu Domnika (daughter of Toader). Her father died at the Onega labour camp. II. The village of Boyan 1. Bizovi Eleonora (80 years old). The father of her husband died at the Onega labour camp. 2. Bota Vasile (62 years old). His father was at the Onega labour camp. 3. Bzovi Nikolaye Shtefan (67 years old). His father died at the Onega labour camp. III. The village of Dinautsy 1. Skripnik Ostina. Her brother was taken to Donbass. IV. The village of Luzhany-Mamaevtsy 1. Hrushka Ivan (85 years old). V. The village of Mahala 1. Hostyuk Domnika Semionovna (85 years old). Deported for five years in 1941. 2. Mosoryuk Magdalina of Ion (84 years old). Deported in 1941 and in 1949 to the Omsk region. 3. Yuri Maria Vasilievna (83 years old). Her father was taken to the Onega labour camp and after that transferred to Asia, where he died. VI. The village of Malineshty (Malinivka) 1. Kioresku Pintiley (91 years old). Was soldier in the Red Army in 19441946. 2. Kupriashin Evgeniy (88 years old). Came to Malineshty after the war. 3. Sandulyak Porfir (91 years old). Was soldier in the Romanian Army till autumn 1944. 124

VII. The village of Toporivtsy 1. Afanasiyovich Petro (82 years old). 2. Pirogova Danka (86 years old). 3. Tryfonenko Afanasiy Grigoriyvich (72 years old). Spent his childhood in Kilmets, the Udmurtian Autonomous SSR. 4. Tsibulyak-Bondar Maria (86 years old). Condemned to 10 years of work in labour camps. B. By name and surname Afanasiyovich Petro (82 years old), Toporivtsy. Bizovi Eleonora (80 years old), Boyan. Bogdan Rodion (60 years old), Chisinau, native from Shaptebany. Bota Vasile (62 years old), Boyan. Bzovi Nikolaye Shtefan (67 years old), Boyan. Kioresku Pintiley (91 years old), Malineshty (Malinivka). Hostyuk Domnika Semionovna (85 years old), Mahala. Hrushka Ivan (85 years old), Luzhany. Kupriashin Evgeniy (88 years old), Malineshty (Malinivka). Mosoryuk Magdalina of Ion (84 years old), Mahala. Pirogova Danka (86 years old), Toporivtsy. Sandulyak Porfir (91 years old), Malineshty (Malinivka). Skripkaryu Nikulaye of Ion (87 years old), Arboreny (Gรกy). Skripnik Ostina Fedotovna, Dinautsy. Tryfonenko Afanasiy Grigoriyich (72 years old), Toporivtsy. Tsibulyak-Bondar Maria (86 years old), Toporivtsy. Vyntu-Skipkaryu Domnika (daughter of Toader), Arboreny (Gรกy), native from the disappeared village of Buchy. Yuri Maria Vasilievna (83 years old), Mahala, native from Ostritsya.

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Glossary I. Organizations, institutions, phenomena Banderists – persons belonging to UPA, their collaborators or relatives, or simply persons accused of this. Donbass – region in the Eastern part of Ukraine used for forcible resettlement in the late 30s and during the 40s. FZO (rus.) – the abbreviation of школы Фабрично-Заводского обучения. “Inkriminarye” – term used in the former Soviet Union to refer to the initial place of detention for all the incoming inmates in prison, quarantine. Kolkhoz (rus.)/ Kolhosp (ukr.)/ Colhoz (rom.) – collective households promoted forcibly by the Soviet regime. “Onega” – in the memory of the Romanians from the Northern Bukovina, the place where were taken for forced labour the young men in August 1944. OUN (ukr.) – the abbreviation of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Ounists – persons belonging to OUN, their collaborators or relatives, or simple persons accused of this. Raykom (rus.) – district (raion) Committee of the Communist Party. Selkhoz (rus.) – village’s household. UPA (ukr.) – the abbreviation of the Ukrainian Insurgent/Rebel Army. II. Notions “Axe handles” (rom. “cozi de topor”) – the name given in the Romanian North-Bukovinian villages to those who cooperated with the Soviet authorities in deporting, repressing or collectivization processes. “Chorniy voron” (ukr.) – the black raven, car of the NKVD. Edinolichniki (rus.) – individualists. Kurkul (ukr.)/ Kulak (rus.)/ Chiabur (rom.) – Kulak. Osobnyaki (rus., ukr.) – individualists, richer peasants. Stribok (ukr.) – marksman, in fact some kind of militia, guard or watchman in the villages of the Northern Bukovina in the post-war years. „Zona” (rus.) – (eng. quod) criminal argot reffering to all the prisons.

