A boy who handed over his father to the USSR. Pavlik Morozov is the new Abraham from communism. Decision of the Supreme Court of Russia

100 years ago, in November 1918, the most controversial pioneer hero of the Land of the Soviets, Pavlik Morozov, was born. And, according to some sources, he was not a pioneer, and his heroism is highly doubtful. After it tragic death Soviet propagandists tried to make him a symbol of the struggle of the pioneers with the kulaks.
After perestroika, on the contrary, Pavlik was charged with all the sins, declared him a traitor to his father, family and the entire old order. But neither of these myths really caught on. 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 on the 5th Tatyana Morozova arrived home, they were not yet there. Frightened Tatiana asked her fellow countrymen to look for children in the forest. On the morning of September 6, their bloody corpses were found in an aspen forest near Gerasimovka. The boys were stabbed to death. Beside them were baskets of berries. Pavel Morozov was not even 14 years old at that time, Fedya was only eight. Maddened with grief, Tatyana was met on the street by her mother-in-law and, smiling, said: "Tatyana, we made you meat, and now you eat it!"
Hot on the heels were arrested grandfather, grandmother and paternal cousin of the Morozov boys. In the house of grandfather and grandmother they found clothes all stained with blood. The murderers almost did not open up. The show trial over them shocked not only Gerasimovka, but the entire Soviet Union.
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 that, Pavel's father, Trofim Morozov, had been arrested and put on trial. Former red commander, he is after Civil War became chairman of the village council of Gerasimovka. In his new post, he began to take bribes, for money to correct certificates and other documents. In everyday life, he also "decomposed" - he constantly beat his wife and four children, then left them and went to another woman, drank a lot and made a row.
Trofim's relatives stood behind him with a wall and together hated his wife and children. Father Trofim beat his grandchildren and his daughter-in-law in front of the whole village. When Trofim was arrested, his parents and brother decided that Paul was to blame for everything he had slandered his own father.
However, despite all the legends that followed, Paul never wrote any statement about his father. Information about this appeared due to the inaccurate wording of the investigator Elizar Shepelev, who was investigating 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. The documents in the case of his father did not record any testimony from Pavel.
The court sentenced Trofim to ten years in prison. When his father was taken to the zone, hell began for Paul. His grandfather, grandmother and godfather called him a "Cumanist" and directly threatened to kill him. Tatiana, who stood up for him, was beaten with 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 Sergei and cousin Danila finished the harrowing, took agricultural knives and went to the aspen forest, where Pavel and Fedya were picking berries.

Ideological battle

The Pavlik Morozov case was replicated by Soviet propaganda. Journalists promoted the boy as a true pioneer who fought with fists. We do not know for sure whether Pavlik was a pioneer; only one photograph of him has come down to us. He is wearing it without a pioneer tie. Although poverty in Gerasimovka reigned such that a tie could well have been an unaffordable luxury.
The disclosures 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 at the trial 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 domestic violence and hellish morals that reigned in poor Gerasimovka. Of course, there are questions to the local authorities. It is strange that it never occurred to anyone to somehow protect Morozov's wife and son, who testified against him in an open trial. They could well have been helped with the move, and then the tragedy could have been avoided. For example, after the death of her sons, Tatyana Morozova 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. They began to make a cult out of Pavlik Morozov.
Monuments were erected to him, schools, streets, parks, pioneer houses were named after him. The schoolchildren were taught a biography of a "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 song was sung by the pioneers of the whole country.

Pavlik Morozov (in the center, wearing a cap) with classmates, on the left - his cousin Danila Morozov, 1930
The 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 depicted 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 redeem his guilt by filming Alexander Nevsky.
All this time, parallel to 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 about the father, knowing that it will also lead to death, is it no less awful? .. [Pavlik Morozov]… calls on his peer descendants to follow his example. Watch your fathers, eavesdrop on what they are talking about, spy on what they are doing, and immediately inform your superiors: the father is an enemy, grab him! "
In the era of perestroika, this myth triumphed. The 13-year-old boy was accused of leading his family to a crime by his betrayal. He was accused that after his death Gerasimovka became a collective farm, and strong peasant kulaks were ruined. Almost all the blunders and crimes of the Soviet regime were hung on him. They tried not to remember about the eight-year-old Fedya, who was stabbed to death with Pavel - this death at the hands of "strong peasants" looked too scary.
Pavlik Morozov again became a victim of ideology - it was just that earlier they made a hero out of him, and now they made him a villain. As in soviet time, his real life and terrible death did not interest anyone. This is probably the saddest thing in his history.

