«НЕСВІДОМІ АГЕНТИ КОМУНІЗМУ»: ІДЕНТИЧНІСТЬ, СОЛІДАРНІСТЬ ТА НЕДОВІРА ДО ВТІКАЧІВ ВІД ГОЛОДОМОРУ ЯК ЧИННИК (НЕ)НАДАННЯ ДОПОМОГИ РУМУНСЬКОЮ ДЕРЖАВОЮ
«UNCONSCIOUS AGENTS OF COMMUNISM»: IDENTITY, SOLIDARITY AND DISTRUST TO THE HOLODOMOR REFUGEES AS A FACTOR OF (NOT) PROVIDING RELIEF BY ROMANIAN STATE

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the topic of the attitude of Romanian bureaucrats towards the refugees from Soviet Ukraine at the beginning of the 1930s. Article begins with the literature review, which stresses the insufficient coverage of the topic within Ukrainian scholarship. After this, the contribution to the research in the form of incorporating and analyzing the archival materials from the State Archive of Odessa region is expressed. The unfolding of collectivization and Holodomor did put peasants in the Soviet Union into an immediate danger. This threat forced hundreds of inhabitants of the left bank of Dniester to seek refuge in Romania. The sudden exodus of population from the left bank of Dniester put forward a dilemma to the Romanian authorities. On one hand, acknowledging the moral obligation to provide relief for the refugees, Romanian bureaucrats considered people seeking asylum as a source of threat for Romanian state, citing security, sanitary and financial considerations. On the other hand, Romanian bureaucrats perceived refugees of Moldovan origin as a useful tool of propaganda against the USSR, utilizing the organizations of Moldovan refugees in spreading the information about the brutal handling of the flights from over Dniester. While the police officials were expressing the threats from refugees, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would try to secure additional funding for providing relief to the refugees from the League of Nations. Moreover, some employees of the Romanian state, during the encounters with the refugees, were showcasing limited solidarity with them, motivated by the previous experiences of living together and appeals to the common Orthodox religion. As a result, Romanian state was unable to design a cohesive policy towards the refugees, fluctuating between solidarity and distrust.

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