Still in my youth, I discerned from my own life and the lives of the collective farmers, and with my own intuition, that all these deeds were part of a planned crime against the Ukrainian people. The propaganda in the press read like a mockery of humanity.

I once had an opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with an old Communist, who said to me, “We weren’t fighting for THAT kind of freedom! I’ll give you this word of advice, as a father to his son—just keep your mouth shut.”

Dr. WERES: Thank you.

You briefly summarized the momentous changes in policy and conditions that oc¬curred in Ukraine during the 1920s, at which time you were at school. How did the teaching of all the history of the Ukraine and the political status of the Ukraine—the way these things were discussed in the school, how did the teaching of the subjects change as the greater policies changed?
Mr, MERKELO: When I started to go to school, I was very young: I was in first grade and we really did not have history. The important thing that we did have was that we had instruction in the Ukrainian language, which was later not the case.
Dr. WERES: Also you referred to the activists who were engaged in the collectiviza¬tion campaigns. Could you say more about them: what kind of people they were, why they were doing what they were doing?
Mr. MERKELO: Before the process of dekulakization began, they broke people up into three categories. The government state sympathized with the poorest segment of the population. Those people thought that the state would actually support them; that it would defend them. The activists were people who belonged to the lowest category—the lowest class—and people who were not morally sound. Even the criminal element was included in the activists. If there were not enough activists, then the Twenty-Five Thousanders, who were sent from Moscow, forced the teachers to take part in the collectivization.

In the beginning of the collectivization people from the raions would come and would dispel propaganda about how convenient it was for individual farmers to join a collective farm.
Ms. MAZURKEVICH: I have a question. You said that there was propaganda in the press; so there were newspapers in Ukraine being published, articles were being written about the beautiful harvest; things of that nature, right?
Mr. MERKALO: In newspapers it was always written that the collective farms were blossoming. Even agitators were imported to tell people living in the collective farms how wonderful it was to be there. People understood that this was propaganda, and nobody believed it I mentioned when I was living with a family from the collective farm the condition of which the brother and sister were when they returned from one of these meetings.
Ms. MAZURKEVICH: Thank you.
Dr. WERES: Thank you. I would also like to convey the Senator’s regrets. He was called out of the room. He received some urgent message; he will be returning shortly.
Our next witness will be Mr. Oleksiy Keis of San Francisco, California.