L. Chervatiuk

Full Name in Ukrainian: Черватюк, Люба Андріївна

Full Name in English: Chervatiuk, Liuba
Data of Birth: Circa 1921

Place of Birth: Redvyntsi

Raion: Proskuriv raion (now Khmelnytsky raion)

Oblast: Vinnytsia oblast (now Khmelnytsky oblast)

Country: Ukraine

Copy of original: Yes

Number of pages: 3

Keywords: child; search brigades; requisitioning; family mortality; orphan; savior; food substitution.

Notes: It is possible that the authors’s official name is Liubov and her full name is spelled Любов Андріївна Черватюк in Ukrainian and Liubov Chervatiuk in English.

Liuba Chervatiuk was 12 at the time of the Holodomor. She recalls surviving the Holodomor in the village of Redvyntsi, Proskuriv raion, Vinnytsia oblast (currently Redvyntsi, Khmelnytsky raion, Khmenlnytsky oblast). 

Liuba was left an orphan, alone in the family house, after her parents and grandmother died. She initially ate linden leaves and goosefoot but by July (of 1933), she was too weak and unable to get up to pick the sweet cherries that were ripening at the time.

Liuba credits her survival to a woman who brought her twice some honey. The first time Liuba found it difficult to even try the honey because she felt bitterness in her mouth. The second time, when she tried the honey, she could taste its sweetness and then the woman who brought the honey to Liuba told her that she will live.

Liuba questions whose idea it was to make the search brigades take all the food from people instead of just the excess food. She and her mom once gathered a couple of glasses of beans in the weeds in their garden and then they saw that the search brigade was coming. They immediately poured some water on the beans and put them in the oven as if cooking. The search brigade activist found the beans, poured the water out, and took the beans away.

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