Many people mention it very often, but often know very little. And if they know, it is not the fact that the truth. He twice became a victim of political propaganda: in the era of the USSR, he was presented as a hero who gave his life in the class struggle, and in perestroika times, as an informer who betrayed his own father.
Modern historians question both myths about Pavlik Morozov, who became one of the most controversial figures in Soviet history.

The main attraction of the village of Gerasimovka, Sverdlovsk region. - Museum and grave of Pavlik Morozov. Up to 3 thousand people come here a year. And everyone is almost ready to tell how it all happened, so this image is imprinted in our consciousness ...


The story of the murder of Pavlik Morozov over 80 years has acquired a lot of myths, but until recently there were two main versions. According to one of them, Pavlik wrote a denunciation of his father, a kulak, and then on other kulaks who hid grain from the state. Grandfather and uncle did not forgive him for this, they waylaid him with his brother Fedya in the forest and slaughtered him. A demonstration trial took place over the grandfather, uncle and relatives of the children. Some were accused of murder, others of covering up a crime. Sentences - the death penalty or long terms of imprisonment.


According to another version, Pavlik was killed by the OGPU: allegedly, the system needed a hero to justify the repressions. A child killed with fists was perfect for this role.


Meanwhile, the director of the Pavlik Morozova Museum, Nina Kupratsevich, told us her version of this story. After many years of research, work with archival documents, meetings with Pavlik's relatives, Nina Ivanovna is absolutely sure: the boy did not betray any of his relatives and it was by no means relatives and not employees of the OGPU who killed him, but completely different people.
In all this tragic story, the figure of the father, Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, is very important. According to Kupratsevich, in fact, he was a literate, respected person in the village, otherwise he simply would not have been elected to the chairmanship of the village council. What Trofim was later accused of would today be called corruption. He illegally issued certificates of registration to dispossessed peasants and their families exiled to Gerasimovka. Without them, they had no right to leave the village. People worked in logging, starving, dying, and many wanted to leave. Of course, at that time it was considered a crime, but, in fact, Trofim Morozov saved people. The criminal case was initiated precisely because of fake certificates: two peasants were detained with them at the station in Tavda ...
Resentment for the mother.


Kupratsevich believes that an illiterate thirteen-year-old boy could not “lay down” his father. At the time of the trial, Trofim had already left the family, lived with a cohabitant for a long time, and his son was simply not aware of his affairs. Secondly, the small, thin Pavlik stuttered and simply could not give out that “anti-Kulak” monologue that Soviet propagandists attributed to him. And this monologue sounded like this (according to the writer Pavel Solomein): “Uncle judges, my father created a clear counter-revolution, I, as a pioneer, am obliged to say this, my father is not a defender of the interests of October, but is trying in every possible way to help the kulak escape, stood behind him with a mountain, and not as a son, but as a pioneer, I ask that my father be held accountable, because in the future I will not give the habit to others to hide their fist and clearly violate the line of the party ... "


[The house where Pavlik Morozov lived, 1950]

Yes, he had a reason to be offended by his father - for his mother. After all, Trofim went to a strange woman. Pashka stayed behind the owner in a family with four children, he didn’t even have time to study.
- On that day, Pavlik and Fedya went to the swamp for cranberries, - Nina Kupratsevich tells her version of those events. - The Morozovs' house was extreme, and, apparently, the grandfather, later accused of murder, saw them. But then the whole village went to those places for cranberries! Pavlik's grandfather, who was over 80, could not be so bad as to kill his grandson in front of possible witnesses. Did he not understand that the children would scream? And they were screaming! You read the protocol of examination of corpses: the brothers were cut with knives, their hands were injured. Apparently, they grabbed the blades, called for help. It doesn't look like a premeditated murder at all. Everything suggests that the guys were killed in a state of extreme fear. I think that these were dispossessed peasants-special settlers who lived in a dugout and hid in the forest from the authorities. Fearing that the boys would betray them, they grabbed their knives...
"Participation not proven"


Kupratsevich also does not believe in the version about the OGPU: “Do you really think that the authorities would not have found a suitable village closer to the center? How long did you travel to us? Three hours from Yekaterinburg? And at that time there was no direct road at all, it was necessary to get across the river by ferry. And when “myth-making” began, people began to be driven to the collective farm, it turned out very conveniently: the kulaks took the lives of two little brothers. And in fact, from scratch, the image of a pioneer hero was created. Maxim Gorky himself at the All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers said: “Relatives by blood, strangers by class killed Pavlik ...”
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.


