Who is Pavlik Morozov? In the post-war years, a lot of controversy erupted around his legendary personality. Some saw a hero in his face, others claimed that he was an informer and did not accomplish any feat. The information that is established reliably is not enough to restore all the details of the event. Therefore, many of the nuances were added by the journalists themselves. Official confirmation is only the fact of his death from a knife, date of birth and death. All other events are subject to discussion.
Official version
In the Soviet Union, Pavel belonged to a host of so-called pioneer heroes. Pavlik Morozov was born in the Urals in 1918. He studied well at school and was a ringleader among his peers testify to the fact that he was an excellent student and was a leader among his peers. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia contains information that Pavel Morozov organized the first pioneer detachment in his village. The boy grew up in a large family. At an early age, he lost his father, who left for another woman, leaving the children in the care of his mother. Despite the fact that many worries after the departure of his father fell on the shoulders of Paul, he showed a great desire to study. This was later told by his teacher L.P. Isakova.
At his young age, he firmly believed in communist ideas. In 1930, according to the official version, he denounced his father, who, being the chairman of the village council, forged certificates to the kulaks that they were allegedly dispossessed.
As a result, Father Pavel was sentenced to 10 years. For his heroic deed, the boy paid with his life: he and his younger brother were slaughtered in the forest when the boys were picking berries. All members of the Morozov family were later accused of the massacre. His own paternal grandfather Sergey and 19-year-old cousin Danila, as well as grandmother Xenia (as an accomplice) and Pavel's godfather - Arseniy Kulukanov, who was his uncle (as a village kulak - as the initiator and organizer of the murder) were found guilty of the murder of Yuyli . After the trial, Arseny Kulukanov and Danila Morozov were shot, octogenarian Sergei and Ksenia Morozov died in prison. Another uncle of Pavlik, Arseniy Silin, was also accused of complicity in the murder, but during the trial he was acquitted.
Interestingly, Pavlik's father, convicted of forgery, returned from the camps three years later. He participated in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and, after working for three years, returned home with an order for hard work, and then settled in Tyumen.
The act of Pavel Morozov was regarded by the Soviet authorities as a feat for the benefit of the people. He believed in a bright future and made a significant contribution to the building of communism, for which he paid with his life. They made a real hero out of Pavlik, while hiding some dubious facts from his life. Over time, this whole story turned into a legend, which became an example for many compatriots.
On November 14, 1918, a boy was born in the Urals, who was destined to become the first pioneer hero of the USSR, and one of the most controversial figures in Soviet history.
For today's Russian youth, the word "pioneers" sounds about the same as "dinosaurs". The existence of a mass children's organization in the Soviet Union, in which practically all schoolchildren were involved, starting from the 3rd grade, young Russians know only by hearsay.
The first hero of the pioneer
At the same time, almost everyone over the age of 30 had a chance to personally see this special layer of Soviet culture associated with the ideological education of young people.
The Soviet pioneers, in addition to adults, whose examples were recommended to be followed, had their own heroes - teenagers with red ties who sacrificed their lives for their own ideals, beliefs and in the name of the Motherland.
Pavlik Morozov (center, with a book) with a group of fellow practitioners. Photo: Public Domain
The beginning of the gallery of pioneer heroes laid, of course, Pavlik Morozov. Unlike many others, Pavel Trofimovich Morozov remained in folklore, although the glory of the “traitor of the father” that was attached to him in no way reflects the real state of affairs.
According to the canonical Soviet version, Pavlik Morozov was one of the organizers of the first pioneer detachment in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province. In 1931, at the height of the fight against the kulaks, 13-year-old Pavel testified against his father, Trofima Morozova, who, as chairman of the village council, collaborated with the kulaks, helped them evade taxation, and also hid bread to be handed over to the state. On the basis of these testimonies of the principal pioneer, Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years.
In September 1932, kulaks, among whom were Pavel's grandfather and the boy's cousin, brutally killed the pioneer and his own younger brother Fyodor in the forest.