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ZUSAMMENFASSUNG In dieser Broschüre sind die Ergebnisse der Forschung im Rahmen des Projekts „Deportationen aus den Nachbargebieten: Tscherniwetska oblast (Ukraine) in 1944-1953 und Britschany, Oknytsya und Yedynets (Moldawien) in 1949-1951“ dargestellt. Das Projekt wurde im Rahmen der Geschichtswerkstatt Europa durchgeführt. Dies ist ein Programm der Stiftung „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft“, welches vom Institut für angewandte Geschichte unterstützt wurde. Die Forschung vor Ort erfolgte im April und September 2012. Die Interviews mit Opfern von Deportationen oder Zwangsarbeit, ihren Familienangehörigen und Nachbarn wurden in den Dörfern Luschany, Toporiwzi, Bojan, Buda-Mahala, Arboreny (Haj), Horbowa, Malyniwka, Dyniwzi und Dranyzja durchgeführt. Dazu haben die Forscher die Dörfer Herza und Britschany sowie das Historisches und das Ethnographisches Museum in Tschernowitz besucht. Außer Interviews wurden einige Dokumente aus dem Staatsarchiv des Tschernowitzer Gebiet und des Archivs der sozialpolitischen Organisationen in Chişinău analysiert. Die Broschüre besteht aus fünf Kapiteln. Im ersten Abschnitt wird das Thema der Pressemitteilungen über die Deportationen in den Jahren 1989-1992 behandelt. Solche Informationen konnten nach der Entscheidung der Kommunistischen Partei der Sowjetunion vom 5. Januar 1989 als Rehabilitation veröffentlicht werden. Im zweiten Kapitel haben sich die Autoren mit der Problematik der Deportationen nach dem Zerfall der Sowjetunion in der Forschung auseinandergesetzt. Die Lebenswirklichkeit der Landbevölkerung wird auf Grund der Presseund Archivmaterialien aus den Jahren 1944-1949 in dritten Abschnitt beschrieben. Das vierte Kapitel enthält mündliche Aussagen der Bewohner aus obengenannten Dörfern. Die Mitteilungen erläutern die Arbeit am Fluss Onega, im Donbass und Sibirien. Zuletzt werden ausgewählte Materialen aus dem beiden Regionen verglichen. Eine Reihe von Anhängen mit Fotos der Mahnmäler der Opfer der stalinistischen Repressionen, der alten Häuser, die Kopien der Dokumente und die Zusammenfassung eines Buches und eines Artikels über die Deportationen im Tschernowitz Gebiet schließt die Forschung ab.

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РЕЗЮМЕ (укр.) В даній праці представлені результати досліджень в рамках проекту „Депортації з сусідніх регіонів – Чернівецької області (Україна) в 1944-1953 рр. і Брічан, Окниці та Єдинець (Молдова) в 1949-1951 рр”. Проект підтриманий Institut für angewandte Geschichte в рамках програми Geschichtswerkstatt Europa (Фонд „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft”). Дослідження на місцях проводилося в квітні і серпні 2012 р. Інтерв’ю з постраждалими внаслідок депортацій або примусової праці і/або з їх родичами або односільчанами проводилися у селах – Лужани, Топорівці, Буда-Махала, Бояни, Арбурени, Хорбова, Малинешть, Динеуць і Драниця. Ще були виїзди в Герцу і Брічани, а у Чернівцях ми відвідали Історичний і Етнографічний музеї. Крім інтерв’ю, ми вивчили деякі документи Державного архіву Чернівецької області і Архіву Соціал-Політичних організацій з Кишинева. Книга містить п’ять параграфів. Перші чотири мають бінарну структуру – частина стосується Чернівецької області, а друга частина стосується північної частини Молдови. В першому параграфі ми зупинились на появі теми депортацій в чернівецькій і кишинівській пресі у 1989-1902 рр., в контексті нової хвилі реабілітації, що почалася після рішення ЦК КП Радянського Союзу 5 січня 1989 р. У другому параграфі ми зупинилися на дослідженнях, присвячених проблемі депортацій після розпаду РССР. Третій параграф пов'язаний з образом сільських реалій, таким як він описаний у матеріалах преси і архівів у 1944-1949 (у поняттях, що використовувались у той час). Четвертий параграф містить усні свідчення жителів вище вказаних сіл, пов’язаних з роботою на Онезі, на Донбасі і/або депортацією в Сибір. У п’ятому параграфі зроблено порівняння зібраного матеріалу по двох регіонах, які були вибрані для дослідження. У кінці роботи є ряд додатків з фотографіями пям’ятників жертвам сталінських репресій, хат старого типу, копії деяких документів і резюме одної книги про депортації з Чернівецької області.

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REZUMAT În acest studiu sunt prezentate rezultatele cercetărilor din cadrul proiectului „Deportările din regiunile vecine ale Cernăuţiului (Ucraina) în anii 1944-1953 şi ale raioanelor Briceni, Ocniţa şi Edineţ (Moldova) în anii 1949-1951”. Proiectul a fost realizat în cadrul programului Geschichtswerkstatt Europa al Fundaţiei „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft”, susţinut de Institut für angewandte Geschichte. Cercetările au fost desfăşurate în teren in lunile aprilie şi august 2012. Interviurile cu cei care au suferit de pe urma deportărilor sau muncii forţate şi/sau cu rudele sau consătenii lor, au fost luate în satele Lujeni, Toporăuţi, Buda, Mahala, Boian, Arbureni, Horbova, Malineşti, Dinăuţi şi Draniţa. Am mai avut deplasări la Herţa şi Briceni, iar la Cernăuţi am vizitat Muzeul de Istorie şi Muzeul de Etnografie. Pe lîngă cercetarea de teren, au fost studiate unele documente de la Arhiva de Stat a Regiunii Cernăuţi şi de la Arhiva Organizaţiilor Social-Politice din Chişinău. Studiul este structurat în cinci capitole. Primele patru capitole au o structură binară – o parte este dedicată regiunii Cernăuţi, iar a doua parte nordului Moldovei. În primul capitol am atras atenţia asupra apariţiei subiectului deportărilor în presa cernăuţeană şi de la Chişinău în anii 1989-1992, în contextul noului val de reabilitări ce a avut loc după decizia din 5 ianuarie 1989 a CC al PC al Uniunii Sovietice. În al doilea capitol ne-am oprit asupra cercetărilor ştiinţifice dedicate problemei deportărilor după destrămarea URSS. Capitol al treilea se referă la imaginea lumii rurale după cum aceasta se desprinde din materialele de presă şi de arhivă din anii 1944-1949 (sintagmele cu care se opera). Capitolul al patrulea cuprinde mărturii orale ale locuitorilor din satele menţionate mai sus cu privire la munca forţată la Onega, luarea la muncă forţată în Donbas şi/sau la deportarea în Siberia. În al cincilea capitol este făcută o comparaţie a materialelor acumulate privind cele două regiuni selectate pentru studiu. La sfîrşitul lucrării este anexat un şir de imagini a monumentelor victimelor represiunilor staliniste, caselor de tip vechi, fotografii ale intervievaţilor, copii ale unor documente şi rezumatul unei cărţi ucrainene privind deportările din regiunea Cernăuţi.