Many people mention him very often, but often they know very little. And if they do know, it is not a fact that the truth. He twice became a victim of political propaganda: in the era of the USSR, he was portrayed as a hero who gave his life in the class struggle, and in perestroika times - as an informer who betrayed his own father.
Modern historians have questioned 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 everything was, so much this image is imprinted in our consciousness ...

The story of the murder of Pavlik Morozov for more than 80 years has acquired a mass of myths, but until recently there were two main versions. According to one of them, Pavlik wrote a denunciation against his father, a kulak, and then other kulaks, who were hiding the grain from the state. His grandfather and uncle did not forgive him for this, they set him in wait with his brother Fedya in the forest and stabbed him to death. A show trial was held over the grandfather, uncle and relatives of the children. Some were accused of murder, others - of concealing a crime. Sentences - death penalty or long prison sentences.

According to another version, Pavlik was killed by employees of the OGPU: supposedly the system needed a hero to justify the repressions. A child killed by fists was perfect for the 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 not relatives or OGPU employees who killed him, but completely different people.
In this whole tragic story, the figure of the father, Trofim Sergeevich Morozov, is very important. According to Kupratsevich, in fact, he was a competent, respected person in the village, otherwise he would simply not have been elected to the chair of the village council. What Trofim was later accused of would today be called corruption. He illegally issued registration certificates to dispossessed peasants and their families exiled to Gerasimovka. Without them, they had no right to leave the village. People worked in felling, starved, died, 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 forged 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, for a long time he lived with his partner, and his son was simply not aware of his affairs. Secondly, little, 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 version of the writer Pavel Solomein): “Uncles judges, my father was doing an obvious counter-revolution, as a pioneer I am obliged to say about it, my father is not a defender of the interests of October, but tries in every possible way to help the kulak escape, stood up for him with a mountain, and I, not as a son, but as a pioneer, ask that my father be brought to justice, because in the future, do not give others the habit of hiding their fists and clearly violating the party line ... "

[House where Pavlik Morozov lived, 1950]

Yes, he had reason to resent his father - for his mother. After all, Trofim went to a strange woman. Pashka remained for the owner in a family with four children, he did not have time to study either.
“On that day, Pavlik and Fedya went to the swamp for cranberries,” Nina Kupratsevich tells her version of those events. - The Morozovs' house was the last one, 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. Didn't he understand that the children would scream? And they shouted! You read the protocol of the examination of the corpses: the brothers were cut with knives, their hands were wounded. Apparently, they grabbed the blades, calling for help. This doesn't sound like premeditated murder. Everything suggests that the guys were killed in a state of extreme fright. 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 does not believe in the version about the OGPU either: “Do you really think that the authorities would not find a suitable village closer to the center? How long did you drive before 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 the "myth-making" began, they began to drive the people to the collective farm, it turned out very conveniently: the kulaks took the lives of two little brothers. And in fact, the image of a pioneer hero was created from scratch. Maxim Gorky himself at the All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers said: "Relatives by blood, strangers in the 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 death site 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 Aleksandr Liskin, who took part in an additional investigation of the case in 1967 and worked with the KGB archives, in 2001 concluded that the participation of the people accused in Pavlik's death had not been proven. Moreover, he claims that Pavlik appeared in his father's trial 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 was different. His godfather Arseny Kulukanov and cousin Danila were shot. Grandfather Sergei and grandmother Ksenia died in prison. Trofim Morozov received ten years in camps, worked on the construction of the Belomorkanal, where he died. According to other information, he survived, 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 served 10 years near Nizhny Tagil. “I met him. A very positive, wonderful person, ”Kupratsevich recalls. Mom Tatyana Semyonovna Morozova moved to Crimea, to Alupka, where Nadezhda Krupskaya procured an apartment for her. She was given a small pension. She lived modestly, put a cross instead of a signature all her life.
P.S.

