What is the real story of Pavlik Morozov? August 22nd, 2017
Many people mention it very often, but often know very little. And even if they do know, it’s not a fact that it’s true.
He twice became a victim of political propaganda: during the Soviet era, he was presented as a hero who gave his life in the class struggle, and during perestroika, as an informer who betrayed his own father.
Modern historians have questioned both myths about Pavlik Morozov, who became one of the most controversial figures in Soviet history.
The house where Pavlik Morozov lived, 1950
This story took place at the beginning of September 1932 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province. The grandmother sent her grandchildren to pick cranberries, and a few days later the brothers’ bodies with signs 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 fight against the kulaks, he denounced his father, who collaborated with the kulaks. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sent into 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 against his father. His ex-wife testified against Trofim at the trial. Pavlik only confirmed his mother’s testimony that Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, being the chairman of the village council, sold certificates to the displaced kulaks about registration with the village council and about the absence of tax debts to the state. These certificates were in the hands of the security officers, and Trofim Morozov would have been tried even without his son’s testimony. He and several other district leaders were arrested and sent to prison.
N. Chebakov. Pavlik Morozov, 1952
Relations in the Morozov family were difficult. Pavlik's grandfather was a gendarme, and his grandmother was a horse thief. They met in prison, where he was guarding 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 indeed dishonest - all his fellow villagers knew that he made money on fictitious certificates and appropriated the property of the dispossessed. There was no political subtext in Pavlik’s action - he simply supported his mother, who was unfairly offended by her father. And my grandmother and grandfather hated both him and his mother for this. Moreover, when Trofim left his wife, according to the law, his plot of land passed to his eldest son Pavel, since the family was left without a livelihood. Having killed the heir, the relatives could count on the return of the land.
Relatives who were accused of murdering Pavlik Morozov
An investigation began immediately after the murder. In the grandfather's house they found bloody clothes and a knife with which the children were stabbed to death. During interrogations, Pavel’s grandfather and cousin confessed to the crime they had committed: the grandfather allegedly held Pavel while Danila stabbed him. The case had a very big resonance. This murder was presented in the press as an act of kulak terror against a member of the pioneer organization. Pavlik Morozov was immediately proclaimed a pioneer hero.
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. Writer, historian and journalist Yuri Druzhnikov (aka Alperovich) put forward the version that Pavlik Morozov denounced his father on behalf of his mother - 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 of the story about villainous kulaks who are ready to kill children for their own benefit. Collectivization took place with great difficulties; 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 security officers who were trying to arrange a show trial.
Yuri Druzhnikov and his acclaimed book about Pavlik Morozov
However, this version caused widespread criticism and was crushed. In 1999, the Morozovs' relatives and representatives of the Memorial movement achieved a review of this case in court, but the Prosecutor General's Office came to the conclusion that the murderers were convicted justifiably and are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds.
Monument to Pavlik Morozov in the 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 confident that it was a family drama without any political overtones. In his opinion, the boy was counting only on the fact that his father would be intimidated 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
In the Pavlik Morozov Museum
No matter how the story of Pavlik Morozov is interpreted, his fate does not become any less tragic. His death served as a symbol for the Soviet government of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals, and during the perestroika era it was used to discredit this government.
Monuments to Pavlik Morozov
Monument to Pavlik Morozov in the city of Ostrov, Pskov region
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The question of what Pavlik Morozov did can be answered by most people living in the countries of the former USSR. Indeed, his story is well known, and his name has long become a household name. True, unlike the communist version, history has now acquired a rather negative character. What did Pavlik Morozov do? A feat that deserves to be known and remembered for many centuries to come? Or an ordinary denunciation that has nothing to do with heroism? In the search for truth, you will have to hear supporters of both versions.
Background
Pavlik Morozov was the eldest child in the family of Tatyana and Trofim Morozov. In addition to him, his parents had three more boys. As far as we know from surviving memories, the family lived on the verge of poverty - the guys didn’t even really have clothes. It was difficult to get a piece of bread, but despite this, the boys attended school and diligently learned to read and write.
Their father worked as chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council and was far from the most popular person. As it later became known, the children were “swelling from hunger” not because of their father’s poor earnings. The money simply did not reach home, ending up in the pockets of card sharpers and vodka dealers.
