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THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

PART 6

CONSULTATIONS WITH
Mr. Rusi Nasar
Mr. Ergacsh Schermatoglu
Mr. Constant Mierlak

Dr. VlTAUT TUMASH

Mr. Anton Shukeloyts

COMMITTEE ON W-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EIGHTY-SIXTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION

DECEMBER 17; 1959
(INCLUDING INDEX)

Printed for the use of the Committee on Un-American Activities

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
48408 • WASHINGTON : 1960

COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES
United States House of Representatives

FRANCIS E. WALTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
MORGAN M. MOULDER, Missouri DONALD L. JACKSON, California

CLYDE DOYLE, California GORDON H. SCHERER, Ohio

EDWIN E. WILLIS, Louisiana WILLIAM E. MILLER, New York

WILLIAM M. TUCK, Virginia AUGUST E. JOHANSEN, Michigan

Richard Arens, Staff Director
U

CONTENTS

Page

Synopsis 1

December 17, 1959: Testimony of — •

Mr. Rusi Nasar 7

Mr. Ergacsh Schermatoglu 7

Mr. Constant Mierlak 14

Dr. Vitaut Tumash _. 18

Mr. Anton Shukeloyts 24

Index J

III

Public Law COl, TOtii Congress

The legislation under which the House Committee on Un-American
Activities operates is Public Law 601, TOth Congress [194G], chapter
753, 2d session, which provides :

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of Amefica in Congress assembled, * * *

PART 2— RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Rule X

SEC. 121. STANDING COMMITTEES
***** * •

18. Committee on Un-American Activities, to con.si!!>t of nine Members.

Rule XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
*******

(q) (1) Committee on Un-American Activities.

(A) Un-American activities.

(2) Tiie Committee on Un-American Activities, as a wliole or by subcommit-
tee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (i) tbe extent,
character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United States,
(ii) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-American propa-
ganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin and at-
tacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our Constitution,
and (iii) all otlier questions in relation thereto that would aid Congress in any
necessary remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such investi-
gation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, tlie Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.

Rule XII

LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BY STANDING COMMITTEES

Sec 136. To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws
and in developing such amendments or related Igislation as it may be deem neces-
sary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives
shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative
agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdic-
tion of such committee ; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports
and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch of
the Government.

IV

RULES ADOPTED BY THE 86TH CONGRESS

House Resolution 7, January 7, 1959
• *«****

Rule X

STANDING COMMITTEES

1. There shall be elected by the House, at the commencement of each Congress.

iii « * * * * *

(q) Committee on Un-American Activities, to consist of nine Members.

Rule XI

POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMITTEES
*******

18. Committee on Un-American Activities.

(a) Un-American activities.

(b) The Committee on Un-American Activities, as a whole or by subcom-
mittee, is authorized to make from time to time investigations of (1) the extent,
character, and objects of un-American propaganda activities in the United
States, (2) the diffusion within the United States of subversive and un-Ameri-
can propaganda that is instigated from foreign countries or of a domestic origin
and attacks the principle of the form of government as guaranteed by our
Constitution, and (3) all other questions in relation thereto that would aid
Congress in any necessary remedial legislation.

The Committee on Un-American Activities shall report to the House (or to the
Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) the results of any such in-
vestigation, together with such recommendations as it deems advisable.

For the purpose of any such investigation, the Committee on Un-American
Activities, or any subcommittee thereof, is authorized to sit and act at such
times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting,
has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance
of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and
to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under
the signature of the chairman of the committee or any subcommittee, or by any
member designated by any such chairman, and may be served by any person
designated by any such chairman or member.

*******

2G. To assist the House in appraising the administration of the laws and In
developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary,
each standing committee of the House shall exercise continuous watchfulness
of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the sub-
ject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that
purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the House by
the agencies in the executive branch of the Government.

V

* * * we say to the gentlemen who are waiting to see
whether the Soviet Union will change its political pro-
gram: "Wait for a blue moon I And you know when
that will be.

Nikita Khrushchev in a speech at Nov. 24, 1955,
Indian-Soviet Society reception in Bombay.

VI

THE CRI31ES OF KHRUSHCHEV

SYNOPSIS

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children are being
forcibly resettled in Siberia and Turkistan from the Baltic States, the
Ukraine, and Byelorussia (White Russia) under Khrushchev's "Vir-
gin Land Policy," witnesses stated in the accompanying consultation
with the Committee on Un-American Activities.

Eusi Nasar and Ergacsh Schermatoglu, from Turkistan, which
was forcibly taken over by the Communists and which is located
within the Asian part of the Soviet Union, described the wholesale
brutality being inflicted on masses of humanity within the Soviet
empire in effectuating Khrushchev's policies of forced deportation.

"After 1953, 1954, when Khrushchev's colonization policy began,
about 1,500,000 people came to Turkistan from the European part of
the Soviet Union," ]NIr. Schermatoglu stated.

Continuing, he said :

They brought in various peoples : for example, from Rus-
sia, from the Ukraine, from Byelorussia, from the Baltic
countries, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and from Moldavia.

"\Alien Khrushchev was the Communist boss in the LTkraine (from
1938 to 1949), he deported from the LTkraine into Turkistan nearly
one million people, Mr. Nasar testified. He continued:

They were forcibly sent to Turkistan. Here, with one
stone, Khrushchev beat two of his enemies. First, he sent
anti-Soviet enemies from the Ukraine. Those people who
were sent to the other country, not only lost the opportunity
to resist Soviet oppression in the Ukraine, but when they
came to Turkistan, a different country with different living
conditions and a different cultural background, of course they
were antagonistic.

