1. LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE WESTERN UKRAINE 2. OPPOSITION TO JOINING KOLKHOZY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300220002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 16, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/17: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300220002-2
CONFIDENTIAL
REPORT NO.
50X1
COUNTRY USSR (T;krainis,n SSR) DATE DISTR. ]A Feb,. 1956
SUBJECT 1. Living Conditions in the Western NO. OF PAGES 2
Ukraine
t%wYe ONE ,,,~~2 . Opposition to Joining rnl lrhozy
PLACE ACQUIRED
REFERENCES:
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
SOURCE
1. Tta=-:1946, because of drought, the harvest was very ppor in the Ukraine.
Through the winter of 1946-1947 the rural population was able to get
along on meager rations made up chiefly of bread and potatoes. But
in the spring of 1947 there was real famine in the Ukraine. Having 50X1
50X1 heard that food conditions were considerably better in the Western
Ukraine
peo
le f
,
p
rom Kiev and other oblasts of the Soviet Ukraine
wont lFho?a *SIV4ww.
She took along some of her cl
th
+
~
o
es as
well
aa o ten's
clothes which she traded, and she brought back grain and potatoes.
By April 1947. ever, there was nothing left in our family to trade,
50X1 and I decided to go to the Western Ukraine to work in
-~=
ord elves from starvation.
2. At Kiev we boarded a freight train going went. Since thousands, and
thousands of people were going,,to the Western Ukraine at that time
to procure food, the railroad Authorities did not demand that they
buy tickets. All freight trains going west were filled with half-
starved people, traveling on oar roofs, running boards, and even on
bumpers. Probably the railroad authorities and the militia were
unable to prevent this exodus. We were lucky to find space inside a
freight oar loaded with iron beams, and so we traveled in relative
comfort up to Lutek. The trip from Kiev to Lutek took approximately
24 hours.
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/17: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300220002-2
 50X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/17: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300220002-2
CONFIDENTIAL
-2-
50X1 3. In Lutsk we left the train and went to the rural area, walking in
a general direction to the west. As we passed through the villages 50X1
Finally
hands
f
,
. .
arm
50X1 we asked the farmers whether they needed any
A a-.. +at.o ..,e to wnrlc nn
his farm over the summer.
After I secured this empioymenti,
4. In 1947 the collectivization reform had not yet been carried out in
Oblast The
l
6.
yn
the Western Ukraine, at least not in Lutsk Rayon, Vo
farmer for whom I worked had about five hectares of, arable land on
which he cultivated Wheat, rye,, barley, and oats; he had two horses,
one cow, and several sheep.. In addition, he had a number of poultry,
including chickens, ducks, and geese. I had to work hard in the fields
from early morning until late'in the evening, but at least I had enough
to eat.
At that time the Communist Party organizations webe already set up in
the Western Ukraine, and one was quite active,, in the village of Tseparov.
A number of MVD men, some in uniform, were conducting a propaganda
anize kolkhozy. Meetings were organized several times
or
t
i
g
o
gn
campa
,a week for all the inhabitants of Tseparov during which people from
the USSR agitated for the kolkhozy. Some of -the natives of Tseparov
also took an active part In these meetings. In order to soften
opposition towards the kolkhozy, the Party authorities had all rich
farmers whom they classified as kulaks arrested and sent to Siberia50X1
Other uncompromising opponents to the kolkhozy were also arrested
on various pretexts and sent to corrective labor camps,. All of this,
however, could not break the opposition of the inhabitants
toward kolkhozy; and, as far as I remember, only a few of those who
joined the Party expressed an intention to join kolkhozy if they
were organized. I remember that the opposition to this project was
so strong and the farmers were so embittered, that after one farmer
in the adjoining village Lutsk Rayon, expressed his intention
to join the kolkhoz and raised his arm to this-effect at the, village
meeting, his house was attacked the following night and his arm out
off by the attackers with an axe. There were many rumors at the time
about the Ukrainian nationalist movement and the Ukrainian partisans
in the Western Ukraine (to whom people referred as "Benderovtsy").
There were several oases of local Party members (indigenous farmers),
especially presidents and secretaries of Sel'Soviete, being kidnapped
or murdered in cold blood by unknown attackers. Everybody know, of
course, that this was always done by Benderovtsy. 50X1
I remained in the village by which tgOX,
kolkhozy had not yet been organ ze . the popula-
tion had a high standard of living, plenty of food; an they were able
to sell their products on the free market at competitive prices.
CONFIDENTIAL
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/06/17: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300220002-2