A Komsomol member who betrayed his father. Pavlik Morozov: hero or traitor? Why did Ukrainians wear forelocks?

Who is Pavel Morozov, a hero or a traitor?

The story of Pavel Morozov is well known to people of the older generation. This boy was included in the ranks of pioneer heroes who performed feats for the sake of their country and people and entered the legends of Soviet times.

According to the official version, Pavlik Morozov, who sincerely believed in the idea of socialism, reported to the OGPU about how his father was helping kulaks and bandits. Morozov Sr. was arrested and convicted. But his son paid for his deed and was killed by his father’s relatives.

What is true in this story and what is fiction of propaganda, unfortunately, has not yet been figured out. Who, in reality, was Pavel Morozov, and what was actually done?

Biography of Pavlik Morozov

Pavel Trofimovich Morozov was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district of the Ural region. His father, Trofim Morozov, became chairman of the village council of his native village. It was a difficult time.

Back in 1921, the villagers of Central Russia started a revolt, rebelling against the Bolshevik surplus appropriation system, which was taking away the last grain for the proletarians.

Those of the rebels who survived the battles went to the Urals or were convicted. Some were shot, others were given amnesty a few years later. Two years later, five people, the Purtov brothers, who played their role in Pavel’s tragedy, also came under amnesty.

The boy's father, when Pavlik reached the age of ten, abandoned his wife and children, leaving for another family. This event forced young Morozov to become the head of the family, taking upon himself all the worries about his relatives.

Knowing that the only shield for the poor was the power of the councils, with the onset of the 30s, Pavel joined the ranks of the pioneer organization. At the same time, my father, having taken a leading position in the village council, began to actively collaborate with kulak elements and the Purtov gang. This is where the story of Pavlik Morozov’s feat begins.

Feat (USSR version)

The Purtovs, having organized a gang in the forests, engaged in robbery in the surrounding area. They have only 20 proven robberies on their conscience. Also, according to the OGPU, five brothers were preparing a local coup against the Soviets, relying on special settlers (kulaks). Trofim Morozov provided active assistance to them. The chairman provided them with document forms, issuing fake certificates of poverty.

In those years, such certificates were an analogue of a passport and gave bandits a quiet life and legal residence. According to these documents, the bearer of the paper was considered a peasant of Gerasimovka and did not owe anything to the state. Pavel, who fully and sincerely supported the Bolsheviks, reported his father's actions to the competent authorities. His father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.

Pavlik paid for this report by losing his life, and his younger brother Fedora was deprived of his life. While picking berries in the forest, they were stabbed to death by their own relatives. At the end of the investigation, four were convicted of murder: Sergei Morozov - paternal grandfather, Ksenia Morozova - grandmother, Danila Morozov - cousin, Arseny Kulukanov - Pavel’s godfather and his uncle.

Kulukanov and Danila were shot, grandfather and grandmother died in custody. The fifth suspect, Arseny Silin, was acquitted.

After all these events, Pavlik Morozov took first place in the future numerous series of pioneer heroes. But over time, historians began to ask questions and question facts that were considered indisputable. By the beginning of the 90s, people appeared who called the boy not a hero, but a traitor and an informer. One version says that Morozov Jr. tried not for the sake of Bolshevik power, but following the persuasion of his mother. According to this version, she persuaded her son to commit a slander, offended that her husband abandoned her with the children. This option is not relevant; my father still helped his family a little, supporting them financially.

Another interesting fact is the documents of the OGPU. According to some of them, denunciation was not necessary. The authorities had evidence of Trofim Morozov’s participation in the gang’s activities. And Pavlik acted only as a witness in his father’s case. The boy was threatened with an article for complicity! His father, as was not surprising at the time, was illiterate. And Pavel wrote out those same certificates in his own hand, on pieces of paper from student notebooks. These sheets are present in the archives, but he remained only a witness, assuring these facts to the OGPU employees.

Another point is controversial. Was the first pioneer hero even among the pioneers? It is definitely difficult to answer this question. In the thirties, there was still no document in use certifying one’s membership in the pioneers of the Soviet Union. Also, no evidence of Pavlik Morozov’s membership in the pioneer community was found in the archives. The pioneers of the village of Gerasimovka are known only from the words of school teacher Zoya Kabina.

Trofim Morozov, Pavlik’s father, was locked up for ten years. But, according to some reports, he was released three years later for successful work on the White Sea Canal, and was even awarded. This is hard to believe. Other versions are more plausible. One of them says that the former chairman was shot in 1938. But there is no confirmation of such an event either. The most common opinion is that the elder Morozov served his sentence and left for the Tyumen region. There he lived out his years, keeping his family connection with his famous son secret.