And Trofim Morozov handled considerable sums, and he had quite a thief’s biography. Pavlik Morozov knew what his father was doing: appropriating confiscated things, various documentary speculations, as well as covering for those who had not yet been dispossessed. In a word, he extremely actively interfered with the advancement of state policy. You could even say that Pavlik’s father himself became a full-fledged kulak.
The starving children had no idea about this, because very soon daddy finally stopped showing up at home, moving in with his mistress. From this point on, the continuation of the story diverges. For some, it takes on a connotation of heroism, while others perceive it as an ordinary judicial situation. But what did Pavlik Morozov do?
USSR version
The pioneer Pavlik Morozov was an ardent admirer of the teachings of Marx and Lenin and sought to ensure that his state and people came to a bright communist future. The very thought that his own father was doing everything to break the achievements of the October Revolution was disgusting for him. As a loving son and a man with high moral principles, the hero Pavlik Morozov hoped that his father would come to his senses and become correct. But there is a limit to everything. And at some point the boy’s patience ran out.
As the only man in the family, after his father left, he had to carry the entire household on himself. He renounced his parents, and when family ties finally weakened, he acted like a true communist. Pavlik Morozov wrote a denunciation against his father, where he fully described all his crimes and connections with the kulaks, after which he took the paper to the appropriate authorities. Trofim was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.
Perestroika version
Like any Soviet idol, young Pavlik Morozov had to “fall”. The truth about his life immediately began to be investigated by historians, who turned over dozens of archives to find out what the essence of the pioneer’s act was.
Based on these data, they concluded: Pavlik Morozov did not surrender his father into the hands of the Soviet law enforcement system. He just gave testimony that helped once again confirm that Trofim is an enemy of the people and a corrupt official who has committed many crimes. In fact, the pioneer’s father was caught, as they say, “in the act” - they found forged documents with his signatures. In addition, it should be noted that many members of the village council were arrested and convicted along with him.
Why Pavlik Morozov betrayed his father, if giving evidence about the crimes of his relative can be called that, one can understand. Probably, the young pioneer did not think much about kinship - from childhood, his father was a real “scourge” for the family, who did not give way to either his wife or children. For example, he stubbornly did not allow boys to go to school, believing that they did not need to read and write. This is despite the fact that Pavlik had an incredible thirst for knowledge.
In addition, Trofim Morozov at that time was no longer even a family man, living with his new passion and drinking endlessly. He not only didn’t care about the children, he didn’t even think about them. Therefore, the son’s action is understandable - for him it was already a stranger who had managed to bring a lot of evil to the Morozovs’ house.
But the story is not the end
In fact, there would be no hero if it were not for the subsequent events that led to Pavlik Morozov becoming a real great martyr of the Soviet era. A close family friend (Pavel's godfather) Arseny Kulukanov decided to take revenge. Since he previously actively did business with Trofim and was a “kulak”, the arrest of a close comrade greatly affected the financial situation of the future killer.
When he learned that Pavel and Fedor had gone into the forest to pick berries, he persuaded his middle brother Danila, as well as the Morozovs’ grandfather, Sergei, to go after them. What exactly happened then is unknown. We know only one thing - our hero (Pavlik Morozov) and his younger brother were brutally killed, or more precisely, stabbed to death.
The evidence against the “gang” that had gathered for the murder was the found utility knife and Danila’s bloody clothes. DNA testing did not yet exist, so the investigation decided that the blood on the shirt belonged to the brothers of the arrested man. All participants in the crime were found guilty and shot. Danila Morozov immediately admitted all the charges were true, grandfather Sergei either denied or confirmed his guilt, and only Kulukanov chose to go into deep defense during the trial.
Propaganda
The Soviet nomenklatura simply could not miss such an incident. And it’s not even about the fact of testifying against his father - this happened all the time at that time, but about disgusting and base revenge for this. Now Pavlik Morozov is a pioneer hero.
The crime, which was publicized in the press, caused a huge resonance. The authorities cited it as evidence of the cruelty and greed of the “kulaks”: they say, look at what they are ready to do because of the loss of material gain. Mass repressions began. Dispossession broke out with renewed vigor, and now any wealthy citizen was in danger.
The fact that Pavlik Morozov betrayed his father was omitted - after all, he did it for a just cause. The boy who laid his life on the foundation of the building of communism became a real legend. He was set as an example to follow.
