Family from Chernihiv

[Anna2]

My late mother-in-law was born in Chernihiv. Her maiden name was Zakiewicz. In 1917 she left the area and went to Poland with her husband, eventually coming to England after WW2. Although she kept contact with her family until 1935, after that she had no more letters from them. She had brothers and I expect these brothers may have had families. Does anyone know what was happening to the people in that area around 1935?
Any information would be gretly appreciated.
Anna

[Hannia]

Chernihiv (Chernigov Gubernia) was/is a large Region.

Was Mother-in-law from Chernihiv, the region capital, or from district w/same name (consisting of appx 60, maybe 70 villages) or from one of the many villages in the district?

I need more information to work with.

Do you have a birth certificate? Do you know the names of brothers? How many generations were born there? Were they Ukrainianized Poles?

The answer to your question might indeed be very grim.

The Great Purge, (Russian: Большая чистка, tr: Bolshaya chistka), name given to campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the late 1930s, tortured and murdered many Poles and deported most Poles left inside the Soviet Union (post 1935) to Khazakstan, where many were starved to death.

The NKVD was in charge.

First you need to ascertain EXACT place of birth and names of siblings etc.

If Mother-in-law was from a village, we can establish a mailing address to Village Administrator and submit a letter of inquiry re any surviving family in village and start there???

There are NKVD Records (index cards) @Regional Archives level. The Moscow Archives released these records several yrs ago and Chernihiv Oblast Archives probably has them by now.

There is also the International Volunteer Public Organization “MEMORIAL Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society". They have thus far compiled a list of 2 million victims (includes all ethnic & social groups) of the purges.

Since 1991, many Polish descendants in Khazakstan have made their way back to Poland.

Have you tried contacting the Intl Red Cross in Kiev?
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If you start a family tree, you may find that the Polish branch of family originated in the Grodno Region???

[Hannia]

Metrykal books available for Chernihiv thru LDS, 1863-1917

Roman Catholic Church of Chernigov region (Main Author)

Microreproduction of original manuscripts at the National Archives of the Belarus Republic, Minsk and the State Archives of the Chernigov region, Ukraine.

Metrical books (births, marriages, deaths) for the Roman Catholic congregations in the Chernigov region, Russia; later in the Ukraine. Text in Russian.

Record group 1781, series 36, files 466-471 -- Record group 679, series 2, file 5144 -- Record group 679, series 10, files 1227, 1231, 1234, 1263-1264.

Russia, Chernigov, Chernigov, Chernigov - Church records
Ukraine, Chernihiv, Chernihiv, Chernihiv - Church records

Manuscript (On Film) in Russian.

6 microfilm reels
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Volume 1781-36/466-471 Births, marriages, deaths 1874, 1901-1905
FHL INTL Film
1922226 Items 4-9

Volume 679-10/1227 Expense books 1821-1839, 1849-1864
VAULT INTL Film
2091566 Item 13

Volume 679-10/1231 Births 1886-1891
VAULT INTL Film
2091567 Item 2

Volume 679-10/1234 Marriage banns 1866-1905
VAULT INTL Film
2091567 Item 5

Volume 679-10/1234 (cont.) Marriage banns 1905-1917
VAULT INTL Film
2091568 Item 1

Volume 679/10-1263-1264 Births, marriages, deaths 1898-1917 (includes various villages)
FHL INTL Film
2101058 Items 3 - 4

Volume 679-2/5144 Marriages 1863-1898
FHL INTL Film
2125338 Item 2

FamilySearch.org - Family History Centers
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Libr...ameset_fhc.asp

[Hannia]

Since Ukrainian independence (1991) many RC parishes have re-opened and new parishes have been formed. His Eminence Marian Cardinal Jaworski, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, is the primate of Roman Catholics in Ukraine.
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Chernihiv Catholics Celebrate Christmas In New Church

12.26.02 (RISU.org.ua) – The Roman Catholic community in northeastern Ukrainian Chernihiv celebrated Christmas this year (25 December 2002) on the ground floor of the new cathedral that they were allowed to build after an almost ten-year struggle with the city authorities. Services had been held in the small basement of the priest’s house.

