Protestant evangelical groups during the 1930-1940 repressions (The case of malyovanian sectarians from the Chornogorodka village in the Makarov district)

Abstract

The article deals with the specific conditions of existence of protestant evangelical communities in Ukraine, showing the case of the repressions against the peasants who belonged to the Maliovanian sect. The materials of the case are used to explain the popularity of the Maliovanian sect among the peasants in Ukraine, as well as to find out the biographical and ideological reasons that led the accused people to the belonging to this sect. Some attention is given to the ideological conflict between communist mentality and the «protestant ethics» of M. Weber in the case of economically effective protestant communities. Although the protestant communities did exist in Ukraine, they were not so numerous as orthodoxy, catholic believers or Judaic communities, that is why this confession is not often mentioned in the investigation documents of the repressed persons. Because of this, it would be quite reasonable to research the Ukrainian protestant communities within the limits of the totalitarian regime in more details, in particular, their connections with the peasantry. The case № 63413 concerning a group of peasants was opened by on January 18, within the frame of an «anti-kulak operation», but it contains elements of religious persecutions. The persons involved were the dwellers of Chornogorodka village, Kyiv Region, Byshiv (now Makarov) district; and belonged to a sect of Malyovany adepts, or the «Malyovanians», which was a branch of the so-called Stunden-baptism, one of the lesser religious movements of Ukrainians. All of them were join the collective farm and then left it, working for themselves as artisans they managed to reach considerable level of wealth. Members of Malyovanian sect were pacifists, so the three accused persons, being psychologically troubled by their hard war experience, refused to enter military serviced in 1941. This was the cause of their arrest. During the investigation new motives of accusation were added to the refusal of military service, such as «participation in a counter-revolutionary anti-Soviet organization of the Malyovany adept», «agitation against collective farming»; «subversive activities». Combining purely historical point of view with scientific research data in the fields of religion and culture, as well as with psychological and philosophical considerations one can explain the joining to the Malyovanians as the effort of finding the purport of life and the inner freedom in the conditions of extreme outward pressure and lack of social freedom. We can also underline that the psychological endurance of the accused persons during interrogations was based on their deep devotion to their faith. The addition of new, formerly unknown, names to the list of the victims of the Soviet totalitarian system of the years 1930-1940 is also an important contribution to historical research.