Execution by Hunger

by Miron Dolot

  Nevertheless, he was a success in his own realm. Raised in the changeless traditions of the country people, he was an industrious and untiring individual. His small farm became a model for many other farmers in our neighborhood. He transformed it into what might have been called a market garden. He managed it so well that he always had some sort of fresh fruits or vegetables to sell in neighboring towns.

  After working hard during the week, on Sundays he would load his one-horse wagon with various agricultrual products and go to the market. In this way—by sacrifice and sheer industry—he managed to accumulate enough money to build a house and the necessary auxiliary buildings, a clear indication of his limited prosperity. With this his social status changed. He became one of the most respected individuals in the village, and consequently, was elected head of the village shortly before the Communist Revolution. This position was an honorary one, for he received no payment from the government, but it brought about his death.

  One day in 1919, a few days after the Communists had reoccupied Ukraine, my father was arrested, taken to the county seat, and put into prison. He was labeled “a servant of the old regime,” “an exploiter of the poor,” and “bourgeois-nationalist,” for he advocated independence for Ukraine.

  This happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that mother was more confused at first than frightened. She was confident that the arrest was a mistake. She knew that no one would harm her husband, a fine man, deeply religious and honest, who worked hard and was always ready to offer his help to anyone. My mother was sure that the jailers would soon realize what kind of man he was and set him free.

  But this never happened. The next day, when she went to visit him, she was told that he was dead. Despite her intense grief, her first thought was how to get her husband’s body out of the prison, and how to properly bury him. She managed to do both. For some unknown reason, my father’s jailers permitted her to take his body home, but only under the strict condition that he be buried without public participation, and his coffin never be uncovered.

  My mother had no choice but to accept these conditions. The body was taken from the prison to our home by a small Red Guard detachment.

  While telling us this, my mother was calm and composed, as she had always been. She was a most remarkable individual; I seldom saw her cry. In those troubled and lonely years that followed my father’s death, she worked in the field, ploughed the land, and harvested the crops. She cared for our domestic animals, kept the entire household wisely, and affectionately cared for us. Through all those years, we heard few complaints from her lips. On the contrary, she appeared to be happy and witty. She encouraged us to be good, and to study hard in school. She laughed and prayed with us, but alone, she was sad and melancholy.

  From the time of my father’s death, fear dogged my mother’s every step. She was afraid that at any moment she would be denounced as the wife of an “eliminated enemy of the people,” a charge that would have been fatal to the four of us.

  For eleven long years, she labored under that fear, always having to be very careful in her speech. During those years, she had to appease many people in order to avoid quarrels or other frictions which might have resulted in denunciation. Indeed, she lived in a lonely and dangerous world.

  Mother would have preferred not to tell this story at all, for she did not want us to grow up embittered by the murder of our father. She was convinced that he had been tortured and murdered in the prison. Her reticence disappeared only after that particular meeting during which the extermination of the kurkuls, as the “enemies of the people” had been declared. She felt the coming of the end and believed we were now old enough to know the truth.

  After we had recovered from the shock of hearing the story of our father’s death, we remained at the table and talked about the recent events in our village. We finally went to bed after midnight. As soon as we had put out the lights, we heard an energetic pounding at the front door. The knock was repeated, and a stranger’s voice demanded that we open the door.

  “The Bread Procurement Commission,” a voice announced from outside.

  We already had heard about the notorious deeds of this commission, and we rushed to comply with their demand. But before we could, there was a crash—the strangers burst into our house.

  It was dark, and my mother went to light the petroleum lamp.

  “Surprise is my weakness! Ha, ha, ha,” said the voice that had commanded us to open the door. “I am just delighted to see you! But where are you? Ha, ha, ha…”

  It was Comrade Khizhniak.

  When Mother lit the lamp, we saw that four men, two women, and one boy, the messenger, were standing in front of her. One of the men held a rifle as if he were expecting a rabbit to hop out from under the bed. We knew all of them personally.

  Comrade Khizhniak was drunk, and his lips and jaws moved slowly in a stutter. He could not stand up straight. We were frightened, and instinctively my older brother and I moved closer to our mother.

  “How do you do, comrades?” Mother said in a trembling voice.

  Comrade Khizhniak stepped closer to her.

  “A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we last met each other,” he blurted out. “Isn’t it sweet to get an unexpected night visit, eh?”

  “Glad to see you, comrades,” Mother continued, regaining her strength and confidence. “What can I do for you? Please sit down.”

  The lamp hung in the east corner of the living room. In the farmers’ tradition, this corner was a sacred place. Icons hung there on the walls. From the ceiling hung an icon lamp with its ever-burning oil as a symbol of light. A piece of blessed bread lay on one of the icons as a symbol of God’s generosity. We faced Comrade Khizhniak and his commission from this corner. My brother Serhiy stood at my mother’s left side, and I stood at her right.

  Comrade Khizhniak seemed not to have heard what Mother said; he stretched out his hands with the intention of embracing her. She stepped back, and he grabbed her in a shameless way. She slapped his face with all her might. “Swine, get away from me,” she cried.

