On November 14, 1918, a boy was born in the Urals, who was destined to become the first pioneer hero of the USSR, and one of the most controversial figures. Soviet history.
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 relative in the forest. younger brother Fyodor.
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 time 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 Soviet power, 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 Tyumen region, where he lived until the end of his days, trying not to advertise his connection 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 justifiably 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 point of view today. 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.
Pavlik Morozov was born a hundred years ago - November 14, 1918 in the village of Tobolsk province. His name became a household name in the Soviet Union: a pioneer hero who testified against his own father at the trial, for which he was brutally murdered by his father's relatives. In general terms, this story is known, perhaps, and now every person is older than the ninetieth year of birth.
Older than the nineties - because during perestroika, Pavlik Morozov turned from a symbol of a pioneer hero into a household name of a traitor, an informer. Like, he denounced his own father for the sake of vague ideals, that's what communist propaganda does to children. In the nineties, these topics were still being actively discussed, then they began to slowly forget, but we remember.
In fact, much remained unclear in the trial of Pavlik Morozov. The fact is that his father Trofim Morozov, chairman of the village council of the village of Gerasimovka, issued certificates to “kulaks” - wealthy peasants - for bribes that they were “dispossessed”, that is, they transferred excess property for collective use. There is a version that Pavlik himself filed a complaint against his father to the investigating authorities, others indicate that he did not file an application, but testified against his father at the trial, in the third version, even his testimony was not taken into account by the court due to Pavlik's infancy. One way or another, there was enough evidence against Trofim Morozov even without the testimony of his son.
Pavlik Morozov's commitment to the ideals of communism is known from the words of his teachers. He firmly believed in the ideals of October and the pioneer detachment became his second home. By the way, before taking the post of chairman of the village council, his father Trofim fought for the Reds in the Civil War, even was a junior commander. Time and need, however, change people.
It is clear that at the trial against his father, Pavlik Morozov somehow spoke out, publicly renouncing him. The fact is that his notorious speech is known in twelve versions, and none of them can be called completely reliable. However, moving away from details, everything is exactly like this: the ideals of the revolution for Pavlik Morozov were higher than his own father.
By that time, his own father, by the way, drank heavily and lived with another woman, not taking much part in the fate of his son. Perhaps if Trofim Morozov had been a good father, Pavlik's outcry at the trial would not have happened. And perhaps it would. One can only guess about this, history has no subjunctive mood.
And then Pavlik, along with his nine-year-old brother Fedya, was killed when he went to the forest for berries. Pavlik's paternal grandfather Sergey, a former gendarme (a retired FSIN employee, as we would say now), his wife Aksinya, uncle Arseniy Kulukanov and 19-year-old cousin Danila took part in the murder. The initiator was Arseniy Kulukanov - the very "fist" against whom Pavlik so violently rebelled.
In a conversation with the investigator, the mother of Pavlik and Fedya Tatyana described what happened next as follows:
- On September 6, when my slaughtered children were brought from the forest, grandmother Aksinya met me on the street and said with a grin: “Tatiana, we made meat for you, and now you eat it!”
Kulukanov and Danila were shot, grandfather Sergei and grandmother Aksinya died in prison. And Pavlik became a legend, a boy-hero, a symbol of communism and modern times, a symbol of self-denial in the name of ideals.
This is an enduring plot: to renounce one's own blood for the sake of the highest good. So in Old Testament God commands Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac, and Abraham obeys: only at the last minute does the Lord stop him. Therefore, the story of Pavlik, a little boy from a poor family, abandoned by his father and who believed only in the ideals of communism, was so strong.
Well, after perestroika, as usual, shining halos began to be removed from the heroes. Pavlik was one of the most striking examples in this matter: from a hero he turned into absolute evil, the embodiment of betrayal, the chthonic monster of communism.
If we consider this story detachedly and from an ideological point of view, chthonic in this story, rather, appears a dark village way of life, with its refusal to read and write (grandfather tried to forbid Pavlik to study), with its bestial cruelty, sweet smell of the original tribal way of life. Pioneer detachment, school, diploma, Pavlik - these are rather solar elements.
Well, if you do not consider Pavlik either as a new Abraham from communism, or as an embodied denial of blood ties, then, we repeat, this is a brutally murdered fourteen-year-old boy who loved his mother and did not like his drinking father who left his family, a fourteen-year-old boy who ardently wanted to study and build a new future, a fourteen-year-old boy stabbed to death in the forest with his nine-year-old brother.
And with his father, by the way, then everything was fine. He worked in the camps for three years and returned home with an order for hard work during the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal. Settled in Tyumen. For some reason, he did not want to return to his native village, where his father killed his son.
Anna Dolgareva
On November 14, exactly one hundred years ago, a boy was born, who is one of the most controversial personalities in Soviet history. Who is he - a hero of his time, a victim of circumstances or a notorious villain and traitor? It is impossible to unequivocally answer this question even 87 years after his death.