In the case of the murder of Pavlik Morozov, four people were convicted - the grandfather and grandmother of the dead boys, as well as a cousin Danila and godfather Arseny Kulukanov who was his uncle. The direct perpetrator of the crime, Danila Morozov, and one of the "customers" of the murder, Arseniy Kulukanov, were shot, and the elderly Kseniya and Sergey Morozov sentenced to prison. Interestingly, one of the accused Arseniy Silin was fully justified.
If in Soviet times Pavlik Morozov was presented as "an unbending fighter for ideals", then during the perestroika period, critics characterized him as "a snitch who betrayed his own father." The circumstances of the pioneer's death were also called into question.
What is known today?
Father and son
Pavlik Morozov was indeed one of the first pioneers in the village of Gerasimovka. The village was split - on the one hand, the extreme poverty of some, on the other, the prosperity of the so-called "kulaks", opponents of the Soviet regime, which included some relatives of Pavel Morozov.
Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, became the head of the Gerasimovsky village council, and in this position he left a very bad reputation about himself. He was noted for what is now called "corruption" - he appropriated the property of the dispossessed, helped wealthy fellow villagers evade taxes, speculated on certificates issued to special settlers.
Portrait of Pavlik Morozov based on the only known photograph of him. Photo: Public Domain
Pavel could not feel warm feelings for his father also because Trofim Morozov left his family, leaving for another woman. Paul's mother Tatiana, was left with four children in her arms, virtually without a livelihood. Trofim's parents, Sergey and Ksenia Morozov, hated Tatyana because she had refused to live in a common house with them and insisted on a division. They did not have warm feelings for Tatyana's children either, calling them, according to the recollections of Pavel's brother, Alexei Morozov, nothing more than "puppies."
And after Pavlik joined the pioneers, in the eyes of his grandfather, he completely turned into the main object of hatred.
At the same time, Pavel himself had no time for pioneer training: after the departure of his father, he became the main man in the family and helped his mother with the housework.
In 1931, the notoriety of Trofim Morozov, who had already left the post of chairman of the village council, reached the ears of the competent authorities. Morozov was charged with abuse. At the trial, Tatyana Morozova testified about the illegal acts of her husband known to her, and Pavel only confirmed the words of his mother, and was stopped by the judge, who did not consider it necessary to demand extensive testimony from the minor. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
massacre
There is conflicting information about his fate. "Whistleblowers" Pavlik Morozov claim that his father was allegedly shot in the camp in 1938, but there is no evidence for this. According to other sources, Trofim Morozov, after serving his sentence, settled in the Tyumen region, where he lived until the end of his days, trying not to advertise his relationship with Pavlik Morozov.
Considering that Tatyana Morozova gave the main testimony against her ex-husband, Trofim's relatives took revenge not on Pavlik, but on her. On September 2, 1932, Tatyana left on business, and the next day, Pavel and his younger brother Fedor went to the forest for berries. The father's relatives considered that this was a convenient opportunity, and, after lying in wait for the boys in the forest, they dealt with them.
Pavel was stabbed in the stomach and heart, and his brother Fedor, who tried to escape, was first hit in the temple with a stick, and then finished off with a stab in the stomach.
The search for the children began on September 5, upon the return of the mother. Already on September 6, the bodies were found in the forest. The killers did not particularly try to hide the fact of the massacre. Pavel's mother, Tatyana Morozova, later recalled that when the bodies of the brutally murdered children were brought to the village, Ksenia Morozova, the mother of her ex-husband and the grandmother of the dead, told her with a grin: “Tatyana, we made meat for you, and now you eat it!”
The investigation into the murder made it possible to fully prove the guilt of the suspects. Later attempts to see the murder of the Morozov brothers as a “provocation of the OGPU” do not stand up to scrutiny.
In 1999, representatives of the Memorial movement and relatives of the Morozov brothers convicted of murder tried to have their sentences reviewed. However, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, having considered the case, came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov is purely criminal in nature, and the killers were convicted reasonably and are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds.
