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(c) They always lived on the land; both of my parents were illiterate and could not sign their names. Of course, the fact that my mother was the daughter of a kulak gave us some difficulty. (d) My grandfather had helped the poor, and I want people to be able to acquire whatever they can. (Did the fact that you were the grandson of a kulak bring you any harm?)

(How about your mother?) Same. (You say your father was considered a kulak?) Yes. (What political views did he have before that?) None in the begining. But when they started to take things away of course he became anti-Communist.

R1, T1 5) I NEVER WAS IN THE PARTY. H) I WAS THE SON OF A KULAK. I) DID NOT CONCERN ME EXCEPT FOR THE EDUCATION. THE KOMSOMOLS ALWAYS HAD A CHANCE TO GET A BETTER EDUCATION. J) IN NO WAY. K) I DON'T KNOW.

This man had no speciality, he had been a simple peasant before collectivization. Then he was de-kulakized and driven from his village. He had to find some way to live, and he became a hauler. He simply used his horse and wagon to try to carry things for people or organizations.

My father thought that the regime was good, the land had been distributed to the pea ants, and he approved of the regime. Then the liquidation of the kulaks began hisideas now changed to the over throw of the regime, and the introduction of a free power. (Was your father de-kulakized in 1928?)

(What were you relations with the other students when your father was de-kulakized?) I was not in school at the time, because according to law the children of kulaks were not allowed to go to school. (When did you start school?)

[I know he was arrested in 1930 before the collectivization, but would he have been considered a kulak if he had not been arrested before?] Yes, he would have been in the very first ranks of the kulaks. b. Nothing, she was just a housewife.

(Were there some well-to-do peasants whose property wasn't liquidated?) You speak about well-to-do peasant, but my father was not a kulak. He was a seredniak. One cannot say that in the Soviet Union only well-to-do peasants were persecuted. It is true, they started with kulaks, but they did not stop there.

(Whom did you get then?) Another man from the 5th category. (Who was not de-kulakized?) I don't know. People are different. I was de-kulakized myself. Some people don't like responsibility. They say: "I prefer to live worse, then I will have peace."

This was a great event and it had a very important political side. People began to call him a Kulak and an enemy of the people. They said they were trying to kill honest party workers in the village. The Pioneer organization in the school did not wait very long.