  Quickly, Comrade Khizhniak grabbed for his gun. I quickly jumped in front of Mother, and Serhiy grabbed Khizhniak. A shot was fired. The bullet hit the icon, and the glass splintered.

  The shot was so unexpected that all seemed paralyzed. A woman member of the commission, gazing at the broken icon, started to cry. My younger brother screamed at the top of his voice. I tried to comfort my Mother as Serhiy wrestled with Comrade Khizhniak, who was trying to shoot again. Comrade Judas, probably drunk also, fell on his knees in jest, and mumbled something as if he were praying.

  Then an old farmer member of the commission shouted, “Quiet! We came here on official business!”

  Comrade Khizhniak stopped wrestling with my brother and put his gun back into its holster. He then turned to the old farmer:

  “You will leave the thinking to the horses; they have bigger heads,” he sneered in a low voice. “Just whose business are you talking about?”

  Then he approached the old man and looked at him contemptuously.

  “I’m the business here!” he suddenly roared. “Do you hear me? I’m the business here! No one else! Keep that in your stupid, dirty, lousy old head!”

  The old man hesitated; he wanted to say something but it was all in vain. Comrade Khizhniak continued, this time speaking through clenched teeth.

  “Look at him,” he continued, as he turned to the commission’s members, pointing at the old farmer with his finger. “He came here on official business…. Isn’t that interesting?” Then he again raised his voice. “I repeat; this is my business! I’m the representative of our beloved and dear Party and government here! I am—”

  “I only wanted to—” the old man started to say something.

  “Shut up!” Comrade Khizhniak interrupted him. Then after a moment of silence, he gave the warning:

  “I’ll get even with you sooner or later.”

  Comrade Khizhniak wa
s a member of the Communist Party and the chairman of the Hundred’s commission. He had complete power within that Hundred. To oppose him was to oppose the Party and the government. No one, except his superiors, might interfere in his activities. Shouting louder and louder, he warned that he would shoot down anyone who opposed the will of the Communist Party and that of the government.

  After a while he turned to my brother Serhiy.

  “You are a strong lad, eh! You are a very strong lad, indeed,” he said. “Our beloved fatherland needs strong fellows like you. Isn’t it a great fortune to have such a strong young generation?”

  He then turned to the man with the rifle, signaling him to step closer. Then he turned to my brother again.

  “Well, well,” he continued in the same manner. “Our socialist fatherland needs strong people….” Then, taking a dignified pose, and in a haughty military manner, he pronounced:

  “In the name of our beloved Communist Party and our people’s government, I declare you under arrest for physical assault on an official representative of the Party and government while he was performing his official duty.” He then ordered the man with the rifle to take my brother into his custody.

  My mother could not hide her despair. Crying, she attempted to hold on to Serhiy with both hands, but being too weak to struggle against four men, she fainted. When she regained consciousness, Serhiy was gone.

  A few minutes later, after mother came to, Khizhniak continued his “business” as though nothing had happened. “Well,” he began, “as you already know, we came here on a serious business matter. On official business, as our comrade has said,” he smilingly nodded to the old farmer. “And, indeed, it is very serious.”

  Mother rose to her feet and brushed back her hair.

  “Before you start your official business, whatever it is, I demand a warrant for the arrest of my son,” she said in a clear voice. We were all amazed.

  “I’m only a helpless widow,” she continued. “You can do what you want with me, for I do not have any strength to defend myself. But as long as I am alive, I protest against your intrusion into my house.”

  Such a protestation was unheard of. The punishment for saying such things was a sentence of life imprisonment or death. No one would even think of demanding permission for arrest or search from an official.

  Mother’s demand touched off hysterical laughter from Comrade Khizhniak and his lieutenants. Then he moved closer to us.

  “Look, sister, don’t try to scare me. No one can scare me. I’ve been in tight spots before…”

  When Mother tried to say something, he interrupted her. He hinted that he knew what had happened to her husband, and that it would be no trouble to do the same thing to her.

  “I know what you mean,” Mother said, without changing the tone of her voice. “Nevertheless, as a citizen, I demand justice and my rights.”

  “Now,” he pointed the gun at us: “Now, most loyal and patriotic citizen, you are under arrest. You, too!” He pointed at me with the gun, laughing. We were ordered to turn toward the wall and stand there.

  The commission started its official business of searching for something. Comrade Khizhniak, still playing with his gun, seemed to like his business very much. He even looked inside the stove.

  After they finished their search in the storage room, Comrade Khizhniak went into the room where Mother kept her clothing and relics in a locked trunk. We soon heard a shot.

  Mother and I ran into the room. Comrade Khizhniak was opening the trunk. Not bothering to ask for the key, he destroyed the lock. Mykola, my younger brother, was crying in the corner behind the bed.

  As Mother and I appeared on the threshold of the room, Khizhniak raised his gun and fired it over our heads. “Stay in your place,” he ordered. We left, and he closed the door behind us.

