Why is Pavlik Morozov famous? Pavlik Morozov: history. Passion for a pioneer. Who was Pavlik Morozov

Pavlik Morozov (in the center, wearing a cap) with classmates; next to the flag - Danila Morozov; 1930

Actually, his name was Pasha! For some, he was a pioneer hero who testified at the trial against the father of a fraudster! For others, Judas, who sold his own dad for 30 pieces of silver! In any case, this is what a certain professor from the USA, Y. Druzhnikov, says - he is Yuri Izrailevich Alperovich ..

Here is a biography of Pavlik on Wikipedia:

Born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka, Turin district, Tobolsk province, in the family of Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, a red partisan, then chairman of the village council, and Tatyana Semyonovna Morozova, nee Baidakova. My father, like all the inhabitants of the village, was an ethnic Belarusian (a family of Stolypin immigrants, in Gerasimovka since 1910). Subsequently, the father left the family (wife with four sons) and started a second family with Antonina Amosova; as a result of his departure, all the worries about the peasant economy fell on the eldest son Pavel. According to the recollections of Pavel's teacher, his father regularly drank and beat his wife and children both before and after leaving the family. Grandfather Pavlik also hated his daughter-in-law because she did not want to live with him on the same farm, but insisted on a division. According to Alexei, Pavel's brother, the father "loved only himself and vodka", he did not spare his wife and sons, not like foreign migrants, from whom "he tore three skins for forms with seals." Pavel's grandfather and grandmother also treated the family abandoned by their father to the mercy of fate: “Grandfather and grandmother were also strangers to us for a long time. Never offered anything, never greeted. Grandfather didn’t let his grandson, Danilka, go to school, we only heard: “You can manage without a letter, you will be the owner, and Tatiana’s puppies are your laborers.”

In 1931, the father, who was no longer the chairman of the village council, was sentenced to 10 years for “being the chairman of the village council, he was friends with the kulaks, hid their farms from taxation, and, upon leaving the village council, contributed to the flight of special settlers by selling documents.” Specifically, he was charged with issuing fake certificates to the dispossessed of their belonging to the Gerasimov village council, which gave them the opportunity to leave the place of exile. At the same time, the only certificate that appeared as material evidence was made in the village council after Morozov left. According to some sources, Trofim Morozov was shot in the camp in 1932; in the case of the murder of Pavlik Morozov, he did not pass. At the same time, there are allegations in other sources that Trofim Morozov, being imprisoned, participated in the construction of the White Sea Canal and, after serving three years, returned home with an order for hard work, and then settled in Tyumen. In this regard, fearing a meeting with ex-husband, Tatyana Morozova for many years did not dare to visit her native places.

Pavel's brothers: Grisha - died in infancy; Fedor - killed at the age of 8 along with Pavel; Roman - fought against the Nazis, returned from the front disabled, died young; Alexey - during the war he was slandered as an "enemy of the people", spent ten years in camps, then was rehabilitated, suffered greatly from the perestroika campaign of persecution of Pavlik (see his letter below).
From a letter published by Veronika Kononenko from Alexei Morozov, Pavel's brother:
“What kind of trial did they arrange for my brother? It's embarrassing and scary. My brother was called an informer in the magazine. Lie it! Pavel always fought openly. Why is he insulted? Has our family suffered a little grief? Who is being bullied? Two of my brothers were killed. The third, Roman, came from the front disabled, died young. I was slandered during the war as an enemy of the people. He spent ten years in the camp. And then they rehabilitated. And now slander on Pavlik. How to endure all this? They doomed me to torture worse than in the camps. It is good that my mother did not live to see these days ... I am writing, but tears are choking. So it seems that Pashka is again defenseless on the road. ... The editor of "Ogonyok" Korotich at the radio station "Freedom" said that my brother is a son of a bitch, which means my mother ... Yuri Izrailevich Alperovich-Druzhnikov worked his way into our family, drank tea with my mother, sympathized with us, and then published in London a vile book - a bunch of such disgusting lies and slander that, after reading it, I got a second heart attack. Z. A. Kabina also fell ill, she kept trying to sue the author in an international court, but where is she - Alperovich lives in Texas and laughs - try to get him, the teacher's pension is not enough. The chapters from the book “The Ascension of Pavlik Morozov” by this scribbler were circulated by many newspapers and magazines, no one takes my protests into account, no one needs the truth about my brother ... It seems that I have only one thing left - to douse myself with gasoline, and that's it!

Yuri Druzhnikov questions official version. The background of Pavel’s mother’s testimony in court, as Druzhnikov believes, was domestic: Tatyana Morozova wanted to take revenge on her husband who left her and hoped, by scaring her, to return her to the family. However, he also does not deny information about the facts of her beating. He considers it illogical the behavior of the alleged killers who did not take any measures to hide the traces of the crime (they did not drown the corpses in the swamp, leaving them by the road; they did not wash the bloody clothes in time; they did not clean the knife from traces of blood, while putting it in the place in which the first thing they look at during a search). The latter is all the more difficult to explain, given that Morozov's grandfather was a gendarme in the past, and his grandmother was a professional horse thief (Sergey Morozov fell in love with Xenia in prison). According to Druzhnikov, the murder was the result of a provocation by the OGPU, organized with the participation of an assistant authorized by the OGPU, Spiridon Kartashov (a professional executioner - "executor") and Pavel's cousin, an informant Ivan Potupchik (then a candidate member of the CPSU (b)). In this regard, Druzhnikov describes a document that he discovered in the materials of case No. 374 (on the murder of the Morozov brothers) and entitled “Protocol on case N…” (No. omitted). The document, compiled by Kartashov, is a record of the interrogation of Potupchik as a witness in the case of the murder of Pavel and Fedya. It is dated September 4, that is, according to the date, it was drawn up two days before the discovery of the fact of the murder.

