Frost Pavlik in the USSR. The real story of Pavlik Morozov: from informer to hero
Pavlik Morozov was a role model for the pioneers. He was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka. His parents were peasants. Pavlik became an active participant in the process of dispossession and led the first pioneer detachment in his village.
Soviet history says that this boy, during the period of collectivization, exposed his father as a kulak. He testified against his dad, who was sentenced to 10 years. He also told about the hidden bread from a neighbor, about the theft of state grain, which was committed by his uncle. Pavlik Morozov took an active part in the actions and, together with the chairman, searched for the hidden property of fellow villagers.
In court, the boy did not speak out against his father and did not write a denunciation against him. The only thing he did was confirm the words of the mother, who made the main accusations. Trofim Morozov, Pavlik's father, beat his wife and often brought home things he received for issuing false documents, he also kept a large amount of grain.
According to the official version, the grandfather and cousin uncle killed the boy in 1932 in the forest. Mother at this time briefly left on business in the city. The murderers were sentenced to death, Pavlik's father was also shot, although he was far away at that time. His mother received an apartment in the Crimea as compensation for her son's death. Many collective farms, schools and pioneer squads received the name - "Pavlik Morozov".
The story of this boy's life was known throughout the Union. Songs and poems were composed about him, an opera of the same name was created, and Eisenstein even tried to make a film, but his idea could not be realized. Today, various sources provide such different information that the question arises as to whether Pavlik Morozov existed at all? In half the cases, his feat was attributed to denunciations and he himself was called a traitor. But we all still believe that he existed.
At first, Pavlik Morozov, who imprisoned his father, was considered a national hero. Pionerskaya Pravda wrote about him: “Pavlik spares no one. Father got caught - he betrayed him, uncle, grandfather - he betrayed them too, Shatrakov hid weapons, Silin speculated on vodka - Pavlik exposed them all. He was brought up in and therefore grew up a Bolshevik.
The story of the murder of Pavlik Morozov was immediately picked up by Soviet propaganda. He was represented by a bold peony
erom, who denounced his father-fist. Also, his name was entered in the Book of Honor of the Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization. But half a century later, the image began to change, since this story was already unattractive. Dissertations were written from which it was said that Pavlik was not a hero at all, but simply denounced absolutely everyone.
For the fact that he betrayed his own father, Stalin said about him: "Of course, the boy is a bastard, but the country needs heroes." At that time it was necessary to educate a generation of informers and informers, and this boy became an example.
Today, Pavlik Morozov is considered neither a hero nor a traitor. He is just a victim of a harsh and difficult time. This boy died for speaking the truth. If you understand this story, you can understand that it is very distorted and changed for the convenience of the authorities of that time.
Many people mention it very often, but often know very little. And if they know, it is not the fact that the truth.
He twice became a victim of political propaganda: in the era of the USSR, he was presented as a hero who gave his life in the class struggle, and in perestroika times, as an informer who betrayed his own father.
Modern historians question both myths about Pavlik Morozov, who became one of the most controversial figures in Soviet history.
The house where Pavlik Morozov lived, 1950
This story took place at the beginning of September 1932 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province. Grandmother sent her grandchildren for cranberries, and a few days later the bodies of the brothers with traces of violent death were found in the forest. Fedor was 8 years old, Pavel - 14. According to the canonical version generally accepted in the USSR, Pavlik Morozov was the organizer of the first pioneer detachment in his village, and in the midst of the struggle against the kulaks, he denounced his father, who collaborated with the kulaks. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sent to a 10-year exile, and according to other sources, he was shot in 1938.
In fact, Pavlik was not a pioneer - a pioneer organization appeared in their village only a month after his murder. The tie was later simply added to his portrait. He did not write any denunciations about his father. His ex-wife testified against Trofim at the trial. Pavlik only confirmed his mother's testimony that Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, being the chairman of the village council, sold certificates to migrant kulaks about being registered with the village council and that they had no tax debts to the state. These certificates were in the hands of the Chekists, and Trofim Morozov would have been tried even without the testimony of his son. He and several other district chairmen were arrested and sent to prison.
