09/10/2003 The mystery of the life and death of Pavlik Morozov

Tyumen. September 3 marks the 71st anniversary of the death of Pavlik Morozov. He, along with his younger brother Fedya, was killed for denouncing his father to the Chekists. The village of Gerasimovka, where Pavlik was born and buried, is located 40 kilometers from the regional center of Tavda, Sverdlovsk Region.

In Soviet times, when the pioneer hero Pavlik Morozov was a model for the younger generation, an asphalt road was laid in the village and the House-Museum was built. Tourists from all over the country were taken by bus - 10-15 excursions a day. Now Gerasimovka is known only to old-timers and historians. The memorial complex is closed and is in a deplorable state.

Train of mystery

Streets in dozens of Russian cities still bear the name of Pavlik Morozov, although the main monument to the hero with a banner in his hand has long been removed from its pedestal in a park on Moscow's Krasnaya Presnya. After his death, he was forever inscribed in the history of the pioneers at number 001, and now his name has become a symbol of betrayal.

"There is still no clarity in this case. Even in the materials that are available, inconsistencies can be found, but no re-analysis has been carried out," says Anna Pastukhova, chairman of the Yekaterinburg branch of the Memorial human rights society. She believes that it is too early to close the case of Pavlik Morozov, "who has become a bargaining chip in adult games."

After several decades, it is already difficult to understand where is the myth about a 14-year-old boy who allegedly sacrificed his life in the fight against the "kulaks" who hid bread from the village poor, and where is the real life of a semi-literate teenager from a large village family.

Informer 001

The first attempt to make an independent investigation into the life of Pavlik was made back in the mid-80s by the Moscow prose writer Yuri Druzhnikov, who later wrote the book Informer 001, or the Ascension of Pavlik Morozov, translated into several foreign languages. During the investigation, Druzhnikov was able to talk with some of the boy's surviving relatives, including his mother Tatyana Morozova, whom Soviet propaganda turned into the heroic mother of a pioneer hero.

The death of Pavlik was blamed on his closest relatives - grandfather Sergei Morozov, his wife Xenia, cousin Danila and godfather - Armenia Kulukanov. Druzhnikov was the first to question the verdict. The trial itself was conducted in violation of the law, and "the main evidence of the guilt of the defendants were quotations from the reports of Stalin and Molotov that the class struggle intensified in certain areas, and the accused were an illustration of the correctness of their statements."

Druzhnikov, now a lecturer at the University of California, believes that Pavlik's denunciation of his father was made by him at the "instigation of his mother, whom his father left behind, having gone to another."

“He was never a pioneer either, he was made a pioneer after his death,” says Druzhnikov. “And most importantly, I revealed secret documents that Pavlik and his brother were killed not by fists, but by two NKVD officers: one is a voluntary and the second is a professional. They killed and blamed relatives who did not want to join the collective farm. By the way, the convicts were not kulaks either. They were forced to dig a hole for themselves, stripped naked and shot as an example. This is how Stalin's directive on total collectivization was carried out locally. And the pioneer hero was needed two years later, when the Writers' Union was created and the boy was named the first positive hero of socialist realism.

Poor Pavlik Morozov

On September 3, 1982, the country widely celebrated the 50th anniversary of the death of the pioneer hero Pavlik Morozov, who was brutally murdered by bandits-kulaks. And a few years later, the memory of the hero began to be debunked, who allegedly turned out to be a juvenile informer against his own father. Meanwhile, the famous Shlisselburg revolutionary N. Morozov told the truth about the tragedy that had unfolded in the Urals to the writer Alexei Tolstoy back in 1939... This mysterious story is told in an article by Fyodor Morozov, a local historian from Tsarskoe Selo, our longtime author.

About twenty years ago, I remember, Lenin's rooms in secondary, music and sports schools throughout the country were covered with portraits of Pavlik Morozov. And the stories about the young pioneer, who allegedly exposed the hostile activities of his father, a fist, who hid grain from starving workers, and for this he was brutally murdered by his own grandfather and brother, the fists, diluted the radio stations "Mayak" and "Youth" almost every Saturday.