According to Yuri Druzhnikov, expressed in an interview " Russian newspaper»:
“There was no investigation. The corpses were ordered to be buried before the arrival of the investigator without examination. Journalists also sat on the stage as accusers, speaking about the political importance of shooting kulaks. The lawyer accused the defendants of murder and left to applause. Different sources report different methods of murder, the prosecutor and the judge were confused about the facts. A knife with traces of blood found in the house was called the murder weapon, but Danila was slaughtering a calf that day - no one checked whose blood it was. The accused grandfather, grandmother, uncle and cousin of Pavlik Danila tried to say that they were beaten and tortured. The shooting of the innocent in November 1932 was the signal for a massacre of peasants throughout the country. »

According to Boris Sopelnyak, the suspects were searched when the grandmother started a laundry to wash away traces of blood on Danila's pants and shirt:

Whose pants, I do not know. Why in the blood, too, I do not know. And I started washing just like that: I see some pants are hanging, let me, I think, I’ll wash it. Tatyana did not say anything about meat. Witnesses, although there are many, lie! The bloody knife found behind the icons is not ours. How he got there, I don't know.

According to an article by Vladimir Bushin in the Zavtra newspaper, Druzhnikov's version that the killers were "a certain Kartashev and Potupchik," the first of whom was "a detective of the OGPU," is incorrect. Bushin refers to Veronika Kononenko, who found "Spiridon Nikitich Kartashov himself" and Pavel Morozov's brother, Alexei. Pointing out that Druzhnikov’s real name is Alperovich, Bushin claims that, in addition to using the “beautiful Russian pseudonym Druzhnikov”, he “rubbed himself into confidence” in Pavel Morozov’s former teacher Larisa Pavlovna Isakova, using another name - his editorial colleague I.M. Achildiev. Along with the assertion of Kartashov's non-participation in the OGPU, Bushin accuses Alperovich-Druzhnikov of deliberately distorting and juggling facts to suit his views and convictions.

In 2005, Oxford University professor Catriona Kelly published Comrade Pavlik: The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Boy Hero. Dr. Kelly argued in the ensuing controversy that “although there are traces of silence and concealment of minor facts by the OGPU employees, there is no reason to believe that the murder itself was provoked by them.

Yuri Druzhnikov stated that Kelly used his work not only in valid references, but also by repeating the book's composition, selection of details, descriptions. In addition, Dr. Kelly, according to Druzhnikov, came to the exact opposite conclusion about the role of the OGPU-NKVD in the murder of Pavlik.

According to Dr. Kelly, Mr. Druzhnikov considered the Soviet official materials unreliable, but used them when it was advantageous to support his account. According to Catriona Kelly, instead of a scientific presentation of criticism of her book, Druzhnikov published a "denunciation" with the assumption of Kelly's connection with the "organs". Dr. Kelly did not find much difference between the conclusions of the books and attributed some of the points of criticism of Mr. Druzhnikov to a lack of knowledge of him. of English language and English culture.
The decision of the Supreme Court of Russia

In the spring of 1999, members of the Kurgan Memorial Society sent a petition to the Prosecutor General's Office to review the decision of the Ural Regional Court, which had sentenced the teenager's relatives to death. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia came to the following conclusion:

The verdict of the Ural Regional Court dated November 28, 1932 and the ruling of the judicial cassation board of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR dated February 28, 1933 in relation to Kulukanov Arseny Ignatievich and Morozova Xenia Ilyinichna should be changed: re-qualify their actions from Art. 58-8 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR at Art. Art. 17 and 58-8 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, leaving the previous measure of punishment. To recognize Sergey Sergeevich Morozov and Daniil Ivanovich Morozov as reasonably convicted in the present case for committing a counter-revolutionary crime and not subject to rehabilitation.

Prosecutor General's Office dealing with the rehabilitation of victims political repression, came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov was purely criminal in nature, and the killers were not subject to political rehabilitation. This conclusion, together with the materials of the additional verification of case No. 374, was sent to the Supreme Court of Russia, which in 1999 decided to refuse rehabilitation of the alleged murderers of Pavlik Morozov and his brother Fyodor.

Opinions on the decision of the Supreme Court.
According to Boris Sopelnyak, "in the midst of the perestroika hysteria [..] the so-called ideologists, who had been let into the dollar feeder, tried the hardest [to beat the love of the Motherland out of the youth." According to Sopelnyak, the General Prosecutor's Office carefully considered the case.
We can agree with this. The collapse of the USSR, the inflating of the civil war, the brainwashing of the people - all these are links in the same chain! Yesterday's idols have become traitors, there is confusion and vacillation in their heads, there is no more ideology - now you can do anything with these people! (A. Begunok).

Here is what Pioneer magazine wrote:
To the citizens of the country the story of Pavlik Morozov

Pioneer: And what did the unfortunate slaughtered child do to you humanist democrats?

Democrat: He and others contributed to the forces that caused a lot of grief and trouble to the citizens of the country.

Pavlik Morozov's father was not a kulak, but he was the chairman of the village council in a remote Ural village. He drank, as usual, in a black way and took bribes from the exiled kulaks for all sorts of information. In addition, he left his wife (Pavlik's mother) and openly lived with another woman. For his legal wife, a peasant woman of the 30s, this was a very serious insult. Of course, a 12-year-old boy from a bear's corner did not write any denunciations about his father, and it is not known whether their mother Pavlik wrote (Morozov Sr. had enough ill-wishers even without her). But at the trial against her husband, she gave evidence and the son, defending his mother, supported her. It is clear that the testimony of the child had no significant significance for the court. Father was convicted and sent to the construction of the White Sea Canal. A few weeks later, my grandfather and older cousin (relatives on my father's side) waylaid Pavlik and his 9-year-old younger brother in the forest, and both were slaughtered. Since both children were killed, it is obvious that the father's relatives took revenge on their mother. Three years later, the father of the brothers returned home from the construction of the White Sea Canal with an order for labor achievements.