Pavlik Morozov, the feat of a young communist and fighter for the ideas of October became the theme for a huge number of books, plays, songs and poems. His personality occupied a truly enormous place in the culture of the USSR. Assessing the scale of propaganda is, in fact, very simple - now everyone knows the general plot of what happened to this boy. He had to show the children how much more important collective values are in comparison with personal and family interests.
Druzhnikov and his theory
In connection with such close attention of the authorities to the incident, the writer Yuri Druzhnikov put forward the idea of falsifying the crime and deliberately killing Pavlik by the authorities for his further “canonization”. This version formed the basis of the research, which later resulted in the book "Informer 001".
It questioned the entire pioneer biography. Pavlik Morozov Druzhnikov was brutally killed by the OGPU. This statement is based on two facts. The first is a protocol for interviewing a witness allegedly found by the writer in the case of the murder of the Morozov brothers. Everything would be fine, but the protocol was drawn up two days before the discovery of the corpses and the identification of the criminals.
The second point that Druzhnikov cites is the absolutely illogical behavior of the killer. According to all the “rules,” they should have tried to hide such a brutal crime as best as possible, but the accused did everything literally the opposite. The killers did not bother to bury the corpses or at least somehow hide them, but left them in plain sight right next to the road. The crime weapon was carelessly thrown at home, and no one thought to get rid of the bloody clothes. Indeed, there are some contradictions in this, isn’t there?
Based on these theses, the writer concludes that this is an unreal story. Pavlik Morozov was killed by order, specifically in order to create a myth. Druzhnikov states that the materials of the case, which are available in the archives, show how the judge and witnesses are confused and talk incoherent nonsense. In addition, the defendants repeatedly tried to say that they were tortured.
Soviet propaganda suppressed the attitude of fellow villagers towards the boy's denunciation. The writer claims that “Communist Pashka” is the least offensive nickname of all that the guy received for his “feat.”
Reply to Druzhnikov
Druzhnikov's version deeply offended Pavel's only surviving brother, who, after the book was published in Great Britain, stated that he could not tolerate such treatment of the memory of his relative.
He wrote an open letter to the newspapers, where he condemned the “trial” that was held for Pavlik. In it, he reminds that in addition to the legend, there is also a real person, a real family who suffered from these events. He cites the example of the times of Stalin, also full of slander and hatred, and asks: “How much do all these “writers” now differ from the liars of that time?
In addition, it is argued that the arguments found by Druzhnikov do not coincide with the teacher’s recollections. For example, she denies that Pavlik was not a pioneer. Indeed, in his book, the writer says that only after the tragic death of the boy was he assigned to a youth organization in order to create a cult. However, the teacher remembers exactly how a pioneer detachment was created in the village, and the joyful Pavlik received his red tie, which was then taken off and trampled by his father. She was even planning to sue an international court to defend the already immortalized heroic story called “Pavlik Morozov.” History did not wait for this moment, as it turned out that in fact Druzhnikov and his theory were taken seriously by few people.
Among British historians, this book literally caused ridicule and criticism, as the writer contradicted himself. For example, he wrote clearly and clearly that there is no more unreliable source of information than Soviet documents, especially if they concern the legal system. But the author himself used these recordings to his own advantage.
In the end, no one argues - the facts of the crime in the USSR were clearly hushed up and hidden. The whole story was presented exclusively in tones favorable to the leadership. However, there is no evidence that everything that happened was a fiction and a deliberately planned operation. The incident rather proves how cleverly any incident can be twisted into propaganda.
Supreme Court
and the crime associated with it were not missed during the investigation of the prosecutor's office into the rehabilitation of victims of political cases. Attempts were made to find evidence of ideological motives in the murder of the boy. The commission conducted a deep and thorough investigation, after which it declared with responsibility: the murder of Pavel and Fedor is pure criminality. This meant, first of all, the recognition by the new government of a low and vile crime, and on the other hand, it overthrew Pavlik from the pedestal, declaring him dead not at all in the fight against the kulaks.
Antihero
Now Pavlik Morozov acts more like an anti-hero. In the age of capitalism, when everyone must think about himself and his family, and not about the general collective, the people, his “feat” can hardly be called such.
The betrayal of one's own father is viewed from a completely different position, as a low and vile act. Now in culture the boy has become a symbol of an informer who was not worthy of being recorded as a pioneer hero. Pavlik Morozov has become a negative character for many. This is evidenced by the destroyed monuments to the hero.