During the reign of Andropov, the feat of Pavlik received a new interpretation. His father turned from a fist into a village headman, who enjoyed a reputation among his fellow villagers as a respected, decent person, but succumbed to intimidation by bandits hiding in the forests, to whom he issued false certificates. And in 1984, it suddenly turned out that Pavlik Morozov himself was not at all the one for whom he had been given out for fifty years ...

The family of Trofim Morozov - the head of the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky district, Sverdlovsk region - was, it turns out, very pious and did not miss a single Sunday service and church holiday. Moreover, both sons of the headman, Pavel and Fedor, often helped the local priest, for which he taught them to read and write. On the day of death on September 3, 1932, when both brothers were returning home from the local priest, they were slaughtered not far from their native village.

In 1989, the Ogonyok magazine published a new version, according to which it turned out that Pavlik Morozov, in principle, could not be a pioneer, since the nearest pioneer organization at that time was 120 kilometers from Gerasimovka. The reason for his murder was as if purely domestic. Pavlik's mother allegedly died, and his relationship with his stepmother did not work out. A strange and terrible role in the events was played by the jealousy of Morozov's neighbor, who, on behalf of Pavlik, wrote a denunciation to the Tavdinsky department of the GPU, casting a shadow of suspicion on the unsuspecting boy. During interrogations, Pavlik allegedly answered insulting questions with silence, which was taken as his confession in writing the denunciation. Mad with shame and grief, grandmother Aksinya decided in her own way to deal with Pavlik and his brother. Watching them on a forest road late in the evening of September 3, 1932, she strangled them ...

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, this story looks different. Pavlik Morozov handed over his father, who allegedly sold documents to the enemies of the people, to the secretary of the Tavdinsky district party committee back in 1930, and at the same time appeared in court as an accuser of his own ancestor. At the same time, Pavlik Morozov was allegedly elected chairman of the council of the pioneer detachment of Gerasimovka. And in 1932, Pavlik, being a 14-year-old teenager, allegedly led local food detachments to seize surplus grain from the kulaks of the entire Tavdinsky district, for which the fists slaughtered him along with his brother on a forest road (TSB 1954, vol. 28, p. 310 ).

Meanwhile, back in 1939, the famous honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the revolutionary Shlisselburger Nikolai Morozov, outraged by the proximity of his last name to the last name of Pavlik in the first Soviet encyclopedia of 1936, undertook an investigation of this case, so to speak, in hot pursuit. And I found out that everything was completely different from what was said and written in all the then official sources. According to Morozov's investigation, it turned out that Pavlik was not a pioneer, just as he was not an informer. At the trial against the head of the family, he acted as a witness and defended his father with all his might, which there were still many witnesses at that time: the court session in Tavda was held with open doors.

The honorary academician failed to talk with the secretary of the Tavdinsky district committee, to whom Pavlik allegedly whispered in his ear about the atrocities of his father: by that time the official had already been shot as an enemy of the people. But in the case of the murder of Pavel and Fyodor Morozov, Nikolai Alexandrovich discovered the testimony of members of the Morozov family - mother, sister and uncle. In her explanatory note, Tatyana Semyonovna, Pavel's mother, obviously under dictation, called her son a snitch, and blamed his grandfather, grandmother and uncle Danila for his death. In the same note, she first called Pavlik a pioneer. “My son Pavel, no matter what he saw or heard about this kulak gang, always reported them to the village council. Because of this, the kulaks hated him and in every possible way wanted to wipe out this young pioneer from the face of the earth.” (A curious detail: Pavlik's father was the chairman of the Gerasimovsky village council, so it turns out that he passed denunciations on his father and relatives to his father himself!)