This is the story of Pavlik Morozov, who became the first pioneer hero. Subsequently, the Soviet government was accused of false propaganda, denying or distorting the events of those distant times. But everyone is free to draw their own conclusions and determine their attitude towards those old matters.

The question of what Pavlik Morozov did can be answered by most people living in the countries of the former USSR. Indeed, his story is well known, and his name has long become a household name. True, unlike the communist version, history has now acquired a rather negative character. What did Pavlik Morozov do? A feat that deserves to be known and remembered for many centuries to come? Or an ordinary denunciation that has nothing to do with heroism? In the search for truth, you will have to hear supporters of both versions.

Background

Pavlik Morozov was the eldest child in the family of Tatyana and Trofim Morozov. In addition to him, his parents had three more boys. As far as we know from surviving memories, the family lived on the verge of poverty - the guys didn’t even really have clothes. It was difficult to get a piece of bread, but despite this, the boys attended school and diligently learned to read and write.

Their father worked as chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council and was far from the most popular person. As it later became known, the children were “swelling from hunger” not because of their father’s poor earnings. The money simply did not reach home, ending up in the pockets of card sharpers and vodka dealers.

And Trofim Morozov handled considerable sums, and he had quite a thief’s biography. Pavlik Morozov knew what his father was doing: appropriating confiscated things, various documentary speculations, as well as covering for those who had not yet been dispossessed. In a word, he extremely actively interfered with the advancement of state policy. You could even say that Pavlik’s father himself became a full-fledged kulak.

The starving children had no idea about this, because very soon daddy finally stopped showing up at home, moving in with his mistress. From this point on, the continuation of the story diverges. For some, it takes on a connotation of heroism, while others perceive it as an ordinary judicial situation. But what did Pavlik Morozov do?

USSR version

The pioneer Pavlik Morozov was an ardent admirer of the teachings of Marx and Lenin and sought to ensure that his state and people came to a bright communist future. The very thought that his own father was doing everything to break the achievements of the October Revolution was disgusting for him. As a loving son and a man with high moral principles, the hero Pavlik Morozov hoped that his father would come to his senses and become correct. But there is a limit to everything. And at some point the boy’s patience ran out.

As the only man in the family, after his father left, he had to carry the entire household on himself. He renounced his parents, and when family ties finally weakened, he acted like a true communist. Pavlik Morozov wrote a denunciation against his father, where he fully described all his crimes and connections with the kulaks, after which he took the paper to the appropriate authorities. Trofim was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.

Perestroika version

Like any Soviet idol, young Pavlik Morozov had to “fall”. The truth about his life immediately began to be investigated by historians, who turned over dozens of archives to find out what the essence of the pioneer’s act was.

Based on these data, they concluded: Pavlik Morozov did not surrender his father to the hands of the Soviet law enforcement system. He just gave testimony that helped once again confirm that Trofim is an enemy of the people and a corrupt official who has committed many crimes. In fact, the pioneer’s father was caught, as they say, “in the act” - they found forged documents with his signatures. In addition, it should be noted that many members of the village council were arrested and convicted along with him.

Why Pavlik Morozov betrayed his father, if giving evidence about the crimes of his relative can be called that, one can understand. Probably, the young pioneer did not think much about kinship - from childhood, his father was a real “scourge” for the family, who did not give way to either his wife or children. For example, he stubbornly did not allow boys to go to school, believing that they did not need to read and write. This is despite the fact that Pavlik had an incredible thirst for knowledge.

In addition, Trofim Morozov at that time was no longer even a family man, living with his new passion and drinking endlessly. He not only didn’t care about the children, he didn’t even think about them. Therefore, the son’s action is understandable - for him it was already a stranger who had managed to bring a lot of evil to the Morozovs’ house.

But the story is not the end

In fact, there would be no hero if it were not for the subsequent events that led to Pavlik Morozov becoming a real great martyr of the Soviet era. A close family friend (Pavel's godfather) Arseny Kulukanov decided to take revenge. Since he used to actively do business with Trofim and was a “kulak”, the arrest of a close comrade greatly affected the financial situation of the future murderer.

When he learned that Pavel and Fedor had gone into the forest to pick berries, he persuaded his middle brother Danila, as well as the Morozovs’ grandfather, Sergei, to go after them. What exactly happened then is unknown. We know only one thing - our hero (Pavlik Morozov) and his younger brother were brutally killed, or more precisely, stabbed to death.