The history is well documented, as many witnesses of those days were still alive in the 70s, and claimed that Pavlik was a good boy.

Those who, in the 1930s, made Pavlik Morozov a hero-pioneer the usual agitprop businessmen (modernly speaking, image makers), and those foremen of perestroika (future democrat-reformers) who, from a child slaughtered by fanatics, blinded a symbol of betrayal and soviet denunciation, To me, it's just rubbish.

And the boys are bloody in their eyes

Raised the topic not to once again point out the well-known immorality of our intelligentsia. I understand that most of those who vainly mention the name of Pavlik Morozov do it, most likely out of ignorance, and I recalled this sad story, including to show what kingdom of crooked mirrors we all ended up in (for my taste, much worse the previous one). This is especially true of the gentlemen of the “liberal democrats”: sitting up to their ears in shit, one should not tweet so loudly about a bright democracy with human rights and the crimes of communism. Although I still believe that even the toughest human rights activists are not going to kill pioneer children for a red tie, or, in any case, they will never admit it publicly.

The dialogue cited at the beginning of the text is genuine and quite typical; on the Runet forums they like to stung a disgusted ideological opponent with a comparison with a traitor pioneer. But it is not this circumstance that makes the story around Pavlik Morozov relevant. Recently, our nimble "reformers" were demonstratively caught by the West in the pursuit of liberalism-monetarism with state money. In response to insinuations from the West, our refined liberal intelligentsia serving agitprop offendedly points out the fact that the campaign in the West to expose Russian embezzlers-reformers, first of all, expresses the scornful attitude of the West towards the most democratic Russia as a whole. And this is true, because no one has ever seriously doubted the criminal nature of the reforms in the former USSR, then why did they wake up there, in the West, - in the words of Chernomyrdin, - suddenly woke up ?!

It became clear that the civilized West, not too scrupulous in business, but neat and understanding of decorum, is squeamish about our democratic reformers. Oh, of course, he appreciates their progressive activity in Russia, but they themselves, Russian liberals, are somehow not very sympathetic to him, a Western citizen, as a human being, but rather disgusting. The soviet advanced “democratic” intelligentsia had previously felt contemptuous attitude towards itself from the side of “civilized mankind”, but with its inherent stupidity and frivolity attributed this exclusively to someone else’s account, they say, the shadow of the “criminal historical past of Russia” fell due to a misunderstanding and at her, all of herself diligently “European”. Alas, it gradually became clear that the “democrats” were meant personally, and even, perhaps, it was them in the first place. From such a bitter resentment for the entire civilized world, our “liberals” have learned to occasionally use the phrase “state interests” and even in spite of the whole world began to surreptitiously appeal to “Russian patriotism”.

The image of Pavlik Morozov is not in itself, but his subsequent life and metamorphoses in public consciousness, - reveals some latent features of the mentality of our intelligentsia. On the rewash in the media of bones Soviet heroes in the late 80s and early 90s, hundreds of specialists worked, incl. and foreign, and the true story of the murder of the juvenile Morozov brothers was well known to them. The question is, why not simply confine ourselves to exposing Stalin's propaganda, which made a pioneer hero from a child of a victim of fanatics? So no, Pavlik was turned into an exemplary Soviet pioneer-traitor! For the last decade, the liberal-humanistic frenzy has not stopped over the long-decomposed children's corpses, the remembrance of the “traitor-Pavlik” in vain has become a fashion, almost a saying. The murdered Pavlik Morozov entered the top three persons - the objects of ritual curses of the "democratic" intelligentsia, almost on a par with I. Stalin and A. Hitler. Why did your agitprop, noble in thought, humanistic intelligentsia, need to make you even more vile than you really are?

The grandmasters of agitprop, who helped the Soviet intelligentsia to acquire the myth of Pavlik Morozov, the monstrous ideologically convinced Traitor of the Father, subtly understood the soul of the Russian intellectual. Our intellectual is ready to recognize (at least in words) as the highest good and an unconditional role model any custom of the civilized West, with the exception of only one - the moral obligation of a free well-intentioned citizen to report to authorities. No, slandering the dear West about vile Russia is always welcome and with great pleasure. But on their own kind ... our intellectual does not accept this at all as the norm of public behavior of a civilized person (secretly is another matter, here they even find intrigue and romance). And it would be okay if only the authorities were condemned Russian state, nothing happened! - addressing confession to the official authorities and completely rule of law reflexively causes no less indignation and bouts of intellectual moral intolerance than an appeal to the native gebukh.

Here, of course, the latent criminality of the worldview of the intelligentsia is reflected. The ideological and social cohesion of the notorious Order of the Intelligentsia is based on the same psychological complexes as any ordinary raspberry thieves. It is undoubtedly important to morally bind the intelligentsia with a mutual guarantee of the subconscious justification for the murder of scammers in order to strengthen the mental health and increase the spiritual stamina of the intelligentsia in its eternal opposition to “dumb mediocre power”. However, that very original feature of spiritual quest Russian intelligentsia, which is so amazing to outside observers from cultured countries, is at the same time the main obstacle to the mundane (and not Existential) merging of our intelligentsia with the longed-for West.

In the 90s, the BBC television company filmed with us documentary about Pavlik Morozov (see, they are interested!). And just imagine what a Western layman sees: on the one hand, a terrible family tragedy, and on the other, Soviet human rights activists, over the corpses of children, they eloquently reproach the slaughtered children for their pioneering and betrayal of universal human values. Now, I hope you understand why, when you, principled fighters against totalitarianism, begin to rant about your commitment to the Values of Western Civilization (it’s you, because this genre is not typical for “communo-fascists”), then the Western layman tries to better hide any values and looks to the police with hope?