N. Chebakov. Pavlik Morozov, 1952
Relations in the Morozov family were not easy. Pavlik's grandfather was a gendarme, and his grandmother was a horse thief. They met in prison, where he guarded her. Pavlik's father, Trofim Morozov, had a scandalous reputation: he was a reveler, cheated on his wife and, as a result, left her with four children. The chairman of the village council was really dishonest - that he earned on fictitious certificates and appropriated the property of the dispossessed, all the villagers knew. There was no political connotation in Pavlik's act - he simply supported his mother, who was unjustly offended by his father. And the grandmother and grandfather for this hated both him and his mother. In addition, when Trofim left his wife, according to the law, his allotment of land passed to his eldest son Pavel, since the family was left without a livelihood. Having killed the heir, relatives could count on the return of the land.
Relatives accused of killing Pavlik Morozov
An investigation began immediately after the murder. Bloody clothes and a knife were found in the grandfather's house, with which the children were stabbed. During interrogations, Pavel's grandfather and cousin confessed to the crime: allegedly the grandfather held Pavel while Danila stabbed him. The case had a huge impact. This murder was presented in the press as an act of kulak terror against a member of a pioneer organization. Pavlik Morozov was immediately hailed as a pioneer hero.
Only many years later, many details began to raise questions: why, for example, Pavel's grandfather, a former gendarme, did not get rid of the murder weapon and traces of the crime. The writer, historian and journalist Yuri Druzhnikov (aka Alperovich) put forward the version that Pavlik Morozov denounced his father on behalf of his mother - in order to take revenge on his father, and was killed by an OGPU agent in order to cause mass repressions and the expulsion of kulaks - this was the logical conclusion to the story about villainous fists who are ready to kill children for their own benefit. Collectivization took place with great difficulty, the pioneer organization was poorly received in the country. In order to change people's attitudes, new heroes and new legends were needed. Therefore, Pavlik was just a puppet of the Chekists, who sought to arrange a show trial.
Yuri Druzhnikov and his sensational book about Pavlik Morozov
However, this version caused massive criticism and was crushed. In 1999, the Morozovs' relatives and representatives of the Memorial movement secured a review of the case in court, but the Prosecutor General's Office came to the conclusion that the murderers had been justifiably convicted and were not subject to political rehabilitation.
Monument to Pavlik Morozov in the Sverdlovsk region, 1968. Pavlik's mother Tatyana Morozova with her grandson Pavel, 1979
Pioneers visit the site of the death of Pavlik Morozov, 1968
Writer Vladimir Bushin is sure that it was a family drama without any political overtones. In his opinion, the boy only counted on the fact that his father would be frightened and returned to the family, and could not foresee the consequences of his actions. He only thought about helping his mother and brothers, since he was the eldest son.
The school where Pavlik Morozov studied, and now there is a museum named after him
Museum of Pavlik Morozov
No matter how the story of Pavlik Morozov is interpreted, his fate does not become less tragic. His death served the Soviet government as a symbol of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals, and in the perestroika era it was used to discredit this government.
Monuments to Pavlik Morozov
Monument to Pavlik Morozov in the city of Ostrov, Pskov region
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Now, perhaps, it is necessary to explain to young readers who we are talking about. And we knew from childhood who Pavlik Morozov was. All the preschool years of my life until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (when the name of Pavlik was replaced by new names), he was in our minds the main positive hero, a renowned fighter for Soviet power and for the collective farm system, who did not spare his own father, who deceived this power and this system.
Pavlik, according to Soviet ideologists, brought his father to a fair trial in September 1932.
Then, in perestroika times, Soviet history began to be revised. And this episode was also turned upside down (or upside down?). Pavlik Morozov was denounced as "Informer 001".
Maybe it's time to shake off the memory of these sentences and understand what happened in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province, in the family of the chairman of the local village council, Morozov, the father of five children, of whom the eldest, Pavlik, was 13?
My father was not sinless: he quietly appropriated the property confiscated from the dispossessed, and gave false certificates to special settlers sent into exile so that they could get out.
Did Pavlik know about this? He knew, as did everyone around him.
