Look beyond the horizon, or How the Soviet empire humbled those who did not want to die of hunger

The decision to send Ivan Shcherbina into exile

This decision jeopardized the investigation in case No. 104/35706, which was initiated under Article 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR, which provided for responsibility for anti-Soviet propaganda and agitation.

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Title page of the case

What was punished for? The solitary peasant Ivan Shcherbyna was sentenced to 3 years of exile for his anti-Soviet agitation directed against grain harvesting measures carried out by the authorities in the villages. Let me remind you that these events took place in 1932-1933…

A few words about the convict

Ivan Shcherbyna was born in the village of Yadlivka on May 8, 1886, in the family of Isaac Demidovich, a Cossack, and Evgenia Moiseivna, a Cossack. This is how (Cossack and Cossack) the social status of Ivan’s parents was recorded when their marriage was registered in the register of the local church.

Ivan’s life turned out in such a way that he was married twice. The first wife died, and the husband was left alone with his daughter Feodora in his arms. Later, he married the widow Dykun Hanna Kuzmivna from the city of Gogoliv, from whom sons Ivan and Boris and daughter Maria were born.

According to the data of the 1920 census, Ukrainian Ivan Shcherbyna (in the Russian manner, his patronymic name was written not as Isaakovich, but as Sakovich) was literate and lived in the village of Yadlivka, Kozeletsky district, Chernihiv region. He had horses (2 pieces), cows (3 pieces), sheep (7 pieces), pigs (3 pieces), chickens (10 pieces), visa, house. Before the Bolshevik coup, he owned 15 acres of land, which he cultivated as a single farmer. Farmer Ivan did not use hired labor.

According to the certificate of the village council, he lived independently, was not in a collective farm, served in the old army (probably meaning the tsarist army), disbanded in 1930-1931 (all property, including housing, was sold).

In the questionnaire of the accused, it is stated that Ivan Shcherbyna – Ukrainian, graduated from a rural school, farmer, kulak, no criminal record, at the time of arrest he lived in the village of Yadlivka with his wife Hanna Kuzmivna, children Feodora, Ivan, Boris, Maria and mother Yevga Moiseivna.

On December 9, 1932, the peasant Ivan was charged under Article 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR that, as a “former member of the Romashka gang, a member of the “Owners of Farmers” organization, he had recently been hostile to the Soviet government, especially after the disbandment of the kulaks, and had carried out systematic anti-Soviet agitation, gathering kulaks around him, setting them against all measures that were held in villages”.

Also, the commissioner of the Bobrovytskyi district (city) branch of the Chernihiv regional department of the GPU of the Ukrainian SSR (at that time the village of Yadlivka belonged to the Chernihiv region) applied a preventive measure to him in the form of detention.

Resolution on indictment and detention

During the investigation on December 31, 1932, a description of Ivan was obtained from the place of residence. In it, the village council informed that in modern times he keeps in touch with the priest (“pop”) and conducts disorganized work against the measures of the Soviet authorities to undermine the implementation of plans for grain procurement in the village.

In addition, in another reference from the village council dated January 15, 1933, it was said that Shcherbina I. I. was shown the bread procurement plan for 1932, but he hid the bread and stubbornly resisted the implementation of all political campaigns.

Information from the village council regarding Shcherbyna Ivan’s opposition to grain procurement

Witnesses were also questioned during the investigation.

The interrogation protocols stated, in particular, that During the hetmanship in 1918, Ivan Shcherbyna was a member of the organization “Owners of Bread Mills”, and currently in the village of Yadlivka, he is constantly conducting subversive activities against the campaign for grain procurement.

The witness Radchenko T. Kh claimed that during the adoption of the grain procurement plan, I. Shcherbin personally told him that if such a plan was approved, the village would be left without bread, therefore it was necessary to oppose the adoption of such a plan in an organized manner. And, according to the testimony of the witness, the accused conducted similar agitation not only at meetings, but also on a daily basis, which led to the non-fulfillment of the grain procurement plan, especially on the farm where the Shcherbins lived.

Protocol of the interrogation of the witness Radchenko T. Kh.

Witnesses Kalyuk Y. T. and Krasnozhon K. D confirmed that heard from Ivan Shcherbyna at the meeting about “leaving the village without bread”.

At the same time, the witness Krasnozhon K. D. also noted that the accused, after disbandment, established a relationship with a local priest and, as a member of a religious community, began to gather other kulaks and anti-Soviet people around him. Like, he campaigned: “Soon the war will come, the end of the Soviet rule will come, all the peasants will rise against the Soviet rule, under which people are currently dying, their last bread is being taken away.”

The witnesses also claimed that after the expulsion, the accused was constantly hiding, as he was subject to being sent into exile.

The protocol of the interrogation of the witness Krasnozhon K.D.

Witness V. G. Opeh, in addition to the above, claimed that during the civil war, I. S. Shcherbin was in the Haydamaks, kept Romashko bandits in his apartment, helping them fight against the Soviet authorities. He also noted that due to Ivan’s activities in the village of Yadlivka on the corner where he lived, the bread procurement plan was not implemented.

