The Famine of 1946-1947 on the Territory of Chernivtsi Region: Strategies of the Government Influence and the Survival of Population
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Abstract
The article traces the peculiarities of Sovietization processes in the territory of Chernivtsi region, which were accompanied by the tragic events of the famine of 1946-1947.
Based on the analysis of archival materials and scientific literature, a difference from the previous famine of 1932-1933 is revealed. It is claimed that the famine in Bukovyna was the first tragedy of such scale. It was caused by a number of both objective and subjective reasons. In particular, Stalin’s grain procurement policy and the crop failure of the specified years became the determining causes of the famine of 1946-1947 in Ukraine. At the same time, it functioned in a well-established paradigm of cynical and pragmatic use of peasants as a resource for its existence. And the influence of famine proved itself as a proven and effective tool for the subjugation of large traditionally organized rural communities, despite the fact that the economic component was meagre.
The article notes important characteristics that should be taken into account when analyzing the implementation of the Sovietization policy in the Chernivtsi region and which make it possible to trace the population’s survival strategies. After the World War II, the peasant community reacted weakly to the resumption of Sovietization processes and continued to live its daily chores, hoping for the observance of the right to private property, which made it possible to survive in critical periods. But the failure of the first post-war years led to a disaster due to the grain procurement campaigns that were implemented in the region.
The geographical feature of the region should also be taken into account. Putylskyi, Storozhynetskyi and Vyzhnytskyi districts are foothills and mountain areas that found themselves in favourable meteorological conditions and therefore suffered much less damage from the drought. But they did not determine the situation in grain production. Instead, the plain areas of the region – Kitsmanskyi, Zastavnivskyi, Vashkovetskyi, Sadhirskyi, Hlybotskyi, Chernivetskyi, Kelmenetskyi, Hertsaivskyi, Novoselytskyi, Khotynskyi and Sokyrianskyi districts – were agricultural. It was they who were most affected by the drought, which determined the low yield and, therefore, the severe trials of the famine.
But against the background of such difficult circumstances, harvesting of agricultural products was carried out throughout Ukraine, including in the Chernivtsi region. Local authorities, despite the clear manifestations of the threat of crop failure due to drought, did not take any measures to reduce the planned tasks for the delivery of bread and other agricultural products for the region. In order to survive, the population resorted to extreme measures, including those of a criminal nature: murder, cannibalism, theft, and lynching.
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