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РЕЗЮМЕ (рус.) В данной работе представлены результаты исследований в рамках проэкта „Депортации с соседстующих регионов Черновцов (Украина) в 19441953 гг и Бричан, Окницы и Единец (Moлдова) в 1949-1951 гг”. Проект поддержан Institut für angewandte Geschichte в рамках программы Фонда „Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft” Geschichtswerkstatt Europa. Исследования на месте проводились в апреле и в августе 2012 г. Интервью с теми кто пострадали от депортаций или принудительных работ и/или с их родстенниками или односельчанами проводились в селах – Лужаны, Топоровцы, Буда-Махала, Боян, Арбурены, Хорбова, Малинешть, Динэуць и Драница. Еще были сделаны отдельные выезды в Герцу и Бричаны, а в Черновцах мы посетили Исторический Музей и Этнографический Музей. Помимо интервью, нами были изучены некоторые документы Государственного Архива Черновицкой области и Архива СоциалПолитических Организаций из Кишинева. Исследование включает пять глав. Первые четыре имеют бинарную структуру – одна часть относиться к Черновицкой области, а другая часть к северным районам Молдавии. В первой главе мы остановились на появлении темы депортаций в черновицкой и кишиневской прессе в 1989-1992 гг., в контексте новой волны реабилитаций, которые начались после решения ЦК КП Советского Союза 5 января 1989 г. Во второй главе мы остановились на исследоваиях посвященных проблеме депортаций после распада СССР. Третья глава связана с образом социалистической реальности на селе, так как она проявляется в материалах прессы и архивных данных в 1944-1949 (понятия которые использовались). Четвертая глава содержит устные свидетельства жителей выше отмеченых сел в связи с посильным трудом в Онеге, на Донбассе и/или депортацией в Сибирь. В пятой главе сделано сравнение собранного материала по двум регионам выбранных для исследования. В конце работы есть ряд приложений с фотографиями памятников жертвам сталинских репрессий, домов старого типа и резюме книгивоспоминания украинского автора о депортации с Черновицкой области.

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The list of the attachments 1. “The Norylsk camps. Memoirs” by Teodor Antemiychuk (abstract written by M. Lopata) - 172. 2. Visits to Hertsa and Horbova (pieces of diary, M. Tarita) - 182. 3. Copies of documents from the ASPORM Chisinau, concerning the administration of the Lipkany town - 184. 4. Photos of the deported from the Edinets region - 186. 5. Images of the peasants and of the Kolkhoz from the Chernivtsy’s Bolshevik press after the World War II - 188. 6. Photos from Dranitsya (Negrintsy) - 193. 7. Photos of Afanasiy Tryfonenko. “Childhood in the special settlement. Izhevsk – Kilmets. Udmurtian ASSR” - 195. 8. Photos from Luzhany - 201. 9. Photos from Toporivtsy - 202. 10. Photos from Buda and Mahala - 203. 11. Photos from Boyan - 205. 12. Photos from Gáy (Arboreny) - 209. 13. Photos from Hertsa - 210. 14. Photos from Horbova - 211. 15. Photos from Malineshty and Dinautsy - 213. 16. Books referring to the Chernivtsy region - 215. 17. The former Khotyn county in winter (14th-19th of February 2012) 216.

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ATTACHMENT № 1.

“The Norylsk camps. Memoirs”125 by Teodor Antemiychuk M. Lopata The author was born in 1929, in the family of countryside intellectuals in Vernychanka village at the East from Chernivtsy. They were not so rich; however they had a big house, enough fields and a big garden. Also they had a big barn near the house. He was the youngest in the large family - two sisters, which got married, and two elder brothers. Their father, Vasyl Antemiychuk, has graduated the Chernivtsy University, where he was taught by one of the most prominent Ukrainian composers – Mykola Lysenko. He had a large library at home and he was keen on reading the books and the newspapers. His mother also had high education, but she was not so much interested in reading. Their relatives took care of them and dreamed that the children would be studying one day at universities abroad. The Red Army has invaded the Bukovina region on the 28th of June 1940 and occupied it. The people indeed greeted this army. From the first days, the Soviets have organized meetings and demonstrations. Stalin’s propagandists glorified the Soviet system. The lands of the local landowners were divided among the people, as also other goods, that were later delivered to the collective farms (ukr. “Kolhosp”). The poor have risen, considering they would be given lands. Soon the deportations to Siberia have been started. Their family was aware of the deportations, but they didn’t pay that much attention to it, until the Soviets arrived and their neighbours were deported. Almost all of them never returned to their native land. Thus, on a restless morning they have heard very sad news - that during that night people were deported. The former mayor of the village, Hryhoriy Masovych, was arrested and the mayor of the village’s Council, Dmytro Vaskan. The latter was a supporter of the Soviet authority. It was typical that Masovych was deported alone, without his wife and children, but Vaskan was deported 125