The evidence against the “gang” that had gathered for the murder was the found utility knife and Danila’s bloody clothes. DNA testing did not yet exist, so the investigation decided that the blood on the shirt belonged to the brothers of the arrested man. All participants in the crime were found guilty and shot. Danila Morozov immediately admitted all the charges were true, grandfather Sergei either denied or confirmed his guilt, and only Kulukanov chose to go into deep defense during the trial.

Propaganda

The Soviet nomenklatura simply could not miss such an incident. And it’s not even about the fact of testifying against his father - this happened all the time at that time, but about disgusting and base revenge for this. Now Pavlik Morozov is a pioneer hero.

The crime, which was publicized in the press, caused a huge resonance. The authorities cited it as evidence of the cruelty and greed of the “kulaks”: they say, look at what they are ready to do because of the loss of material gain. Mass repressions began. Dispossession broke out with renewed vigor, and now any wealthy citizen was in danger.

The fact that Pavlik Morozov betrayed his father was omitted - after all, he did it for a just cause. The boy who laid his life on the foundation of the building of communism became a real legend. He was set as an example to follow.

Pavlik Morozov, the feat of a young communist and fighter for the ideas of October became the theme for a huge number of books, plays, songs and poems. His personality occupied a truly enormous place in the culture of the USSR. Assessing the scale of propaganda is, in fact, very simple - now everyone knows the general plot of what happened to this boy. He had to show the children how much more important collective values are in comparison with personal and family interests.

Druzhnikov and his theory

In connection with such close attention of the authorities to the incident, the writer Yuri Druzhnikov put forward the idea of falsifying the crime and deliberately killing Pavlik by the authorities for his further “canonization”. This version formed the basis of the research, which later resulted in the book "Informer 001".

It questioned the entire pioneer biography. Pavlik Morozov Druzhnikov was brutally killed by the OGPU. This statement is based on two facts. The first is a protocol for interviewing a witness allegedly found by the writer in the case of the murder of the Morozov brothers. Everything would be fine, but the protocol was drawn up two days before the discovery of the corpses and the identification of the criminals.

The second point that Druzhnikov cites is the absolutely illogical behavior of the killer. According to all the “rules,” they should have tried to hide such a brutal crime as best as possible, but the accused did everything literally the opposite. The killers did not bother to bury the corpses or at least somehow hide them, but left them in plain sight right next to the road. The crime weapon was carelessly thrown at home, and no one thought to get rid of the bloody clothes. Indeed, there are some contradictions in this, isn’t there?

Based on these theses, the writer concludes that this is an unreal story. Pavlik Morozov was killed by order, specifically in order to create a myth. Druzhnikov states that the materials of the case, which are available in the archives, show how the judge and witnesses are confused and talk incoherent nonsense. In addition, the defendants repeatedly tried to say that they were tortured.

Soviet propaganda suppressed the attitude of fellow villagers towards the boy's denunciation. The writer claims that “Communist Pashka” is the least offensive nickname of all that the guy received for his “feat.”

Reply to Druzhnikov

Druzhnikov's version deeply offended Pavel's only surviving brother, who, after the book was published in Great Britain, stated that he could not tolerate such treatment of the memory of his relative.

He wrote an open letter to the newspapers, where he condemned the “trial” that was held for Pavlik. In it, he reminds that in addition to the legend, there is also a real person, a real family who suffered from these events. He cites the example of the times of Stalin, also full of slander and hatred, and asks: “How much do all these “writers” now differ from the liars of that time?

In addition, it is argued that the arguments found by Druzhnikov do not coincide with the teacher’s recollections. For example, she denies that Pavlik was not a pioneer. Indeed, in his book, the writer says that only after the tragic death of the boy was he assigned to a youth organization in order to create a cult. However, the teacher remembers exactly how a pioneer detachment was created in the village, and the joyful Pavlik received his red tie, which was then taken off and trampled by his father. She was even planning to sue an international court to defend the already immortalized heroic story called “Pavlik Morozov.” History did not wait for this moment, as it turned out that in fact Druzhnikov and his theory were taken seriously by few people.

Among British historians, this book literally caused ridicule and criticism, as the writer contradicted himself. For example, he wrote clearly and clearly that there is no more unreliable source of information than Soviet documents, especially if they concern the legal system. But the author himself used these recordings to his own advantage.

