The children of the directors of factories – the children of the Communist elite – vacationed there, [in the school] across the street from our house. There was a summer cafeteria there, and during the Famine, villagers came there searching for food. They had eaten everything in the village – nettle, cats. So they came and rummaged through the garbage [from the cafeteria] at night.
Interviewer – You saw this?
NT – I saw this. And I asked my mother what they were doing there during the night. My mother explained to me that [they were collecting] potato peels, apple cores, and so forth. In the mornings, my mother didn’t let me look out the window. Because I saw people [who had died] sitting under our fence. Our front windows looked out onto the street, and my mother forbid me to look out those windows. My mother cried, and I asked her why she was crying. Later on she very delicately told me why. You weren’t allowed to even talk about the Famine. It was against the law to talk about it. The [Famine] was a big secret. I was already going to school, and there a little boy had a huge swollen stomach. I asked what was wrong with him. My classmates told me that he had a big family, and didn’t have anything to eat. I saw swollen children in our class.
The Communists set up TORGSYNs¹ all over Ukraine – they wanted to kill two birds with one stone. They wanted to rob the people of their gold and valuables, and secondly, shut the mouths of people. They could say, “Look – we have everything! Take a look.” Those stores were overflowing with goods, which you could buy for gold and diamonds. You could buy anything you wanted.
[They set up] guard towers and put guards with rifles up there. Especially in the summer, when the rye, wheat and grain was ripening, and the combines would go through, some grain stalks would be left in the field. People went and collected them, so what do you think they did? They shot at those people. You weren’t allowed [to collect grain]. They shot not only adults, but children too. They shot children. Even this happened.
¹An acronym for Torgovlia s inostrantsiamy – or "Store for Foreigners," where only gold, precious metals or foreign currency could be used. During the Famine, TORGSYNs were a means for the Soviet government to augment their gold reserves – desperate, starving people could trade gold or other family heirlooms for usually very small amounts of grain or other foodstuffs