Truly, everyone is rewarded according to his faith, and the myth of the Soviet Jewish pioneer turned into a reality about our fiery boy scouts of anti-communism.

/ Pioneer, 1999 /
Applications:

The case of the murder of pioneer Pavel Morozov

Demonstration trial of the chairman of the village council with. Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district, Morozov Trofim gathered hundreds of people.

Read the indictment. The interrogation of witnesses began. Suddenly the condensed silence of a measured course litigation pierced the sonorous voice of a child:

Uncle, let me tell you!

There was a commotion in the hall. The spectators jumped up from their seats, the back rows poured into those sitting, there was a stampede at the doors. The chairman of the court with difficulty restored order ...

It was I who filed a lawsuit against my father. As a pioneer, I refuse my father. He created a clear counter-revolution. My father is not the defender of October. He helped kulukanov Arsentiy in every possible way. It was he who helped the fists escape. It was he who hid the kulak property so that the collective farmers would not get it ...

I ask that my father be brought to severe responsibility so that others will not be given the habit of defending the kulaks.

The 12-year-old pioneer witness Pavel Morozov finished his testimony. No. It was not a witness statement. It was a merciless indictment by the young defender of socialism against those who stood on the side of the frenzied enemies of the proletarian revolution.

Trofim Morozov, exposed by his pioneer son, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for liaising with local kulaks, fabricating false documents for them, and hiding kulak property.

Pioneer Pavel Morozov, after the trial, came to the family of his grandfather Sergei Morozov. Unfriendly met in the family of a fearless whistleblower. A blank wall of hidden enmity surrounded the boy. The native was a pioneer detachment. Pasha ran there as if he were his own family, there he shared joys and sorrows. There they taught him a passionate intolerance for the kulaks and their sing-alongs.

And when Pasha's grandfather, Sergei Morozov, hid kulak property, Pasha ran to the village council and exposed his grandfather.

In 1932, in the winter, Pala brought the kulak Silin Arseniy to fresh water, who did not fulfill a firm task, and sold a cartload of potatoes to the kulaks. In the fall, the dispossessed Kulukanov stole 16 pounds of rye from the village Soviet field and again hid them from his father-in-law, Sergei Morozov. Pavel again exposed his grandfather and kulukanov.

At meetings during sowing, at the time of grain procurements, everywhere the pioneer activist Pasha Morozov exposed the intricate machinations of the kulaks and sub-kulakists...

And gradually, thoughtfully, preparations began for a terrible and bloody reprisal against the pioneer activist. First, Danila Morozov, Pavel's cousin, was dragged into the criminal conspiracy, and then his grandfather, Sergei. For a fee of 30 rubles, Danila Morozov, with the help of his grandfather, undertook to kill his hated relative. Kulukanov's fist skillfully fueled Danila's and grandfather's hostility towards Pavel. Pavel was increasingly met with brutal beatings and unequivocal threats.

If you don’t sign out of the detachment, then I’ll slaughter you, damned pioneer, anyway, ”Danila wheezed, beating Pavel until he lost consciousness ...

On August 26, Pavel submitted a statement of threats to the district police officer. Either due to political short-sightedness, or for other reasons, the district policeman did not have time to intervene in the case.

On September 3, on a clear autumn day, Pavel, together with his 9-year-old brother Fedya, ran into the forest for berries ...

In the evening, calmly in front of everyone, Danila Morozov and grandfather Sergei finished their harrowing and sat down and headed home.

Dear imperceptibly turned into the forest. We met Fedya and Pasha quite close ...

The reprisal was short. The knife stopped the rebellious heart of the young pioneer. Then, just as quickly, they finished with an unnecessary witness - nine-year-old Fedya. Danila and grandfather calmly returned home and sat down to dinner. Grandmother Ksenya also calmly and busily began to soak her bloody clothes. A knife was hidden behind the holy images in a dark corner...

One of these days, the case of the murder of pioneer activist Pavel Morozov and his nine-year-old brother will be heard on the spot in a show trial.

Active masterminds of the murder are sitting on the dock - kulukanov, Silin, murderers Sergey and Danila Morozov, their accomplice Ksenya Morozova...

Pavel Morozov is not alone. People like him are legions. They unmask the grain-huggers, the plunderers of public property, they, if necessary, bring their fist-fisted fathers to the dock...

© "Ural worker"
Reprinting is permitted with a link to the electronic version of the newspaper and an indication of its address.

22.11.2014 3 16489

The name of this 13-year-old boy has become a symbol twice. First - a symbol of the struggle of the pioneer heroes with the "counter-revolution" and "kulaks". Then - a symbol of betrayal, denunciation and meanness.

The paradox is that neither one nor the other interpretation has practically nothing to do with true history Pavlik Morozov. A teenager who simply took care of his mother and younger brothers and was not afraid to speak the truth, even on pain of death.

The Ural schoolboy Pavlik Morozov today, as a rule, is mentioned in a humorous or condemning context. Everyone seems to know that he “surrendered his father”, “wrote a denunciation”, but at the same time no one remembers the details of the case itself.

Soviet propaganda instantly elevated Pavlik to a pedestal as a pioneer hero. In modern times, with the same fervor and the same haste, he was branded as a traitor.

In both cases, the boy's name was used as a political slogan.

The real background of those September events of 1932 has long been forgotten.

Only "whistleblowers" greedy for sensations periodically try to give a new interpretation of old events.

But it was all pretty simple.

village corruption

Pavlik Morozov was born a year after the October Revolution, on November 14, 1918. His childhood fell on the most difficult time - the first years of formation Soviet power.

The most severe blow of the transition period - civil war and the ensuing war communism - it was the peasants who took over.

Along with everyone else, the inhabitants of the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province, endured hardships. There, in the family of the chairman of the local village council, Pavel was born - the eldest of the five children of Trofim and Tatyana Morozov. They lived non-peacefully: the father often beat both the mother and the children. Not because he was too harsh in character, but simply such were the usual village customs of that time.