In spring 2002, a new city council passed a decision to allot a new 0.28-hectare area for the local Roman Catholic community to build a church. Since then, the foundation for a new cathedral has been laid and the ground floor built, which made a wonderful present for the local Catholic community.
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[Anna2]

Hannia,

Thank you for al the information. You have given me a lot to think about. I'm at work at the moment but when I get home I will check some details with my husband, who is 80 this year. His mother, Emilia, did contact the Red Cross after WW2 but without success. I fear the family may very well have perished. In a twist of fate, Emilia and all her family, including my husband, were deported to Siberia from Vilnius in 1941.
Best wishes, Anna.

[Hannia]

Up to 40,000 of the Vilnius' inhabitants were arrested by the NKVD and sent to gulags in the far eastern areas of the Soviet Union.

The leaders of organization I mentioned in previous post estimate that there were about 20 million that did not survive Stalin's Article 58.

58-1а. Treason: death sentence or 10 years of prison, both cases with property confiscation.
58-1б. Treason by military personnel: death sentence with property confiscation.
58-1в. In the case of flight of the offender in treason subject to 58-1б (military personnel only), his relatives were subject to 5-10 years of imprisonment with confiscation or 5 years of Siberia exile, depending on the circumstances: either they helped or knew and didn't report or simply lived with the offender.
58-1г. Non-reporting of a treason by a military man: 10 years of imprisonment. Non-reporting by others: offense by Article 58-12.
58-2. Armed uprising or intervention with the goal to seize the power: up to death with confiscation, including formal recognition as "enemy of workers".
58-3. Contacts with foreigners "with counter-revolutionary purposes" (as defined by 58-1) are subject to Article 58-2.
58-4. Any kind of help to "international bourgeoisie" which, not recognizing the equality of communist political system, strives to overthrow it: punishment similar to 58-2.
58-5. Urging any foreign entity to declaration of war, military intervention, blockade, capture of state property, breaking diplomatic relations, breaking international treaties, and other aggressive actions against USSR: similar to 58-2.
58-6. Espionage. Punishment: similar to 58-2.
58-7. Undermining of state industry, transport, monetary circulation or credit system, as well as of cooperative societies and organizations, with counter-revolutionary purpose (as defined by 58-1) by means of the corresponding usage of the state institutions, as well as by opposing their normal functioning: same as 58-2. Note: the offense according to this article was known as wrecking and the offenders were called "wreckers".
58-8. Terrorist acts against representatives of Soviet power or of workers and peasants organisations: same as 58-2.
58-9. Damage of transport, communication, water supply, warehouses and other buildings or state and communal property with counter-revolutionary purpose: same as 58-2.
58-10. Anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary propaganda and agitation: up to 6 months of imprisonment. In the conditions of unrest or war: same as 58.2.
58-11. Any kind of organisational or support actions related to the preparation or execution of the above crimes is equated to the corresponding offenses and persecuted by the corresponding articles.
58-12. Non-reporting of a "counter-revolutionary activity": at least 6 months of imprisonment.
58-13. Active struggle against revolutionary movement of tsarist personnel and members of "counter-revolutionary governments" during the civil war, same as 58-2.
58-14 (added on June 6th, 1937) "Counter-revolutionary sabotage", i.e., conscious non-execution or deliberately careless execution of "defined duties", aimed at the weakening of the power of the government and of the functioning of the state apparatus is subject to at least one year of freedom deprivation, and under especially aggravating circumstances, up to the highest measure of social protection: death by firing squad with property confiscation.
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Information availability has been somewhat facilitated in the last few yrs and maybe, just maybe, some of Emilia's family survived and was in attendence at that church ground breaking in Chernihiv ???

[Anna2]

Hannia,
I have spoken to my husband and I have a little more information, but not too much. Emilia Zakiewicz was born in Chernihiv city in 1887. She had an older sister, Dominika, and two younger brothers, Czeslaw and Witold (or maybe Viktor). The family moved at some point to Ekaterinoslav, which I understand is now called Dnipropetrovsk. Emilia's father, Jan Zakiewicz was from Lithuania and her mother 's family arrived in Chernihiv from Warsaw in the 1863 uprising. They lived happily in Ekaterinoslav until Emilia and her husband left (1919 and not 1917 as I said in my earlier message). Contact was sustained until 1935.It would be lovely to think that some of the family survived and that we have relatives in Ukraine. I'm hoping that one day one of their descendents may see my message. Emilia's sister married twice - the first time to Lukaszewicz and the second time to Bartoszewski. She had a son to each of these husbands and as far as we are aware, they all lived in the same area. We don't have any official documents as all these were lost when Emilia and her family were deported to Siberia.
With best wishes.
Ann