Hero's childhood
Pavlik Morozov was the firstborn of the ethnic Belarusian Trofim Morozov. The boy was born back in 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province (modern Sverdlovsk region).
The child's life was hard. His father, although he was the chairman of the village council, was famous for his ferocious character. He beat his wife and his sons (Pavlik had four brothers), then generally left them to the mercy of fate, starting to cohabit with a neighbor. He did not support children financially, but he could mock physically and morally. The paternal grandparents did not help their grandchildren and hated the former daughter-in-law.
Very early, the boy became the head of the family, the breadwinner of his mother and brothers. According to the recollections of fellow villagers, he tirelessly worked on the housework, and also went to school with pleasure, where he was one of the first to join the pioneers.
The truth-loving boy liked the ideas of the Soviet regime. He stood up for general equality, universal prosperity and unity. For his belief in communism, Pavlik was beaten many times by both his father and grandfather. He was forced to abandon his ideas, but the brave boy remained true to his principles.
father's trial
At the end of 1931, Trofim Morozov was convicted of abuse of power, complicity with the kulaks, and issuing forged documents. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. While imprisoned, according to some sources, the man worked hard at the construction of an important strategic facility, after which he received an order and settled in Tyumen.
What was the role of Pavlik in condemning his own father?
original version
According to the version of the times of the USSR, the boy, driven by the idea, filed an application against his father with the relevant authorities, accusing him of counter-revolutionary actions. He boldly spoke at the trial, exposing the cunning machinations of Trofim Morozov.
Was it really like that?
Official version
According to numerous documentary sources, such as investigative and court records, the authorities began suspecting Trofim Morozov of illegal relations with kulaks and other frauds from the moment the fake papers were discovered. Thus, it becomes clear that Pavlik's participation in the case of condemning his own father did not amount to an open accusation, but to testifying during the investigation.
At the trial, the boy boldly denounced his parent and even publicly refused him.
Hero or traitor?
What motivated the teenager when he testified against his own father? According to the statements of some scientists, the boy could not be a witness to what he was talking about, since he had long lived separately from his parent and mother. Perhaps the woman persuaded her eldest son to give such evidence in the hope of revenge ex-husband for all the suffering and misfortune to which he subjected his first family. On the other hand, she could hope that Trofim would be frightened by the testimony of his son and would coax him with money.
Did Pavlik feel hatred for his father for leaving him and his mother, and did he want to take revenge on him in this way? Who knows, but there are a few more controversial points in this story.
Possible accomplice?
Relatively recently, researchers have put forward another theory, according to which Pavlik was not a witness for the prosecution, but accomplices in his father's case. Some argue that Trofim was illiterate, so his eldest son wrote out fake certificates. In order not to stand trial, the boy put all the blame on his father. Could it be? Who knows.
Was there a pioneer?
Moreover, some modern researchers even question the very fact of Pavlik's membership in the ranks of the first Soviet pioneers. There are no documents confirming his ideology. And the boy's belonging to the pioneer community is known only from the words of his teacher. Believe it or not, it's hard to say.
How did the public respond?
The story of Pavlik has become indicative for all the inhabitants of the country of the Soviets. According to communist ideology, a boy who testified against his own father, who sacrificed his own feelings to true justice, became a hero and a model of a zealous fighter for an idea. Many Soviet children wanted to be like him.
However, even in those years, not everyone treated the image of Morozov so unambiguously. For example, there is evidence that fellow villagers considered Pavlik a petty dirty trick and even hated him for denouncing his parent. Can this be considered true?
Murder
Be that as it may, Pavlik died a cruel, painful death. Knife wounds were found on his body. Together with Pavel, his nine-year-old brother was also killed. According to the official version, the children were slaughtered by their own grandparents, the father's parents. They were put on trial and died in prison.
Not so long ago, one researcher put forward the theory that the murder of Morozov was political in nature. In support of his words, the scientist draws attention to the fact that the so-called killers did not even try to hide the bodies of children, but in the protocols they claimed that they were tortured and beaten.
So who is he - Pavlik Morozov? Now it is difficult to answer this question unambiguously. Every year more and more new facts related to that case are discovered, but one thing is clear - the child died, and his life cannot be returned.
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.
Why is Pavlik Morozov famous?
USSR version
Pioneer Pavlik Morozov was an ardent admirer of the teachings of Marx and Lenin and sought to ensure that his state and people came to a bright communist future. The very thought that his own father is doing everything to break achievements October revolution, was disgusting to him. As a loving son and a person with high moral principles, the hero Pavlik Morozov hoped that his father would come to his senses and become right. But everything has a limit. And at some point the boy's cup of patience overflowed.
