Pavlik Morozov
| Pavlik Morozov | |
|---|---|
"Official" Soviet portrait made of Pavlik Morozov. He is wearing the Young Pioneers red scarf.
|
|
| Born |
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov 14 November 1918 Gerasimovka, Tobolsk province, RSFSR |
| Died | 3 September 1932 (aged 13) Gerasimovka, Tavdinsky area, Ural Oblast, USSR |
| Cause of death | Knife wounds |
| Citizenship | USSR |
| Known for | supposedly turning his father in to Soviet officials for corruption |
| Parent(s) | Trofim Sergeyevich Morozov (presumed shot in 1932); Tatyana Semyonovna Morozova (née Baidakova) (died in 1983) |
| Relatives | Brothers: Fyodor Morozov (killed along with Pavel at 8 years old), Alexei Morozov (killed in World War II), Roman Morozov |
Pavel Trofimovich Morozov (Russian: Па́вел Трофи́мович Моро́зов; 14 November 1918 – 3 September 1932), better known by the diminutive Pavlik, was a Soviet youth praised by the Soviet press as a martyr. His story, dated to 1932, is that of a 13-year-old boy who denounced his father to the authorities and was in turn killed by his family. His story was a subject of reading, songs, plays, a symphonic poem, a full-length opera and six biographies. The cult had a huge impact on the moral norms of generations of children, who were encouraged to inform on their parents.
There is very little original evidence related to the story, much of it hearsay provided by second-hand witnesses. According to modern research, the story (denunciation, trial) is most likely false, although Pavlik was a real child who was killed. Morozov's story was the basis of Bezhin Meadow, an unreleased film from 1937 that was directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Dawn (2015 film).
The most popular account of the story is as follows: Born to poor peasants in Gerasimovka, a small village 350 kilometres (220 mi) north-east of Yekaterinburg (then known as Sverdlovsk), Morozov was a dedicated communist who led the Young Pioneers at his school and supported Stalin's collectivization of farms.
In 1932, at the age of 13, Morozov reported his father to the political police (GPU). Supposedly, Morozov's father, Trofim, the chairman of the Gerasimovka Village Soviet, had been "forging documents and selling them to the bandits and enemies of the Soviet State" (as the sentence read). Trofim Morozov was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp and later executed. However, Pavlik's family did not take kindly to his activities; on 3 September of that year, his uncle, grandfather, grandmother and a cousin murdered him, along with his younger brother. All of them except the uncle were rounded up by the GPU and sentenced to "the highest measure of social defense" – execution by a firing squad.
...
Wikipedia