Hero and victim
So, the pioneer Pavlik Morozov, objectively speaking, was not "a snitch and a traitor to his father." Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, in fact, was a corrupt official and an extremely dishonest person who left his own children to their fate.
Reproduction of "Pavlik Morozov" painting by artist Nikita Chebakov (1952). Photo: Public Domain
I really don’t want to say anything about the relatives of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov, who organized and carried out the brutal murder of minors out of revenge - everything is said about them in the verdict, the validity of which was confirmed by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.
The whole trouble of Pavlik Morozov is that in the midst of an acute confrontation in society in the early 1930s, his tragic death became a banner for the authorities, a symbol of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals and values.
Half a century later, another political force with an anti-Soviet orientation will, with no less zeal, use the tragic fate of Pavlik for their own purposes, pouring dirt on the memory of a teenager.
From the point of view of his era, Pavlik Morozov was a teenager with strong convictions, who opposed the enemies of the existing system and was killed for this. From today's point of view. Pavlik Morozov is a teenager with firm views on life, who, as a law-abiding citizen, testified in court against a local administration employee mired in corruption, for which he was killed by criminals.
Pavlik helps
After the death of two sons, 13-year-old Pavel and 8-year-old Fedor, Tatyana Morozova left Gerasimovka forever. Her other children also had a hard fate - Grisha died in childhood, Roman fought the Nazis and died of wounds after the war, and Alexei was convicted as an “enemy of the people”, spent several years in prison and was only later rehabilitated.
Pavlik Morozov's mother was lucky - she died before perestroika, but Alexei Morozov had to fully feel the streams of dirt and outright lies that fell upon his brother during the period of democratic changes.
The paradox lies in the fact that in the homeland of Pavel in the village of Gerasimovka, where the young pioneer, according to the whistleblowers, “betrayed and knocked,” his memory is treated extremely carefully. Both the monument to Pavlik and his museum have been preserved there. Local residents come to the monument, leave notes with their most secret desires. They say Pavlik helps them.
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov, who in Soviet times was a role model for pioneers, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka in a peasant family. During the period of collectivization, the boy, according to the official version, became an active participant in the fight against the kulaks, organized and led the first pioneer detachment in his native village.
Official Soviet history says that at the end of 1931, Pavlik convicted his father Trofim Morozov, then the chairman of the village council, of selling blank forms with a seal to special settlers from among the dispossessed kulaks. Based on the testimony of a teenager, Morozov Sr. was sentenced to ten years. Following this, Pavlik reported about the bread hidden from a neighbor, accused the husband of his own aunt of stealing state grain and stated that part of the stolen grain was with his own grandfather, Sergei Morozov. He spoke about the property, hidden from confiscation by the same uncle, actively participated in the actions, looking for hidden property together with representatives of the village council.
According to the official version, Pavlik was killed in the forest on September 3, 1932, when his mother left the village for a short time. The murderers, as determined by the investigation, were Pavlik's cousin, 19-year-old Danila, and Pavlik's 81-year-old grandfather, Sergey Morozov. Pavlik's grandmother, 79-year-old Ksenia Morozova, was declared an accomplice in the crime, and Pavlik's uncle, 70-year-old Arseny Kulukanov, was recognized as its organizer. At a show trial in a district club, they were all sentenced to death. Pavlik's father, Trofim, was also shot, although at that time he was far in the North.
After the death of the boy, his mother, Tatyana Morozova, received an apartment in the Crimea as compensation for her son, part of which she rented to the guests. The woman traveled a lot around the country with stories about the exploits of Pavlik. She died in 1983 in her apartment, lined with bronze busts of Pavlik.
Morozov's name was given to the Gerasimov and other collective farms, schools, pioneer squads and was the first to be entered in the Book of Honor of the V.I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization. Monuments to Pavlik Morozov were erected in Moscow (1948), the village of Gerasimovka (1954) and in Sverdlovsk (1957). Poems and songs were composed about Pavlik, an opera of the same name was written, and the great Eisenstein tried to make a film about him. However, the director's idea was not implemented.