As the only man in the family, after the departure of his father, he had to carry the entire household. He renounced his parent, and when the family ties finally weakened, he acted like a true communist. Pavlik Morozov wrote a denunciation against his father, where he fully described all his crimes and connections with the kulaks, after which he took the paper to the appropriate authorities. Trofim was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.
Rebuild version
Like any Soviet idol, the young Pavlik Morozov also had to "fall". The truth about his life immediately began to be investigated by historians who turned over dozens of archives to find out what the essence of the pioneer's act was.
Based on these data, they concluded: Pavlik Morozov did not hand over his father into the hands of the Soviet law enforcement system. He just gave testimony, which helped to once again make sure that Trofim is an enemy of the people and a corrupt official who has committed many crimes. In fact, the father of the pioneer was caught, as they say, "hot" - they found fake documents with his signatures. In addition, it should be noted that many members of the village council were arrested and convicted along with him.
Why Pavlik Morozov betrayed his father, if you can call it testifying about the crimes of his relative, you can understand. Probably, the young pioneer did not even think much about kinship - from childhood, dad was a real “scourge” for the family, who did not let his wife or children pass. For example, he stubbornly did not let the boys go to school, believing that they did not need a letter. This despite the fact that Pavlik had an incredible craving for knowledge.
In addition, Trofim Morozov at that time was no longer even a family man, living with his new passion and drinking endlessly. He not only didn't care about the children, he didn't even think about them. Therefore, the act of the son is understandable - for him it was already a stranger who managed to bring a lot of evil to the Morozovs' house.
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, Paul 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.
Druzhnikov and his theory
In connection with such close attention of the authorities to the incident, the writer Yuri Druzhnikov put forward the idea of falsifying the crime and purposely killing Pavlik by the authorities for his further “canonization”. This version formed the basis of the study, which later resulted in the book Informer 001.
It questioned the entire pioneer biography. Pavlik Morozov at Druzhnikov's was brutally murdered by the OGPU. This assertion is based on two facts. The first is the report of the interview of a witness allegedly found by the writer in the case of the murder of the Morozov brothers. Everything would be fine, but the protocol was drawn up two days before the discovery of the corpses and the identification of the criminals.
The second position, which Druzhnikov cites, is the absolutely illogical behavior of the killer. According to all the "rules", they should have tried to hide such a cruel crime as best as possible, but the defendants did everything literally the other way around. The killers did not bother to bury the corpses or at least somehow hide them, but left them in full view right next to the road. The crime weapon was carelessly thrown at home, and no one thought to get rid of the bloody clothes. Indeed, there are some contradictions in this, isn't it?
On the basis of these theses, the writer concludes that before us is an unreal story. Pavlik Morozov was killed by order, specifically in order to create a myth. Druzhnikov states that according to the materials of the case, which are available in the archives, it is clear that the judge and witnesses are confused and are talking incoherent nonsense. In addition, the accused repeatedly tried to say that they were tortured.
Soviet propaganda hushed up the attitude of fellow villagers to the denunciation of the boy. The writer claims that “Pashka-Communist” is the least offensive nickname of all that the guy received for his “feat”.
100 years ago, in November 1918, the most controversial pioneer hero of the Land of the Soviets, Pavlik Morozov, was born. And he, according to some sources, was not a pioneer, and his heroism is highly doubtful. After his tragic death, Soviet propagandists tried to make him a symbol of the struggle of the pioneers with the fists.
After perestroika, on the contrary, they charged Pavlik with all the sins, declared him a traitor to his father, family and the whole old way of life. But both myths did not really take root. The story of this boy was too complex and personal.
Village Detective
On September 2, 1932, Pavel Morozov's mother went from Gerasimovka to Tavda to sell a calf. On the same day, Pavel took his younger brother Fedya and went with him into the forest to pick berries. The guys were going to spend the night in the forest and return the next day. However, when Tatyana Morozova arrived home on the 5th, they were not there yet. Frightened, Tatyana asked her countrymen to look for children in the forest. On the morning of September 6, their bloodied corpses were found in an aspen forest near Gerasimovka. The boys were slaughtered. Beside them were baskets of berries. Pavel Morozov was not even 14 years old at that time, Feda was only eight. Distraught with grief, Tatyana was met on the street by her mother-in-law and, grinning, said: “Tatyana, we made meat for you, and now you eat it!”In hot pursuit, the grandfather, grandmother and paternal cousin of the Morozov boys were arrested. In the house of the grandfather and grandmother, they found clothes all stained with blood. The killers almost did not unlock. Their show trial shocked not only Gerasimovka, but the entire Soviet Union.
