The population of Dmytrushky village (Umanskyi district, Cherkaska region) suffered from Holodomor-genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine.
The collectivization campaign started in Dmytrushky village in 1929. It was fully completed in 1934. According to the eyewitnesses’ testimonies, in winters of1929 and 1930, the protest actions and meeting were held. Visiting activists were calling the peasants to enter kolkhozes. Under the pressure, in 1930, two collective farms (one named after Stalin and other named after Voroshylov) were created. People were bringing their tools, seeds and cattle. After the start of collectivization, everything turned upside down. The best land proprietors were called “class enemies”, the idlers and alcoholics were proclaimed to be “agricultural proletariat”, who were instructed to make the “revolution breaking of the village”. Dekulakization began. There were 27 “kulak” families in the village. Their fate was frightful. Men were exiled to Siberia, women and children were expelled from their houses. The property was confiscated.
The sowing campaign of 1932 was difficult. There was a lack of draught power, despite there were already several tractors in the village. However, they broke down often, but there were not enough spare parts for them. The situation was catastrophic throughout Umanskyi district.
In winter of 1933, many people were having edemas and died from starvation. Starvation reached its climax in spring. A lot of people died. There were the houses, where everybody died. According to the survivors’ testimonies, those who had a cow or who were working in the kolkhoz survived.
Hryhorii Podolianets told that in his neighbor’s (Pentiuk Pavlo’s) family four sons died, in Dykhnitskyi`s family, 9 children were dead, similar things happened in almost every family. The victims of Holodomor were also old people.
There were cases of cannibalism in the village. Sysovska Mariia Yakivna recalled that her parents forbade her to go home across the bushes (the part of the village covered with bushes and trees), because one was able to catch and eat her. In the family of Artem Dukhnitskyi, two children, a girl and a boy, were slaughtered and eaten. Children were scared of Petro Liska, who also was killing people and eating them.
People were trying to save their children from the death from starvation by all means possible. For example, Marfa Vovkotrub took her son to Uman and left him near the houses, where Jews were living. They adopted the child, and he survived.
First, the dead were buried at the cemetery. Later, people buried their relatives everywhere they could: in the gardens, in the outskirts of the village. There was the cart from kolkhoz, which was bringing the corpses to the common pit.
According to the telling of locals, a lot of people died during Holodomor, about 1000 persons. The village had big population. Nowadays, only 46 people are identified. There is one fraternal grave in the yard of private house on Sadova street, the other one is the grave of Pentiuk family on Pershotravneva street. A lot of common pits are located at the cemetery.