Many see his testimony as a selfish motive - he sought to take revenge on his father for his childhood. Allegedly, Tatyana Morozova did the same thing, trying to intimidate her husband and force him to return home after the trial. Some writers and cultural experts find the very meaning of Pavlik’s feat terrible - an example for children that teaches them to inform and betray.
Conclusion
We will probably never fully know who Pavlik Morozov really is. Its history is ambiguous and still full of secrets and understatement. Of course, you can look at it from completely different angles, presenting the information in any way you like.
But, as they say, there was a cult, but there was also a personality. It’s worth trying to look at the whole tragedy from another angle, given the difficult times in which Pavlik Morozov and his family lived. It was an era of terrible changes, a painful, cruel and destructive period. The USSR lost many intelligent and intelligent people due to the purges. People lived in constant fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
In fact, at the center of the events lies the simple tragedy of another family who lived at that time. Pavlik is neither a hero nor a traitor. He is just a young man who became a victim of cruelty and revenge. And we can talk as much as we want about hoaxes and propaganda, but we should never forget about the existence of a real person.
Every totalitarian power had a similar story. Even Nazi Germany had its own boy hero, who fell at a young age for the sake of an idea. And so it always is, because this image is one of the most profitable for the propaganda machine. Isn't it time to just forget this whole story? Give justice to the innocent fallen child and no longer use it as evidence of anything, no matter the greed of the fists or the horrors of the USSR.
He might have turned 90 on November 14, but he remained 13 years old forever. Over the past 76 years after his death, Pavlik Morozov has been elevated to the rank of pioneer hero and demoted to a banal juvenile informer.
Pioneer hero
Even the archives of the criminal case opened in 2002 did not help to fully understand what happened in the early 30s of the last century in the remote Ural village of Gerasimovka. All that is known for certain is that Pavlik Morozov really existed. But there was a time when, in the wake of the exposure of communist myths, the most desperate heads questioned this fact.
Let us remind you: according to the official version, which more than one generation has grown up with, Pavlik Morozov reported his father to the GPU that he was hiding bread. The 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. The boys' relatives were accused of murder: their grandfather, grandmother and cousin. They were shot, and Pavlik Morozov was made a pioneer hero.
During perestroika, historians and journalists rushed to investigate the matter again. 20 years ago, some eyewitnesses of this story were still alive, and their testimony, supported by old interviews with Pavlik’s mother, Tatyana Morozova, divided researchers into two camps. Some are sure that the child was slandered, while others found the bloody hand of the security officers in ancient history...
Reveler Father
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 abdomen. The second blow was delivered to the chest near the heart, the local police officer wrote in the report of the inspection of the scene. “Fyodor was fatally stabbed with a knife in the abdomen above the navel, where the intestines came out, and his hand was also cut to the bone with a knife...”
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 court decision 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 criminal. The Supreme Court later made similar conclusions.
As it became known, in the case of Pavlik’s father, Trofim Morozov, there was no talk of any bread. The chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council was tried for selling blank forms with stamps to dispossessed people. For such trading, Trofim was imprisoned along with five other chairmen of the village councils of the district. Pavlik’s younger brother Alexey recalled in the late 1980s: “They really sent them to us. The settlers were brought in in the fall of 1930. Do you think their father pitied them? Not at all. He was our mother, he did not spare his sons, let alone strangers. He loved only himself and vodka. And he tore three skins from the settlers for forms with seals.”
It turns out that Trofim’s moral character could play an important role in this story. Pavlik’s first teacher, Larisa Isakova, who came to Gerasimovka as a 17-year-old girl, could not withstand the perestroika wave of revelation and wrote an open letter: “They should have seen how Trofim mocked his wife... He was elected chairman of the village council only because he was the only one who could somehow how to write and count. As soon as Trofim took office, he completely abandoned his farming, his wife and Pavlik were the only ones struggling. When he came home drunk, where did he get money for vodka? Apparently, he was already receiving offerings then.”