But also a good man Trofim Morozov, with all the desire, could not be named. He eventually abandoned his family and began to live with his mistress in the neighborhood. Moreover, he did not stop beating his wife and children. And he actively used his position as chairman of the village council for personal enrichment. For example, he appropriated the property confiscated from the dispossessed.

A separate source of income for him was the issuance of illegal certificates to special settlers. This category of citizens appeared in the early 1930s, when “kulaks” and “sub-kulakists” were sent to special settlements without trial or investigation. There they had to live in the position of exiles, observing a strict routine and working in logging, mining, and so on.

Of course, there was no talk of any freedom of movement. It was possible to leave the special settlement only with the permission of the commandant. Some special settlers tried to escape from such a life. But for this, a certificate of registration with some village council was needed. So that the competent authorities at the new place of residence do not have questions - where did they come from, what did they do before.

It was with these certificates that Morozov traded. Moreover, he continued to do this even after he was removed from the post of chairman of the village council in 1931. He got burned on them. Over time, one after another, requests began to arrive in Gerasimovka from various factories and factories, as well as from the construction of Magnitogorsk. Vigilant production managers were interested: did the new workers who arrived to them really live earlier in Gerasimovka?

Too often special settlers with false certificates in their pockets began to come across. And in November 1931, at the Tavda station, a certain Zvorykin was detained with two blank forms, on which were the seals of the Gerasimov village council. He honestly admitted to police officers that he had paid 105 rubles for them. A few days later, several people were arrested in the case of fake certificates, including Trofim Morozov.

Fictional denunciation

From this moment begins the same story of Pavlik Morozov. And it starts right away with contradictions. Investigator Elizar Shepelev, who subsequently investigated the murder of the boy, wrote the following in the indictment: "Pavel Morozov filed an application with the investigating authorities on November 25, 1931." This refers to a statement in which Pavlik allegedly accused his father of illegal activities.

However, many years later, Shepelev frankly admitted in an interview: “I can’t understand why on earth I wrote all this, there is no evidence in the case that the boy turned to the investigating authorities and that it was for this that he was killed. Probably, I meant that Pavel testified to the judge when Trofim was tried ... "

I did not find any trace of Pavlik's testimony in the case of Trofim Morozov and the journalist Evgenia Medyakova, who tried to get to the bottom of the truth in the early 1980s. The testimony of his mother is available, but the boy is not. True, at the trial, apparently, he still spoke, but it is unlikely that he said anything new or valuable. Nevertheless, this was enough to arouse hatred for him among his father's relatives. Especially after the court sentenced Trofim to 10 years in the camps and sent him to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

Looking ahead, let's say that Trofim Morozov did not complete his term. He returned three years later, with an order for hard work. But by that time, his two sons - Pavel and Fedor - had been killed.

It should be emphasized that after Trofim left the family, Pavel became the eldest man in the family. He took care of his mother and younger brothers, supported the household as best he could. And in the eyes of adults, it was on him, and not on Tatiana, that all the responsibility for the "betrayal" of Trofim lay. Pavel was especially hated by his grandfather Sergei, who was fully supported in this by his wife, grandmother Aksinya (or Ksenia).

Another sworn enemy was Danila's cousin. Finally, his godfather and husband of Trofim's sister Arseniy Kulukanov did not have warm feelings for the boy at all. According to one version, Pavel mentioned his name in his speech at the court, calling him “fist”. These four people ended up in the dock as accused of the murder of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov.

Ordinary atrocity

The following is known about the murder itself. In early September 1932, Pavel and Fyodor went to the forest for berries. Upon learning of this, Kulukanov persuaded Danila to follow them and kill the boys. And even allegedly paid him 5 rubles for it. Danila did not go to the crime alone, but went for advice to his grandfather Sergei.

He calmly stood up and, looking at how the accomplice took the knife, said: "Let's go kill, look, don't be afraid." They found Pavlik and eight-year-old Fedor pretty quickly. Danila inflicted mortal blows on both, but grandfather Sergey did not allow the younger boy to run away.

Since Pavel and Fyodor were going to go into the forest with an overnight stay, they did not miss them right away. Especially since the mother was away. When Tatyana returned to the village, she found out that the children had not returned for the third day. Alarmed, she raised the people in search, and the next day the bodies of the slaughtered children were discovered.

The mother, heartbroken, later told the investigator that on the same day on the street she met grandmother Aksinya, who told her with an evil laugh: “Tatiana, we made meat for you, and now you eat it!”

The investigation quickly found the killers. The main evidence was a household knife and Danila's bloodied clothes, which Aksinya soaked but did not have time to wash (at first they claimed that he had slaughtered a calf the day before). Danila admitted his guilt almost immediately and completely. Grandfather Sergei constantly changed his testimony and got confused, either recognizing or denying what had happened.

Aksinya and Arseny Kulukanov did not confess to anything until the very end. Nevertheless, it was Arseny, together with Danila, who received the most severe punishment - execution. Aksinya and Sergei Morozov, due to their advanced age (the old people were already 80 years old), were sent to live in prison.

Symbol in red tie

This would have ended this, in essence, a simple story of domestic enmity. If the Soviet propaganda had not taken up the matter. The boy, killed by his relatives for two careless words spoken at the court session, was of no use to anyone. But the pioneer hero, who fearlessly exposed the fists with fists and fell in an unequal battle, the plot is what you need.

Therefore, in the very first note on this topic, published in the newspaper Ural Worker on November 19, 1932, the story of Pavlik was told as follows:

“... And when Pasha's grandfather, Sergei Morozov, hid kulak property, Pasha ran to the village council and exposed his grandfather. In 1932, in winter, Pasha brought the kulak Silin Arseniy to fresh water, who did not fulfill a firm task, sold a cart of potatoes to the kulaks.