Commenting on the comparative brutality of Khrushchev's Virgin
Land Policy, with the inhumanities in the forcible deportations prac-
ticed by Stalin, Mr. Schermatoglu testified:

Brutality has very much increased, even as compared to
the Stalin regime. Under Khrushchev it has increased
strongly.

iti * Mft jf *

The brutality and cunning efficiency of Khrushchev's
Virgin Land Policy may be reflected, in a sense, by looking at
the statistics. Durmg Stalin's regime, notwithstanding the
unspeakable ruthlessness with which this tyrant promulgated
Lis policies, there were develoj^ed 174 State-controlled agri-

1

2 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

cultural enterprises, which means that there were 174 distinct
forced labor camps in which the workers were, in effect,
slaves for the State. Since Khrushchev assumed power, the
statistics show that this number of forced State-owned agri-
cultural enterprises has increased to almost 900.

May I emphasize that these statistics cannot illustrate or
convey the hmnan suffering, the deprivation of liberty, and
the inhumanity which is involved in these forced deportations
and forced resettlements of human beings in our former home-
land. Remember, the fact is that these resettlements are car-
ried out at the threat of the lives of the men, women, and
children who are transported thousands of miles and resettled
in a strange land, within the shadow of the Soviet military
force and under the ever watchful eye of the secret police.

With reference to the number of forced labor camps in the Soviet
Republic of Turkistan, Mr. Schermatoglu continued :

The exact number of concentration camps we camiot say,
because it is a Soviet State secret. But eveiy one of these
agricultural enterprises has forced labor brigades. In a
sense, our entire homeland is a forced labor camp, in that it
is operated under an iron-fisted dictatorship from Moscow.
Beyond that, however, within the borders of our homeland,
Turkistan, there operate numerous groups known as labor
brigades, which are nothing but slave labor groups involving
hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who are
shifted from area to area to perform labor tasks.

Again I say, Khrushchev and his bloody regime may dis-
pute the existence of slave labor camps because they are not
called slave labor camps, but for all intents and purposes
they have every element of a slave labor camp, including
starvation, brutalities, the infliction of death upon those who
do not conform to the rigid discipline, the deprivation of
human liberty, and all of the other elements which were pres-
ent in the slave labor camps as they were formerly character-
ized in the regime of Stalin.

Constant Mierlak, national president of the Byelorussian- American
Association, and Dr. Vitaut Tumash, chairman of the Byelorussian
Institute of Arts and Sciences in the United States, portrayed
Khrushchev's program for annihilation of the Byelorussian nation
consisting of non-Russian people in Byelorussia (White Russia).

Speaking of Khrushchev's plan to annihilate the Byelorussian
nation, Mr. Mierlak stated :

* * * The original plan was conceived and carried on by
Stalin, with terror and physical destruction, by mass shoot-
ings, deportations to concentration camps, where people died
from cold, malnutrition, and hardship, and other similar
means. The same policy is now pursued by Mr. Khrushchev,
only with different applied methods.

Mr. Khrushchev does not deport people to concentration
camps for destruction, but he resettles them in Kazakhstan

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 3

and in other Siberian lands, thus denationalizing the other
nations and depopulating Byelorussia. Furthermore, he
sends Kussians in place of the resettled Byelorussians.

Mr. Khrushchev, to carry on Russification and assimilation
in Byelorussia, does not change the Byelorussian grammar
like Stalin did, but he reduces Byelorussian schools and, at
the same time, is increasing the Eussian ones. He reduces
Byelorussian publications, but, at the same time increases the
Russian ones; and the same pattern is followed in all
branches of cultural, economical, and social life in Byelo-
russia.

The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic delegation to
the Fourteenth i\.ssenibly of the United Nations consists of
eight persons, all of them Russians who do not even speak
Byelorussian, the language of the people whom they sup-
posedly represent in the United Nations, except one P. U.
Brovka, who is Byelorussian and chairman of the Committee
of the Byelorussian Writers Union.

Dr. Tumash described the grim realities of Khrushchev's forcible
deportations in the following statement:

Today we definitely can say that the rate per year of de-
portations of Byelorussians to distant lands of the Soviet
Union during the years of Khrushchev's regime is higher
than during the time of Stalin's dictatorship.

Mr. Arens. With what facts can you support that state-
ment, sir ?

Dr. Tumash. The deportations of the Byelorussian popu-
lation in recent years have increased to an extent never before
known in the history of Byelorussia. These people, hundreds
of thousands yearly, are transported to the far countries of
Soviet Asia and the northern European Soviet districts. The
initiative and design of this deportation plan have come
directly from Khrushchev as first secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

•P "I» JJS ^ *{• 5j> !p

Mass deportation from Byelorussia under Khrushchev's
dictatorship is a permanent activity.

Comparing the methods of mass deportation followed by Kliru-
shchev with those followed by his predecessor, Stalin, Dr. Tumash
continued :

There are some differences, but really there is no change in
principles, no change in goals. One of the differences, to take
an example, was that when Stalin had these mass deporta-
tions performed from Byelorussia, his aim was mostly to
destroy these people physically. He arrested them and sent
them to concentration camps, where they had to endure and
worii: under inhuman conditions, and perish. It seems that
Khrushchev's method is, on the other hand, that he does not
think about killing the population, but he wants to transfer

48405'— 60— pt. 6 2

4 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

it to other regions, to Eiissif y it and to use it for colonization
of other Kepublics of tlie U.S.S.R. His intent does not seem
to be to destroy them physically, but nationally, and througli
this action to make Russians stronger in numbers on the one
hand, and on the other to decrease the population of the non-
Eussian Republics, in this case, the Byelorussian population.

Anton Shukeloyts, one-time member of the Commission for the
Reconstruction of Churches Destroyed by Communists, testified re-
specting Khrushchev's antireligious terror.