[Pioneers visit the site of the death of Pavlik Morozov, 1968]

Meanwhile, in the late 90s, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov was purely criminal in nature, and the criminals were not subject to rehabilitation for political reasons. However, retired Colonel of Justice Alexander Liskin, who took part in an additional investigation of the case in 1967 and worked with the KGB archives, concluded in 2001 that the participation of the people accused in the death of Pavlik was not proven. Moreover, he claims that Pavlik appeared in court in his father's case as a witness. And there are no denunciations in this case.
By the way…


[Monument to Pavlik Morozov in the Sverdlovsk region, 1968. Pavlik's mother Tatyana Morozova with her grandson Pavel, 1979]

The fate of Pavlik's relatives developed in different ways. His godfather Arseny Kulukanov and cousin Danila were shot. Grandfather Sergey and grandmother Xenia died in prison. Trofim Morozov received ten years in the camps, worked on the construction of the White Sea Canal, where he died. According to other information, he remained alive, was released and spent his last days somewhere in the Tyumen region. Pavlik's brother Alexei Morozov fought at the front, but in 1943 he recklessly praised the brand of some German aircraft and spent 10 years near Nizhny Tagil. “I met with him. A very positive, wonderful person, ”Kupratsevich recalls. Mom Tatyana Semyonovna Morozova moved to the Crimea, to Alupka, where Nadezhda Krupskaya secured an apartment for her. She was given a small pension. She lived modestly, instead of a signature, she put a cross all her life.
P.S.


No matter how the story of Pavlik Morozov is interpreted, his fate does not become less tragic. His death served the Soviet government as a symbol of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals, and in the perestroika era it was used to discredit this government.

For today's Russian youth, the word "pioneers" sounds about the same as "dinosaurs". The existence of a mass children's organization in the Soviet Union, in which practically all schoolchildren were involved, starting from the 3rd grade, young Russians know only by hearsay.

The first hero of the pioneer

At the same time, almost everyone over the age of 30 had a chance to personally see this special layer of Soviet culture associated with the ideological education of young people.

The Soviet pioneers, in addition to adults, whose examples were recommended to be followed, had their own heroes - teenagers with red ties who sacrificed their lives for their own ideals, beliefs and in the name of the Motherland.

Pavlik Morozov (center, with a book) with a group of fellow practitioners. Photo: Public Domain

The beginning of the gallery of pioneer heroes laid, of course, Pavlik Morozov. Unlike many others, Pavel Trofimovich Morozov remained in folklore, although the glory of the “traitor of the father” that was attached to him in no way reflects the real state of affairs.

According to the canonical Soviet version, Pavlik Morozov was one of the organizers of the first pioneer detachment in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province. In 1931, at the height of the fight against the kulaks, 13-year-old Pavel testified against his father, Trofima Morozova, who, as chairman of the village council, collaborated with the kulaks, helped them evade taxation, and also hid bread to be handed over to the state. On the basis of these testimonies of the principal pioneer, Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years.

In September 1932, kulaks, among whom were Pavel's grandfather and the boy's cousin, brutally killed the pioneer and his own younger brother Fyodor in the forest.

In the case of the murder of Pavlik Morozov, four people were convicted - the grandfather and grandmother of the dead boys, as well as a cousin Danila and godfather Arseny Kulukanov who was his uncle. The direct perpetrator of the crime, Danila Morozov, and one of the "customers" of the murder, Arseniy Kulukanov, were shot, and the elderly Kseniya and Sergey Morozov sentenced to prison. Interestingly, one of the accused Arseniy Silin was fully justified.

