РОЗКУРКУЛЕННЯ ТА ДЕПОРТАЦІЯ БОЛГАРСЬКОГО НАСЕЛЕННЯ ІЗМАЇЛЬСЬКОЇ ОБЛАСТІ УРСР (1948 р.) ТА ПІВДНЯ МРСР (1949 р.)
DEKURKULIZATION AND DEPORTATION OF THE BULGARIAN POPULATION OF IZMAIL REGION OF THE USSR (1948) AND THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE MSSR (1949)

Summary/Abstract: The study aims at analyzing the anti-peasant policy of the Soviet government in the Bulgarian villages of Izmail region of the Ukrainian SSR and the southern part of the Moldavian SSR at the end of the 40s of the XX century. The relevance of the research is primarily based on the fact that history of the Bulgarian diaspora in the post-war period has so far remained almost uninvestigated by the scientists. Moreover, a thorough study of this issue clarifies a general understanding of the history of the Bulgarian people both in Ukraine and in Moldova clearer. The source of the historiographical base of the research is mainly represented by archival materials that clearly reveal the picture of the life of the Bulgarian population under the conditions of Sovietization of the region. The materials from the archives of the Republic of Moldova are essential for the Ukrainian historical science The article studies the processes of transformational changes in the Bulgarian village in the context of Sovietization of the newly annexed lands of Ukraine and Moldova. The Bulgarian villages started to be reconstructed after the war. The collectivization was approbated in the 1930s before the war. Thus the processes of transferring agriculture to a socialist system via the collectivization, which had been initiated even before the war, was deepened. The author researches the features of the collectivization of the Bulgarian community of Izmail region and the southern part of the Moldavian SSR. The ways of forming a repressive policy and the means of applying repressions in Bulgarian villages are revealed, data on the disintegration of Bulgarian families are given. Thus, the Soviet authorities considered kurkuls (reach peasants) those farms that used other people’s labor for profit, as well as peasants who did not want to go to collective farms, or were excluded from them because they were wealthy owners in the past. Local authorities (village councils) with the participation of the poor peasants used the right to determine kurkul peasants. Such strategy did not exclude the possibility of abuse, settlement of personal scores, false denunciations by neighbors and fellow villagers. Sometimes district executive committees approved submitted lists without checking the information. This led to the fact that sole proprietors were also included in kurkul farms. The author has concluded that in the post-war period, the Soviet totalitarian regime in the Bulgarian villages of Izmail region and the southern part of Moldavian SSR implemented the policy of destroying wealthy and successful peasant farms, using total control through communist cells, repression, sowing enmity in communities with the aim of dividing society. The criteria for selecting farms for eviction included both economic and political factors. The existence of wealthy economies gave the leadership of the republics the opportunity to blame their mistakes and shortcomings on kurkul sabotage. The appalling tragedy was that according to the Soviet laws of that time, the whole family was responsible for any of its member, even children were subject to eviction and torture. So, I.I. Tatarko’s article makes an important contribution to the study of the most pressing problems and questions of the historiography of the Eastern Europe  the post-war period and the policy of the Soviet Union in relation to ethnic minorities.

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