Created by Soviet propaganda, the myth of the "pioneer-hero" existed for more than a dozen years. However, in the late 1980s, publications appeared that not only debunked the myth of Pavlik Morozov, who was called a traitor and informer, but also cast doubt on the very existence of a person with that name. First of all, doubts about the existence of the "hero" arose due to discrepancies with the dates of birth and death. His speech at the trial, in which he exposed his father, exists in 12 versions. In fact, it is impossible even to restore the appearance of Pavlik Morozov, since there are many descriptions that differ from each other. A number of publications questioned the fact that the teenager was really a pioneer.
In 1997, the administration of the Tavdinsky district decided to insist on a review of the criminal case on the fact of the murder of Pavlik Morozov, and in the spring of 1999, members of the Kurgan society "Memorial" sent a petition to the Prosecutor General's Office to review the decision of the Ural Regional Court, which sentenced the teenager's relatives to death.
His teacher Lyudmila Isakova told her version of the story of Pavlik Morozov. Moreover, this version was confirmed by Pavel's younger brother Alexei. According to Isakova, Pavlik's father drank, abused his sons and, in the end, left the family for another woman. Perhaps it was precisely this purely domestic motive that explained the desire of the “pioneer-hero” to take revenge on his father.
The Prosecutor General's Office, which is engaged in the rehabilitation of victims of political repression, came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov is purely criminal in nature, and, therefore, the criminals are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds. In April 1999, the Supreme Court agreed with the opinion of the Prosecutor General's Office.
In Chelyabinsk, the children's railway bears the name of Pavlik Morozov, his bas-relief adorns the alley of pioneer heroes on the Scarlet Field. In Moscow, the monument to the "pioneer-hero", which stood in the children's park of the same name on Druzhinnikovskaya Street, was demolished in 1991, and a wooden chapel was built in its place.
Facts from the life of Pavel Morozov
According to the latest conclusions of historians, Pavel Morozov was not a member of the pioneer organization. In the Book of Honor of the All-Union Pioneer Organization. V. I. Lenin, he was listed only in 1955, 23 years after his death.
At the trial, Pavel Morozov did not speak against his father and did not write denunciations against him. Witness testimony that the father beat the mother and brought into the house things received as payment for the issuance of false documents, he gave during the preliminary inquiry.
Trofim Morozov was subjected to criminal prosecution not for concealing grain, but for falsifying documents with which he supplied members of the counter-revolutionary group and persons hiding from Soviet power.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
| Patriotic, spiritual and moral education of schoolchildren | Young heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War | Pavlik Morozov
Pioneers-heroes of the Great Patriotic War
Pavlik Morozov
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov (Pavlik Morozov; November 14, 1918, Gerasimovka, Turin district, Tobolsk province, RSFSR - September 3, 1932, Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district, Ural region, RSFSR, USSR) - Soviet schoolboy, student of the Gerasimov school of the Tavdinsky district of the Ural region, in Soviet era, who gained fame as a pioneer hero who opposed the kulaks in the person of his father and paid for it with his life.
According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Pavlik Morozov was “the organizer and chairman of the first pioneer detachment in the village. Gerasimovka. Monuments were erected to Pavlik Morozov in many cities and pioneer camps of the Soviet Union.
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 tough time.
Back in 1921, the peasants of Central Russia started a revolt, rebelling against the Bolshevik surplus appraisal, which took away the last grain from the people for the proletarians.
Those of the rebels who survived the battles went to the Urals or were convicted. Someone was shot, someone was amnestied after a few years. Under the amnesty two years later, five people, the Purtov brothers, who played their role in the tragedy of Pavel, also fell.
The boy's father, when Pavlik reached the age of ten, left his wife and children, leaving for another family. This event forced the young Morozov to become the head of the family, taking all the care of his relatives.
Knowing that the power of the Soviets was the only shield for the poor, with the advent of the 1930s, Pavel joined the pioneer organization. At the same time, his father, having taken a leading position in the village council, began to actively cooperate with the kulak elements and the Purtov gang.