If in Soviet times Pavlik Morozov was presented as "an unbending fighter for ideals", then during the perestroika period, critics characterized him as "a snitch who betrayed his own father." The circumstances of the pioneer's death were also called into question.

What is known today?

Father and son

Pavlik Morozov was indeed one of the first pioneers in the village of Gerasimovka. The village was split - on the one hand, the extreme poverty of some, on the other, the prosperity of the so-called "kulaks", opponents of the Soviet regime, which included some relatives of Pavel Morozov.

Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, became the head of the Gerasimovsky village council, and in this position he left a very bad reputation about himself. He was noted for what is now called "corruption" - he appropriated the property of the dispossessed, helped wealthy fellow villagers evade taxes, speculated on certificates issued to special settlers.

Portrait of Pavlik Morozov based on the only known photograph of him. Photo: Public Domain

Pavel could not feel warm feelings for his father also because Trofim Morozov left his family, leaving for another woman. Paul's mother Tatyana, was left with four children in her arms, virtually without a livelihood. Trofim's parents, Sergey and Ksenia Morozov, hated Tatyana because she had refused to live in a common house with them and insisted on a division. They did not have warm feelings for Tatyana's children either, calling them, according to the recollections of Pavel's brother, Alexei Morozov, nothing more than "puppies."

And after Pavlik joined the pioneers, in the eyes of his grandfather, he completely turned into the main object of hatred.

At the same time, Pavel himself had no time for pioneer training: after the departure of his father, he became the main man in the family and helped his mother with the housework.

In 1931, the notoriety of Trofim Morozov, who had already left the post of chairman of the village council, reached the ears of the competent authorities. Morozov was charged with abuse. At the trial, Tatyana Morozova testified about the illegal acts of her husband known to her, and Pavel only confirmed the words of his mother, and was stopped by the judge, who did not consider it necessary to demand extensive testimony from the minor. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

massacre

There is conflicting information about his fate. "Whistleblowers" Pavlik Morozov claim that his father was allegedly shot in the camp in 1938, but there is no evidence for this. According to other sources, Trofim Morozov, after serving his sentence, settled in the Tyumen region, where he lived until the end of his days, trying not to advertise his relationship with Pavlik Morozov.

Considering that Tatyana Morozova gave the main testimony against her ex-husband, Trofim's relatives took revenge not on Pavlik, but on her. On September 2, 1932, Tatyana left on business, and the next day, Pavel and his younger brother Fedor went to the forest for berries. The father's relatives considered that this was a convenient opportunity, and, after lying in wait for the boys in the forest, they dealt with them.

Pavel was stabbed in the stomach and heart, and his brother Fedor, who tried to escape, was first hit in the temple with a stick, and then finished off with a stab in the stomach.

The search for the children began on September 5, upon the return of the mother. Already on September 6, the bodies were found in the forest. The killers did not particularly try to hide the fact of the massacre. Pavel’s mother, Tatyana Morozova, later recalled that when the bodies of the brutally murdered children were brought to the village, Ksenia Morozova, the mother of her ex-husband and the grandmother of the dead, told her with a grin: “Tatyana, we made you some meat, and now you eat it!”

The investigation into the murder made it possible to fully prove the guilt of the suspects. Later attempts to see the murder of the Morozov brothers as a “provocation of the OGPU” do not stand up to scrutiny.

In 1999, representatives of the Memorial movement and relatives of the Morozov brothers convicted of murder tried to have their sentences reviewed. However, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, having considered the case, came to the conclusion that the murder of Pavlik Morozov is purely criminal in nature, and the killers were convicted reasonably and are not subject to rehabilitation on political grounds.

Hero and victim

So, the pioneer Pavlik Morozov, objectively speaking, was not "a snitch and a traitor to his father." Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, in fact, was a corrupt official and an extremely dishonest person who left his own children to their fate.

Reproduction of "Pavlik Morozov" painting by artist Nikita Chebakov (1952). Photo: Public Domain

I really don’t want to say anything about the relatives of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov, who organized and carried out the brutal murder of minors out of revenge - everything is said about them in the verdict, the validity of which was confirmed by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office.