As a result of meetings and conversations with the surviving Morozov relatives, the academician found out that a conflict had long been ripening in the family. By writing out left-wing documents, Trofim Morozov brought terrible misfortune to the family. Endless showdowns at night eventually led to a divorce and division of property. Taking advantage of the opportunity, numerous "well-wishers" intervened in the case, a train of denunciations about Trofim Sergeyevich, grandmother Aksinya and grandfather Sergey reached the Tavdinsky district committee and the district police department. All the slanders were allegedly written from the words of Pavlik by the local policeman Ivan Poputchik and the hut Pyotr Yeltsin. On their basis, the trial of Trofim Morozov was hastily concocted.
By that time, Pavlik himself knew how to write, so the denunciations allegedly recorded from his words that went to the area were 100% fakes! For some reason, Pavel was not asked questions about his "denunciations" at the trial. Nevertheless, although the guilt of Trofim Sergeevich was not proven, he got a sentence, and the Morozov family was almost repressed as a kulak family. This happened, however, two years later, and the district police officer demanded that Pavel himself testify against his grandfather and grandmother, respected in the district. Morozov, as their eldest grandson, resolutely refused, saying that he would beg a priest he knew for such thoughts and suggestions to anathematize the district police officer. Pavel's conversation with the district police officer took place on September 1, 1932, and Pavel managed to convey its content to his confessor. And on September 3, he, together with his brother, returning from the church, did not reach the house ... Two days later, the bodies of the tormented brothers were found literally a stone's throw from the village. On the same day, the district police officer had terrible suspicions, and he conducted searches in the house of grandfather Pavlik and his cousin Danila, where he found bloody pants, a shirt and a knife. What kind of fool keeps such evidence in the house? The precinct was not going to answer such a stupid question from fellow villagers, he did not care about trifles.

On September 8, the district police officer, with the support of the opera from Tavda, knocked out testimony from Danila Morozov that the brothers were stabbed to death by the neighbor of the Morozovs, Efrem Shatrakov, but he, Danila, only kept both "pioneers". The district police officer I. Poputchik added to the case of the murder of the brothers the last one, allegedly written from the words of Pavlik by the district police officer, "denunciation" against Shatrakov's neighbor, who allegedly concealed large surpluses of grain. On the same day, a strange explanatory note from Pavlik's mother appeared, in which he already appears as a pioneer and scammer, and the grandfather, grandmother and cousin Danila are called the main culprits of the tragedy.

On September 12, Danila changed his testimony and declared guilty of the death of the brothers of their own 80-year-old infirm grandfather Sergei Sergeyevich, who was not even able to keep up with his grandchildren, not to mention raising a knife over their heads! In the final version of the investigation, it is already indicated that the bloody "evidence" was found in the house of his grandfather, S.S. Morozov ...

The court sentenced the grandfather and cousin Pavlik Morozov, and at the same time the grandmother "for non-information" to be shot, while Shatrakov's neighbor was released from the courtroom as "repentant" ...

According to Tatyana Semyonovna, Pavlik's mother, the testimony against her grandfather was beaten out of her by employees of the Tavdinsky department of the OGPU by threats of reprisals against the whole family.

Honorary academician N.A. Morozov brought this maternal recognition with him in 1939 from Gerasimovka; he showed it to his acquaintances, in particular, to the deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, writer Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy. However, he was afraid to launch the document.

Just before his death in 1946, Morozov handed over the confessions of Pavlik's mother to Tsarskoye Selo local historians, from whose funds they were stolen in April 1951. Vladimir Nikolayevich Smirnov, at that time the deputy chairman of the local section of local lore, told me about this.

Before the war, no one tried to shoot at least a small documentary about the most legendary pioneer of the era ... Is it because, apart from the Tavda Chekists and their rough cooking, there was nothing to shoot?

The name of Pavlik Morozov forever remained crap, the truth-bearers of all generations ruffled him at every corner and, no matter how scary, they rattle him to this day. Who and when will anathematize them for such fanaticism and mockery of the memory of innocent people?