No matter how the story of Pavlik Morozov is interpreted, his fate does not become less tragic from this. For the Soviet government, his death served as a symbol of the struggle against those who did not share its ideals, and in the perestroika era was used to discredit this government.

Pavel Morozov who is he, a hero or a traitor?

The story of Pavel Morozov is well known to the older generation. This boy was included in the ranks of the pioneer heroes who performed feats for the sake of their country and people and entered the legends of Soviet times.

According to the official version, Pavlik Morozov, who sincerely believed in the idea of \u200b\u200bsocialism, informed the OGPU about how his father was helping the kulaks and bandits. Morozov senior was arrested and convicted. But his son paid for his deed and was killed by his father's relatives.

What is true in this story, and what is the fiction of propaganda, unfortunately, has not been sorted out until now. Who, in reality, was Pavel Morozov, and what was actually done?

Biography of Pavlik Morozov

Pavel Trofimovich Morozov was born on November 14, 1918 in the village of Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky District of the Ural Region. His father, Trofim Morozov, became the chairman of the village council of his native village. It was a difficult time.

Back in 1921, the villagers of Central Russia started a rebellion, rebelling against the Bolshevik surplus appropriation system, which took the last grain from the people for the proletarians.

Those of the rebels who survived the battles went to the Urals or were convicted. Someone was shot, someone was amnestied a few years later. Two years later, five people, the Purtov brothers, who played their part in the tragedy of Paul, were also amnestied.

The boy's father, when Pavlik reached the age of ten, abandoned his wife and children, leaving for another family. This event forced young Morozov to become the head of the family, taking upon himself all the worries about his relatives.

Knowing that the power of the Soviets was the only shield for the poor, in the 1930s, Paul joined the ranks of the pioneer organization. At the same time, my father, having taken a leading position in the village council, began to actively cooperate with the kulak elements and the Purtov gang. Here the story of Pavlik Morozov's feat begins.

Feat (version of the times of the USSR)

The Purtovs, having organized a gang in the forests, hunted in the vicinity by robbery. On their conscience only proven robberies 20. Also, according to the OGPU, five brothers were preparing a local coup against the Soviets, relying on special settlers (kulaks). They were actively assisted by Trofim Morozov. The chairman provided them with blank documents, issuing fake certificates of poor condition.

In those years, such certificates were an analogue of a passport and gave the bandits a quiet life and legal residence. According to these documents, the bearer of the paper was considered a peasant of Gerasimovka and did not owe anything to the state. Pavel, who fully and sincerely supported the Bolsheviks, reported the actions of his father to the competent authorities. His father was arrested and sentenced to 10 years.

Pavlik paid for this report by losing his life, and his younger brother Fyodor was deprived of his life. While picking berries in the forest, they were slaughtered by their own relatives. At the end of the investigation, four were convicted of the murder: Sergei Morozov - paternal grandfather, Ksenia Morozova - grandmother, Danila Morozov - cousin, Arseny Kulukanov - Pavel's godfather and his uncle.

Kulukanov and Danila were shot, grandfather and grandmother died in custody. The fifth suspect, Arseniy Silin, was acquitted.

After all these events, Pavlik Morozov took first place in the future numerous series of pioneer heroes. But over time, historians began to ask questions and question facts that were considered indisputable. By the early 90s, people appeared who called the boy not a hero, but a traitor and informer. One of the versions says that Morozov Jr. tried not for the sake of the Bolshevik power, but following the persuasions of his mother. According to this version, she persuaded her son to make a reservation, resentful that her husband left her with the children. This option is not relevant, the father still helped his family a little, supporting them financially.

Another interesting fact are the documents of the OGPU. According to some of them, the denunciation was not necessary. The authorities had evidence of Trofim Morozov's involvement in the gang's activities. And Pavlik acted only as a witness in his father's case. The boy was threatened with an article for complicity! His father, as it was not surprising then, was illiterate. And Pavel wrote out the same certificates in his own hand, on sheets of student notebooks. These leaflets are present in the archives, but he remained only a witness, having assured these facts to the staff of the OGPU.

Another point is controversial. Was the first pioneer hero even in the ranks of the pioneers? It is definitely difficult to answer this question. In the thirties, there was no document certifying membership in the pioneers yet. Soviet Union... Also, no evidence of Pavlik Morozov's belonging to the pioneer community was found in the archives. About the pioneers of the village of Gerasimovka is known only from the words of the school teacher Zoya Kabina.