The whole trouble of Pavlik Morozov is that in the midst of an acute confrontation in society in the early 1930s, his tragic death became a banner for the authorities, a symbol of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals and values.

Half a century later, another political force with an anti-Soviet orientation will, with no less zeal, use the tragic fate of Pavlik for their own purposes, pouring dirt on the memory of a teenager.

From the point of view of his era, Pavlik Morozov was a teenager with strong convictions, who opposed the enemies of the existing system and was killed for this. From today's point of view. Pavlik Morozov is a teenager with strong views on life, who, as a law-abiding citizen, testified in court against a local administration employee mired in corruption, for which he was killed by criminals.

Pavlik helps

After the death of two sons, 13-year-old Pavel and 8-year-old Fedor, Tatyana Morozova left Gerasimovka forever. Her other children also had a hard fate - Grisha died in childhood, Roman fought the Nazis and died of wounds after the war, and Alexei was convicted as an “enemy of the people”, spent several years in prison and was only later rehabilitated.

Pavlik Morozov's mother was lucky - she died before perestroika, but Alexei Morozov had to fully feel the streams of dirt and outright lies that fell upon his brother during the period of democratic changes.

The paradox lies in the fact that in the homeland of Pavel in the village of Gerasimovka, where the young pioneer, according to the whistleblowers, “betrayed and knocked,” his memory is treated extremely carefully. Both the monument to Pavlik and his museum have been preserved there. Local residents come to the monument, leave notes with their most secret desires. They say Pavlik helps them.

What is the real story of Pavlik Morozov? August 22nd, 2017

Many people mention it very often, but often know very little. And if they know, it is not the fact that the truth.

He twice became a victim of political propaganda: in the era of the USSR, he was presented as a hero who gave his life in the class struggle, and in perestroika times, as an informer who betrayed his own father.

Modern historians question 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. Grandmother sent her grandchildren for cranberries, and a few days later the bodies of the brothers with traces 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 struggle against the kulaks, he denounced his father, who collaborated with the kulaks. As a result, Trofim Morozov was sent to a 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 about his father. His ex-wife testified against Trofim at the trial. Pavlik only confirmed the testimony of his mother that Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, being the chairman of the village council, sold certificates to migrant kulaks about being registered with the village council and that they had no tax debts to the state. These certificates were in the hands of the Chekists, and Trofim Morozov would have been tried even without the testimony of his son. He and several other district chairmen were arrested and sent to prison.

N. Chebakov. Pavlik Morozov, 1952

Relations in the Morozov family were not easy. Pavlik's grandfather was a gendarme, and his grandmother was a horse thief. They met in prison, where he guarded 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 - that he earned on fictitious certificates and appropriated the property of the dispossessed, all the villagers knew. There was no political connotation in Pavlik's act - he simply supported his mother, who was unjustly offended by his father. And the grandmother and grandfather for this hated both him and his mother. In addition, when Trofim left his wife, according to the law, his allotment of land passed to his eldest son Pavel, since the family was left without a livelihood. Having killed the heir, relatives could count on the return of the land.

Relatives accused of killing Pavlik Morozov

An investigation began immediately after the murder. Bloody clothes and a knife were found in the grandfather's house, with which the children were stabbed. During interrogations, Pavel's grandfather and cousin confessed to the crime: allegedly the grandfather held Pavel while Danila stabbed him. The case had a huge impact. This murder was presented in the press as an act of kulak terror against a member of a pioneer organization. Pavlik Morozov was immediately hailed as 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. The writer, historian and journalist Yuri Druzhnikov (aka Alperovich) put forward the version that Pavlik Morozov denounced his father on behalf of his mother - in order 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 to the story about villainous fists who are ready to kill children for their own benefit. Collectivization took place with great difficulty, 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 Chekists, who sought to arrange a show trial.

Yuri Druzhnikov and his sensational book about Pavlik Morozov

However, this version caused massive criticism and was crushed. In 1999, the Morozovs' relatives and representatives of the Memorial movement secured a review of this case in court, but the Prosecutor General's Office concluded that the murderers had been justifiably convicted and were not subject to political rehabilitation.