Mr. Shukeloyts stated :

We have to take into account that the Byelorussian people
have confessed the Christian faith for almost a thousand
years, yet, as a result of the Connnunist antireligious terror
at the beginning of the Second World War, there was not a
single church of the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic,
Protestant, or Jewish denomination in the Avhole territory of
the Byelorussian S.S.R. There was not a single priest of
these denominations who could legally perform his religious
duties. As our commission soon found, the same situation
also existed in Minsk, the capital of Byelorussia: In this
city with a population of more than 240,000 we found not a
single open church regardless of religion. The Orthodox
cathedral was dynamited, and there was a place for a circus
on its site. The other church, seat of the metropolitan in
Minsk, also Orthodox, was turned into a museum, and later
turned into an amusement club for Soviet officers. What had
been the body of the church Avas turned into a theater hall.
In reconstructing this house for the Soviet officers, all the
marble material was taken out of Catholic, Orthodox, and
JeAvish cemeteries.

In the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, there was con-
structed a garage for trucks.

^p ^p ^* T* ^^

Under the Khrushchev dictatorship, the Orthodox
Cathedral of St. Catherine, which is the oldest one of the
churches in Minsk, and which was, before the Second World
War, changed into a warehouse and then reverted again to a
church by the people during the German occupation, has
now again been converted, this time into the archives of the
State.

The Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, changed first into a
garage, but reconstructed under the German occupation by
the people, has now been converted into a sport club.

The Catholic Church of Sts. Simeon and Helen, popularly
called the ''Red Cliurch" because of its color, which before
the Second World War served as a theater for youth, and
which was reconstructed by the Byelorussian people during
the time of German occupation, has now, according to the
sources we have, been converted again, into a warehouse.

Tlie principal Jewish synagog in Minsk, which before the
Second World War was converted into a traveling artists'

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

theater, lias now been completely reconstructed and converted
into a Russian dramatic theater. Through this reconstruc-
tion, the building is now so changed that it would take an
expert to find out that it was formerly a synagog.

The oldest Jewish synagog in Minsk, built in 1633, is now
changed into a warehouse.

The principal Protestant church in Minsk has been con-
verted into a moving picture theater for children.

Thousands of churches of all denominations in all other
cities, towns, and villages of Byelorussia are in similar condi-
tion today. Many of the destroyed churches were priceless
ancient relics of the architecture and art of Byelorussia. To
understand the extent of the destruction of religious life in
Byelorussia brought on by 40 years of this Communist terror,
we should consider the fact that this country, which before
World War I, had about 4,500 Orthodox, about 450 Catholic,
and TOO Jewish churclies, now has religious services per-
formed only in several hundred of Orthodox, and a few
Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish churches.

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV
(Part 6)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1959
United States House of Representatives,

C03IMITTEE ON Un-x\mERICAN ACTIVITIES,

Washington, D.O.

CONSULTATIONS

The following consultations began at 2 p.m., in room 226, House
Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Committee members present: Hon. Francis E. Walter, of Pennsyl-
vania (chairman), presiding, and Hon. Gordon H. Scherer, of Ohio.

Staff member present : Richard Arens, staff director.

The Chairman. The committee will come to order and the first wit-
nesses will be sworn.

Gentlemen, do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about
to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so
help you God ?

Mr. Nasar. I do.

Mr. Sciiermatoglu. I do.

STATEMENTS OF MR. RTJSI NASAR AND MR. ERGACSH

SCHERMATOGLU

Mr. Arens. Will each of you kindly identify yourself by name, resi-
dence, and occupation ?

Mr. Nasar, My name is Rusi Nasar. I am residing at 111 North
Wayne Street, Arlington, Va. I am at prasent a freelance writer.

Mr. Sciiermatoglu. My name is Ergacsh Sciiermatoglu, and my
residence is in Arlington, 1301 North Taft Street. I now do research
work on problems on Turkistan.

Mr. Arens. Mr. Nasar, will you kindly give us a word about your
personal background ?

Mr. Nasar. I was born on January 21, 1918, in the city of Margelan
in Turkistan. At the present time this city belongs to Uzbek, S.S.R.
I got my education in public school in my home town, and I graduated
from the Financial Teclmicum at Tashkent in 1934. I graduated from
the Textile College at the same city in 1940.

For a short time I was engaged in engineering work. Then, at the
end of 1940, 1 was drafted by the Soviet Army. I served in the Soviet
Army until August 1941. Then I became a German prisoner during
the Second World War, and I joined in Germany the Turkistan

7

8 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

Legion. With this legion I fought against the Soviets until the end
of World War II in May 1945.

From 1945 until 1951, 1 was a resident of Germany. I was engaged
in many political activities in Germany. I came to this country in
November 1951.

First I worked for the Voice of America under contract as a free-
lance writer. After the abolishment of the Turkistan desk at the
Voice of America in September 1953, I worked at different plants, in
factories, and I was also engaged in teaching. I was a lecturer at
Columbia University. Since June 1955, until July of this year, I was
engaged in research work for the Ling-uistic Association, Washing-
ton, D.C. After completing the projects there, I am now a freelance
writer.

Mr. Arens. Mr. Schermatoglu, would you kindly let us have a word
about your personal background ?

Mr. Schermatoglu. Yes. I am from Uzbekistan. My town is
Andizhan. I studied in the Pedagogical and Juridical College in
Tashkent, and in Moscow. I finished in 1936.

Then I worked in Tashkent as a university teacher until 1940.
In 1941 I was drafted into the Soviet Anny, and in 1941 during the
war, at the front, I became a war prisoner m Germany. Then, dur-
ing the war, I worked in Berlin for the Turkistan radio broadcast
until the end of the war.

After the war I lived in West Germany. In West Germany, I did
research work of a scientific nature. I emigrated to America in
1958, and since then I have been doing research work concerning
Turkistan, consisting of area studies.

