Anatolіy Kotsur
Doctor of Historical Sciences,
Professor of the Department of Ethnology and Local History,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv,
Kyiv, Ukraine
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7015-8052
Eduard Semeshyn
Master of History,
Romny, Ukraine
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5022-203X
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2025.51.7
TEACHING NEDRYGAYLIVKA DURING THE YEARS OF STALINISM
(BASED ON PERSONAL AND CRIMINAL CASES)
The article, based on the personal and archival criminal files of teachers, reveals pages from the life history of teachers of the Nedryhailiv region, their social and political activities and the persecution of school intellectuals by the Soviet authorities. Materials from archival and criminal cases highlight the situation and attitudes of teachers, their attitude to the authorities. Autobiographies and questionnaires from personal and sometimes archival criminal files contain information about the social background and worldview of the intelligentsia of the time. The facts about the famine in the countryside cited in interrogation reports, which are replaced by the words "food difficulties", and the statements of teachers about the hard life of Ukrainians probably did take place. The repressive organs fabricated cases against teachers in order to decapitate the intellectuals and create a foothold for the attack on the "enemies of the people". The Chekists' hunt for school teachers, forcing confessions from them about involvement in anti-Soviet organizations, reached large proportions, leading to a crisis in the teaching workforce. They were judged for thinking differently from the official narrative. People were guilty only because they belonged to the "layer" of Ukrainian intellectuals. Arrested teachers were, in most cases, subjected to torture. It is emphasized that in the 1930s, a wave of condemnation prevailed, and a kind of competition developed for the number of "enemies of the people" exposed. Informers were encouraged in every possible way. The network of secret informants and recruited agents of the NKVD grew. Educators from Nedryhailiv, like those across Ukraine, found themselves in the grinding mills of Stalinist repressions.
The aim of the research is to highlight the history of the teaching profession in the Nedryhailiv region in the 1930s, the political repressions of the Soviet government against them, their essence, and the tragic consequences.
The methodological basis for the study is the general principles of historicism and objectivism, aimed at an objective description and analysis of historical events through a scientific and critical analysis of a set of historical sources.
In the course of the research, biographical materials from the personal and archival criminal files of teachers of the Nedryhailiv district were first put into circulation, the circumstances of the arrest of several repressed teachers, the methods of investigation and falsification of charges by NKVD officers were revealed. In the course of the research work, it was found that the punitive authorities, through psychological and physical pressure (beatings), demanded that the accused confess to being members of a non-existent anti-Soviet organization and name the people they had recruited. Despite the utter absurdity of the accusation, most of the persons under torture admitted to being members of such an organization and named their acquaintances, who were later also repressed by the punitive authorities.
Key words: Sumy region, Nedryhaylivska district, personal file, education, teachers, repression.
Received by the editorial board: 28.02.2025.
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