Теодор Антемiйчук, Норильски спогади. Табирник – 058 (спогади), Забвже, Польща, 1981, 254 с. The book was edited once again in 2002. 132

with the entire family (his wife and two small children). Vaskan once fought against the Romanian power and propagated the Communist paradise. Suddenly he became a sacrificed of the Soviet regime. My father lost a huge part of the field. He could not resign himself with such a loss. But the sSoviets did not touch our home and garden. The parents of the author also thought they would be deported to the East, but suddenly and unexpectedly, one day, when they looked out, they saw two aircrafts with dark crosses flying to the Chernivtsy side. So they found out that Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The first whom they saw were not the Germans or the Romanians, but the Hungarians. Their land didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t experienced hard battles, because the frontline was Easterner and Northerner. Afterwards, the Romanian power was established and the Romanian administration returned with the former rules, many of the inhabitants met the Romanian return with relief, because they hoped that the repressions came to an end. In 1944 when the Soviets returned, the population did not welcome the â&#x20AC;&#x153;liberatorsâ&#x20AC;?, as in 1940. They noticed that the incoming army had no military discipline. The youngest by rank, disobeyed the elder, and it happened that some mayor listened to lieutenant orders. It was enough disagreement and especially when vodka occurred, in result there were many fights among the soldiers. The author remembers that when the soldiers were drunk, they started to fight also at their home. One officer took out a grenade and wanted to explode it, but one soldier left the house and shot with the gun into the air. They liked vodka very much. Many of them exchanged their coats and jackets for a piece of bacon, but for spirit or vodka, they were ready to give their last shirt. This fact led to disorganization inside the army. Once, near their house, walked two drunken soldiers, who sang songs. One of them took out a grenade, but it clung and exploded. One of the soldiers was ruptured in many pieces, the other was very injured. When the Soviet Army arrived in the region, the new authority was reestablished. There were established new obligations for the population: to build new roads, to prepare the wood in forests, to build a new airfield. All these people worked without any benefits under the guise of public duties. 133

At the beginning, the administration made a census of all males that could hold weapons and could be conscripted to the army. The general mobilization has begun. All males from 18 to 55 years old were conscripted. The author remembers that day, when all locals gathered near the village Council. It happened at the end of April 1944. The convoy waited and made large lines of people. All of them were resettled to Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia. The Soviet regime prepared them to fight on the frontlines. In Krasnoyarsk, the political leaders checked the newly arrived soldiers – they asked them about their origin, profession, about their dads, mothers and so on. Some were arrested and judged on the spot, usually to 10 years in the labour camps, accused of the so-called “Ukrainian nationalism”. At that time, in Bukovina didn’t exist a strong Ukrainian organization, which could fight openly with the Soviet authorities. But for the Soviet authority, the fact that someone belonged to some sport circle, sang songs or merely read Ukrainian literature, was sufficient to accuse of “High Treason”. The selfidentification with an exact nation, was very often called in the Soviet Union - “nationalism”, this was the worst enemy of the state. His father lost his field for the second time, as in 1940. Firstly, he thought that it will be not so easily for him to consider that the Soviet power never returns and he decided to retake the “state” property. The main power in the village remained the Land Council, where the decisive role was played by the village mayor. He implemented in life the orders of the regional administration, with the assistance of the appropriate forces of the State Secretariat of Internal Affairs. The whole village was divided in many districts and micro-districts, where meanwhile appeared the foremen, who forced the people to fulfill “public works”. In 1946 in Bukovina it was a droughty year. Until the moment when the population had reserves from the Nazi times, they had a chance to survive. Under the new power, which imposed new and new duties, all the cellars became empty, and in Bukovina came the famine, that started in Bessarabia. From Bessarabia came ragged and hungry people, old and young people, who filled the Bukovinian lands. They walked from house to house, bringing carpets, towels, shawls, canvas, to exchange them for bread. These 134

masses advanced to the west to Galitsia, where nobody experienced the hunger yet. Behind those chains of hungry people, came a new illness – Typhus, which killed some of the author’s neighbours. His mother was also ill, but she recovered. In such circumstances, the open partisan movement of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army erupted. The letters and the manifests, with the appeal to fight, appeared a few times. There were held attacks on the high Party leaders from Bukovina. In September 1946, the author entered to the Chernivtsy Pedagogic College, where he learned till the summer of 1947. In September 1947, one Saturday, he returned from the college at home, to see his parents. The parents were very glad to see the family together, with the exception of his eldest brother, Vasyl. Suddenly, to their house arrived a military truck and some unknown men approached. Among them, they saw his former classmate Petro. Together with him went some men in NKVD uniforms. They entered and ordered to get ready for a faraway travel. The parents understood that the situation was very bad and were agitated. The author, his brother Ananiy and their cousin Hryhoriy, were delivered to the village’s Council, afterwards, they brought them to the huge prison from Chernivtsy. There, they suffered during four months. They were divided into different cells, to prevent the communication between them. The author remembered the moment when NKVD demanded confessions that he belonged to the movement for independence. They asked him information about the Insurgent Army. They brought him to a half dark room, where he met the investigator. After he rejected all the accusations, NKVD agents attacked him and struck him with all the power they had. But he didn’t confess and didn’t confirm the accusations. They applied different methods of torture, starting with wallopings and finishing with pushing the fingers in the door. Very often, the investigators were changing from night to night and the investigation was held mainly at night. But they didn’t succeed in imposing him to confirm the allegations and to sign any protocols. Then, he was delivered to another prison. He got into a cell with simple householders from the surrounding villages. They were arrested because they wasted the render bread for the state. In all Bukovina was in force the law about - “First 135

