FS: My father couldn’t pay the taxes that were levied, so they took him to forced labor for six months. They took him to Baturyn; he came home at night and in the morning would go back to work there. They didn’t pay him anything for this labor, because he had to work off his taxes. There were arrests in the village, but always at night. The more prosperous villagers, or teachers, were arrested at night, taken away, and nobody knew what happened to them. Those who stole something were taken too, but they [were arrested] in the day. When people went at night to steal onions or other things from the collective farm gardens the guards didn’t stop them. But in the morning they were arrested so that everyone could see. Even today nobody knows what happened to them.

They dekulakized [dispossessed] us. They took everything, including the hay. Our neighbors helped them load the hay. They took everything because my father didn’t want to join the collective farm.

Interviewer – Was it local people who came and took everything?

FS: Yes. They were all locals.

Interviewer – So you knew these people?

FS: Yes. They were our neighbors. They came to load the hay.

Interviewer – Do you remember either army regiments or brigades from the city coming to dekulakize?

FS: Perhaps people were sent from the raion [district], or the village council. But it was always neighbors who went door to door.

Interviewer – These were the ones who had already joined the collective farm?

FS: Yes. Those who joined the collective farm and signed up for the [Communist] Party. They were called partiytsi. These were the poorest people who joined the party and went around and dekulakized people, taking away everything.

In 1932 the Famine started. We had three horses. My father was a butcher, and he butchered the first horse, and we ate it, then the second, then the third. They took our cow, because it gave milk. We ate our horses in 1932.

Fedir Strohyi

Date of birth: 7 February 1923

Place of birth: Michenky village, Chernihiv oblast

Witnessed Famine in: Michenky village, Chernihiv oblast

Arrived in Canada: 1950

Current residence: Toronto

Date and place of interview:  21 August 2008, Toronto

Excerpt From Full Interview