The house in the village of Gerasimovka, where Pavlik Morozov was born and lived
background
The brutal murder of two children was the culmination of a difficult family drama and a continuation of the previous high-profile criminal case. A year before, Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, was arrested and put on trial. Former red commander, he after civil war became chairman of the village council of Gerasimovka. In his new post, he began to take bribes, straighten certificates and other documents for money. In domestic terms, he also “decomposed” - he constantly beat his wife and four children, then left them and went to another woman, drank a lot and rowdy.Trofim's relatives stood behind him like a wall and unanimously hated his wife and children. Trofim's father beat his grandchildren and daughter-in-law in front of the whole village. When Trofim was arrested, his parents and brother decided that Pavel was to blame for everything, having slandered his own father.
However, despite all subsequent legends, Paul never wrote any statement about his father. Information about this appeared due to the inaccurate wording of the investigator Elizar Shepelev, who investigated the murder of Pavel and Fedya Morozov.
In fact, in 1931, the boy simply spoke at the trial of Trofim, confirming that he regularly beat his wife and children, and also took bribes from peasant kulaks. Then the judge did not even let him finish - the boy was considered a minor and could not testify. In the documents on the case of his father, no testimony of Pavel was recorded at all.
The court sentenced Trofim to ten years in prison. When the father was taken to the zone, hell began for Pavel. Grandfather, grandmother and godfather called him a "kumanist" and directly threatened to kill him. Tatyana, who stood up for him, was beaten by mortal combat. In August, just a week before his death, Pavel even filed a complaint with the police about threats from his grandfather. However, no one protected him. On September 3, his grandfather Sergey and cousin Danila finished the harrowing, took agricultural knives and went to the aspen forest, where Pavel and Fedya picked berries.
Ideological battle
The case of Pavlik Morozov was replicated by Soviet propaganda. Journalists promoted the boy as a true pioneer who fought with his fists. We do not know for sure whether Pavlik was a pioneer, only one photograph of him has come down to us. On it he is without a pioneer tie. Although poverty in Gerasimovka reigned such that a tie could well be an unaffordable luxury.The revelations of the kulaks allegedly made by Pavel, his denunciations to the OGPU, his search for peasants who hid grain - all this is a later invention of journalists. The only thing we know for sure is that he confirmed in court that his father severely beat his mother and all the children. Yes, the trial of Morozov did not need his testimony: the people to whom Trofim issued fake certificates for bribes were arrested, interrogated, and it was on their testimony that the whole case was based.
It turns out that Pavlik Morozov was neither a hero nor a traitor. He was a victim of family violence and hellish morals that reigned in impoverished Gerasimovka. There are, of course, questions to the local authorities. It is strange that it never occurred to anyone to somehow defend Morozov's wife and son, who testified against him in open court. They could well have been helped with the move, and then the tragedy could have been avoided. For example, Tatyana Morozova, after the death of her sons, simply moved to the Crimea and lived quietly in Alupka until 1983.
But the true story of the boy from Gerasimovka - a chain of mistakes, crimes and accidents - was of no interest to anyone. From Pavlik Morozov began to make a cult.
Monuments were erected to him, schools, streets, parks, houses of pioneers were named after him. Schoolchildren learned the biography of the "pioneer-hero", in which there was almost not a word of truth. Sergei Mikhalkov wrote poems about "Pasha the Communist", they were set to music, and the result was a song that was sung by the pioneers of the whole country.
Pavlik Morozov (in the center, in a cap) with classmates, on the left - his cousin Danila Morozov, 1930The most famous director of the USSR, Sergei Eisenstein, began to shoot the film "Bezhin Meadow" based on the story of Pavlik Morozov. However, there he so vividly portrayed the pogrom of the local church, organized by the peasants, that it shocked even Stalin. The unfinished film was ordered to be destroyed, and Eisenstein had to repent for a long time before he was allowed to atone for his guilt by filming Alexander Nevsky.
All this time, in parallel with the Soviet cult of Pavlik Morozov, there was an anti-Soviet myth about a boy who betrayed his own father. “Killing children is terrible,” argued dissident writer Viktor Nekrasov. - But informing on the father, knowing that this will also lead to death, is it not less terrible? .. [Pavlik Morozov] ... calls on his descendants-peers to follow his example. Watch the fathers, eavesdrop on what they are talking about, peep what they are doing, and immediately inform the authorities: the father is the enemy, grab him!”
In the era of perestroika, this myth triumphed. A 13-year-old boy was accused of having brought his relatives to a crime by his betrayal. He was blamed for the fact that after his death Gerasimovka became a collective farm, and strong peasant kulaks were ruined. Almost all the mistakes and crimes of the Soviet government were hanged on him. They tried not to remember about the eight-year-old Fedya, slaughtered along with Pavel - this death at the hands of “strong peasants” looked too scary.
Pavlik Morozov again became a victim of ideology - just before they made a hero out of him, and now a villain. As in Soviet times, no one was interested in his real life and terrible death. This is probably the saddest thing in his history.
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