«За одним словом скандаль я здогадувався, що справи йдуть не зовсім добре»:  нелегальна міграція з СРСР до Румунії на прикладі Михайла Порохівського

Maksym Snihyr

doi:10.31861/hj2025.62.99-105

Authors

Maksym Snihyr National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6401-5186

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31861/hj2025.62.99-105

Keywords:

refugee, Dniester, collectivization, Soviet Union, military intelligence, Romania, Bessarabia, interwar

Abstract

This article deals with the phenomena of the illegal migration from Soviet Union into Romania in the early 1930s. Collectivization established a sudden spike in numbers of refugees trying to cross Dniester into the interwar Romania. One of thousands of refugees was Mykhailo Porohivskyi, a former tzarist colonel and brother to Ukrainian officer Hnat Porohivskyi. After crossing the border on January 19 1932, Mykhailo declared to Romanian officers that he has a brother living in Bucharest. This and the fact that Mykhailo possessed certain knowledge of the Soviet economic and political developments attracted attention of Romanian authorities and meant that he was on a safe track towards the right of asylum. At some point, however, certain questions were raised about his safe passage in the daylight from the Soviet side of the river, about the apparel he was wearing while entering Romania. Those questions were raised by his brother Hnat, who was working for Romanian intelligence. To him Mykhailo confessed: he was recruited by the Soviet secret police to convince Hnat working for the Soviets. Hnat rejected his offer and tried to help Mykhailo to stay in Romania. The reasons for rejecting Mykhailo’s advances were laying within Hnat conceptualizing his work on Ukrainian cause an integral part of his identity. Later, Hnat was the person who brought the bad news to Mykhailo: he was to return to the Soviet Union through the Mixed Commission. After returning, he was tried and convicted for the espionage on behalf of Romania by a virtue of mentioning a couple of Soviet military formations during Romanian interrogations. His return to the Soviet Union was used by Ukrainian emigres in order to convince Romanian officials not to return refugees from the USSR back. Considering apologies on behalf of Romanian authorities, Hnat was not reporting on his brother’s work for the enemy.

Author Biography

Maksym Snihyr, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy

Master of History, Postgraduate Student, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
/ Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

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