The witness F. V. Bogatyryov confirmed the mentioned testimony about the farmer Ivan and the witness, calling him an “exporter curkul” and claiming that during the October coup Shcherbyn helped the whites fight against the Soviet government, and currently, living on the corner of “Pomirok”, he campaigns against bread harvesting, intimidates activists, and because of this, the plan to harvest bread in that corner has not been implemented.

Similar testimony was given by the witness I.S. Radchenko, who, as indicated in the interrogation protocol, lived on the same farm as the Shcherbins. He noted that Ivan campaigned for “an organized fight against grain procurement, because the people will die” and intimidated the village’s activists, promising to “throw the head of the village council and the secretary of the party cell into the well.” This had a negative impact sia on the implementation of bread procurement plans in the village of Yadlivka.

Protocol of the interrogation of the witness Radchenko I.S.

In total, six witnesses testified. Common to all testimonies was the statement about the non-fulfillment of the bread procurement plan, that the accused urged other peasants not to comply with it, but said that the government was robbing the people, leaving them without bread, and therefore it was better to bury the bread.

Shcherbyna I. I. was also interrogated as an accused. During the interrogation on December 10, 1932, he noted that he permanently lives in the village of Yadlivka, is a farmer by occupation, was disarmed, but did not hide from the authorities and did not take part in anti-Soviet agitation, did not intimidate village activists.

He also said that he never had a weapon, no one visited his apartment, and he rarely visited anyone, except for two neighbors with the surname Shcherbyna, with whom he talked about household matters, and he did not have any political conversations. He also indicated that he does not recognize himself as guilty of anti-Soviet agitation.

Protocol of interrogation of the accused

Based on the results of the investigation, it was concluded that it is necessary to file a petition (submission) to send Ivan Shcherbyna to a concentration camp for a period of 5 years.

Petition (submission) about the need to exile I. I. Shcherbyna.

The prosecutor of the Bobrovytsia precinct, based on the results of consideration of the relevant submission, concluded that it was necessary to satisfy it, since Ivan, they say, was engaged in agitation against the measures of the Soviet authorities, especially against grain procurement, and therefore it is socially dangerous to leave him in the relevant area.

The prosecutor’s conclusion regarding the actions of Shcherbyna I.I.

The district executive committee also petitioned to send Ivan and his family outside Ukraine to the North.

Petition regarding the punishment of Shcherbyna I.I.

No one tried to deport the mother and wife with four children, but the trio decided to find the head of the family, Ivan Shcherbina, based on the results of consideration of the prosecutor’s conclusion and a petition to the district executive committee, guilty under Article 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR and sent to the North for 3 years. But he was lucky because he survived the exile and returned home to his family.

On June 26, 1989, the criminal case No. 104/35706 against Shcherbyna I. I. under Article 54-10 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR was closed, and he was rehabilitated as illegally repressed at the request of the sons of Boris and Ivan, who lived in the Kyiv region and, having learned about the opportunity to restore the honest name of their father, took advantage of it.

Documents on the rehabilitation of Shcherbyna I.I.

So, above, the author gave an example of the methods by which the Soviet authorities in Ukraine (in the Chernihiv region / Kyiv region) destroyed the resistance of farmers who did not want their families to die of hunger in the distant 1932-1933.

The described story, in the opinion of the author, is also evidence that if the bread-growing peasants had weapons and were more organized for self-defense, then it is unlikely the Soviet authorities would have succeeded in exterminating so many millions of Ukrainians during the Holodomor.

PS Sometimes you want to go out and simply, looking beyond the horizon, see what is there… The dream of seeing with your own eyes what lies beyond the imaginary line of contact between the sky and the earth, which is located in the reach of human vision, today concerns the desire of nations freed from occupation to learn the truth about the history of their kind and country.

The desire to look beyond the horizon of one’s own awareness of the past is especially relevant for Ukrainians who lived for centuries under the rule of empires, which tried to erase our memory of ourselves.

No one would ever remember this story if the convict’s children died of hunger.

Thanks to his grandmother Maria (daughter of Ivan Shcherbyna) – a former teacher of Ukrainian language and literature at a village school in Volyn in the distant 90s of the 20th century – the author learned about his great-grandfather. An ancestor who “was exiled to Kolyma because of his refusal to go and help the “Soviets” take a cow from his neighbor to transfer it to a collective farm.” This is how the same little Maria, mentioned in the case materials, whose father took away the “Soviet” for three years in December 1932, told about this exile.

Ivan Shcherbina with his son Boris

It was this family history that later prompted the author to turn to the archives and find answers.

On the occasion of the Memorial Day of the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine of 1932-1933, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Saturday of November, I decided to share with readers the results of my attempts to look beyond the horizon. After all, each of us can take small steps to explore our lineage and help Ukraine reclaim its history.

Grandmother Maria

Mykola Glotovjudge-speaker, judge of the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court

A column is a type of material that reflects exclusively the point of view of the author. It does not claim objectivity and comprehensive coverage of the topic in question. The point of view of the editors of “Economic Pravda” and “Ukrainian Pravda” may not coincide with the author’s point of view. The editors are not responsible for the reliability and interpretation of the given information and perform exclusively the role of a carrier.