In the end, no one argues - the facts of the crime in the USSR were clearly hushed up and hidden. The whole story was presented exclusively in tones favorable to the leadership. However, there is no evidence that everything that happened was a fiction and a deliberately planned operation. The incident rather proves how cleverly any incident can be twisted into propaganda.

Supreme Court

and the crime associated with it were not missed during the investigation of the prosecutor's office into the rehabilitation of victims of political cases. Attempts were made to find evidence of ideological motives in the murder of the boy. The commission conducted a deep and thorough investigation, after which it declared with responsibility: the murder of Pavel and Fedor is pure criminality. This meant, first of all, the recognition by the new government of a low and vile crime, and on the other hand, it overthrew Pavlik from the pedestal, declaring him dead not at all in the fight against the kulaks.

Antihero

Now Pavlik Morozov acts more like an anti-hero. In the age of capitalism, when everyone must think about himself and his family, and not about the general collective, the people, his “feat” can hardly be called such.

The betrayal of one's own father is viewed from a completely different position, as a low and vile act. Now in culture the boy has become a symbol of an informer who did not deserve to be included in the pioneer heroes. Pavlik Morozov has become a negative character for many. This is evidenced by the destroyed monuments to the hero.

Many see his testimony as a selfish motive - he sought to take revenge on his father for his childhood. Allegedly, Tatyana Morozova did the same thing, trying to intimidate her husband and force him to return home after the trial. Some writers and cultural experts find the very meaning of Pavlik’s feat terrible - an example for children that teaches them to inform and betray.

Conclusion

We will probably never fully know who Pavlik Morozov really is. Its history is ambiguous and still full of secrets and understatement. Of course, you can look at it from completely different angles, presenting the information in any way you like.

But, as they say, there was a cult, but there was also a personality. It is worth trying to look at the whole tragedy from another angle, given the difficult times in which Pavlik Morozov and his family lived. It was an era of terrible changes, a painful, cruel and destructive period. The USSR lost many intelligent and intelligent people due to the purges. People lived in constant fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

In fact, at the center of the events lies the simple tragedy of another family who lived at that time. Pavlik is neither a hero nor a traitor. He is just a young man who became a victim of cruelty and revenge. And we can talk as much as we like about hoaxes and propaganda, but we should never forget about the existence of a real person.

Every totalitarian power had a similar story. Even Nazi Germany had its own boy hero, who fell at a young age for the sake of an idea. And so it always is, because this image is one of the most profitable for the propaganda machine. Isn't it time to just forget this whole story? Give justice to the innocent fallen child and no longer use it as evidence of anything, no matter the greed of the fists or the horrors of the USSR.

Pavlik Morozov is a legendary personality, around whom there is always a lot of controversy. These disputes continue to this day, since it is still impossible to answer the main question of who Pavlik Morozov is - a hero or a traitor. There is little information about what this boy did and what his fate was, so it is impossible to fully understand this story.

There is only an official version of his date of birth and how the boy died. All other events remain a reason for discussions about the actions of this pioneer to continue.

Origin, life

It is known that Pavel Trofimovich Morozov was born in mid-November 1918. His father, Trofim Sergeevich, arrived in the village Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province in 1910. He belonged to ethnic Belarusians, so in his own way origin He was one of the Stolypin settlers.

In the family of Trofim Sergeevich Morozov and Tatyana Semyonovna Baidakova, who lived in Turin district, there were five children:

Paul.
Georgy.
Fedor.
Novel.
Alexei.

There is information that the paternal grandfather was once a gendarme, and the grandmother was known for a long time as a horse thief. Their acquaintance was unusual: when the grandmother was in prison, the grandfather guarded her. There they met, and then they began to live together.

In the pioneer family, besides him, there were four more brothers. But George died while still an infant. It is known that the third son, Fedor, was born around 1924. The birth years of the remaining brothers are unknown.

Family tragedy

According to reliable information, Trofim Sergeevich was the chairman of the village council of Gerasimovka until 1931. Soon after birth of children he left his wife and children and began to live with a neighbor. But despite the fact that Antonina Amosova became his common-law wife, Trofim Morozov continued to beat his wife and children. Pavlik’s teacher also talked about this.

Grandfather Sergei also hated his daughter-in-law, since she was against living on one common household. Tatyana Semyonovna insisted on the division as soon as she appeared in this family. Not only the father did not love his family and did not treat them respectfully, but the grandparents also behaved towards their grandchildren as if they were strangers. Alexey, the youngest of the brothers, recalled that they never treated their grandchildren to anything, were never friendly and affectionate towards them.