bread – for the state”, and when someone delivered the bread later or could not fulfill the state quota, he was arrested and judged. He met the new year of 1948 in the prison. Afterwards, he was removed to a special prison controlled by NKVD, where mainly the political prisoners were taken. They were considered as the most dangerous for the Soviet regime. He heard that with wallopings into the wall and finishing with pushing the fingers in the door, they conducted other cruel investigations. They came to the family which had complaints, came in confidence, challenged to frank conversations and then arrested them with all the evident consequences. One day, they delivered him to the military tribunal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the Chernivtsy region. There he met his brother Ananiy and his cousin Hryhoriy. It was a closed process. From the first day it was evident that the judges could not judge them quickly, because they denied all the allegations and their confessions contradicted with the accusations. Except the defendants, in the trial were represented also the witnesses. All the allegations were decisively rejected. The young men requested the judge to read their claims, but he didn’t hurry to look inside the documents he had on the desk. The case became more complicated, as it seemed for the judges in the beginning of the trial. The accused told explicitly about the methods that were applied to them and in what ways the investigators drew the confessions, how they were tortured and how they were beaten. On the next day the mutual accusation had started. The judges proved that during the investigation nobody was beaten, that it was incredible and that the accusations brought against the state officials had no basis. The author tried to prove that he was beaten and had witnesses, but the tribunal didn’t pay attention to his words. At the end of the trial, he was accused of “betraying his Motherland” and was condemned in 1948, to 10 years of work in labour camps and to five years of deprivation of the citizen rights. At that time he was 19 years old. His brother Hryhoriy and his cousin Ananiy were imprisoned for seven years in labour camps. The tribunal accused them also of supporting the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, especially in the wide spreading of the antiSoviet literature, of informing about the situation of the Soviet authorities, 136

furnishing Bandera’s gangs with food and other supplies. They didn’t recognize this. From Chernivtsy they were sent to the “transit point” in Lviv, where other 15 thousand prisoners were. This “transit point” was situated near the castle hill in Lviv. There were 15 buildings, where the huddled inmates were waiting the departure to the camps. The inmates were mainly of origin from Galitsia, Volyn, Bukovina, Transkarpatiya and some from the East of Ukraine. There were also Russians, especially the arrested former soldiers of the Soviet Army. In that concentration camp were gathered all the prisoners from the surrounding prisons of the West of Ukraine and from this point they were delivered to different parts of the Soviet Union. There was also his brother Ananiy, his cousin Hryhoriy, with whom he never separated until the first echelon arrived. We were brought to a railway station, where a freight train waited for us. Near the train walked the troops. On the roof of the train was installed a telephone wire. In every wagon hung metal niches. They brought us to the wagon, read the names from some roster and loaded us inside. When the wagon was filled with people, the door closed and it became dark. It was at the end of August 1948. The train stopped very often and let other trains to pass. It stopped also by night. The Convoy checked the wagons in the stations – if existed the holes or not, if someone wanted to leave. After three weeks, they arrived to a new transit point – Krasnoyarsk. They were reloaded and deployed to the field, until they reached in a huge camp. The soldiers ordered to stop before the gates and there they held the procedure of accessing to the camp. Regardless of the Siberian weather, they were divided into groups by ten people, their clothes were taken out (they remained nude) and lay besides. The soldiers approached and checked them, their clothes. In that time, when they were nude, the soldiers huddled them with the command “Come on. Faster”, inside the camp. This transit point was much bigger, than the camp in Lviv. To this place arrived echelons from the whole Soviet Empire – from Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and the Middle Asia, and evidently he met the representatives of many nationalities. The camp was divided into few zones fenced with wire. In one zone lived 137

the politicians, in the second – the criminal elements, in the third part – the girls. Every zone included barracks. He had to live in the barrack without any niches to sleep on. That’s why he had to sleep on the floor during approximately one month. There he met many people from his small motherland – Bukovina. Sometimes they had conversations about the escape from the camp, but their wishes didn’t come true. One morning they were shaped in columns and they run to the port on the Yenisey River, where they were loaded on the barges at the bottom of the vessel. There was a very suffocating atmosphere, it was hard to breathe and it was very cold. The barge sailed to the port of Dudinka in the North. There they run to another barrack without any walls, but with roof. At night they went to sleep very densely, covering themselves with all the clothes they had and the wind was blowing through the barrack and almost tore out the roof. Every day they froze strongly, and it was no place to warm up and not everyone had appropriate clothes. The day lasted only some hours, the rest of the time was a deep night. They stayed there not very long – approximately one week. After that they were thrown in a train again. When the train stopped, they run through tundra and reached the gate of a tremendous camp. After they were checked of what they had, they entered the “camp club”. There, the camp leader greeted them with a Georgian accent - “Here You must work. Only with the fair work You could redress your guilt before the motherland. If You work more – You get more. If You work less - then You get less. Here You must work”. The barracks were arranged in lines and were built with wood, and the walls were covered with clay. Every barrack was divided into sections, where were installed metal niches with two levels. It was place for approximately 50 prisoners. In the middle of the section were long desks where the prisoners ate. This inhospitable place was surrounded by mountains, swamps and lakes, named the “Valley of Death” or “Kayerkan”, the name was given by the local inhabitants. The climate was too rampaging and too cold, as it is suitable to the Arctic. The winter lasted for 10 months, and very often it was blizzard, that raged two weeks and sometimes longer. In the snow you couldn’t see anything at the distance of two meters, it 138