Mr. Arens. As a point of departure in our consultation today,
gentlemen, would you kindly give us the elemental information re-
specting your former countiy, Turkistan ?

Mr. Nasar. Today you cannot find even on school maps the name
of Turkistan. Turkistan, which means "Home of the Turkic people,"
was, when the Soviets took it over, divided into five different Soviet
Eepublics in 1924, of which it consists today: Uzbekistan, Kazakhs-
tan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizistan and Tadzhikistan. This was for
the simple reason that the Soviets' colonial policy is to divide and
rule.

The people were strongly opposed to Soviet rule in our country.
This was the reason the Soviets did divide our country in 1924 and
make five artificial Republics. Our country is an Asian comitry, and
the native people of Turkistan are a Turkic-Moslem people. We
have no racial, linguistic, historical, or cultural relationship with the
Russians or other Slavic peoples.

Mr. Arens. How many people are there in the area formerly known
as Turkistan?

Mr. Schermatoglu. In the Soviet-occupied Turkistan today, the
native people number almost 18 million. The total population of
Turkistan today is about 23 million.

Mr. Arens. Specifically, where is the area formerly known as
Turkistan?

Mr. Schermatoglu. The area of Turkistan is within the Asian
part of the Soviet Union, behind the Caspian Sea, on its borderland.
Turkistan borders on Persia and Afghanistan in the south and in
the east with China and on the north with Siberia.

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 9

Mr. Arexs. Could you give us a word about the size of the area
formerly known as Turkistan?

Mr. ScHERMATOGLu. Tliis area comprises almost 4 million square
kilometers.

Mr. Arexs. How would it compare in size with one of the States
in the United States ?

Mr. ScHERMATOGLU. I think it would be almost five times as big as
Texas.

Mr. Arens. How did the Communists come to power in Turkistan,
and when ?

Mr. ScHERMATOGLU. Turkistau was non-Communist until 1917,
when the Socialist revolution took place in Russia. Turkistan was
not only non-Communist, but had no Communist Party. Among the
native people of Turkistan, until 1918, there were no members of the
Communist Party. In Turkistan there was no revolution, no Com-
munist or Socialist revolution. But in Russia, in Moscow, they es-
tablished Soviet power, and this Soviet power, with armed might,
came to Turkistan. They were successful in conquering the country,
and with the aid of Soviet anns established in Turkistan a Soviet
government.

Mr. Nasar. I might say that the revolution took place in the cen-
tral part of Russia, in Moscow, in Leningrad, formerly known as
Petrograd. But in Turkistan, on the contrary, the natives did not
take any part in the Commmiist revolution. Communist power came
to Turkistan only with the force of arms, and then they were able
to take over.

About this matter I would like to quote from the well-known
Communist, G. Safarov, who said in his book, "Colonial Revolution
and Its Practice in Turkestan," the following:.

Some people needed bread and freedom on cost of old towns and kislilaks
(villages) . For others —

he means the Turkestani natives —

national freedom was as necessary as bread.

Under the cover of "Virgin Land Policy," Khrushchev deports
hundreds of thousands of people from the European part of the
Soviet Union to Turkistan, m order to crush the consolidation of the
anti-Soviet elements and to strengthen its political and economic
position in Central Asia.

In spite of this fact, today in all Soviet literature they say the
Turkistan native people participated in the revolution. But this is not
true. The truth is that the Soviet power and rule came to Turkistan
only with the help of guns, of an army, and an occupational force.

Mr. Arexs. Xow, gentlemen, with reference to the present situa-
tion in Turkistan, or in the land which was formerly known as
Turkistan, can joii give us information respecting Khrushchev's
policy and program there ?
^ Mr. Nasar. Khrushchev's policy in Turkistan today is the inten-
sification of colonization by the Soviets.

Mr. Arens. "What do you mean by colonization by the Soviets?

Mr. Nasar. We should first state generally what colonization is.
Colonization is done from the outside, by one group of people coming
to take the territory of another people. If I go and take another
country, I colonize it.

10 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

The Soviets did that, and they are intensifying their colonization
in Turkistan. Soviet colonization started when the Soviets came to
power. They started the colonization of onr country, sending other
ethnic peoples to our country, with the aim of destroying the national
life of the Turkistani people.

Mr. Akens. How many people have been resettled in Turkistan or
in the area formerly known as Turkistan?

Mr. Nasar. Of the Soviet Republics of Turkistan, in 1939
Uzbekistan had a population of only 6,330,000. Today, in 1959, it
has an 8,113,000 population. Kazakhstan in 1939 had a population
of 6,904,000. In 1959, it is 9,301,000.

Mr. Arens. Approximately how many of the people presently in
the area formerly known as Turkistan are persons who have been
resettled there by the Communists ?

Mr. ScHERMATOGLU. After 1953, 1954, when Khrushchev's coloni-
zation policy began, about 1,500,000 people came to Turkistan from
the European part of the Soviet Union.

They brought in various peoples : for example, from Russia, from
the Ukraine, from Byelorussia, from the Baltic countries, Lithuania,
Latvia, Estonia, and from Moldavia.

Mr. Arens. What are their occupations?

Mr. SciiERMATOGLU. Thosc people who were not Russian people,
who came to Turkistan, were farmers, worked on the land.

Mr. Arens. They did agricultural work?

Mr. Schermatoglu. Their occupation was agriculture. The other
part of the colonists, the Russians, worked in industry and in admin-
istration.

Mr. Arens. When did this colonization of Turkistan begin?

Mr. Nasar. The colonization of Turkistan began since the Russian
occupation of Turkistan in the last century. But the colonization be-
fore the Communists was done by the Czar. During the czarist regime
the colonization was not intensified. It became this way only under
the Soviet rule, especially since Khrushchev came into power.