They also had a negative attitude towards going to school. They also had a grandson, Danila, whom they did not allow to go to school. They constantly told Tatiana and her children that Danila would be a master even without a letter, but Tatiana’s children have only one destiny - become farm laborers. At the same time, they did not skimp on rude expressions and, according to Alexei Morozov, Pavlik’s younger brother, even called them “puppies.”

Everyone in the village lived poorly, but Pavlik Morozov liked going to school. Despite the fact that after his father left the family he became the eldest man, and all the chores of the peasant farm fell on his children’s shoulders, the pioneer still sought to learn something.

He was on good terms with his teacher, so I often turned to her. He missed many lessons because he worked in the fields and at home, but he always took books to read. But he managed this with difficulty, since he always had no time. He always tried to catch up with the material he missed. He studied well. According to teacher L. Isakova, the boy had a strong desire to learn. Pavlik even tried to teach his mother to read and write.

The fate and crime of Trofim Morozov

As soon as Trofim Sergeevich Morozov became the chairman of the village council, he soon began to use power for selfish purposes. By the way, this is discussed in detail in the criminal case that was opened against Trofim Morozov. There were even witnesses the fact that, using his power, confiscating some things from dispossessed families, he began to appropriate them for himself.

In addition, he, realizing that the special settlers needed certificates, issued them for a fee, speculating on them. For your crimes Trofim Sergeevich Morozov was convicted in 1931. By this time he had already been removed from the post of chairman of the village council. For all his crimes he received 10 years.

The indictment said that he “made friends with the kulaks,” “sheltered their farms from taxation,” and then, when he was no longer on the village council, he contributed to “the escape of special settlers by selling documents.” Fake certificates to people who were dispossessed gave them the opportunity to leave the place where they were exiled.

It is also known how Trofim Morozov’s life developed later, after the trial. He, as a prisoner, participated in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Having worked hard for 3 years, he returned to the village of Gerasimovka with a reward. For his hard work and excellent work he was awarded the order. And after some time he moved to Tyumen and settled there.

The fate of Pavlik Morozov's family

Pavlik's mother looked very pretty woman. All contemporaries of this tragic story recalled this. By nature, Tatyana was simple and kind. Of course, she was afraid of her ex-husband, and there was no one to protect her. Therefore, in order not to meet again with her ex-husband and his relatives, after the murder of her sons, she left.

It is known that only after the end of the Great Patriotic War she settled permanently in the city of Alupka, where she died in 1983. There were several versions about how life turned out for the Pavlik Morozov brothers. Yes, Roman, younger brother, according to one version, died at the front. But there is another version: in the war he was seriously wounded, but survived and became disabled. Therefore, he died shortly after the end of the war.

All versions about the fate of the brothers state one thing: Alexey became the only successor of the Morozov family. But his fate was not easy either, since during the war he was captured and for a long time he was considered an enemy of the people. He was married, from this marriage two children were born:

Denis.
Paul.

Alexey Morozov did not live long with his wife and soon after the divorce he settled in his mother’s house in Alupka. Alexey tried never to tell anyone that he was Pavlik Morozov’s brother. He first voiced this only at the time when, at the end of 1980, during Perestroika, they began to talk badly about his brother.

Official version of the story of Pavlik Morozov

At school, the pioneer studied well and was a ringleader and leader among his peers. Wikipedia says about Pavlik Morozov that he independently organized a pioneer detachment in the village, which became the first in Gerasimovka. By official version the boy, despite his young age, believed in communist ideas.

In 1930, according to historical data, he betrayed his father and denounced him for forging certificates for the kulaks about their dispossession. As a result, because of this denunciation, Pavlik’s father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years. Despite the fact that he was released three years later, there is also a version that he was shot.

Currently, there are several assumptions about why Pavlik Morozov reported on his father, because it is still impossible to decide who this pioneer is - a hero or a traitor.

Myths about the pioneer's act

There are several myths about what really happened. They all differ from the main official version:

Version of the writer Vladimir Bushin.
Version of journalist Yuri Druzhnikov.

Vladimir Bushin was sure that there was no political intent in Pavlik’s act. He wasn't going to betray him. According to the writer, the boy hoped that his father could be a little intimidated, and he would return to the family. After all, the boy was the eldest in the family, and his mother needed help. Pavlik did not think at all about what the consequences would be.