Watch in advance "Logicology - about the fate of man"

In the Soviet Union, Pavlik Morozov was considered to be a hero who suffered for an idea. During the perestroika years, 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 immigrants, appropriated the property of the dispossessed. He was sentenced to 10 years.

And some time later he was killed while walking in the forest. Here the data differ a little, according to one version, his own cousin killed him, according to another, his grandfather. Then the entire Morozov family was destroyed, except for the mother, who, by order of Krupskaya, was given an apartment in the Crimea. By the way, Pavlik's father returned from the camps and was even awarded for hard work. True, he had to move to another place.

Perestroika version

How was it really

In fact, this story has 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, their father left them, lived with his mistress, drank. His mother held a grudge against him. It is assumed that the denunciation was her initiative, only she did not know how to write, she asked Pavlik, he could not refuse his mother. And when he was asked in court whether his father issued fake certificates, he answered in the affirmative. In fact, it was no secret to anyone.

Of course, the whole family - and grandmother, and grandfather, and uncles, aunts - were angry at Pavlik. And they could have faked his death. However, there is no hard evidence. Some researchers mention that Pavlik's brother idolized him, but at the same time suffered from a mental illness and could not control attacks of aggression. It is likely that the death of Pavlik 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 desires and requests to his grave. They say that Pavlik helps them.

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 during perestroika, 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.

Pavlik Morozov is a legendary person around whom there is always a lot of controversy. These disputes do not stop at the present time, since it is still impossible to answer the main question of who Pavlik Morozov is - a hero or a traitor. There is little information about what this boy did and what his fate is, so it’s impossible to figure out this story until the end.

There is only the official version of his date of birth and how the boy died. All other events remain an occasion for discussions about the act of this pioneer to continue.

Origin, life

It is known that Pavel Trofimovich Morozov was born in mid-November 1918. His father, Trofim Sergeevich, came to the village Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province in 1910. He belonged to ethnic Belarusians, therefore, in his own way origin he belonged to the Stolypin settlers.

The family of Trofim Sergeevich Morozov and Tatyana Semyonovna Baidakova, who lived in the Turin district, had five children:

1. Paul.
2. George.
3. Fedor.
4. Novel.
5. Alexei.

There is information that the paternal grandfather was once a gendarme, and the grandmother was known for a long time as a horse thief. Their acquaintance was unusual: when my grandmother was in prison, her grandfather guarded her. There they met and then they began to live together.

In the family of the pioneer, besides him, there were four more brothers. But George died as a baby. It is known that the third son, Fedor, was born around 1924. The rest of the brothers' birth dates are unknown.

family tragedy

According to reliable information, Trofim Sergeevich until 1931 was the chairman of the village council of Gerasimovka. Soon after childbirth he left his wife and children and went to live with a neighbor. But despite the fact that Antonina Amosova became his civil wife, Trofim Morozov continued to beat his wife and children. Pavlik's teacher also spoke about this.

Grandfather Sergey also hated his daughter-in-law, as she was against living in one, common household. Tatyana Semyonovna insisted on the division as soon as she appeared in this family. Not only the father did not love his family and did not treat her respectfully, but the grandfather and grandmother behaved in this way towards their grandchildren as if they were strangers. Alexei, the youngest of the brothers, recalled that they never treated their grandchildren with anything, they were never friendly and affectionate towards them.

They were also negative about going to school. They also had a grandson Danila, whom they did not let into school. Constantly, both Tatyana and her children were told that Danila would be the owner even without a letter, but Tatyana's children had only one fate - become farmhands. At the same time, they did not skimp on rude expressions and, according to Alexei Morozov, Pavlik's younger brother, they even called them "puppies."

Everyone in the village lived in poverty, but Pavlik Morozov liked to go to school. Despite the fact that after the departure of his father from the family, he became an older man, and all the chores for the peasant economy fell on his childish shoulders, the pioneer still sought to learn something.