  After a while, Comrade Khizhniak came out. In one hand he held a book, in the other, jewels—if this is the right word for the keepsakes of a farm woman. They were mementos of my mother’s girlhood.

  “Well, Comrade Citizen, will you kindly explain to me what these mean?”

  Mother answered; “The book is the Bible and those things are just what you see.”

  “From whom were you hiding them?” He pointed to his findings. “How did you come by these things?”

  “You know those things are mine!” Mother answered angrily.

  In vain she tried to explain to him that the Bible had not been hidden; that she had had the jewelry for a long time, from before the revolution, and that in her own house she did not have to hide her own belongings.

  “The Bible,” Khizhniak said, “had been hidden with the purpose of propagating religion, and the jewels did not belong to you, but to your in-laws. A kurkul will always be a kurkul,” he proclaimed meaningfully.

  Then he explained that all three of my uncles had been declared kurkuls and arrested. Tomorrow they would be banished from the village and their property expropriated. The commission’s “business” in our house was to find anything that my uncles might have hidden in our home. After a thorough search, the commission left.

  Confused and frightened, our only thoughts were of Serhiy and our three uncles.

  CHAPTER 8

  THE NEWS of the arrest of my uncles was a powerful blow. Since the death of my father, they had been our benefactors and protectors. They had helped support us materially, and had taken a keen interest in our welfare. Now we heard that they might be banished from the village, and sent to a distant region. We couldn’t understand why such industrious, generous, and upright members of our village would be so treated.

  All three of them were farmers. They tilled their fields of fifteen to twenty acres, and managed their households as well as conditions permitted. Only one, Havrylo, seemed to be more prosperous than many other villagers. His house was roofed with tin, a sign of prosperity; he also owned several small auxiliary buildings, and a well-cultivated orchard. These gave the impression that he was a rich man. Yet, he had little more land than the other villagers: skillful management and industry accounted for his prosperity. Following the annual harvest, he worked on the railroad or at highway construction to help support his family.

  My other two uncles were also ordinary small farmers. Their thatched-roofed houses and several domestic animals were their only worldly possessions. They and their children went barefoot; their diet consisted of bread and potatoes; and they could not always afford kerosene for their lamps. They did not have the means nor the need to hire workers.

  Notwithstanding such evidence of poverty, my three uncles were officially labeled kurkuls and were to be banished from the village. For this reason the commission officials had rummaged through our house, examining every little thing from scraps of paper to pots in the oven. They had been looking for my uncles’ valuables. While doing this, they had amused themselves as if they had been performing some heroic deed.

  After the commission left, we were allowed to remain at home and were no longer under arrest. However, we could not stay at home, not knowing what had happened to Serhiy and to our three uncles. We assumed Serhiy was in jail. But then he could have been killed on the way or sent immediately to the county center.

  Thus it was with our uncles also. We were told that they were about to be banished from the village. But what actually had happened to them, we did not know. We could not help them, but we also could not give up trying.

  When Mother and I left the house, the day had already begun to dawn. A dull light appeared on the gray horizon.

  Since Uncle Arsin lived closest to us, we decided to visit him first. But when we reached his house, it was already too late; the house was locked and sealed. An armed guard stood at the gate. He informed us that our uncle, his wife, two daughters and son, had been arrested and taken away to the village soviet. They had been allowed to take only the clothing they were wearing.

  We decided to follow them, but as we turned back toward the center of the village, a sudden cry—“Help!
Help!”—broke the morning stillness. The cry came from the house of an old man, our distant relative, Aleka. Leaving Mother behind, I turned from the road and dashed to his house.

  Aleka was a poor farmer who lived alone. Once he had owned a few acres of land and a couple of domestic animals. His wife had died long ago, and his children were married and lived in other villages. But he differed from other villagers because once he had operated a little retail store from his house. His business was only bartering, and we knew that his income was quite meager.

  Recently he had sold his store and joined the collective farm. We thought that his age had led him to give up his business, but the officials claimed that he was now trying to cover his past “capitalist activity” and avoid expropriation of his property. They also suspected that he had hoarded a huge sum of money.

  When I reached his house, I was not surprised to meet the commission that had left us so recently. The door was open and a few members of the commission were huddled in the entrance hall. The door to the living room was also open.

  On the floor lay Aleka, half-naked, vigorously defending himself. A few members of the commission, swearing and shouting, were subduing him. One man pressed his head to the floor; two held his hands; and two struggled with his feet; while another attempted to pull off his boots. There was no doubt that they were after his money. The old man, with surprising strength, fought like a stag against a pack of hounds.

  The chairman of the commission, Comrade Khizhniak, meanwhile stood aside, calmly watching the struggle. As the advantage seemed to be on the side of the old man, he lost his patience and temper and elbowed his way to the victim. Then, with the air of practiced experience, he shoved aside the man grappling with Aleka’s right leg and jumped on the old man’s abdomen with all his weight. Then he kicked his heavy boots into his chin several times. As our relative lost consciousness, Comrade Khizhniak calmly returned to his former position.