Letter sent from: Didkivtsi, Chudniv raion, Zhytomyr oblast
Letter describes events in 1932-1933 in: Didkivtsi, Chudniv raion, Vinnytsia oblast
Current location name: Didkivtsi, Chudniv raion, Zhytomyr oblast
Kvashuk’s account is in semiliterate language and focuses on the hardship her family had to face when they
were branded kurkuls (kulaks). During the famine, her family of 11 included 8 children born between 1907
and 1929.
Initially her father was hiding, then died of overwork on Jan 10, 1932. Her older brother ran away, also
fearing jail. All their possessions were taken away, house stripped of everything, even the window glass.
They were left on the street in the middle of winter. Her mother was arrested and sentenced to jail for arrears
in grain procurement. A kind neighbor took the children in from the street. For that, she was also arrested and
threatened with jail and deportation. Another neighbor stole potatoes that Nina’s mother had hidden in the
garden. At this point, the children were dispersed: one older sister put a little one on a train to Berdychiv so
that she would end up in an orphanage in Kyiv, where Nina found her in 1940. Hers is a story of excessive
violence, constant persecution and extreme deprivation. One prominent “activist,” the village head, was
killed after WWII. She sounds pleased about this.
Ukrainian transcription available.