Mr. Arens. Since Stalin's death, what new means and methods
has Khrushchev used in the field of colonization ?

Mr. Nasar. Khrushchev is not calling it colonization, but "Virgin
Land Policy."

Mr. Arens. Are these people going voluntarily, willingly, or are
they forced to go to Turkistan ?

Mr. Nasar. The Soviet press, or the Soviets, claim that this is vol-
untar}'; this is the official claim. But we have proof, documented
proof, that shows that those people are not going voluntarily.

Mr. Arens. How do the natives react to Khrushchev's colonization
policy?

Mr. Schermatoglu. The reaction of the natives started at the be-
ginning of the colonization; the reaction was negative. Then the
Soviets came to power and all the natives refused to collaborate with
the Soviets. Then the Soviets for the first time made a tactical ges-
ture ; they compromised. They said, "We will send no more colonizers,
settlers."

The natives believed this at first, and until 1926 the Soviets did
indeed not send settlers tliere. When the Soviets started again send-
ing settlers there for colonization, the natives, not all just anti-
Communist people, but even native Communists, started opposing

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 11

Soviet colonization. Even the local Communists would not believe
what the Kussians promised. With sabotage, with uprisings, with
many writings in the press, with open protests, they started opposing
the Soviet colonization policy.

Some local Communists who had formerly believed the Soviet prom-
ise took part. For example, Hidir Ali-oglu, who was a Communist
among the natives and who at first believed the promise, when the
Soviets again started colonization was forced to commit suicide in
protest.

Almost all the representatives of the national intelligentsia during
the Stalin regime were killed, purged, terrorized. They were accused
by the Soviets of being nationalist and opposers of the settlers,

" Mr. Arexs. As is known, from 19?.8 until the end of 1949, Khru-
shchev was the boss of the Ukraine. Did his activities in the Ukraine
have any relation to the resettlement of people in Turkistan?

Mr. Nasar. Yes, it did, quite a lot. We know Khrushchev from
1938 until the end of 1949 was Communist boss in the Ukraine. At
this time in the Ukraine there were many purges against the Ukraine
mitionalists. For example, before the war, he sent many Ukrainian
nationalists to Turkistan.

Mr. Arens. How many people did Khrushchev cause to be depoi'ted
f i"om the Ukraine during this period from 1938 to 1949 into Turkistan ?

Mr. Nasar. Nearly 1 million.

Mr. Arens. Were they forcibly sent there ?

Mr. Nasar. They were forcibly sent to Turkistan. Here, with one
stone, Khrushchev beat two of his enemies. First, he sent anti-
Soviet enemies from the Ukraine. Those people who were sent to the
other country, not only lost the opportunity to resist Soviet o])pres-
sion in the Ukraine, but when they came to Turkistan, a different
country with different living conditions and a different cultural back-
ground, of course they were antagonistic.

]Mr. Arens. What are the relations at the present time between the
natives of Turkistan and the people who are deported to Turkistan
from the Soviet empire ?

Mr. Schermatoglu. The natives have alwa_ys looked at the settlers
who were deported to Turkistan with antipathy, with hatred. They
thought all those who came there were Russians, and they opposed
them all. But as time went on, they realized that not all those people
were Russians, were not their enemies, but people who had been forced
to come there. As a result, they now have sympathy for such non-
Eussians as the Ukrainians, the Latvians, and the Lithuanians. But
the native people still have verj- much antipathy toward the Russians ;
thev are very antagonistic.

Ml'. Arens. Lias the brutality under this so-called Virgin Land
Policy increased or decreased since Khrushchev assumed power?

Mr. Schermatoglu. Brutality has very much increased, even as
compared to the Stalin regime. Under Khrushchev it has increased
strongly.

Mr. Arens. What measures has Khrushchev taken to implement his
Virgin Land Policy, under which he deports people to the Turkistan
area ?

Mr. ScKTERiviATOGLu. The brutality and cunning efficiency of Khru-
ehcliev's Virgin Land Policy may be reflected, in a sense, by looking at

12 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

the statistics. During Stalin's regime, notwithstanding the un-
speakable ruthlessness with which this tyrant promulgated his poli-
cies, there were developed 174 State-controlled agricultural enter-
prises, which means that there were 174 distinct forced labor canips in
which the workers were, in effect, slaves for the State. Since
Khrushchev assumed power, the statistics show that this number of
forced State-owned agricultural enterprises has increased to almost
900.

May I emphasize that these statistics cannot illustrate or convey the
human suffering, the deprivation of liberty, and the inhumanity
which is involved in these forced deportations and forced resettle-
ments of human beings in our former homeland. Remember, the fact
is that these resettlements are carried out at the threat of the lives of
the men, women, and children who are transported thousands of miles
and resettled in a strange land, within the shadow of the Soviet mili-
tary force and under the everwatchf ul eye of the secret police.

Mr. Arfns. Gentlemen, a correspondent of the New York Times,
Harrison Salisbury, recently wrote that there are no more political
prisoners in the Soviet Union. What is your reaction to this asser-
tion ?

JVIr. ScHERMATOOLu. First, may I say with tongue in cheek that
perhaps Mr. Salisbury's information which he has related in the
Kew York Times was procured from the high Soviet officials. The
facts, however, are otherwise. Perhaps the difl'erence between the
facts and the portrayal of Mr. Salisburj' can be accounted for in
this manner, namely, that there has been under Khrushchev a relabel-
ing or recharacterization of the slave labor camps. This, of course,
is a clever device to fool the free world. The truth is that since
Khrushchev's rise to power, the number of camps in which human
beings are deprived of their liberty and at gun's point are forced
to work has appreciably increased, even though they may now be
called something other than slave labor camps. I think it was
Shakespeare who said in one of his plays that a rose by any other
name smells just as sweet. The facts are that the slave labor camps
under the new labels are just as bitter, just as destructive to humanity
as they ever were under the worst periods of Stalin's dictatorship.