As the writer assures, the boy was not even a pioneer, and the pioneer organization in his village appeared much later. In some portraits, Pavlik is depicted wearing a pioneer tie, but, as it turns out, it was also painted much later.

There is also a version that Pavlik did not write any denunciations against his father at all. And against Trofim, who was detained for those fictitious certificates that the security officers accidentally found, his ex-wife Tatyana testified at the trial.

Yuri Druzhnikov, a historian, writer and journalist, claimed in his book that the child wrote a denunciation against his father on behalf of his mother. And it was not his father’s relatives who killed him, but an OGPU agent. But later the court proved that it was his uncle and grandfather who carried out the massacre of the boy. Alexey Morozov vehemently opposed this version. He was able to prove that his brother was not a traitor, but just a boy whose life was tragic. He was able to prove that his relatives specifically went into the forest to kill Pavlusha.

Tragic death

The boy paid for his action with his life. When, after the trial of his father, he went into the forest to pick berries, he was stabbed to death there along with his younger brother. This happened on September 3. At this time, the mother left for Tavda to sell the calf. The guys wanted to spend the night in the forest. They knew that no one would look for them.

And four days later, one of the local residents found their corpses. There were numerous stab wounds on the body. By this time they were already looking for them, because the day before the mother had returned home and, not finding the boys, immediately reported to the police. The whole village was looking for them.

Alexey, the middle brother, told his mother, and then confirmed this in court, that on September 3 he saw Danila walking out of the forest. When asked by the boy, who was already 11 years old, whether he had seen his brothers, he just laughed. The child also remembered what Danila Morozov was wearing:

Self-woven pants.
Black shirt.

When there was a search in the house of my grandfather, Sergei Sergeevich Morozov, these things were found. As the mother of the slaughtered children recalled, grandmother Aksinya Morozova, having met her on the street, spoke with a grin about the slaughtered children.

When the bodies of the children were discovered, inspection reports of the bodies were drawn up, which were signed:

District police officer Titov Yakov.
P. Makarov, paramedic.
Pyotr Ermakov, attesting witness.
Abraham Books, understood.
Ivan Barkin, attesting witness.

In the first act of examining the crime scene, it is written that Pavel was lying not far from the road, and a red bag was put on his head. He was hit several times. The fatal blow was to the stomach. Scattered cranberries lay next to the body and a basket lay a little further away. The child’s shirt was torn, and there was a huge blood stain on his back. The boy's blue eyes were open and his mouth closed.

The second boy's corpse was located a little further from his brother. Fedor was hit on the head with a stick. First, most likely, he was hit in the left temple, and then stabbed in the stomach. There was a bloody streak on the baby's right cheek, his hand was cut to the bone with a knife. From the incision on the abdomen, which was above the navel, internal organs were visible.

The second act of inspection was already done by paramedic Markov after he washed the bodies and examined them. So, the paramedic counted four knife wounds on Pavlik:

On the chest on the right side.
Epigastric region.
Left side.
From the right side.

According to the paramedic, the fourth wound was fatal for the boy. He had another stab wound on his left thumb. Most likely, the boy was trying to defend himself somehow. The Morozov brothers were buried in Gerasimovka.

Trial

When the events of this crime were reconstructed, it turned out that the initiator of this murder was Arseny Kulukanov, a kulak. He learned that the boys had gone into the forest, and invited their cousin to kill Pavel, giving 5 rubles for it. Danila went home, started harrowing, and then, passing on the conversation to grandfather Sergei, took a knife and went into the forest. His grandfather also went with him.

As soon as they met the boys, Danila immediately stabbed Pavlik with a knife. Fedya tried to run away, but his grandfather detained him, and Danila stabbed him too. When Fedor was already dead and Danila was convinced of this, he again returned to Pavlik and dealt him several more blows.

The murder of the Morozov brothers was widely publicized, and the authorities used this to finally deal with the kulaks and organize collective farms.

The trial of the boys' killers took place in one of the clubs in Tavda, and it was demonstrative. All the accusations made were confirmed by Danila Morozov himself. The remaining defendants in this case never admitted their guilt. The following items became evidence:

Household knife by Sergei Morozov.
The bloody clothes of Danila Morozov, which Alexey described. But the man himself claimed that he was slaughtering a calf in these clothes for Pavlik’s mother.

According to the court's decision, the boys' grandfather and cousin were found guilty of this crime. And Pavlik’s uncle and godfather Arseny Kulukanov was announced as the organizer. Grandmother Ksenia was declared an accomplice. The sentence was harsh: Arseny and Danila were shot, and the grandmother and grandfather died in prison.