Here begins the story of the feat of Pavlik Morozov.
The Purtovs, having organized a gang in the forests, hunted in the vicinity by robbery. Only 20 proven robberies are on their conscience. Also, according to the OGPU, the 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 blank documents, issuing fake certificates of poor condition.
In those years, such certificates were an analogue of a passport and gave the 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 deeds 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 Fyodor was deprived of his life. While picking berries in the forest, they were slaughtered by their own relatives. At the end of the investigation, four people were convicted for the murder: Sergey Morozov - paternal grandfather, Ksenia Morozova - grandmother, Danila Morozov - cousin, Arseniy Kulukanov - Pavel's godfather and his uncle.
Kulukanov and Danila were shot, grandparents died in custody. The fifth suspect, Arseniy Silin, was acquitted.
In the Urals, the construction of a museum of the most famous pioneer of all times and peoples, Pavlik Morozov, begins. Funds for the creation of the museum and the collection of materials were allocated by the Soros Foundation - the first batch of the "Morozov" grant, the total amount of which is $7,000, has already arrived in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district. The creation of the museum will take about a year. Tavda schoolchildren, who are interested in history, and students of the history department of the Ural State University have already started collecting material. They will find out the whole truth about Pavlik Morozov with the assistance of the Yekaterinburg branch of the Memorial society. It is possible that thanks to the young frost experts, Russia, and the whole world, will learn a lot about the hero of the Soviet era, whose merits have recently been called into question - a year ago, the secrecy period in the case of the death of the legendary pioneer expired.
Pavlik Morozov died 71 years ago. During his short life, he became famous for several "exploits" (previously it was customary to write this word without quotes) - the young Pavel convicted his father Trofim Morozov, chairman of the village council, of selling blank forms with seals to the dispossessed. With the light hand of his son, Trofim was sent to Siberia for 10 years. Then a young associate of the Soviet government reported about bread hidden from a neighbor, accused his aunt’s husband of stealing state grain and stated that part of this grain was with his grandfather, 80-year-old Sergey Sergeevich Morozov, who at one time hid his property from confiscations and some stranger.
For his frankness, Pavlik paid with his life - he and his brother were killed while walking through the forest. The entire Morozov family was accused of reprisals against children - an uncle, an elderly grandfather, grandmother, cousin, and at the same time the father, who was arriving at that time in Siberia. All these people were soon shot, leaving only the mother of the dead boys alive.
The woman who received an apartment in Crimea as compensation for the death of her hero son lived a very long life - Tatyana Morozova died in 1983. Almost until her death, she traveled around the country, telling the young inhabitants of the USSR about the life and death of Pavlik. Apparently, in recent years, she herself no longer remembered what really happened to her family in the distant 30s.
After the collapse of the Union, the figure of Pavlik began to be perceived in a completely different way - at first they began to talk about the boy simply as an informer who sold his family, and then the very fact of his existence was called into question. Indeed, was there Pavlik? The boy's homeland contains very contradictory data on the dates of his birth and death, 12 different versions of his accusatory speech are stored in the archives, and there is no unambiguous description of the appearance of the "pioneer-hero" at all. The fact that the boy, as they say, was, at one time was confirmed by his teacher Lyudmila Isakova. She also claimed that Pavel did not care much about politics, he was much more worried about troubles in the family - the cruelty of an alcoholic father who cheated on his mother, the bullying of a despot grandfather. Tired of this nightmare, Morozov betrayed his loved ones.
In 1997, the administration of the Tavdinsky District applied to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to review the decision of the Ural Regional Court, which had sentenced Pavlik's relatives to death. The Prosecutor General's Office came to the conclusion that the Morozovs are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds, since the case is purely criminal in nature. The Supreme Court agreed with this opinion.
Perhaps soon we will find out what really happened in Gerasimovka more than 70 years ago. In any case, the museum will be interesting because in their exposition the authors of the project will present "a whole era of collectivization, the role played by it in the fate of hundreds and thousands of people", an era whose iconic figure was Pavlik Morozov.