Pavel again exposed his grandfather and kulukanov. At meetings during sowing, at the time of grain procurements, everywhere the pioneer activist Pasha Morozov exposed the intricate machinations of the kulaks and sub-kulakists ... "

The already difficult life of a simple village teenager, abandoned by his father and carrying on all household chores, suddenly turned into an endless battle with “kulaks and podkulakniks”, who endlessly turned their “frauds” in little Gerasimovka.

Needless to say, there are no documents confirming such an active activity of the "whistleblower" Pavlik Morozov? But the name of such a hero was no longer ashamed to call a pioneer detachment. As well as erect a monument to him.

“To some, Pavlik now seems like a boy stuffed with slogans in a clean pioneer uniform. And because of our poverty, he didn’t even see this uniform, didn’t participate in pioneer parades, didn’t wear portraits of Molotov, and didn’t shout “toast” to the leaders, ”the school teacher Larisa Isakova later recalled, who observed almost the entire story with her own eyes.

But the propaganda machine was already in full swing. Poems, books, plays and even one opera were written about Pavlik Morozov! What exactly and why happened in Gerasimovka in the autumn of 1932 was remembered less and less. less people, and only a few tried to understand the details.

Long arms of the OGPU?

But times have changed and the pendulum has swung the other way. So powerful and uncontrollable. People who were hungry for the truth sought to expose all the myths of the Soviet ideology. At the same time, I was too lazy to delve into the question seriously. Very often they followed the path of least resistance: if something was declared good by the Soviet state, it means that it is actually bad.

This is exactly what happened with Pavlik Morozov. The dirty brand of "traitor" was deserved by him no more than gold medal"hero".

Tatyana Morozova (Pavlik's mother) with her grandson Pavel Morozov. Photo taken in 1979.

Everything was now in doubt. Was Trofim Morozov such a terrible person? Was he deservedly sent to the camp? Did Pavlik write or did not write the unfortunate denunciation of his father? At the same time, for some reason, the simplest and most terrible question was constantly missed: is it possible to kill children?

At the same time, in the exposing excitement, some authors literally reached the point of absurdity. Writer Yuri Druzhnikov in 1987 published a book in the UK with the catchy title "Informer 001, or the Ascension of Pavlik Morozov." In it, he turned the whole situation literally upside down.

According to Druzhnikov, Pavlik was a puppet of the all-powerful security officers who sought to arrange a show trial with political overtones. This was necessary, in particular, in order to finally organize a collective farm in Gerasimovka, which the villagers had previously actively resisted.

The author of the book calls the assistant to the authorized OGPU Spiridon Kartashov and Pavel's cousin, Ivan Potupchik, who collaborated with the authorities, the real organizers and perpetrators of the murder. This version has been repeatedly criticized and dismantled literally by the bones.

And not only domestic researchers. Oxford University professor Catriona Kelly, for example, noted that Druzhnikov uses the materials of the official investigation very selectively, recognizing only those that fit his theory as authentic.

Despite the extremely weak argumentation, Druzhnikov nonetheless quite accurately points to weak spots in the official version of the investigation. It's really unclear why the killers didn't bother to hide the knife and the bloodied clothes.

Grandfather Sergei served as a gendarme in the past, grandmother Aksinya once traded in stealing horses. That is, about what the investigation and evidence are, both should have had a good idea. Nevertheless, they made it surprisingly easy and simple to arrest themselves.

However, no matter how much the 80-year-old documents are shuffled, this will not change the main thing in any way. Two boys, Pavel and Fyodor Morozov, are neither heroes nor traitors. And the unfortunate victims of circumstances and dashing time.

Viktor Banev

Most of the people living in the countries of the former USSR will be able to answer the question of what Pavlik Morozov did. Indeed, its history is well known, and the 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 worthy of being known and remembered for many centuries to come? Or is it an ordinary denunciation that has nothing to do with heroism? In search of the truth, one will have to hear the supporters of both versions.

background

Pavlik Morozov was the oldest child in the family of Tatyana and Trofim Morozov. In addition to him, the parents grew up three more boys. As far as we know from the surviving memories, the family lived on the verge of poverty - the guys didn’t even really have clothes. A piece of bread was obtained with difficulty, but, despite this, the boys attended school and diligently learned to read and write.

Their father worked as the chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council and was far from the most popular person. As it became known later, the children "swelled from hunger" not because of the poor earnings of their father. It's just that the money did not reach the house, settling in the pockets of card cheats and vodka dealers.

And Trofim Morozov turned over considerable sums, and he had a completely thieves' biography. Pavlik Morozov knew what his father was doing: appropriation of confiscated things, various documentary speculations, as well as covering those who had not yet been dispossessed. In a word, he actively interfered with the promotion public policy. It can even be said that Pavlik's father himself became a full-fledged fist.

The starving children did not even know about it, because very soon daddy finally stopped appearing at home, moving to his mistress. From this point on, the continuation of the story diverges. For some, it acquires a connotation of heroism, while for others it is perceived as an ordinary judicial situation. But what did Pavlik Morozov do?

USSR version

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 is doing everything to break achievements October revolution, was disgusting to him. As a loving son and a person with high moral principles, the hero Pavlik Morozov hoped that his father would come to his senses and become right. But everything has a limit. And at some point the boy's cup of patience overflowed.

As the only man in the family, after the departure of his father, he had to carry the entire household. He renounced his parent, and when the 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.

