Kuzmenko, Volodymyr (Serhii Shakhrai)

Shakrai sent Literaturna Ukraina a clipping from Kolhospni Visti, a Nemyriv (?) raion newspaper dated Jan. 14, 1989, with memoirs signed by V. Kuzmenko about the residents of the village of Khvostivtsi, now

Kovalivka, in Nemyriv raion, Vinnytsia oblast, who survived the famine. This was likely Volodymyr Kyzmenko (1948–2007), a Ukrainian writer and journalist listed in Wikipedia.

The focus of the stories is the central role of the railroad station, distillery, sugar refinery, and unique local clay deposits to the survival of the local residents. Some sold clay, children were stealing grain and corn from a depot at the Nemyriv railway station. He mentions cannibalism in families, the mass deaths and the improper burial of the dead. One of the survivors claims that over half the population of Khvostivka died during the famine. Death from a bullet is far less terrible than slow starvation.

Ukrainian transcription available.

• Kovalivka, Nemyriv raion, Vinnytsia oblast:
  Nemyriv
  Vinnyts'ka, Ukraine
  

  Latitude: 48.97076 Longitude: 28.83779