大象传媒

This story is part of a collection recorded for a reminiscence project to celebrate the history of the Ukrainian community in Gloucester, and contributed to the 大象传媒 People's War with permission.

Ivan P Barabash was born in the town of Dybovyazorvka, Konotopski Rayion, Sumska Oblast, to a fairly well off family who owned 100 hectares of land and who ran a smallholding. He had four sons and one daughter. One of these sons was Pateleymon A Barabash who tells this story.

In 1929 the family was dispersed as peasants, all our wealth was taken and the family was scattered over all of what was the Soviet Union. My father and mother left Ukraine with me in 1930. We went from one place to another staying and working for 6 months at a time as it was forbidden for non-residents of any town to work or stay any longer. As we were members of a "kylak" family, we were not registered as residents and could be arrested.

And so we sojourned until 1936 returning to our ruined homeland. We repaired one or two stables. We replaced the walls and covered the broken windows with straw and we lived thus until 1943.

I went to the village school until 1943 when the Germans started to target young people and took them to Germany for general labour up until 1945.

I left Ukraine in 1943 when the Germans evacuated all the young people they could abduct and so I worked in Germany up until 1946. I worked wherever I was sent, to clean streets, as a fireman after bombing raids and all other sorts of labour.

On 25th May 1945 Germany collapsed and the citizens of the Soviet Union who lived there in 1939 were obliged to return to the Soviet Union where their fate waited for them - 25 years in the Gulag. Those who did not wish to return changed their place of residence and their surnames. This is what I did. I rewrote my place of birth and changed my surname from Barabash to Bartashevski. Many people who were put forward to the so-called Repatriation Committee did not return to their place of birth residence.

I did not have any lucky, happy moments throughout my life whilst in Germany save for its collapse but the Repatriation Committee took away a small part of that lucky moment.

I came to England as a displaced person, a voluntary worker on a 2-year work contract and had a choice of working in a coal mine or labour on a farm. I chose to work on a farm as I reasoned it would be better for my health.

My first experiences were hard and ones of not understanding the way of life which was different to the European way of life. Notwithstanding the situation at the time the people were welcoming and caring, in particular in the north of England.

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