“Yanina Sokolovska was born in 1924 in the village of Zykiv near Horodnytsia in Zhytomyr Oblast. Her entire family survived the Holodomor of 1932-1933. Yanina Sokolovska told about this in an interview with DW. Yanina Sokolovska was the fifth child in a large family, where five brothers and four sisters grew up. Before collectivization, my father worked as a forester’s assistant and numbered trees”, — write on: ua.news
Yanina Sokolovska was born in 1924 in the village of Zykiv near Horodnytsia in Zhytomyr Oblast. Her entire family survived the Holodomor of 1932-1933.
Yanina Sokolovska told about this in an interview with DW.
Yanina Sokolovska was the fifth child in a large family, where five brothers and four sisters grew up. Before collectivization, the father worked as a forester’s assistant and numbered trees, and the family had a large farm – two cows, a couple of oxen, two wild boars and many geese. But everything changed when they began to take away property from collective farms.
“We had two cows – they took one, two boars – they take one. They see that there are many geese – they took as many as they needed. It was knitted and everything was done on a whim,” the woman recalled.
In addition to cattle, “harrows, plows, food” were taken from people, and grain was searched for by poking the ground with sticks. Hideouts were found even when peasants hid grain in buried wooden buckets.
Yanina’s mother begged not to take the last one, but in response she heard threats: “Stand against the wall – I will shoot.”
Even clothes were taken away: “Mom had an American scarf – long, black… so they even took it away.”
The hunger that made people swell: childhood memories
Yanina remembers her childhood experiences to this day: “I sucked my blood on this finger – that’s how I wanted to eat!”
Her father was swollen from hunger, and her mother, after working in the collective farm, went to wash the floor or do laundry for Jewish families in Horodnytsia, for which she received a little buckwheat groats or a plate of food.
Children collected sorrel and comfrey in the forest, pounded it and baked cakes. They drank “kolotusha” – a mixture of water and crushed flour: “You drink, you drink, it seems like a lot… But I want to eat, I want to eat!” Yanina remembered.
Everything went well: acorns were boiled several times, pounded and mixed with semolina, making donuts. People died in whole families.
“There were 5 or 6 people… they all died,” said Sokolovska.
Carts with several coffins were often on the road.
The Sokolovsky family was saved by dried berries, herbs, and game that her mother had stocked up in advance, but Yanina is still haunted by hunger and despair.
“I wanted to eat so much that I couldn’t… My soul hurts,” the woman shared.
Separately, she mentioned the terrible rumors of the time when people “found fingernails” in the market in the cold.
Prison terms were given for picking ears of corn: “7-8 years in prison were given for one ear of corn.” People scooped up frozen, rotten potatoes from the fields, rubbed them on cakes and dumplings.
Eviction to Kazakhstan and return, which again coincided with famine
In 1936, the family was deported to Kazakhstan as “Poles”. Their passports were taken away and they were forbidden to return. She lived there for more than 11 years, and, according to the woman, life was easier. She worked as a combine harvester.
However, the family decided to return home – and fell into a new famine of 1946-1947.
“As we arrive, it’s the 47th year, there was a terrible hunger strike here in Ukraine,” Yanina Sokolovska added.
Villagers shared a handful of groats or rotten potatoes.
When Yanina gave birth to her daughter, she had no milk.
“I’ll take some bread… I chew-chew, I tied a piece and put it in my mouth. She sucks, sucks, cries, is hungry,” she said.
In the collective farm, 200 grams of groats were issued per working day, but to earn it, “one had to work for 2 days at a time.”
Life after tragedies
“I don’t remember an easy life,” said Yanina Sokolovska, noting that she raised three children.
The woman lives alone in an old hut in Horodnytsia, where her niece helps her.
“I have stayed, survived all kinds of sorrows, troubles and still live for a long time,” she added.
On November 22, Ukraine celebrates Holodomor Memorial Day. The Museum of Holodomor in Kyiv will be open to the public from 1:00 p.m., admission is free for everyone.
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