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 sure that it was a family drama without any political overtones. In his opinion, the boy only counted on the fact that his father would be frightened 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

Museum of Pavlik Morozov

No matter how the story of Pavlik Morozov is interpreted, his fate does not become less tragic. His death served the Soviet government as a symbol of the struggle against those who do not share its ideals, and in 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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November 14, he could have turned 90 years old, but he forever remained 13 years old. Pavlik Morozov, over the past 76 years after his death, managed to be elevated to the rank of a pioneer hero and overthrown to a banal juvenile informer.

Pioneer Hero

To fully understand what happened in the early 30s of the last century in the remote Ural village of Gerasimovka, even the archives of the criminal case opened in 2002 did not help. It is only known for certain that Pavlik Morozov really existed. But there was a time when, in the wake of exposing communist myths, the most desperate heads even questioned this fact.

Recall: according to the official version, on which more than one generation grew up, Pavlik Morozov denounced his father at the GPU that he was hiding bread. 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. Relatives of the boys were accused of the murder: grandfather, grandmother and cousin. They were shot, and Pavlik Morozov was made a pioneer hero.

During perestroika, historians and journalists rushed to investigate this case again. 20 years ago, some eyewitnesses to this story were still alive, and their testimony, backed up by old interviews with Pavlik's mother, Tatyana Morozova, divided the researchers into two camps. Some are sure that the child was slandered, while others found the bloody hand of the Chekists in a long history ...

Father Reveler

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 belly. The second blow was struck in the chest near the heart, - the district police officer wrote in the protocol of the inspection of the scene. “Fyodor was stabbed to death with a knife in the belly above the navel, where the intestines came out, and his hand was cut with a knife to the bone ...”

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 decision of the court 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 a criminal one. Similar conclusions were made later by the Supreme Court.

As it became known, in the case of Father Pavlik, Trofim Morozov, there was no question of any bread. The chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council was tried for selling blank forms with seals to the dispossessed. For such trade, Trofim was imprisoned along with five other chairmen of the village councils of the district. Pavlik's younger brother Alexei recalled in the late 80s: “They really sent us to us. They brought settlers in the fall of the thirtieth year. Do you think their father felt sorry for them? Not at all. He is our mother, he did not spare his sons, let alone strangers. He loved only himself and vodka. And they tore three skins from the settlers for forms with seals.

It turns out that the moral character of Trofim could play an important role in this story. Pavlik's first teacher, Larisa Isakova, who arrived in Gerasimovka as a 17-year-old girl, could not stand the perestroika revelatory wave and wrote an open letter: how to write and count. As soon as Trofim sat down at his post, he completely abandoned his household, his wife and Pavlik were alone overstrained. He came home drunk, where did he get money only for vodka? Apparently, he was already receiving offerings.”

offended mother

Professor of the University of California 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 him, as compensation for everything that happened, the party even provided the woman with an apartment in the Crimea. Druzhnikov claims that Morozova told him that it was her idea to denounce her husband. It was revenge for the fact that he left for another woman. She, according to the researcher, persuaded her son Pavlik to “punish dad.” In his research, Druzhnikov went as far as to say that the killers of the boys were NKVD officers. They committed such a terrible crime in order to untie their hands in the fight against the fists, and at the same time present the hero-martyr to the younger generation. Documentary evidence of this has not been found. And Tatyana Morozova really moved to live in Alupka. The woman died in 1983, but the neighbors remember the pioneer hero's mother and brother.

She was a normal woman and a good mother. I remember her son Alexei very well, we worked together, ”said Tatiana’s neighbor Alexandra Yegorovna to the Sobesednik. - He often told us that there was no politics in the Pavlik case. Their grandfather went crazy, so he killed the brothers. And the mother was very worried about that tragedy. When Aleksey also called his son Pavlik, she cried a lot ... She was simple, in the summer she rented out housing to vacationers, at one time she traded fruit in the market.