Offended mother
University of California professor 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 his version, as compensation for everything that happened, the party even provided the woman with an apartment in Crimea. Druzhnikov claims that Morozova told him that it was her idea to inform on her husband. It was revenge for the fact that he left for another woman. She, according to the researcher, persuaded Pavlik’s son to “punish dad.” In his research, Druzhnikov reached the point that the killers of the boys were NKVD officers. They committed such a terrible crime in order to free their hands in the fight against fists, and at the same time introduce a hero-martyr to the younger generation. No documentary evidence has been found for this. And Tatyana Morozova really moved to live in Alupka. The woman died in 1983, but neighbors remember the mother and brother of the pioneer hero.
“She was a normal woman and a good mother.” “I remember her son Alexey very well, we worked together,” Tatyana’s neighbor Alexandra Egorovna told Interlocutor. “He often told us that there was no politics in Pavlik’s case. Their grandfather went crazy, so he killed the brothers. And my mother was very worried about that tragedy. When Alexey also called his son Pavlik, she cried a lot... She was simple, she rented out housing to vacationers in the summer, and at one time she sold fruit at the market.
Murderer Grandfather
By the way, in the court materials there is not a word about Pavlik Morozov’s denunciation. 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 Sergei, who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Pavlik, admitted that the murder plan belonged to him, since “Pavel made me lose patience, did not give way, and reproached me for being the keeper of confiscated kulak belongings.” But at the same time he stated that “he himself did not kill the brothers. I just held Fedor. It was Danil’s grandson who stabbed the guys.” 19-year-old Danila confirmed this: “We killed Fedya only so that we would not be betrayed. He cried and asked not to kill, but we didn’t regret it...” The grandmother of the murdered boys, Aksinya, was accused of incitement. Allegedly, she knew about the killers’ plan, approved of it and more than once told her grandson Danila: “Kill this snotty communist!”
To this day, no one can figure out how strong the ideological component is in this story. Too many myths have been spun 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 were returning 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. But because of our poverty, he never even saw this uniform and did not participate in pioneer parades. He didn’t even know about Stalin at that time...
I didn’t have time to organize the pioneer detachment in Gerasimovka then; it was created after me, but I told the guys about how children were fighting for a better life in other cities and villages. One day I brought a red tie from Tavda, tied it on Pavel, and he ran home joyfully. And at home, his father tore off his tie and beat him terribly.”
In the Soviet Union, Pavlik Morozov was considered a hero who suffered for an idea. During the years of perestroika, history was revised and the pioneer was called a traitor. What really happened to Pavlik and why was he stabbed to death?
Events begin in 1932, when Pavlik Morozov testifies against his father in court. He confirms that his father, being the chairman of the village council, issued fake certificates to settlers and appropriated the property of dispossessed people. He was sentenced to 10 years.
And some time later he was killed while walking in the forest. Here the data differs slightly; according to one version, he was killed by his own cousin, according to another - by his grandfather. Then the entire Morozov family was destroyed, except for the mother, who, by order of Krupskaya, was given an apartment in Crimea. By the way, Pavlik’s father returned from the camps and was even awarded for his hard work. True, he had to move to another place.
Perestroika version
How it really was
In fact, this story contains more questions than answers. Most researchers are inclined to believe that the name of Pavlik Morozov was used by the Soviet propaganda machine. What was needed was the image of a pioneer hero who suffered for the system and justice.
Pavlik really became a victim. The family had a difficult relationship, the father abandoned them, lived with his mistress, and drank. His mother harbored a grudge against him. It is believed that the denunciation was her initiative, but she did not know how to write, she asked Pavlik, who could not refuse his mother. And when in court he was asked whether his father had issued fake certificates, he answered in the affirmative. In fact, it was no secret to anyone.
Of course, the whole family - grandparents, uncles and aunts - were angry with Pavlik. And they could very well have staged his death. However, there is no hard evidence. Some researchers mention that Pavlik’s brother idolized him, but at the same time suffered from mental illness and could not control attacks of aggression. It is likely that Pavlik’s death was a tragic accident.
Now in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district, a museum of Pavlik Morozov has been opened, and children carry notes with their wishes and requests to his grave. They say that Pavlik helps them.
Who is Pavel Morozov, a hero or a traitor?
The story of Pavel Morozov is well known to people of the older generation. This boy was included in the ranks of pioneer heroes who performed feats for the sake of their country and people and entered the legends of Soviet times.
According to the official version, Pavlik Morozov, who sincerely believed in the idea of socialism, reported to the OGPU about how his father was helping kulaks and bandits. Morozov Sr. was arrested and convicted. But his son paid for his deed and was killed by his father’s relatives.