He was on good terms with his teacher so he often referred to her. He missed many lessons as he worked in the fields and at home, but he always took books to read. But even this was difficult for him, since there was always no time. He always tried to catch up with the material that he missed. He studied well. The desire to learn, according to the teacher L. Isakova, the boy was strong. Pavlik even tried to teach his mother to read and write.

The fate and crime of Trofim Morozov

As soon as Trofim Sergeevich Morozov became chairman of the village council, he soon began to use power for selfish purposes. By the way, this is also mentioned in detail in the criminal case that was opened against Trofim Morozov. There were even witnesses the fact that, using his power, confiscating some things from dispossessed families, he began to appropriate them for himself.

In addition, he, realizing that the special settlers needed certificates, gave them out for a fee, speculating on them. For their crimes Trofim Sergeevich Morozov was convicted in 1931. By this time, he had already been removed from the post of chairman of the village council. For all his crimes, he received 10 years.

The accusation stated that he "befriended the kulaks", "hid their farms from taxation", and then, when he was no longer in the village council, he contributed to "the flight of special settlers by selling documents." Fake certificates to people who were dispossessed gave them the opportunity to leave the place where they were exiled.

It is also known how later, after the trial, the life of Trofim Morozov developed. He, as a prisoner, participated in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Having worked hard for 3 years, he returned to the village of Gerasimovka with a reward. For shock and excellent work he was awarded the order. And after a while he moved to Tyumen and settled there.

The fate of the family of Pavlik Morozov

Pavlik's mother looked very pretty woman. This was remembered by all the contemporaries of this tragic story. By nature, Tatyana was simple and kind. Of course, she was afraid of her ex-husband, and there was no one to protect her. Therefore, in order not to meet with her ex-husband and his relatives anymore, after the murder of her sons, she left.

It is known that only after the end of the Great Patriotic War, she settled permanently in the city of Alupka, where she died in 1983. There were several versions about how the life of the brothers Pavlik Morozov turned out. Yes, Roman younger brother, according to one version, died at the front. But there is another version: in the war he was seriously wounded, but survived and became disabled. Therefore, he died shortly after the end of the war.

All versions about the fate of the brothers claim one thing: Alexei became the only successor to the Morozov family. But his fate was not easy either, because during the war he was captured and for a long time he was considered an enemy of the people. He was married, in this marriage two children were born:

1. Denis.
2. Paul.

Alexey Morozov did not live long with his wife and soon after the divorce he settled in his mother's house in Alupka. The fact that he was the brother of Pavlik Morozov, Alexey tried to never tell anyone. For the first time, he voiced this only at the time when, at the end of 1980, during Perestroika, they began to talk badly about his brother.

The official version of Pavlik Morozov's story

At school, the pioneer studied well and was a ringleader and leader among his peers. Wikipedia says about Pavlik Morozov that he independently organized a pioneer detachment in the village, which became the first in Gerasimovka. By official version the boy, despite his young age, believed in communist ideas.

In 1930, according to historical data, he betrayed his father and informed him that he was forging certificates to the kulaks about their dispossession. As a result, because of this denunciation, Pavlik's father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years. Despite the fact that he was released three years later, there is a version that he was shot.

Currently, there are several assumptions as to why Pavlik Morozov denounced his father, because it is still impossible to decide who this pioneer is - a hero or a traitor.

Myths about the act of a pioneer

There are several myths about what really happened. All of them differ from the main official version:

1. Version of the writer Vladimir Bushin.
2. The version of the journalist Yuri Druzhnikov.

Vladimir Bushin was sure that there was no political intent in Pavlik's act. He wasn't going to betray him. According to the writer, the boy hoped that his father could be scared a little, and he would return to the family. After all, the boy was the eldest in the family, and his mother needed help. Pavlik did not think at all about what the consequences would be.

As the writer assures, the boy was not even a pioneer, and the pioneer organization in his village appeared much later. In some portraits, Pavlik is depicted in a pioneer tie, but, as it turns out, he was also completed much later.