Did he take these "anti-Soviet" intrigues to heart? It is unlikely: the boy had reason to be offended by his father in addition to any politics - he left the family, lived with his mistress, drank. He reduced the upbringing of children to a single notation - there is nothing to go to school, you do not need a letter! And Pavlik wanted to learn.
Well, now to the point. Pavel did not write a denunciation of his father, but simply, in the course of the inquiry, confirmed the facts that were already known to everyone.
Father received a term (he sat, worked and returned ahead of schedule with an order for valiant work).
Pavlik Morozov is neither a hero nor a traitor. He is a victim of crazy times. Isn't it time to just forget this story?
And Pavel was declared a young hero of the Soviet state, who did not spare his own father for the sake of the triumph of the collective farm system.
His family did not forgive him for this. They killed him a year later. The main killer was a cousin, who was executed for this by the authorities as a sworn enemy of the Soviet regime.
Many years later, meticulous historians tried to involve members of the Morozov family in the next consideration of the case.
Relatives refused, and I understand them.
Nothing can be corrected in this woeful plot, and there were enough such plots in the terrible era of the Troubles.
Pavlik Morozov is neither a hero nor a traitor. He is a victim of crazy times.
Isn't it time to just forget this story?
And if you remember, then the story is not a hero and not a traitor, but a child innocently ruined and innocently glorified. It is immoral to use his fate to prove the horrors of the Soviet era. These horrors are enough without him. And, I'm afraid, enough in the future, if the next Troubles will cover us and all of humanity.
And Pavlik Morozov is better left alone. He suffered his own: he paid with his life for the gingerbread and for the whip of frenzied propaganda.
Peace be upon him.
All the post-Soviet years, it was difficult for me to do two things: it is easy to pronounce the word "scoop" as a sentence for the idiots who once lived in the USSR. I was there too, lived, consisted. And put something like this into context: "Another Pavlik Morozov has been found!" I can't and couldn't. For one simple reason. Just imagine how, in a cranberry swamp, a grandfather stabs his two grandchildren with a knife - thirteen-year-old Pavlik and his eight-year-old brother Fedya.
There is a classic version: Pavlik dispossessed his own father, handed him over to the OGPU, the old man Morozov could no longer forgive this and did away with his traitor grandson.
In the late 80s of the last century, another look at the tragedy of the Morozovs appeared. This version was once brought from a perestroika trip to Gerasimovka by my then colleague in Komsomolskaya Pravda Valery Khiltunen. Almost a hundred pages of text seemed not quite conclusive, somehow they did not sound even in the most daring newspaper of that time against the background of the general passion for the overthrow of idols.
Attention: imagine a teenager, in front of whose eyes a drunken father beats his mother more than once, then leaves her with four children altogether (Pavlik is the eldest, the whole household falls on him) and goes to live on the other side of the village with a young woman. What does collectivization and heroism have to do with it? The son somehow wanted to protect his mother and punish his father so that he would return to the family, while not drinking, not beating ... Any psychologist would call this family drama a classic. Be on duty at the teen helpline someday, and you will hear such things about cruelty and domestic violence!
Later I learned that in London in 1988 a book by the Soviet writer (now an American professor) Yuri Druzhnikov "Informer 001, or the Ascension of Pavlik Morozov" was published. Now it has been published in Russia, and is often read and commented on extensively by the Internet community. The author did a great deal of documentary and research work to expose the myth, confirmed the drama of the Morozov family and offered his own version of the crime: the murder of unfortunate children was committed by the OGPU officers in order to raise a propaganda wave of mass indignation against the kulaks.
I do not know what kind of relationship there were in the Morozov family. I know only one thing, that the testimony of a minor child by all normal legislation cannot be interpreted against him. The society suffered from dislocations due to hunger, and in public opinion they forced a very boy to pay for collectivization.
The tragedy of Pavlik Morozov is that one system made him a martyr of an idea, the main pioneer of the country, while another system made him a young scammer, a traitor to his own father.