Mr. Arexs. How many forced lahor colonies or slave labor camps,
by whatever name you call them, are there in the Soviet Eepublic of
Turkistan?

Mr. SciiERrMATOGLU. The exact number of concentration camps we
cannot say, because it is a Soviet State secret. But every one of these
agricultural enterprises has forced labor brigades. In a sense, our
entire homeland is a forced labor camp, in that it is operated under
an iron-fisted dictatorship from Moscow. Beyond that, however,
wdthin the borders of our homeland, Turkistan, there operate numer-
ous groups known as labor brigades, which are nothing but slave labor
groups involving hundreds of thousands of men, women, and chil-
dren who are shifted from area to area to perform labor tasks.

Again I say, Khrushchev and his bloody regime may dispute the
existence of slave labor camps because they are not called slave labor
camps, but for all intents and purposes they have every element of a
slave labor camp, including starvation, brutalities, the infliction of
death upon those who do not conform to the rigid discipline, the
deprivation of human liberty, and all of the other elements which

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 13

were present in the slave labor camps as they were formerly char-
acterized in the regime of Stalin.

]Mr. Arens. '\Vhat appears to be Khrushchev's objective in his
Virgin Land Policy ?

Mr. ScHERMATOGLU. There appear to be several objectives. One
is to destroy the cultures of the people who are forcibly deported
from area to area within the Soviet empire. Secondly, the policy is
obviously designed to dilute and destroy the culture and nationalism
of the areas in which the deportees are resettled.

For example, in our homeland of Turkistan, we pride ourselves
upon our ancient heritage, our customs, and our nationalism. This
is. of course, being diluted and destroyed by the forcible dilution
oi our population with people of different cultures and backgrounds.
Beyond that, Khrushchev has as an objective the obvious, namely, to
get production wrung from the sweat and toil of the slaves whom he
rules.

Mr. Nasar. I think it is supremely important at all times to bear in
mind the strategic importance of Turkistan to the objectives of the
international Communist operation to control the world. Turkistan,
because of its geographical location, is a springboard from which tlie
Communist empire may penetrate other strategic areas of the world
in furtherance of the Communist global designs.

Mr. Arens. Mr. Nasar, I understand from our informal discussions
that over the course of the last few years 3'ou have attended a number
of sessions over the world which were controlled by the Communists.
Tell us a word about those sessions, first of all, and then I will have
a question or two specifically on the Vienna Youth Festival.

Mr. ISTasar. Yes, I did j^articipate in the Asian-African Confer-
ence in Bandung in 1955. I was there as an observer. Also I par-
ticipated in the first Asian-African Solidarity Conference, which
took place at the end of 1058 at Cairo. The last instance was this year,
when I was able to go to Vienna to see the World Youth Festival.

Mr. Arens. Specifically, about the Vienna Youth Festival, did you
have occasion while you were there to contact any of the young people
who were in attendance from your former homeland, Turkistan?

Mr. Nasar. Yes.

Mr. Arens. Tell us about that, please.

Mr. Nasar. Among the Soviet delegation were many Turkistanians,
Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, Kirgliizes, Tadzhiks. I met some of
theni at the Youth Festival which, for the first time, had taken place
outside the Iron Curtain countries.

Of course, the Soviets sent so-called devoted and trusted people to
Vienna, or tried to. In spite of that, I found out our people still had
a strong nationalistic feeling and pride. The youth were very much
interested in life in the foreign countries, as to their bad living con-
ditions, and so forth. They, the Turkistanians, were very much inter-
ested in how their former compatriots were living on the outside, how
the people were thinking.

For example, on many occasions I explained that our main aim
was the liberation of Turkistan, to fight for liberation. They were
very proud to hear this, and some young people even went so far as to
say, "God bless you. We hope that the free world has not forgotten
our enslaved comitries."

14 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

Mr. Arens. "What interpretation do you place upon that attitude as
expressed by these young people ?

Mr, Nasar. My interpretation is very simple. In spite of all the
Soviet propaganda and teaching, the people in their real thinking are
nationalist, and they hope that one day they will become free from
foreign domination. This is tlie national aspiration of the Turkis-
tanians. They are awaiting the right opportunity, the time when
they can regain their national independence. The Soviets have been
unuble to destroy the nationalistic thinking of the people. It is a
force which exists and that cannot be killed, with all the might of the
Soviets.

Mr. Arexs. Mr. Nasar, a short time ago Klirushcliev left these
shores, after having been given tlie red-carpet treatment by the highest
of our officials. What will be the reaction of the people of your
former homeland who are enslaved by the Khruslichev regime, when
they see portrayed in tlie Communist publications the homey reception
which he was accorded here, at which the highest of our officialdom
was informing the American people about the home-loving scenes
with Khrushchev and his family on this soil of a free country?

JMr. Nasar. I would like to give you an illustration.

I was in Vienna when I heard about the invitation given to Khrush-
chev to visit the U.S.A., and I spoke with some young people of Turk-
istan about this matter. They were incredulous, asking "How can
it be? On the one hand, the U.S.A. claims to stand for freedom and
liberty for the peoples ; on the other hand, they invite Khrushchev to
their country." They asked, "How can you explain that?"

Of course, this was very difficult to answer. We said it was because
of a policy of finding a solution to establish a way for world peace.

I tell you, whoever it was that treated him good or bad, I don't
care. But this is killing the national aspirations of those subjugated
people. In the eyes of subjugated people, like my people, the Turk-
istanians, the treatment of Khrushchev, the very invitation itself,
and the subsequent red-carpet treatment, are causing these people
to think, "To whom can we now express our feelings, our aspirations?"
They are losing hope for the future, hope for their eventual liberation.