There is a version that Pavlik did not write any denunciations about his father at all. And against Trofim, who was detained for those fictitious certificates that happened to be in the possession of the Chekists, his ex-wife Tatyana testified at the trial.

Yuri Druzhnikov, a historian, writer and journalist, claimed in his book that the child wrote a denunciation of his father on behalf of his mother. And it was not his father's relatives who killed him, but an OGPU agent. But later it was proved by the court that, nevertheless, the reprisal against the boy was arranged by his uncle and grandfather. Aleksei Morozov vehemently opposed this version. He was able to prove that his brother was not a traitor, but just a boy whose life was tragic. He was able to prove that his relatives specially went to the forest to kill Pavlusha.

tragic death

For his deed, the boy paid with his life. When, after the trial of his father, he went to the forest to pick berries, he was slaughtered there along with his younger brother. It happened on September 3rd. The mother at that time left for Tavda to sell the calf. The children wanted to spend the night in the forest. They knew that no one would look for them.

And four days later, one of the local residents found their corpses. There were numerous stab wounds on the body. By this time, they were already looking for them, because the day before the mother returned home and, not finding the boys, immediately told the police. The whole village was looking for them.

Aleksey, the middle brother, told his mother, and then confirmed this in court, that on September 3 he saw Danila, who was walking from the forest. When the boy, who was already 11 years old, asked if he had seen his brothers, he just laughed. The child also remembered what Danila Morozov was wearing:

1. Woven trousers.
2. Black shirt.

When the house of my grandfather, Sergei Sergeevich Morozov, was searched, these things were found. As the mother of slaughtered children recalled, grandmother Aksinya Morozova, meeting her on the street, spoke with a grin about slaughtered children.

Upon discovery of the bodies of children, reports of examination of the bodies were drawn up, which were signed:

1. Local policeman Titov Yakov.
2. P. Makarov, paramedic.
3. Pyotr Ermakov, witness.
4. Abraham of the Book, understood.
5. Ivan Barkin, witness.

In the first act of the crime scene inspection, it is written that Pavel was lying not far from the road, and a red bag was put on his head. He received several blows. The fatal blow was to the stomach. Scattered cranberries lay next to the body, and a basket lay a little further on. The shirt on the child was torn, and a huge blood stain spread on the back. The boy's blue eyes were open and his mouth was closed.

The corpse of the second boy was a little further from his brother. Fedor was hit on the head with a stick. First, most likely, he was hit in the left temple, and then they stabbed him in the stomach. There was a bloody streak on the baby's right cheek, his hand was cut with a knife to the bone. From the incision on the abdomen, which fell above the navel, the internal organs were visible.

The second act of examination was already done by paramedic Markov after he washed the bodies and examined them. So, the paramedic counted four knife wounds on Pavlik:

• On the chest on the right side.
• Substratum area.
• Left side.
• From the right side.

According to the paramedic, the fourth wound was fatal for the boy. He had another stab wound on the thumb of his left hand. Most likely, the boy was trying to defend himself somehow. The Morozov brothers were buried in Gerasimovka.

Trial

When the events of this crime were restored, it turned out that the initiator of this murder was Arseniy Kulukanov, a fist. He learned that the boys had gone into the forest, and offered their cousin to kill Pavel, giving 5 rubles for this. Danila went home, started harrowing, and then, passing the conversation on to his grandfather Sergei, took a knife and went into the forest. Grandfather went with him.

As soon as they met the boys, Danila immediately stabbed Pavlik with a knife. Fedya tried to run away, but his grandfather detained him, and Danila stabbed him too. When Fedor was already dead and Danila was convinced of this, he again returned to Pavlik and struck him a few more blows.

The murder of the Morozov brothers was widely publicized, and the authorities used it to finally crack down on the kulaks and organize collective farms.

The trial of the boys' killers took place in one of the clubs in Tavda, and it was indicative. All the accusations were confirmed by Danila Morozov himself. The rest of the defendants in this case pleaded not guilty. The following items were evidence:

• Economic knife of Sergey Morozov.
• The bloody clothes of Danila Morozov, which Alexei described. But the man himself claimed that he slaughtered a calf in these clothes for Pavlik's mother.

