INFORMATION ON THE VILLAGE OF BEREZNITSA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000100330004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2009
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 16, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

r&h A 43
INFORMATION REPORT CD NO. 25X1
Approved For Release 2009/07/15: CIA-RDP82-00047R000100330004-9
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
DATE DISTR. /6 Apr 52
SUBJECT Information on the Village of Bereznitsa NO. OF PAGES 4
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF III
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO 25X1
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
The village of Bereznitsa is situated on high ground surrounded by undulating
farmland of very fertile "black earth". Approximately 1 a km east of the
village lies the neighbouring village of Skomovo through which passes a
small river known locally as Skomovyanka. This river. varies in width from
l- to 5 meters and at its deepest measures approximately two meters. Pike,.
perch, carp and red river eels abound in its waters. when the 25X1
river overflowed its banks in 1939, pike of 20 inches remained in the fields.
3. Eight km north of the village is a large pine forest and another forest lies
17 km south of Bereznitsa. The river Nerl is approximately 25 km to the
East, the river Klyasma approximately 60 km southeast. The nearest railway
station is Starkovo approximately eight km to the South. Other comparative
distances were:
Approximately 200 km from Moscow
100 km from Ivanovo
60 km from Vladimir
20 km from Gavril Posad
15 km from Yuryev Polski
4. The village of Bereznitsa consists of 25 households comprising about 100
inhabitants, only a third of them over 25 years of age. They are all Russians;
no other nationalities live in the neighborhood as no other nationality would
ut up with the extremely low standard of living, "krepostnoye rabstvo",
eudal slavery.)
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Approved For Release 2009/07/15: CIA-RDP82-00047R000100330004-9
 Approved For Release 2009/07/15: CIA-RDP82-00047R000100330004-9
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5. All the houses in the village are one-roomed wooden houses with thatched roofs, with the
exception of the stone house of the former priest, which is now occupied by the president
of the Kolkhoz. All buildings are in a bad state of repair, which is due to the very
little time at the disposal of the peasants when they are not required to work on behalf
of the Kolkhoz. The houses are austerely furnished with the barest furniture, most of
which is home-made.
Lighting is by means of paraffin lamps. Very often lack of paraffin and. difficulty in
obtaining glass chimneys for the lamps :compels the peasants to revert to their age-old
custom of using slivers of pinewood as a means of lighting. They will have to wait
another 15 years for electric lighting when all.. the new power st .ns are built. They
are always being told about these new power stations, the cost of whi'dh..:.s given as the
reason for their present poverty.
7. For the most part,. straw is used as fuel augmented by a load or two of wood. Although
wood is plentiful in the forest, approximately eight km away, the peasants have great
difficulty in obtaining the loan of horses from the kolkhoz for their private needs.
8. Water was obtained from three wells in the village and was adequate.
9. Each household had -- hectare of land which is their only means of subsistence. Very
few of the villagers still possess a, cow of their own, most had to sell their livestock
in order to pay the high taxes and nowadays only chickens are kept for their own use.
10. The collective farm includes the whole village of Eereznitsa and farms an area of ap-
proximately 350 hectares of which some 110 hectares are meadows.
11. The kolkhoz has four specialized farms (horse, dairy, sheep and pig) and their livestock
consisted of:
12 horses
15 cows, 10 heifers
70 sheep
6 sows.
They also had 25 beehives, but the bees died during a cold winter.
12. Farm machinery consisted of: three ploughs, six cultivators, eight harrows, one horse-
drawn threshing machine, pea-drying and sorting machines. The v'TS in Gavril Posad pro-
vided the tractors, but I can give no details.
13. The Kolkhoz had the following areas under cultivation:
45 hectares winter rye
10 hectares winter wheat
8 hectares barley
13 hectares oats
5 hectares peas
3 hectares tares
3 hectares millet
1 hectares rootcrop.~ for cattle feeding
15 hectares potatoes
i4. The, expected crop returns per hectare were 13 cwts of rye or l8
tons of potatoes.
of wheat or 20-2~
15.' The FV esIdent of the Kolkhoz was a lawyer from the Ukraine. H wa the only outsider
and incidentally the only Party member.
16. In the autumn of 1951 the Kolkh.oz "Olotov" amalgamated uit t 1-;h1 neJghh using Kolkhoz
in Skomovo (100 households and about 2000 hectares of land). The reason given.for this
was that new fa. h;aiary was availa.bl~, at the ti
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