Trofim Morozov, Pavlik's father, was shut down for ten years. But, according to some reports, he was released three years later for successful work on the Belomor Canal, and even awarded. It's hard to believe in this. Other versions are more plausible. One of them says that the former chairman was shot in 1938. But there is no confirmation of such an event either. The most widespread opinion says that the elder Morozov served his sentence and left for the Tyumen region. There he lived out his years, keeping a secret relationship with the famous son.

This is the story of Pavlik Morozov, who became the first pioneer hero. Subsequently, the Soviet government was accused of false propaganda, denying or misinterpreting the events of those distant times. But everyone is free to draw conclusions and determine their attitude to those old cases.

Who is he, Pavlik Morozov? In the post-war years, many controversies broke out around his legendary personality. Some saw in his face a hero, others argued that he was an informer and did not perform any feat. The information that has been reliably established is not enough to restore all the details of the event. Therefore, many of the nuances were added by the journalists themselves. Only the fact of his death from a knife, date of birth and death has official confirmation. All other events serve as a reason for discussion.

Official version

The memories of fellow countrymen testify that he studied well and was a leader among his peers. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia there is 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 went to another woman, leaving the children in the care of their mother. Despite the fact that many concerns after the departure of his father fell on the shoulders of Paul, he showed a great desire to study. Later his teacher L.P. Isakova spoke about this.

At his young age, he firmly believed in communist ideas. In 1930, according to the official version, he reported on his father, who, being the chairman of the village council, forged information 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 stabbed to death in the forest when the boys were picking berries. All members of the Morozov family were later accused of the reprisal. His own paternal grandfather Sergei and 19-year-old cousin Danila, as well as grandmother Ksenia (as an accomplice) and Pavel's godfather, Arseny Kulukanov, who was his uncle (as a village fist, as the initiator and organizer of the murder) were found guilty of the murder of Yuyuli. ... After the trial, Arseny Kulukanov and Danila Morozov were shot, eighty-year-old Sergei and Ksenia Morozov died in prison. Another uncle of Pavlik, Arseny Silin, was also accused of complicity in the murder, but during the trial he was acquitted.

Interestingly, Pavlik's father, convicted of forging documents, 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 shock work, and then settled in Tyumen.

The act of Pavel Morozov was regarded by the Soviet government as a feat for the good 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. There was a version that Pavlik did not inform about his father, but simply gave testimony. And the law enforcement agencies detained the father, as they say, “on the hot”. Considering that his father was practically a stranger for him, who left his family and did not care about her at all, the act becomes clear from the logical point of view. Perhaps, by his testimony, Paul was simply trying to take revenge.

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

Pavlik Morozov is a legendary personality around whom there is always a lot of controversy. These disputes do not cease 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 was, so it is impossible to fully understand this story.

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

In contact with

Origin, life

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

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

Paul.
George.
Fedor.
Novel.
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 grandmother was in prison, her grandfather guarded her. There they met, and then they began to live together.

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

Family tragedy

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

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

They also reacted negatively to school attendance. They also had a grandson, Danila, whom they would not let go to school. Both Tatyana and her children were constantly told that Danila would be the master even without a diploma, but Tatyana's children had only one destiny - become laborers... However, they did not skimp on rude expressions and, according to Alexei Morozov, Pavlik's younger brother, even called them "puppies."

Everyone in the village lived poorly, but Pavlik Morozov liked to go to school. Despite the fact that after his father left the family, he became the eldest man, and all the chores for the peasant economy fell on his child's shoulders, the pioneer still strove to learn something.

