The population of Velyki Sorochyntsi village (Myrhorodskyi district, Poltavska region) suffered from Holodomor-genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. 1200 people died there. The names of 63 victims are known nowadays.
On December 4, 1932, the decree of Myrhorodskyi district executive committee on putting the agricultural Stalin artel of Velykosorochynska village council on the black board was released. The artel completed the grain procurement plan for 63% only. It was deprived of the name “Stalin”, was made to repay all the previously given loans, and the head of the collective farm (kolkhoz) was sued.
The life in the village was very difficult. The raids for confiscations of property and food products were sometimes carried out 10 times a month. Those who disagreed to give the grain willingly were taken to the kolkhozes forcibly or imprisoned. People that had small cattle took the animals away from the village, shepherded and hid them there. This gave the people a chance to survive. Women hid the food products in the cellars, put them underground or under the floor made of clay, or carried them to the river and hid them in the reed.
Inhabitants of Sorochyntsi who survived Holodomor told that people were buried in different ways. If there were live relatives who had enough strength, they tried to bury the corpses at the cemetery, or created a small cemetery in the garden and buried family members there. In addition, the village council gave the car or carriage, and two or three people who were picking the corpses of those killed by starvation up and putting them into the large pits beyond the village or at the cemetery. These pits have not been covered with ground until they were filled. In 1933, the dead were often lying on the streets for several weeks; they were not buried because people did not have enough strength.