Rebuild version

Like any Soviet idol, the young Pavlik Morozov also 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 hand over his father into the hands of the Soviet law enforcement system. He only gave testimony, which helped to once again make sure that Trofim is an enemy of the people and a corrupt official who has committed many crimes. In fact, the father of the pioneer was caught, as they say, "hot" - they found fake 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 you can call it testifying about the crimes of his relative, you can understand. Probably, the young pioneer did not even think much about kinship - from childhood, dad was a real "scourge" for the family, who did not let his wife or children pass. For example, he stubbornly did not let the boys go to school, believing that they did not need a letter. This despite the fact that Pavlik had an incredible craving 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 didn't just not care about the children - he didn't even think about them. Therefore, the son's act is understandable - for him it was already a stranger who managed to bring a lot of evil to the Morozovs' house.

But the story is not over

In fact, there would be no hero if it were not for the events that occurred further, which led to the fact that Pavlik Morozov became a real great martyr of the Soviet era. A close friend of the family (Paul's godfather) Arseny Kulukanov decided on revenge. Since he had previously actively dealt with Trofim, and was a "fist", the arrest of a close comrade hit hard on financial position future killer.

When he learned that Pavel and Fyodor had gone into the forest for berries, he persuaded his middle brother Danila, as well as the grandfather of the Morozovs, Sergey, 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 murdered, or, to be more precise, stabbed to death.

The evidence against the "gang" that had gathered for the murder was the found household knife and Danila's bloodied clothes. DNA examinations did not yet exist, therefore the investigation decided that the blood on the shirt belonged to the brothers of the arrested person. All participants in the crime were found guilty and shot. Danila Morozov immediately recognized all the accusations as true, grandfather Sergei either denied or confirmed his guilt, and only Kulukanov preferred to go into deep defense during the trial.

Propaganda

The Soviet nomenklatura simply could not miss such an opportunity. And the point is not even in the very fact of testifying against the father - this happened all the time at that time, but in disgusting and low revenge for this. Now Pavlik Morozov is a pioneer hero.

The crime, which received publicity in the press, produced a huge response. The authorities cited him as proof of the cruelty and greed of the "kulaks": they say, look what they are ready for because of the loss of material gain. Massive 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 lowered - after all, he did it for the sake of a just cause. The boy who put his life in the foundation of building communism has become a true legend. He was set as an example to follow.

Pavlik Morozov, the feat of the young communist and fighter for the ideas of October, became the subject of a huge number of books, productions, songs and poems. His personality occupied a truly enormous place in the culture of the USSR. In fact, it is very simple to assess the scale of propaganda - now everyone knows the general plot of what happened to this boy. He was supposed 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 study, which later resulted in the book "Informer 001".

It questioned the entire pioneer biography. Pavlik Morozov Druzhnikov was brutally murdered by the OGPU. This assertion is based on two facts. The first one is the record of 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 position, which Druzhnikov cites, is the absolutely illogical behavior of the killer. According to all the "rules", such a cruel crime should have been tried as best as possible to hide, but the accused did everything literally the other way around. The killers did not bother to bury the corpses or at least somehow hide them, but left them in full view 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 it?

On the basis of these theses, the writer concludes that before us is an unreal story. Pavlik Morozov was killed by order, specifically in order to create a myth. Druzhnikov states that according to the materials of the case, which are available in the archives, it is clear that the judge and witnesses are confused and are talking incoherent nonsense. In addition, the accused repeatedly tried to say that they were tortured.

Soviet propaganda hushed up the attitude of fellow villagers to the denunciation of the boy. The writer claims that "Pashka the Communist" 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 publication of the book in the UK, declared 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 arranged for Pavlik. In it, he recalls that in addition to the legend, there is also a real person, a real family who suffered from these events. He cites the times of Stalin, also full of slander and hatred, as an example, and asks: "Are all these 'writers' different from the liars of that time in many ways?"

In addition, it is alleged that the arguments found by Druzhnikov do not coincide with the memories of the teacher. 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 going to sue the international court to protect the already immortalized heroic story under the name "Pavlik Morozov". History did not wait for this moment, as it turned out that, in fact, Druzhnikov and his theory were not taken seriously by anyone.

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 relate to the legal system. And the author himself used these records to his advantage.

Ultimately, 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 is a fiction and a deliberately planned operation. The case rather proves how cleverly any incident can be turned out by propaganda.

Supreme Court

and the related crime were not overlooked during the prosecution's investigation into the rehabilitation of victims of political cases. Attempts were made to find evidence of an ideological background 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 - pure water 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 his 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 should think about himself and his family, and not about the general team, 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 was not worthy of being recorded as pioneer heroes. Pavlik Morozov has become a negative character for many. This is evidenced by the destroyed monuments to the hero.

Many see mercenary intent in his testimony - he sought to take revenge on his father for his childhood. Allegedly, Tatyana Morozova did the same, trying to intimidate her husband and force him to return home after the trial. Some writers and culturologists find the very meaning of Pavlik's feat terrible - an example for children that teaches them to inform and betray.

Conclusion

Probably, we will never fully find out who Pavlik Morozov really is. Its history is ambiguous and is still full of secrets and understatement. Of course, you can look at it from completely different angles, presenting information as 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 time in which Pavlik Morozov and his family lived. It was an era of terrible change, a painful, cruel and destructive period. The USSR lost a lot of intelligent and smart people in connection with the purges. People lived in constant fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

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

In every totalitarian power there was a similar story. Even in Nazi Germany there was a hero boy 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 advantageous for the propaganda machine. Isn't it time to just forget the whole story? To pay tribute to an innocently fallen child and no longer use it as evidence of anything, no matter whether the greed of the kulaks or the horrors of the USSR.

November 14, he could have turned 90 years old, but he forever remained 13 years old. Pavlik Morozov over the past 76 years after his death managed to be elevated to the rank of a pioneer hero and overthrown to a banal juvenile informer.

Pioneer Hero

To fully understand what happened in the early 30s of the last century in the remote Ural village of Gerasimovka, even the archives of the criminal case opened in 2002 did not help. It is only known for certain that Pavlik Morozov really existed. But there was a time when, in the wake of exposing communist myths, the most desperate heads even questioned this fact.