became dark. Other days it was silent, the frost instead increased to -55 degrees Celsius. The long Arctic night lasted for two months in winter. To hold the camps and the prisoners in obedience, existed the red troops. These troops drove the men to the labour place. They stayed on the towers with the machine guns, keeping the prisoners under surveillance, always ready to fire. Besides the guard on towers, also there was the garrison of the army near the camp. It kept them far from the inmates, without any contact with the state enemies. The second power that resembled the first was the troops of the jailers, who were mainly inside the “zone”, but with one difference – they had no weapons. The third force in the camp was the prisoners, who joined the machine of force. Very often the criminals strove to be in advantage, in comparison with other prisoners. It was very convenient for the authority, in order to prevent the rebellion. The author had emphasized the main works held outside the “zones” mainly in the coal mines, where the coal was produced. For their every step they were supervised. The men were mainly young: from 20 to 40 years old. They were brought not only from the Soviet Union, but also from abroad. There were younger inmates, determined by the power as the most dangerous enemies of the nation, according to the formula, who is against the chieftain and the Party – is against the nation. There were prisoners from subjugated nations, who opposed to the Soviet invaders and revealed the desire to be independent. There were also people from the frontlines, who left the German camps, who didn’t trust the Soviet propaganda, and at last those who told directly the truth, and those who had nothing to do with politics. The prevailing amount of the prisoners was sentenced to 10 or 15 years. The amount of the inmates in the camp was not constant and changed from time to time. Many times there were approximately six thousand prisoners. According to the national structure, there were people from the Soviet Union and from foreign countries. The first place in the camp in amount held the Ukrainians, the second – the Russians, the Lithuanians, the Latvians, the Estonians, the Caucasus and the representatives of the Middle Asia. The Poles, the Czechs, the Hungarians and the Germans, also were on the list of the punished. Usually to enter the administration of the camp, 139

were allowed the prisoners who were mainly Russians. This predominance of the Russians could be felt everywhere, even in the everyday life among the simple inmates. The prisoners had to wear the same clothes supplied by the camp. It was forbidden to have other goods. Besides clothes, all the prisoners had their own number, that became the new name of the unluckiest. From this moment all the inmates were called by the number and they lost their names. The food was given two times per day, in the morning and in the evening. He worked in the mine and prepared drifts for future benches. Later he was appointed in the mine. They always came to the mine under the surveillance of the convoy. The situation had changed in 1951, when the convoy replaced the spiny wire on the path to work. To make the barracks warmer, they took from the mine – coal, and organized in columns, went to the camp. He remembered a situation when a strong blizzard started while they came back. All went in chains holding each other’s hands, but one prisoner, who was in the last range, lost his peace of coal. He regretted that and he tried to catch it up. At that moment the blizzard pushed him one step to the side. The guardsman noticed that and shot the inmate. He was Ukrainian. This accident clarified the fact that the everyday warnings - “One step to the right, one step to the left”, were used not only for threat. The main task of the camps was to educate and to re-educate them. The camp administration considered them as a physical force, as an instrument of work and not more than this. All their re-education was based on the permanent work and on the fulfilling of the plans. In the camp was no newspaper, no book and no cultural interests, no information from aside. They were hermetically isolated. In the March of 1953, at the radio transmitter, they heard about the illness of the “Chieftain of the nation”. When in a few days was announced Stalin’s death, the prisoners threw the caps above and sincerely laughed that the tyrant was dead and would never return. The author remembers that they expected the liberation and the freedom. But it didn’t happen. From month to month they waited, but there were no changes. In the summer of 1953, the 140

inmates refused to fulfill the plans and to go to the work. The strike had started. The leadership of the camp tried to convince them to go to the mines, but the prisoners refused vehemently to obey, until the commission from Moscow agreed with them the conditions of the work renewal. After a week and a half, the commission had arrived and promised some facilities for them and they stopped halting the production. Afterwards, they found out that in other camps started insurgences, which were crushed by the army forces. In those rebellions died many people. On the 17th of May 1955 he became free, as a result of the trial he was liberated. Frankly speaking, he could not leave the Arctic and the Norylsk. Only in some weeks he took the allowance to leave that ungrateful land. He never saw his native house and his parents, who died in 1952 and 1953. He went to Poland, where he found a new job and created his own family. With his brothers he met in 1980, in their native village - Vernychanka.

