Bilash, Z.S.

Description

Creators

Z.S. Bilash (b. cir. 1922), Author

Volodymyr Maniak

, Recipient

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Text

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Correspondence

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Description

Letter sent from: Village of Dnistrovka, Kelmenets raion, Chernivtsi oblast
Describes events in (1932-1933): Village of Pariivka, Illintsi raion, Vinnytsia oblast
Current location name: Village of Pariivka, Illintsi raion, Vinnytsia oblast

Author was 11 years old at time of the Famine. They had a big family, with mother and (all) 7 children surviving; father died from dysentery. They ate food substitutes.

One of her aunts took her own children to Kyiv and abandoned them there to be placed in an orphanage. Bodies were everywhere; non-formal burials. Notes kindness of children who buried humanely a boy who died in the fields.

Recalls unforgettable feeling of hunger ("I cannot forget how badly I wanted to eat"). Famine was the worst in spring of 1933.

Notes