Forgotten Pavlohrad Rebellion: Peasants vs Soviet Authorities | Beyond East and West

One of the biggest uprisings against Soviet power in Ukraine took place in villages near Pavlohrad – Bohdanivka and Ternivka, in western Donbas. People rebelled against collectivization and dekulakization (dispossession).

At the beginning of April 1930, the peasants took up arms. In the end, 13 peasants were killed, 200 were arrested, 27 were sentenced to death. The Dnipropetrovsk region suffered perhaps the most during the Holodomor a few years down the line.

However, the local people know little about those who resisted the famine. At the cemetery in Ternivka, there is a monument to the representatives of the Soviet authorities who suppressed the uprising. On the other hand, the rebels were buried in a mass grave along with those who died of starvation.

"Forgotten Pavlohrad Rebellion" is the latest in Hromadske's English-language series "Beyond East and West" in partnership with LSE Arena, a programme based at the Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics and Political Science.

"Beyond East and West" is a research project exploring Ukrainians’ connection to and understanding of their nation’s history. As part of this project we are producing a series of videos on history and analysing the response of audiences across Ukraine.