Grandfather-murderer

By the way, there is not a word about the denunciation of Pavlik Morozov in the materials of the court. 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 Sergey, who was arrested on suspicion of killing Pavlik, admitted that the idea of ​​​​the murder belonged to him, since “Pavel brought out of patience, did not let pass, reproached me for being the keeper of the confiscated kulak things.” But at the same time he stated, however, that “he himself did not kill the brothers. Only kept Fedor. The grandson of Danila stabbed the guys.” 19-year-old Danila confirmed this: “We killed Fedya only so that we would not be extradited. He cried, asked not to kill, but we did not regret it ... ”The grandmother of the killed boys, Aksinya, was accused of inciting. Allegedly, she knew about the plan of the killers, approved of it and repeatedly said to her grandson Danila: “Kill this snotty communist!”

No one can figure out how strong the ideological component is in this story. Too many myths have wound 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 returned 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. And because of our poverty, he never saw this uniform, he did not participate in pioneer parades. He did not know about any Stalin then ...

I did not have time to organize a pioneer detachment in Gerasimovka then, it was created after me, but I told the guys about how children are fighting for a better life in other cities and villages. Once I brought a red tie from Tavda, tied it to Pavel, and he joyfully ran home. And at home, his father tore off his tie and beat him terribly.

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The name of this 13-year-old boy has become a symbol twice. First - a symbol of the struggle of the pioneer heroes with the "counter-revolution" and "kulaks". Then - a symbol of betrayal, denunciation and meanness.

The paradox is that neither one nor the other interpretation has practically nothing to do with true history. Pavlik Morozov. A teenager who simply took care of his mother and younger brothers and was not afraid to speak the truth, even on pain of death.

The Ural schoolboy Pavlik Morozov today, as a rule, is mentioned in a humorous or condemning context. Everyone seems to know that he “surrendered his father”, “wrote a denunciation”, but at the same time no one remembers the details of the case itself.

Soviet propaganda instantly elevated Pavlik to a pedestal as a pioneer hero. In modern times, with the same fervor and the same haste, he was branded as a traitor.

In both cases, the boy's name was used as a political slogan.

The real background of those September events of 1932 has long been forgotten.

Only "whistleblowers" greedy for sensations periodically try to give a new interpretation of old events.

But it was all pretty simple.

village corruption

Pavlik Morozov was born a year after the October Revolution, on November 14, 1918. His childhood fell on the most difficult time - the first years of the formation of Soviet power.

The most severe blow of the transitional period - the Civil War and the ensuing War Communism - was borne by the peasants.

Along with everyone else, the inhabitants of the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province, endured hardships. There, in the family of the chairman of the local village council, Pavel was born - the eldest of the five children of Trofim and Tatyana Morozov. They lived non-peacefully: the father often beat both the mother and the children. Not because he was too harsh in character, but simply such were the usual village customs of that time.

But even Trofim Morozov could not be called a good person with all the desire. He eventually abandoned his family and began to live with his mistress in the neighborhood. Moreover, he did not stop beating his wife and children. And he actively used his position as chairman of the village council for personal enrichment. For example, he appropriated the property confiscated from the dispossessed.

A separate source of income for him was the issuance of illegal certificates to special settlers. This category of citizens appeared in the early 1930s, when “kulaks” and “sub-kulakists” were sent to special settlements without trial or investigation. There they had to live in the position of exiles, observing a strict routine and working in logging, mining, and so on.

Of course, there was no talk of any freedom of movement. It was possible to leave the special settlement only with the permission of the commandant. Some special settlers tried to escape from such a life. But for this, a certificate of registration with some village council was needed. So that the competent authorities at the new place of residence do not have questions - where did they come from, what did they do before.

It was with these certificates that Morozov traded. Moreover, he continued to do this even after he was removed from the post of chairman of the village council in 1931. He got burned on them. Over time, one after another, requests began to arrive in Gerasimovka from various factories and factories, as well as from the construction of Magnitogorsk. Vigilant production managers were interested: did the new workers who arrived to them really live earlier in Gerasimovka?