The action of Pavlik Morozov in literature.

The Soviet government regarded the boy's act as a feat that he accomplished for the benefit of the people. By hiding some facts of his life, the pioneer was made a hero and an example to follow. Therefore, literature could not ignore this act.

Thus, already in 1934, Sergei Mikhalkov and Franz Szabo created the touching “Song of Pavlik Morozov.” At the same time, Vitaly Gubarev wrote a story about a hero boy for younger children. In the post-war period, poems were written about the brave boy by Stepan Shchipachev and Elena Khorinskaya. Children at school learned a poem about him by heart.

Today there are many opinions about Pavlik’s act, but this story has not yet been fully revealed. And even in the archives there are many serious contradictions. Therefore, the question of what he committed - a feat or betrayal - remains open.

Background

USSR version

Perestroika version

But the story is not the end

Propaganda

Druzhnikov and his theory

Reply to Druzhnikov

Supreme Court

Antihero

Conclusion

The name and surname of this teenager were twice symbols of their era. First - as an absolutely positive image of the country's first pioneer hero. And later, during the decline of the Soviet state, as a traitor who did not spare his own father. Pavlik Morozov, killed at the age of 14, remained in the people's memory as a tragic, but not fully understood figure. And the opportunity to separate the truth from the myth created by the Bolsheviks arose only in our days, when access to previously secret archives became available.

Pavlik Morozov: hero or traitor?

Magazine: Secret Archives No. 4, October 2017
Category: New look

According to the official version, the events took place as follows.
Pavel Morozov was born on November 14, 1918 in the Ural village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province. His father, Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, was the chairman of the village council and, for money, issued certificates to special settlers from among the exiled former kulaks, allowing them to leave. Pavel, having learned about this, reported his father to the relevant authorities. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years. But the boy paid for his heroic deed with his life: he and his younger brother Fyodor were stabbed to death in the forest while picking berries. The killers were found within a few days - they were the boys' paternal grandfather Sergei Morozov, his wife Ksenia, Pavel's uncle Arseny Kulukanov and the hero's 19-year-old cousin Danil. Arseny Kulukanov and Danila Morozov were sentenced to death. Grandmother and grandfather, who were over 80 years old, died in prison.
The convicts were charged with murder out of revenge - because of Pavel's denunciation of his father. Trofim Morozov himself, who was involved in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, was released three years later for shock work, he returned with an order,
but did not live in his native village, but moved to Tyumen.
The act of Pavel Morozov was regarded as a feat, the boy was considered a hero, city streets and pioneer squads of many schools in the country were named after him.
For many years this version was considered the only correct one - despite the fact that many facts were suppressed or distorted.

Was there a denunciation?

First of all, Pavel’s relationship with his father was tense long before his trial.
Ethnic Belarusian Trofim Sergeevich Morozov arrived in Siberia among the so-called Stolypin settlers - when at the beginning of the 20th century, on the initiative of the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire Pyotr Stolypin, those who came to these places were given plots of land and money for improvement. Trofim and Tatyana Morozov had four children. We didn't live well. And at the end of the 1920s, the family completely broke up - the father left for another woman, Antonina Amosova.
Pavel, as the eldest of the children, was responsible for the housework. Life has become truly miserable. My father didn’t help at all, although he found himself a good extra income. He was the chairman of the village council, participated in the dispossession of fellow villagers and appropriated their belongings. In addition, by 1930, people appeared in the village who had been exiled from other parts of the country. Trofim Morozov gave them certificates that allowed them to leave - it is clear that for the corresponding bribe.
Could Paul have told about such activities of his father out of revenge for the fact that he abandoned his mother and children?
Of course, this version cannot be completely ruled out. But the main thing seems to be something completely different: there was no denunciation as such!
He does not appear at all in the documents of the trial of Pavel’s father. The competent authorities came to Trofim Morozov after the detention of one of the former dispossessed people with false documents. This happened on November 22, 1931 at Tavda station. A citizen named Zvorykin was found to have two blank forms with stamps from the Gerasimovsky Village Council, for which, as it turned out, he paid 105 rubles.
The very next day Trofim Morozov was arrested. On November 25, 1931, Pavel and his mother spoke at his father’s trial. They testified that Trofim Sergeevich beat his family and brought home things confiscated from the dispossessed.
The main testimony about the unlawful actions of her husband was given by Tatyana Morozova, Pavel only agreed with her - and the judge stopped him, not considering it necessary to demand detailed testimony from the minor. In addition, according to eyewitnesses, the boy stuttered badly and spoke with a Belarusian accent - so the judge did not want to listen to him for long.
The version of denunciation arose due to a mistake by investigator Elizar Shepelev, who, in the indictment in another case - this time about the murder of the young Morozov brothers - wrote that Pavel contacted the investigative authorities with a statement against his father. Later, Shepelev admitted his mistake in several interviews and confirmed that there were no documents in the case written by Pavel Morozov.
Thus, there is no ideological motive in the murder of the boys, allegedly out of revenge for denunciation. Trofim Morozov would have been convicted in any case. Many historians believe that Pavel Morozov testified, hoping that his father would be threatened and returned to the family. So the conflict that led to the death of the two boys was not ideological, but of a family and everyday nature.