Recall: according to the official version, on which more than one generation grew up, Pavlik Morozov denounced his father at the GPU that he was hiding bread. Father was given 10 years. Some time later, thirteen-year-old Pavlik and his nine-year-old brother Fedya were found dead in the forest. Relatives of the boys were accused of the murder: grandfather, grandmother and cousin. They were shot, and Pavlik Morozov was made a pioneer hero.

During perestroika, historians and journalists rushed to investigate this case again. 20 years ago, some eyewitnesses to this story were still alive, and their testimony, backed up by old interviews with Pavlik's mother, Tatyana Morozova, divided the researchers into two camps. Some are sure that the child was slandered, while others were found in long history the bloody hand of the Chekists...

Father Reveler

So, on September 3, 1932, the bodies of Pavlik and his younger nine-year-old brother Fedya were found in the forest near the village. “Paul was dealt a fatal blow to the belly. The second blow was struck in the chest near the heart, - the district police officer wrote in the protocol of the inspection of the scene. “Fedor was stabbed to death with a knife in the belly above the navel, where the intestines came out, and his hand was cut with a knife to the bone ...”

In 1997, the administration of the Tavdinsky district, in which the village of Gerasimovka is located, turned to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to review the decision of the court that sentenced Pavlik's killers to death. The Prosecutor General's Office decided that the Morozovs were not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds, since the case was a criminal one. Similar conclusions were made later by the Supreme Court.

As it became known, in the case of Father Pavlik, Trofim Morozov, there was no question of any bread. The chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council was tried for selling blank forms with seals to the dispossessed. For such trade, Trofim was imprisoned along with five other chairmen of the village councils of the district. Pavlik's younger brother Alexei recalled in the late 80s: “They really sent us to us. They brought settlers in the fall of the thirtieth year. Do you think their father felt sorry for them? Not at all. He is our mother, he did not spare his sons, let alone strangers. He loved only himself and vodka. And they tore three skins from the settlers for forms with seals.

It turns out that the moral character of Trofim could play an important role in this story. Pavlik's first teacher, Larisa Isakova, who arrived in Gerasimovka as a 17-year-old girl, could not stand the perestroika revelatory wave and wrote an open letter: how to write and count. As soon as Trofim sat down at his post, he completely abandoned his household, his wife and Pavlik were alone overstrained. He came home drunk, where did he get money only for vodka? Apparently, he was already receiving offerings.”

offended mother

Professor of the University of California Yuri Druzhnikov, who died this year, called for attention to the only surviving character in the Morozov family saga - the boys' mother Tatyana. She was not repressed, and, according to him, as compensation for everything that happened, the party even provided the woman with an apartment in the Crimea. Druzhnikov claims that Morozova told him that it was her idea to denounce her husband. It was revenge for the fact that he left for another woman. She, according to the researcher, persuaded her son Pavlik to “punish dad.” In his research, Druzhnikov went as far as to say that the killers of the boys were NKVD officers. They committed such a terrible crime in order to untie their hands in the fight against the fists, and at the same time present the hero-martyr to the younger generation. Documentary evidence of this has not been found. And Tatyana Morozova really moved to live in Alupka. The woman died in 1983, but the neighbors remember the pioneer hero's mother and brother.

She was a normal woman and a good mother. I remember her son Alexei very well, we worked together, ”said Tatiana’s neighbor Alexandra Yegorovna to the Sobesednik. - He often told us that there was no politics in the Pavlik case. Their grandfather went crazy, so he killed the brothers. And the mother was very worried about that tragedy. When Aleksey also called his son Pavlik, she cried a lot ... She was simple, in the summer she rented out housing to vacationers, at one time she traded fruit in the market.

Grandfather-murderer

By the way, there is not a word about the denunciation of Pavlik Morozov in the materials of the court. And when Trofim Morozov was tried, this fact was not mentioned. It is only known that Pavlik acted as a witness at the trial.

During interrogation, his grandfather Sergey, who was arrested on suspicion of killing Pavlik, admitted that the idea of the murder belonged to him, since “Pavel brought out of patience, did not let pass, reproached me for being the keeper of the confiscated kulak things.” But at the same time he stated, however, that “he himself did not kill the brothers. Only kept Fedor. The grandson of Danila stabbed the guys.” 19-year-old Danila confirmed this: “We killed Fedya only so that we would not be extradited. He cried, asked not to kill, but we did not regret it ... ”The grandmother of the killed boys, Aksinya, was accused of inciting. Allegedly, she knew about the plan of the killers, approved of it and repeatedly said to her grandson Danila: “Kill this snotty communist!”

No one can figure out how strong the ideological component is in this story. Too many myths have wound around the tragedy. Fellow villagers, who were children at that time, recalled that the Morozov family was very pious, and Pavlik and Fedya were killed when they returned from the local priest.

And his teacher Larisa Isakova wrote in an open letter: “Now Pavlik seems like a kind of boy stuffed with slogans in a clean pioneer uniform. And because of our poverty, he never saw this uniform, he did not participate in pioneer parades. He did not know about any Stalin then ...

I did not have time to organize a pioneer detachment in Gerasimovka then, it was created after me, but I told the guys about how children are fighting for better life in other cities and villages. Once I brought a red tie from Tavda, tied it to Pavel, and he joyfully ran home. And at home, his father tore off his tie and beat him terribly.

His name became a household name, he was used in politics and propaganda. Who was Pavlik Morozov really?
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.

Portrait of Pavlik Morozov based on the only known photograph of him

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 the testimony of his mother 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.

Pavlik Morozov - a pioneer hero in the era of the USSR

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 this case in court, but the Prosecutor General's Office concluded that the murderers had been justifiably convicted and were not subject to political rehabilitation.

Monument to Pavlik Morozov in 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