Too often special settlers with false certificates in their pockets began to come across. And in November 1931, at the Tavda station, a certain Zvorykin was detained with two blank forms, on which were the seals of the Gerasimov village council. He honestly admitted to police officers that he had paid 105 rubles for them. A few days later, several people were arrested in the case of fake certificates, including Trofim Morozov.

Fictional denunciation

From this moment begins the same story of Pavlik Morozov. And it starts right away with contradictions. Investigator Elizar Shepelev, who subsequently investigated the murder of the boy, wrote the following in the indictment: "Pavel Morozov filed an application with the investigating authorities on November 25, 1931." This refers to a statement in which Pavlik allegedly accused his father of illegal activities.

However, many years later, Shepelev frankly admitted in an interview: “I can’t understand why on earth I wrote all this, there is no evidence in the case that the boy turned to the investigating authorities and that it was for this that he was killed. Probably, I meant that Pavel testified to the judge when Trofim was tried ... "

I did not find any trace of Pavlik's testimony in the case of Trofim Morozov and the journalist Evgenia Medyakova, who tried to get to the bottom of the truth in the early 1980s. The testimony of his mother is available, but the boy is not. True, at the trial, apparently, he still spoke, but it is unlikely that he said anything new or valuable. Nevertheless, this was enough to arouse hatred for him among his father's relatives. Especially after the court sentenced Trofim to 10 years in the camps and sent him to build the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

Looking ahead, let's say that Trofim Morozov did not complete his term. He returned three years later, with an order for hard work. But by that time, his two sons - Pavel and Fedor - had been killed.

It should be emphasized that after Trofim left the family, Pavel became the eldest man in the family. He took care of his mother and younger brothers, supported the household as best he could. And in the eyes of adults, it was on him, and not on Tatiana, that all the responsibility for the "betrayal" of Trofim lay. Pavel was especially hated by his grandfather Sergei, who was fully supported in this by his wife, grandmother Aksinya (or Ksenia).

Another sworn enemy was Danila's cousin. Finally, his godfather and husband of Trofim's sister Arseniy Kulukanov did not have warm feelings for the boy at all. According to one version, Pavel mentioned his name in his speech at the court, calling him “fist”. These four people ended up in the dock as accused of the murder of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov.

Ordinary atrocity

The following is known about the murder itself. In early September 1932, Pavel and Fyodor went to the forest for berries. Upon learning of this, Kulukanov persuaded Danila to follow them and kill the boys. And even allegedly paid him 5 rubles for it. Danila did not go to the crime alone, but went for advice to his grandfather Sergei.

He calmly stood up and, looking at how the accomplice took the knife, said: "Let's go kill, look, don't be afraid." They found Pavlik and eight-year-old Fedor pretty quickly. Danila inflicted mortal blows on both, but grandfather Sergey did not allow the younger boy to run away.

Since Pavel and Fyodor were going to go into the forest with an overnight stay, they did not miss them right away. Especially since the mother was away. When Tatyana returned to the village, she found out that the children had not returned for the third day. Alarmed, she raised the people in search, and the next day the bodies of the slaughtered children were discovered.

The mother, heartbroken, later told the investigator that on the same day on the street she met grandmother Aksinya, who told her with an evil laugh: “Tatiana, we made meat for you, and now you eat it!”

The investigation quickly found the killers. The main evidence was a household knife and Danila's bloodied clothes, which Aksinya soaked but did not have time to wash (at first they claimed that he had slaughtered a calf the day before). Danila admitted his guilt almost immediately and completely. Grandfather Sergei constantly changed his testimony and got confused, either recognizing or denying what had happened.

Aksinya and Arseny Kulukanov did not confess to anything until the very end. Nevertheless, it was Arseny, together with Danila, who received the most severe punishment - execution. Aksinya and Sergei Morozov, due to their advanced age (the old people were already 80 years old), were sent to live in prison.

Symbol in red tie

This would have ended this, in essence, a simple story of domestic enmity. If the Soviet propaganda had not taken up the matter. The boy, killed by his relatives for two careless words spoken at the court session, was of no use to anyone. But the pioneer hero, who fearlessly exposed the fists with fists and fell in an unequal battle, the plot is what you need.