What is true in this story and what is propaganda fiction, unfortunately, has not yet been figured out. Who, in reality, was Pavel Morozov, and what was actually done?
Biography of Pavlik Morozov
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district of the Ural region. His father, Trofim Morozov, became chairman of the village council of his native village. It was a difficult time.
Back in 1921, the villagers of Central Russia started a revolt, rebelling against the Bolshevik surplus appropriation system, which was taking away the last grain for the proletarians.
Those of the rebels who survived the battles went to the Urals or were convicted. Some were shot, others were given amnesty a few years later. Two years later, five people, the Purtov brothers, who played their role in Pavel’s tragedy, also came under amnesty.
The boy's father, when Pavlik reached the age of ten, abandoned his wife and children, leaving for another family. This event forced young Morozov to become the head of the family, taking upon himself all the worries about his relatives.
Knowing that the only shield for the poor was the power of the councils, with the onset of the 30s, Pavel joined the ranks of the pioneer organization. At the same time, my father, having taken a leading position in the village council, began to actively collaborate with kulak elements and the Purtov gang. This is where the story of Pavlik Morozov’s feat begins.
Feat (USSR version)
The Purtovs, having organized a gang in the forests, engaged in robbery in the surrounding area. They have only 20 proven robberies on their conscience. Also, according to the OGPU, five brothers were preparing a local coup against the Soviets, relying on special settlers (kulaks). Trofim Morozov provided active assistance to them. The chairman provided them with document forms, issuing fake certificates of poverty.
In those years, such certificates were an analogue of a passport and gave bandits a quiet life and legal residence. According to these documents, the bearer of the paper was considered a peasant of Gerasimovka and did not owe anything to the state. Pavel, who fully and sincerely supported the Bolsheviks, reported his father's actions to the competent authorities. His father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.
Pavlik paid for this report by losing his life, and his younger brother Fedora was deprived of his life. While picking berries in the forest, they were stabbed to death by their own relatives. At the end of the investigation, four were convicted of murder: Sergei Morozov - paternal grandfather, Ksenia Morozova - grandmother, Danila Morozov - cousin, Arseny Kulukanov - Pavel’s godfather and his uncle.
Kulukanov and Danila were shot, grandfather and grandmother died in custody. The fifth suspect, Arseny Silin, was acquitted.
After all these events, Pavlik Morozov took first place in the future numerous series of pioneer heroes. But over time, historians began to ask questions and question facts that were considered indisputable. By the beginning of the 90s, people appeared who called the boy not a hero, but a traitor and an informer. One version says that Morozov Jr. tried not for the sake of Bolshevik power, but following the persuasion of his mother. According to this version, she persuaded her son to commit a slander, offended that her husband abandoned her with the children. This option is not relevant; my father still helped his family a little, supporting them financially.
Another interesting fact is the documents of the OGPU. According to some of them, denunciation was not necessary. The authorities had evidence of Trofim Morozov’s participation in the gang’s activities. And Pavlik acted only as a witness in his father’s case. The boy was threatened with an article for complicity! His father, as was not surprising at the time, was illiterate. And Pavel wrote out those same certificates in his own hand, on pieces of paper from student notebooks. These sheets are present in the archives, but he remained only a witness, assuring these facts to the OGPU employees.
Another point is controversial. Was the first pioneer hero even among the pioneers? It is definitely difficult to answer this question. In the thirties, there was still no document in use certifying one’s membership in the pioneers of the Soviet Union. Also, no evidence of Pavlik Morozov’s membership in the pioneer community was found in the archives. The pioneers of the village of Gerasimovka are known only from the words of school teacher Zoya Kabina.
Trofim Morozov, Pavlik’s father, was locked up for ten years. But, according to some reports, he was released three years later for successful work on the White Sea Canal, and was even awarded. This is hard to believe. Other versions are more plausible. One of them says that the former chairman was shot in 1938. But there is no confirmation of such an event either. The most common opinion is that the elder Morozov served his sentence and left for the Tyumen region. There he lived out his years, keeping his family connection with his famous son secret.
This is the story of Pavlik Morozov, who became the first pioneer hero. Subsequently, the Soviet government was accused of false propaganda, denying or distorting the events of those distant times. But everyone is free to draw their own conclusions and determine their attitude towards those old matters.