The Chairmax. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Mr. Arens. jMr. Chairman, the next three witnesses are Mr. Mier-
lak. Dr. Tumasli, and Mv. Shukeloyts.

The Chairman. Do each of you gentlemen solemnly swear that the
testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God ?

Mr. SIierlak. I do.

Dr. Tumash. I do.

Mr. Shukeloyts. I do.

The Chairman. You may proceed, Mr. Arens.

STATEMENT OF MR. CONSTANT MIEELAK

Mr. Arexs. JMr. Mierlak, please identify yourself by name, resi-
dence, and occupation.

Mr. Mierlak. My name is Constant Mierlak. I reside at 197 Koeb-
ling Street, Brooklyn, New York. I am an accountant working for

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 15

the Holland- American Line in New York. I might add that I am
the national president of the Byelorussian- American Association.

Mr. Arens. Give us a word about the Byelorussian- American As-
sociation. Wliat is that organization ?

Mr. MiERLAK. The Byelorussian- American Association, at 401 At-
lantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, with its affiliate organizations, is
the largest one in the United States of Americans of Byelorussian back-
ground. The membership is made up of approximately 30 different
civic, religious, social, and other organizations. We claim to represent
in first and second generations over half a million Americans of Byelo-
russian origm.

Many of them had to flee as refugees and escapees. They have come
to this country and now are respected citizens, and they continue to
study the problems of communism and, particularly, the Communist
Russian imperialism and aggression, in order to provide and divulge
the facts and dangers to the security of this country, and to make un-
derstood that there will be no peace on earth until all nations are free,
including Byelorussia.

Mr. Arens. Where is Byelorussia?

Mr. MiERLAK. Byelorussia is in eastern Europe, north of the
Ukraine, west of Poland, south of Lithuania and Latvia, and east of
Eussia.

Mr. Arens. How large is Byelorussia ?

Mr. MiERLAK. At the present time, Byelorussia itself, its ethno-
graphic territory, occupies about 180,000 square miles; but only a
portion of it, 80,000 square miles, is incorporated into the present
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Mr. Arens. Is Byelorussia the area of the U.S.S.R. which is fre-
quently referred to as "White Russia" ?

Mr. MiERLAK. That is right.

Mr. Arens. What is the population of White Russia, or Byelo-
russia?

Mr. MiERLAK. Officially now, at the present time, the population of
the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic is over 8 million. _ On its
ethnographic territory, there are about 18 million Byelorussians.

Mr. Arens. Give uSj if you please, just a word of the historical back-
ground of White Russia, or Byelorussia.

Mr. MiERLAK. In the Middle Ages Byelorussia appeared imder the
name of Kryvia, and later on was known as the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania. It was the common state of the Byelorussians and Lithu-
anians. In 1795 Byelorussia was incorj)orated into the Russian em-
pire under the Czar.

Then, of course, there were continuous effoi'ts on the part of the
Byelorussians to regain their independence: in 1812 with the help of
Napoleon; in 1863 by an armed uprising under the leadership of
Kastus Kalinovski; and it was only in 1917 that the Byelorussians
succeeded in establishing a Byelorussian Democratic Republic, by
means of democratic self-determination.

The All-Byelorussian Congress, as it was called, consisted of 1,872
delegates, covering all ethnographic territory. It convened in Minsk
on December 18, 1917, and became in fact the constituent assembly of
Byelorussia. The Confess elected a council, called the Rada, and a
presidium as its executive bodies. On March 25, 1918, the Rada and
the Executive Council proclaimed the independence of Byelorussia.

16 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

The Byelorussian Demcwzratic Republic was recognized cle jure by nine
nations and de facto by five.

To counteract the Byelorussian Democratic Republic, the Russian
Communists established their own "independent" Byelorussian Soviet
Socialist Republic, the creation of which was announced in Smolensk
on January 1, 1919. An uneven struggle ensued, and the Byelorussian
people were not able this time to defend their freedom from the aggres-
sion of Moscow. The B.S.S.R. became a "Union Republic" with its
puppet government in the structure of the Soviet Union, and this is
still in existence.

Mr. Arexs. AVould you kindly give us just a word on your own per-
sonal life and background ?

Mr, MiERLAK. I was bom in the western part of Byelorussia in 1919.
I studied economics in Lublin, Poland; and after World War II, I
continued my studies in Rome, Italy. In 1947 I emigrated to Argen-
tina, and from there to the United States in 1951. In Buenos Aires I
worked also with the Dutch Steamship Company. Besides my pro-
fessional occupation, I am engaged in civic activities with Byelorus-
sians in the United States, as I was before in Argentina.

JNIr. Arexs. Are you a permanent resident of the United States?

Mr. MiERLAK. Yes, I am.

Mr. Arens. In the course of your contacts in your Byelorussian
association, do you have sources of information respecting the present
situation in Byelorussia under Khrushchev's regime?

]Mr. MiERLAK. Yes, we have.

Mr. Arexs. Would you kindly proceed at your own pace to supply
the committee with the information which you have, particularly
with reference to the Russification of Byelorussia ?

Mr. MiERLAK. I will. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic,
juridically speaking, is a state. It has territory, people, and ad-
ministration, and furthermore is a founding member of the United
Nations, However, the administration, constitution, and the so-called
"Soviet system" are imposed forcibly upon the Byelorussian people
by Moscow. In reality, "Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic" is
the name covering part of the Byeloinissian geographic territory of
the Soviet Russian colonial administration.

The Byelorussian nation, consisting of non-Russian people, is des-
tined for complete unification and annihiliation in the future by Mos-
cow. The original plan was conceived and carried on by Stalin, with
terror and physical destruction, by mass shootings, deportations to
concentration camps, where people died from cold, malnutrition, and
hardship, and other similar means. The same policy is now pursued
by Mr. Khrushchev, only with different applied methods.