Therefore, in the very first note on this topic, published in the newspaper Ural Worker on November 19, 1932, the story of Pavlik was told as follows:

“... And when Pasha's grandfather, Sergei Morozov, hid kulak property, Pasha ran to the village council and exposed his grandfather. In 1932, in winter, Pasha brought the kulak Silin Arseniy to fresh water, who did not fulfill a firm task, sold a cart of potatoes to the kulaks.

Pavel again exposed his grandfather and kulukanov. At meetings during sowing, at the time of grain procurements, everywhere the pioneer activist Pasha Morozov exposed the intricate machinations of the kulaks and sub-kulakists ... "

The already difficult life of a simple village teenager, abandoned by his father and carrying on all household chores, suddenly turned into an endless battle with “kulaks and podkulakniks”, who endlessly turned their “frauds” in little Gerasimovka.

Needless to say, there are no documents confirming such an active activity of the "whistleblower" Pavlik Morozov? But the name of such a hero was no longer ashamed to call a pioneer detachment. As well as erect a monument to him.

“To some, Pavlik now seems like a boy stuffed with slogans in a clean pioneer uniform. And because of our poverty, he didn’t even see this uniform, didn’t participate in pioneer parades, didn’t wear portraits of Molotov, and didn’t shout “toast” to the leaders, ”the school teacher Larisa Isakova later recalled, who observed almost the entire story with her own eyes.

But the propaganda machine was already in full swing. Poems, books, plays and even one opera were written about Pavlik Morozov! Fewer and fewer people remembered what exactly and why happened in Gerasimovka in the autumn of 1932, and only a few people tried to understand the details.

Long arms of the OGPU?

But times have changed and the pendulum has swung the other way. So powerful and uncontrollable. People who were hungry for the truth sought to expose all the myths of the Soviet ideology. At the same time, I was too lazy to delve into the question seriously. Very often they followed the path of least resistance: if something was declared good by the Soviet state, it means that it is actually bad.

This is exactly what happened with Pavlik Morozov. The dirty brand of "traitor" was deserved by him no more than the gold medal of "hero".

Tatyana Morozova (Pavlik's mother) with her grandson Pavel Morozov. Photo taken in 1979.

Everything was now in doubt. Was Trofim Morozov such a terrible person? Was he deservedly sent to the camp? Did Pavlik write or did not write the unfortunate denunciation of his father? At the same time, for some reason, the simplest and most terrible question was constantly missed: is it possible to kill children?

At the same time, in the exposing excitement, some authors literally reached the point of absurdity. Writer Yuri Druzhnikov in 1987 published a book in the UK with the catchy title "Informer 001, or the Ascension of Pavlik Morozov." In it, he turned the whole situation literally upside down.

According to Druzhnikov, Pavlik was a puppet of the all-powerful security officers who sought to arrange a show trial with political overtones. This was necessary, in particular, in order to finally organize a collective farm in Gerasimovka, which the villagers had previously actively resisted.

The author of the book calls the assistant to the authorized OGPU Spiridon Kartashov and Pavel's cousin, Ivan Potupchik, who collaborated with the authorities, the real organizers and perpetrators of the murder. This version has been repeatedly criticized and dismantled literally by the bones.

And not only domestic researchers. Oxford University professor Catriona Kelly, for example, noted that Druzhnikov uses the materials of the official investigation very selectively, recognizing only those that fit his theory as authentic.

Despite the extremely weak arguments, Druzhnikov nonetheless quite accurately points out the weaknesses in the official version of the investigation. It's really unclear why the killers didn't bother to hide the knife and the bloodied clothes.

Grandfather Sergei served as a gendarme in the past, grandmother Aksinya once traded in stealing horses. That is, about what the investigation and evidence are, both should have had a good idea. Nevertheless, they made it surprisingly easy and simple to arrest themselves.

However, no matter how much the 80-year-old documents are shuffled, this will not change the main thing in any way. Two boys, Pavel and Fyodor Morozov, are neither heroes nor traitors. And the unfortunate victims of circumstances and dashing time.

Viktor Banev