He was on good terms with his a teacher, so I often turned to her. He missed a lot of lessons as he worked in the fields and at home, but he always took books to read. But he did it with difficulty, as there was always no time. He always tried to catch up with the material he missed. He studied well. The desire to learn, according to the teacher L. Isakova, the boy had a strong desire. 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 the chairman of the village council, he soon began to use power for personal gain. By the way, this is detailed in the criminal case that was opened against Trofim Morozov. There were even witnesses 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, issued them for a fee, speculating with 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 “was friends with the kulaks”, “sheltered their farms from taxation,” and then, when he was no longer in the village council, he facilitated the “escape of the 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 Trofim Morozov's life developed after the trial. 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 an award. 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 Pavlik Morozov family

Pavlik's mother looked very pretty woman... All contemporaries of this tragic story recalled this. By nature, Tatiana 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 developed. So, 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 state one thing: Alexey became the only successor of the Morozov family. But his fate was not easy, since during the war he was captured and for a long time he was considered an enemy of the people. He was married, two children were born in this marriage:

Denis.
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 is Pavlik Morozov's brother, Alexey tried never to tell anyone. For the first time, he voiced this only at the time when, at the end of 1980, during Perestroika, they began to speak badly about his brother.

The official version of the story of Pavlik Morozov

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 reported on him that he forged information 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 determine who this pioneer is - a hero or a traitor.

Pioneer Myths

There are several myths about what really happened. They all differ from the main official version:

The version of the writer Vladimir Bushin.
The version of the journalist Yuri Druzhnikov.

Vladimir Bushin was sure that there was no political intent in Pavlik's act. He was not going to betray him. As the writer believed, the boy hoped that his father could be so intimidated 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 also a version that Pavlik did not write any denunciations against his father at all. And against Trofim, who was detained for those fictitious certificates that happened to be with the Chekists, his ex-wife Tatiana testified at the trial.

Yuri Druzhnikov, historian, writer and journalist, claimed in his book that the child wrote a denunciation against his father on behalf of his mother. And it was not his father's relatives who killed him, but an OGPU agent. But in the future, the court proved that after all, his uncle and grandfather arranged the reprisal against the boy. Alexei Morozov strongly 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 deliberately went to the forest to kill Pavlusha.

Tragic death

For his act, the boy paid with his life. When, after the trial of his father, he went to the forest to pick berries, he was stabbed to death there along with his younger brother. This happened on September 3. At this time, the mother went to Tavda to sell the calf. The guys 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 many stab wounds on the body. By this time, they were already looking for, because the day before the mother returned home and, not finding the boys, immediately reported to the police. The whole village was looking for them.

Alexey, the middle brother, told his mother, and then confirmed this at the trial that he saw Danila on September 3 walking out of 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:

Self-woven pants.
Black shirt.

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

When the bodies of children were found, acts of inspection of the bodies were drawn up, which were signed:

District policeman Titov Yakov.
P. Makarov, paramedic.
Peter Ermakov, understood.
By Abraham of the Book, understood.
Ivan Barkin, understood.

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

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

The second act of inspection has already been done by paramedic Markov after he washed the bodies and examined them. So, the paramedic counted Pavlik's four knife wounds:

On the chest from the right side.
Sublime area.
Left side.
From the right side.

According to the paramedic, the fourth wound was fatal for the boy. He had another knife wound on his left thumb. Most likely, the boy tried to protect 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 Arseny Kulukanov, a kulak. He found out that the boys had gone to the forest, and offered their cousin to kill Pavel, giving 5 rubles for this. Danila went home, took up the harrowing, and then, having passed the conversation over to his grandfather Sergei, he took a knife and went into the forest. My grandfather went with him.

As soon as they met the boys, Danila immediately stabbed Pavlik with a knife. Fedya tried to escape, but his grandfather detained him, and Danila stabbed him too. When Fyodor 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 this in order to finally crack down on the kulaks and organize collective farms.

The trial of the murderers of the boys took place in one of the Tavda clubs, and it was indicative. Danila Morozov himself confirmed all the charges. The rest of the defendants in this case did not admit their guilt. The following items have become clues:

Household knife by Sergei Morozov.
Danila Morozov's bloody clothes described by Alexey. But the man himself claimed that he cut a calf in these clothes for Pavlik's mother.

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

Pavlik Morozov's act in literature.

The Soviet government regarded the boy's act as a feat that he performed for the good of the people. By hiding some of the facts of his life, the pioneer was made a hero and an example to follow. 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 for children younger age Vitaly Gubarev writes a story about a boy-hero. In the post-war period, poems were written about the brave boy by Stepan Shchipachev and Elena Khorinskaya. Children at school learned the 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 - feat or betrayal - remains open.