By court decision, the grandfather and cousin of the boys were guilty of this crime. And the uncle and godfather of Pavlik Arseniy Kulukanov was announced as the organizer. Grandmother Xenia was declared an accomplice. The verdict was harsh: Arseny and Danila were shot, and grandma and grandfather died in prison.

The act of Pavlik Morozov in literature.

The Soviet authorities regarded the boy's act as a feat that he accomplished for the good of the people. Hiding some of the facts of his life, the pioneer was made a hero and a role model. Therefore, literature could not pass by this act.

So, already in 1934, Sergei Mikhalkov and Franz Szabo created the touching “Song of Pavlik Morozov”. At the same time, Vitaly Gubarev wrote a story about a boy-hero for younger children. In the post-war period, poems were written about the brave boy by Stepan Shchipachev and Elena Khorinskaya. Children at school learned a poem about him by heart.

Today, there are many opinions about Pavlik's act, but this story has not yet been fully disclosed. And even in the archives there are many serious contradictions. Therefore, the question of what he did - a feat or a betrayal - remains open.

Who is Pavlik Morozov? In the post-war years, a lot of controversy erupted around his legendary personality. Some saw a hero in his face, others claimed that he was an informer and did not accomplish any feat. The information that is established reliably is not enough to restore all the details of the event. Therefore, many of the nuances were added by the journalists themselves. Official confirmation is only the fact of his death from a knife, date of birth and death. All other events are subject to discussion.

Official version

The memoirs of fellow countrymen testify that he studied well and was a leader among his peers. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia contains information that Pavel Morozov organized the first pioneer detachment in his village. The boy grew up in a large family. At an early age, he lost his father, who left for another woman, leaving the children in the care of his mother. Despite the fact that many worries after the departure of his father fell on the shoulders of Paul, he showed a great desire to study. This was later told by his teacher L.P. Isakova.

At his young age, he firmly believed in communist ideas. In 1930, according to the official version, he denounced his father, who, being the chairman of the village council, forged certificates to the kulaks that they were allegedly dispossessed.

As a result, Father Pavel was sentenced to 10 years. For his heroic deed, the boy paid with his life: he and his younger brother were slaughtered in the forest when the boys were picking berries. All members of the Morozov family were later accused of the massacre. His own paternal grandfather Sergey and 19-year-old cousin Danila, as well as grandmother Xenia (as an accomplice) and Pavel's godfather - Arseniy Kulukanov, who was his uncle (as a village kulak - as the initiator and organizer of the murder) were found guilty of the murder of Yuyli . After the trial, Arseny Kulukanov and Danila Morozov were shot, octogenarian Sergei and Ksenia Morozov died in prison. Another uncle of Pavlik, Arseniy Silin, was also accused of complicity in the murder, but during the trial he was acquitted.

Interestingly, Pavlik's father, convicted of forgery, returned from the camps three years later. He participated in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal and, after working for three years, returned home with an order for hard work, and then settled in Tyumen.

The act of Pavel Morozov was regarded by the Soviet authorities as a feat for the benefit of the people. He believed in a bright future and made a significant contribution to the building of communism, for which he paid with his life. They made a real hero out of Pavlik, while hiding some dubious facts from his life. Over time, this whole story turned into a legend, which became an example for many compatriots.

Heroism or betrayal?

In the post-war years, historians, raising archives, ran into serious contradictions. A version appeared that Pavlik did not inform on his father, but simply gave evidence. And the father was detained by law enforcement agencies, as they say, "hot." Given that his father was practically a stranger to him, who left his family and did not care about her at all, the act becomes logically understandable. Perhaps, with his testimony, Pavel was simply trying to take revenge.

Today, Pavlik's act is seen by some as a betrayal. In any case, this story has not yet been fully disclosed, so many still adhere to the official version.