But, gentlemen, comrades! The fact (and not the version!) Is indisputable: in 1932, two children were killed. And for this modern, free, democratic society has not appointed the guilty. At the same time, as easily as the terminals - plus to minus, the understanding of the past changes. Always modern history serves actual truth rather than boring truth. Let historians study collectivization and write about the village of Gerasimovka and how just a boy was appointed a hero of that era.
In recent history, not a single human rights activist, not a single believer was horrified aloud by this crime, committed by whom? For what? Even if there are more complete answers to these questions, I still will not be able to mention in vain the names of innocently killed children.
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov, who in Soviet times was a role model for pioneers, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka in a peasant family. During the period of collectivization, the boy, according to the official version, became an active participant in the fight against the kulaks, organized and led the first pioneer detachment in his native village.
Official Soviet history says that at the end of 1931, Pavlik convicted his father Trofim Morozov, then the chairman of the village council, of selling blank forms with a seal to special settlers from among the dispossessed kulaks. Based on the testimony of a teenager, Morozov Sr. was sentenced to ten years. Following this, Pavlik reported about the bread hidden from a neighbor, accused the husband of his own aunt of stealing state grain and stated that part of the stolen grain was with his own grandfather, Sergei Morozov. He spoke about the property, hidden from confiscation by the same uncle, actively participated in the actions, looking for hidden property together with representatives of the village council.
According to the official version, Pavlik was killed in the forest on September 3, 1932, when his mother left the village for a short time. The murderers, as determined by the investigation, were Pavlik's cousin, 19-year-old Danila, and Pavlik's 81-year-old grandfather, Sergey Morozov. Pavlik's grandmother, 79-year-old Ksenia Morozova, was declared an accomplice in the crime, and Pavlik's uncle, 70-year-old Arseny Kulukanov, was recognized as its organizer. At a show trial in a district club, they were all sentenced to death. Pavlik's father, Trofim, was also shot, although at that time he was far in the North.
After the death of the boy, his mother, Tatyana Morozova, received an apartment in the Crimea as compensation for her son, part of which she rented to the guests. The woman traveled a lot around the country with stories about the exploits of Pavlik. She died in 1983 in her apartment, lined with bronze busts of Pavlik.
Morozov's name was given to the Gerasimov and other collective farms, schools, pioneer squads and was the first to be entered in the Book of Honor of the V.I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization. Monuments to Pavlik Morozov were erected in Moscow (1948), the village of Gerasimovka (1954) and in Sverdlovsk (1957). Poems and songs were composed about Pavlik, an opera of the same name was written, and the great Eisenstein tried to make a film about him. However, the director's idea was not implemented.
Created by Soviet propaganda, the myth of the "pioneer-hero" existed for more than a dozen years. However, in the late 1980s, publications appeared that not only debunked the myth of Pavlik Morozov, who was called a traitor and informer, but also cast doubt on the very existence of a person with that name. First of all, doubts about the existence of the "hero" arose due to discrepancies with the dates of birth and death. His speech at the trial, in which he exposed his father, exists in 12 versions. In fact, it is impossible even to restore the appearance of Pavlik Morozov, since there are many descriptions that differ from each other. A number of publications questioned the fact that the teenager was really a pioneer.
In 1997, the administration of the Tavdinsky district decided to insist on a review of the criminal case on the fact of the murder of Pavlik Morozov, and in the spring of 1999, members of the Kurgan society "Memorial" sent a petition to the Prosecutor General's Office to review the decision of the Ural Regional Court, which sentenced the teenager's relatives to death.
His teacher Lyudmila Isakova told her version of the story of Pavlik Morozov. Moreover, this version was confirmed by Pavel's younger brother Alexei. According to Isakova, Pavlik's father drank, abused his sons and, in the end, left the family for another woman. Perhaps it was precisely this purely domestic motive that explained the desire of the “pioneer-hero” to take revenge on his father.
The Prosecutor General's Office, which is engaged in the rehabilitation of victims of political repression, came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov is purely criminal in nature, and, therefore, the criminals are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds. In April 1999, the Supreme Court agreed with the opinion of the Prosecutor General's Office.