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ATTACHMENT № 2. Visits to Hertsa and Horbova (pieces of diary, M. Tarita) On the 2nd of August while Maryan and Andrey went to Toporivtsy, I went to the little town of Hertsa, 26 km South-East from Chernivtsy. The former Hertsa county, now a little part of the Chernivtsy region, which has a special history because this territory didn’t belong neither to the AustroHungarian Empire, nor to the Tsarist Empire. I made some panoramic photos of the town from the neighbouring hills. I thought that in the court of the church it could be a monument in memory of the Soviet repression victims. I found the Orthodox Church, but its yard was closed. I saw a cross there, but I don’t know if it has only an historical-commemorative function or a regular religious one. Not far from the church is a park in the centre of which, is the monument of the Moldovan classical writer from the first half of the XIXth century, Gheorghe Asachi. On one of the main streets I saw the school, built in 1908. On the other side is the modern building of the school, which has a commemorative table of a young villager, who died in the Soviet war from Afghanistan. Not far, is the Soviet monument of NKVD soldiers, that died in 1941 fighting against the Romanian and the German troops. I remarked several internet cafes in the neighbourhood of this street. As I came to the central place, I remarked the monument of Eminescu, the main Romanian classical poet from the second part of the XIXth century. On the 4th of August when Maryan and Andrey went for the second time to Toporivtsy, I had chosen Horbova, which is situated on the road from Chernivtsy to Hertsa. This village stretches on a large territory. An officer from the State Archive of the Chernivtsy region, explained me how to find the church. I had to walk some 3-4 km to the right, from the main road. In the yard of the church is a cross-shaped monument “in the memory of the citizens of the village Horbova who fell in 1940-1947, the cross made in 1991”. The reader can see above the original version of the text and the list of names written on the monument. The church from Horbova was built in the first half of the XIXth century. In the yard of the church also still could be seen the wooden crosses of the dead, from the First World War. Because the priest didn’t feel well, I couldn’t speak with him. I went to the nearest hill and made a panoramic 142

photo of the village. On the road to the bus station I made photos of some old houses. In the first case, I felt a reserved attitude from the side of the family of the owner, even if they permitted me to do this. The old woman who lived there and built the old house, hadn’t the possibility to tell me her story. I thought that it could be possible to return other time. I can remark now, that in the case of Hertsa and Horbova, and as I saw later, in Buda, in Mahala and in Ostritsya, the inhabitants have a reserved attitude towards the foreigners. The text and the list of the names from the Horbova monument: Прин круче а венит букурия ла тоатэ лумя ын мемория четэценилор дин сатул Хорбова кэзуць ын аний 1940-1947 круче лукратэ ын анул 1991 Капалб И. П. Мурару Х. М. Мартин Х. Б. Молдовану Г. В. Акице И. И. Лишман И. И. Скрипа И. И. Акостинесе Х. И. Капалб И. П. Пыргару В. И. Кучуряну Н. Д. Пинтияк Ш. Х. Якоб И. В. Алекса Н. А. Кучуряну Н. Д. Амурарица М. Михай В. И. Заиц И. З. Чокобок М. И. Вакарчук И. П. Пинтилеи Н. Д. Чиботару М. И. Михай И. П. Михаи П. Г. Ону Н.Н.

Прискури З. Д. Никитук Г. Г. Вакниук И. Г. Андроник И. И. Чокобок П. П. Прискури М. Д. Олару И. И. Царь Н. В. Якоб В. И. Андроник Н. И. Андроник В. Н. Кучуряну Н. И. Андроник И. И. Руссу И. И. Олару Т. И. Прискури В. Д. Прискури Д. Д. Морару В. Г. Олару В. И. Илии И. И. Хородинка Г. И. Капалб Н. Г. Пэдурару Х. Ш. Дурилэ С. М. Дурилэ Н. М. Дурилэ И. М. 143

ATTACHMENT №3. Copies of documents from the ASPORM Chisinau, concerning the administration of the Lipkany town

Lipkany. The Party’s reunion on the 12th of April 1945, in Russian. About the attitude of the peasants, reference to the ideology of the peasants etc. Fund 146, Inv. 1, Folder 14, p. 10 144

Lipkany. The Party’s reunion on the 12th of April 1945, in Russian. About the propaganda issue to explain the possibilities given by the Soviet power in the development of the rural area. Fund 146, Inv. 1, Folder 14, p. 15

Lipkany. The Party’s reunion on the 12th of April 1945, in Russian. The point nr. 7 from the final decision – to impose the local Committee to select and educate better the Party’s activists from villages. Fund 146, Inv. 1, Folder 14, p. 17

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ATTACHMENT â&#x201E;&#x2013;4. Photos of the deported from the Edinets region (From the Museum of National Memory, Chisinau)

The Chyubotaru family, from Khlinaya (Edinets) in Kurgan, 1953

Chyubotaru Alexandru, six years old in Kurgan

Chyubotaru Ion deported to Kuybyshev

Alexandru Pripa from Pelinia in 1956, at the tomb of his mother

146

A deported woman remembering. “There are no former deportees”

Former deported to Novosibirsk in June 1941. From Tsarigrad

The first page of a newspaper from the post-war Bricheny

The 6th of July 1989 reflected in “Советская Молдавия”

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ATTACHMENT №5. Images of the peasants and of the Kolkhoz from the Chernivtsy’s Bolshevik press after the World War II At work

Peasants 148

Peasants 149

Peasants 150

At work 151

At work 152

ATTACHMENT №6. Photos from Dranitsya (Negrintsy)

Negrintsy – the Melentiy family in the Tyumen region

Negrintsy – the Melentiy’s family children in the Tyumen region

Negrintsy – the Melentiy family in Tyumen on an unknown holiday

153

Negrintsy – photo of Oleg Melentiy. Children at work

“Radyanska Bukovina” (the 7th of January 1945)

Inter-war house from the Northern Bessarabia

Negrintsy – nowadays

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With mother in the special settlement. The first years after the deportation

With the wife at the father’s tomb, on the territory of the former settlement, 20 years after the return

Izhevsk - Kilmets, Udmurtian ASSR».