Tie in a portrait

Another myth that has not found documentary evidence is that Pavel Morozov was a pioneer. It is known for sure that the tie in his portrait was added later, and the pioneer organization in the village of Gerasimovka appeared a month after the murder of the boys. This is evidenced by the memories of teacher Larisa Isakova. True, the following fact is indicated there: one day Isakova brought a red tie from Tavda. Pavel joyfully tied him up and ran home, but the father beat the boy for this act. That is, we can talk about Pavel Morozov’s sympathies for the ideals of the pioneer organization - but, most likely, the teenager did not have the chance to join it. True, later another of Pavel’s teachers, Zoya Kabina, claimed that it was she who created the pioneer detachment in the village of Gerasimovka, and young Morozov led it. But, apparently, this version became part of a large propaganda campaign to glorify the boy hero - so that other children would imitate him in everything.
On September 3, 1932, when Tatyana Morozova left the village for several days on business (to sell a calf), Pavel and his younger brother Fedor went into the forest to pick berries. The father's relatives waylaid the boys there and dealt with them, killing them with knife blows to the stomach. The children's bodies were discovered on September 6. The investigation immediately led to the killers. The evidence was a knife and clothes with traces of blood, which no one bothered to get rid of for several days.
At the very first interrogation, Pavel’s grandfather and cousin confessed to the crime they had committed: the grandfather held Pavel while Danila stabbed him. The case received great political resonance. The press presented the murder as an act of kulak terror against the pioneer hero. But for many decades now, researchers have been occupied with the question: why didn’t Pavlik’s grandfather, who was once a gendarme, get rid of the evidence? And weren’t they simply planted on the relatives of the young hero?

Two days before the bodies were discovered

This version, in particular, is expressed by the writer and journalist Yuri Druzhnikov. In his opinion, OGPU officers were involved in the deaths of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov - to create a legend about kulaks who kill children for their own benefit. According to Druzhnikov, such a provocation helped solve the double
task: to become a reason to straighten your fists throughout the country and give Soviet children a new ideological guideline.
The journalist, now living in the United States, refers to a document discovered in closed archives - a protocol of interrogation of OGPU informant Ivan Potupchik, dated September 4 (that is, two days before the discovery of the boys’ corpses). Commissioner Spiridon Kartashov spoke with him. From the interrogation it becomes clear that the OGPU officers knew about the murder much earlier than the bodies were found. In addition, there was practically no investigation. The corpses were buried without a preliminary examination, no blood test was carried out on the knife, and the prosecutor and judge were confused about the facts. At the trial, Pavel Morozov's relatives said that they were beaten and tortured, and traces of blood on their clothes and knife appeared because they were cutting a calf.
From the very beginning, the case was demonstrative in nature, its main goal was to condemn representatives of the kulaks as class enemies. At the same time, the main performer, Danila Morozov, was a village fool, capable of confessing to any crime.
There is another point of view: the murder of the boys was not committed by OGPU officers, they simply took advantage of favorable circumstances.
The fact is that starting in 1929, several wealthy families were expelled from Gerasimovka. Some of them secretly returned from their new place of residence; these people lived in dugouts in the forest. Pavel and Fyodor could have simply stumbled upon one of these dwellings - and the boys were killed so that they could not tell anyone anything. This version explains the death of Fedya Morozov, who had nothing to do with the trial of his father.
The show trial, which all newspapers wrote about, not only made Pavlik Morozov a hero and an example to follow, but also morally justified mass repressions against wealthy peasants. Indeed, in the eyes of other people, fists have now become vile killers of a brave boy who was not afraid to give his life for a just cause.