In Chelyabinsk, the children's railway bears the name of Pavlik Morozov, his bas-relief adorns the alley of pioneer heroes on the Scarlet Field. In Moscow, the monument to the "pioneer-hero", which stood in the children's park of the same name on Druzhinnikovskaya Street, was demolished in 1991, and a wooden chapel was built in its place.
Facts from the life of Pavel Morozov
According to the latest conclusions of historians, Pavel Morozov was not a member of the pioneer organization. In the Book of Honor of the All-Union Pioneer Organization. V. I. Lenin, he was listed only in 1955, 23 years after his death.
At the trial, Pavel Morozov did not speak against his father and did not write denunciations against him. Witness testimony that the father beat the mother and brought into the house things received as payment for the issuance of false documents, he gave during the preliminary inquiry.
Trofim Morozov was subjected to criminal prosecution not for concealing grain, but for falsifying documents with which he supplied members of the counter-revolutionary group and persons hiding from Soviet power.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
In the Urals, the construction of a museum of the most famous pioneer of all times and peoples, Pavlik Morozov, begins. Funds for the creation of the museum and the collection of materials were allocated by the Soros Foundation - the first batch of the "Morozov" grant, the total amount of which is $7,000, has already arrived in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district. The creation of the museum will take about a year. Tavda schoolchildren, who are interested in history, and students of the history department of the Ural State University have already started collecting material. They will find out the whole truth about Pavlik Morozov with the assistance of the Yekaterinburg branch of the Memorial society. It is possible that thanks to the young frost experts, Russia, and the whole world, will learn a lot about the hero of the Soviet era, whose merits have recently been called into question - a year ago, the secrecy period in the case of the death of the legendary pioneer expired.
Pavlik Morozov died 71 years ago. During his short life, he became famous for several "exploits" (previously it was customary to write this word without quotes) - the young Pavel convicted his father Trofim Morozov, chairman of the village council, of selling blank forms with seals to the dispossessed. With the light hand of his son, Trofim was sent to Siberia for 10 years. Then a young associate of the Soviet government reported about bread hidden from a neighbor, accused his aunt’s husband of stealing state grain and stated that part of this grain was with his grandfather, 80-year-old Sergey Sergeevich Morozov, who at one time hid his property from confiscations and some stranger.
For his frankness, Pavlik paid with his life - he and his brother were killed while walking through the forest. The entire Morozov family was accused of reprisals against children - an uncle, an elderly grandfather, grandmother, cousin, and at the same time the father, who was arriving at that time in Siberia. All these people were soon shot, leaving only the mother of the dead boys alive.
The woman who received an apartment in Crimea as compensation for the death of her hero son lived a very long life - Tatyana Morozova died in 1983. Almost until her death, she traveled around the country, telling the young inhabitants of the USSR about the life and death of Pavlik. Apparently, in recent years, she herself no longer remembered what really happened to her family in the distant 30s.
After the collapse of the Union, the figure of Pavlik began to be perceived in a completely different way - at first they began to talk about the boy simply as an informer who sold his family, and then the very fact of his existence was called into question. Indeed, was there Pavlik? The boy's homeland contains very contradictory data on the dates of his birth and death, 12 different versions of his accusatory speech are stored in the archives, and there is no unambiguous description of the appearance of the "pioneer-hero" at all. The fact that the boy, as they say, was, at one time was confirmed by his teacher Lyudmila Isakova. She also claimed that Pavel did not care much about politics, he was much more worried about troubles in the family - the cruelty of an alcoholic father who cheated on his mother, the bullying of a despot grandfather. Tired of this nightmare, Morozov betrayed his loved ones.
In 1997, the administration of the Tavdinsky District applied to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to review the decision of the Ural Regional Court, which had sentenced Pavlik's relatives to death. The Prosecutor General's Office came to the conclusion that the Morozovs are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds, since the case is purely criminal in nature. The Supreme Court agreed with this opinion.
Perhaps soon we will find out what really happened in Gerasimovka more than 70 years ago. In any case, the museum will be interesting because in their exposition the authors of the project will present "a whole era of collectivization, the role played by it in the fate of hundreds and thousands of people", an era whose iconic figure was Pavlik Morozov.