Photos of Afanasiy Tryfonenko. «The childhood in the special settlement.

ATTACHMENT №7.

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156

The brother Konstantyn Tryfonenko (the last on the left) with his friends. In the 1940s

Konstantyn Tryfonenko in the 1940s

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Father - Hryhoriy Tryfonenko. Photo made not long before he died in the Kilmets settlement

Mother Oleksandra Tryfonenko (on the left) with a woman

The school in the special settlement

Photo at work in the forest

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Near the â&#x20AC;&#x153;properâ&#x20AC;? barrack

During the time free of labour

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Photo with the head of the special settlement

Deportees: mothers and their children

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ATTACHMENT №8. Photos from Luzhany

Luzhany – the monument of the UPA fighters

Luzhany – the monument of the soldiers of the Red Army

Luzhany – the Church

161

ATTACHMENT №9. Photos from Toporivtsy

Toporivtsy – the holiday of the village on the 2nd of August 2012

Toporivtsy – the old Church, XVIIth century 162

ATTACHMENT №10. Photos from Buda and Mahala

Mahala – the monument of the victims from 1941 and 1944

The monument of the victims from Buda and Mahala

Mahala – the house of Leonora Petryuk (1924)

Mahala – the house of Domnika Hostyuk

The Mahala’s flag

Commemoration

The “First Kolhosp” 163

Mahala – remembering what happened in the 1940s. Domnika Hostyuk, Maria Yuri and Magdalina Mosoryuk

The edition of “Ţara Fagilor”, containing the story of Hostyuk 164

Mahala – Domnika Hostyuk with her husband

ATTACHMENT №11. Photos from Boyan

Boyan – the monument of the victims of the repressions

Boyan – the monument’s detail

Boyan – the inter-war Mayoralty building

Boyan – the first house in new style after World War I

165

Boyan – the house of his parents as remembered by Vasile Bota

Boyan – old house nowadays (Shtefan Bzovi)

Boyan – up on the road near the bus station

Boyan – the Nekulche’s Church

Boyan – a street

Boyan – nowadays Mayoralty

Boyan – traditional clothes, Bzovi’s collection

166

Boyan – the picture of Shtefan Bizovi, who died at Onega in January 1945

Boyan – the wife of Shtefan Bizovi, remained alone with 7 children after her husband died at Onega

Boyan – Nikulaye Bzovi the youngest son of Shtefan Bizovi

Boyan – the picture of the father of V. Bota. He came back from Onega

167

Boyan – traditional clothes

Boyan – Eleonora Bizovi in a traditional coat

Boyan – traditional round dance (rom. bătuta)

Boyan – Easter eggs (inter-war photo, Eleonora Bizovi)

Boyan – detail of a traditional coat

Boyan – traditional ornaments

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ATTACHMENT №12. Photos from Gáy (Arboreny)

The view of Rokitna (the former Khotyn county) from Arboreny (the former Northern Bukovina)

Arboreny – the house of Nikulaye Skripkaryu, built after he came back from Armenia

Arboreny – Nikulaye Skripkaryu telling about the Onega camp and Armenia

Arboreny – the “Casa Mare” of Nikulaye Skripkaryu

Arboreny – in the “Casa Mare” of Nikulaye Skripkaryu

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ATTACHMENT №13. Photos from Hertsa

Hertsa – panoramic view

Hertsa – the Church

Hertsa – the entrance to the Church’s yard

170

Hertsa – the Romanian school from 1908

The monument of Gheorghe Asachi

ATTACHMENT №14. Photos from Horbova

Horbova – the monument in the memory of the villagers (1940-1947)

Horbova – in the memory of the dead during World War I

Horbova – detail of the monument

Horbova – the Church’s alley 171

Horbova – the Church, the first half of the XIXth century

Horbova – old house near the Church

Horbova – old houses

Horbova – panoramic view

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ATTACHMENT №15. Photos from Malineshty and Dinautsy

Malineshty – an abandoned house, with traditional windows

Malineshty – an abandoned house, covered with wood

Dinautsy – the old house of Ostina Skripnik

Dinautsy

Dinautsy – old house covered with reed

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Malineshty – the Orthodox Church

Malineshty – the Cross, 1942

Malineshty – the monument of the villagers who died as soldiers of the Red Army

Malineshty – the monument, details. Georgiy Petrovich Chorlik and Diomid Afanasiyovich Bernik

Malineshty – Pintiley Kioresku

Malineshty – interviewed Porfir Sandulyak

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ATTACHMENT №16. Books referring to the Chernivtsy region

“The history of Boyan”

“The history of Oprisheny”

“The history of Tereblechya”

“The Norilsk camps”

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ATTACHMENT â&#x201E;&#x2013;17.

The former Khotyn county in winter (14th-19th of February 2012)

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Vanchikivtsy

Dranitsya

Drepkautsy

Lipkany

Beleavintsy

Khalakhora de Sus

Close to Edinets

South to Edinets