IMr. Arexs. What are those methods?

Mv. MiERLAK, Mr, Khrushchev does not deport people to concen-
tration camps for destruction, but he resettles them in Kazakhstan
and in other Siberian lands, thus denationalizing the other nations and
depopulating Byelorussia. Furthermore, he sends Russians in place
of the resettled I3yelorussians.

JNIr, Khrushchev, to carry on Russification and assimilation in Byelo-
russia, does not change the Byelorussian grammar like Stalin did, but
he reduces Byelorussian schools and, at the same time, is increasing the
Russian ones. He reduces Byelorussian publications, but, at the same

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 17

time, increases the Russian ones; and tlie same pattern is followed in
all branches of cultural, economical, and social life in Byelorussia.

Mr, Arens. Would you give us some details regarding this ?

Mr. ]\IiERLAK. The ministers in all cabinets of the Byelorussian
Soviet Socialist Republic government in 40 years of existence were
exclusively Russians sent to Minsk by Moscow, with one or two excep-
tions. For instance, the present government of the B.S.S.R., formed
on April 9, 1959, consists of 22 persons, of whom only 2 or 3 are prob-
ably Byeloiiissians, and all others are Russians.

Mr. Arens. What about the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
delegation to the Assembly of the United Nations ?

Mr. ]\iiERLAK. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic delega-
tion to the Fourteenth Assembly of the United Nations consistsof
eight persons, all of them Russians who do not even speak Byelorus-
sian, the language of the people whom they supposedly represent in
the United Nations, except one P. U. Brovka, who is Byelorussian and
chairman of the Committee of the Byelorussian Writers Union.

Llr. Arens. Is this a general pattern of the Communist regime in
its domination of Byelorussia ?

Mr. Mierlak. Yes, it is. This is a permanent Moscow pattern, of
sending Russians to Byelorussia and setting them in posts in all
branches of national life. In the administration, starting from the
ministers and directors of all the administrative branches and govern-
ment agencies, and going down to the provincial and regional ad-
ministrations and even the chairmen of the village councils, nearly
all are Russians.

It would be proper to emphasize here that the justice, security, and
police personnel consist exclusively of Russians. In economic life,
all directors, managers, chiefs of sections, accountants, and cashiers
of factories, cooperative shops, retail stores, kolkhozs, etc, are Rus-
sians, or almost entirely so. A similar pattern and similar propor-
tions are followed in cultural life, entertainment, science, and edu-
cation. The administration of the Communist Party of Byelorussia
is exclusively in Russian hands. A Byelorussian, even a Communist,
cannot be trusted in key posts.

Mr. Arens. What about the schools and education in Byelorussia ?

Mr. Mierlak. In general, education in Byelorussia is progressively
decreasing, according to Kul'turnoe StroiteP Stvo SSSR — Statisti-
cheskii Sbornik — Moscow 1956."

Mr. Arens. What is that ?

Mr. Meerlak. This is a statistical information book. Here it is
[displaying book].

In 1910 there were 1,691,529 pupils studying in the schools in Byelo-
russia. In 1956 there were 1,218,057 pupils. The total pupils de-
creased in 16 years by 473,472, or approximately 24.5 percent. At
the present time there are in Minsk 58 high schools (desiatiletki),
only 10 of them are Byelorussian and out of 8 teachers only 3 are
Byelorussian. The analogical situation exists in all cities of Byelo-
russia.

INIay I say, in essence, since the promulgation of the present pol-
icies under Khrushchev, there is a systematic destruction of the Byelo-
russian culture and education as they have heretofore been known, and
a systematic reduction in the number of Byelorussian schools, which

18 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

are regularly being replaced with Russian schools under the direct
discipline and control of the Communists.

JMr. Arens. Do you have information respecting the press and books
publislied in Bj^elorussia ?

JMr. MiERLAK. Yes. A typical sign of Russian colonial administra-
tion is that in Minsk are published two major newspapers: Zviazda in
Byelorussian for the native population, and Sovietskaya Belorussia
in Russian for Russian nationals employed in administration and ex-
ploitation of Byelorussia.

According to the same ''Statisticheskii Sbornik" in 1955 there
were a total of 670 difl'erent books published, 410 in Russian and 260
in Byelorussian. The Russian nationals living in Byelorussia, wdio
represent less than 20 percent of the total population, have 1 to 20.5
books published for them, whereas the Byelorussians, who represent
80 percent of the total population, have only 1 to 3.25 books. There
were published 39 difl'erent magazines and periodicals, only 14 of
them in Byelorussian.

IMr. Arens. Do I interpret your testimony propeily to mean that
notwithstanding the fact that 80 percent of the people in Byelorussia
are Byelorussians and only 20 percent are Russian and other ethnic
groups, the overwhelming preponderance of the published work is in
Russian ?

JMr. JMiERLAK. That is right.

JMr. Arens. What conclusion do you, as a student of the social and
political order within your former country of Byelorussia, reach as
a result of this information which you have been conveying to the
committee ?

JMr. JMiERLAK. These facts clearly demonstrate and convince anyone
that the Soviet Russian Government, in the past with the indirect
responsibility of JMr. Khrushchev, and at the present, the government
headed by JVlr. Khrushchev, have to bear the responsibility of carry-
ing on a policy of destruction of the Byelorussian nation, and he must
be judged as a criminal for the following acts: for depriving the Bye-
lorussian people of human rights and dignity ; for physical and moral
humiliation inflicted upon the Byelorussians by JMr. Khrushchev's
colonial administration* for destruction of the Byelorussian culture;
and for imposing Russification m order to achieve assimilation and
carry on economic exploitation for the benefit of the Russian people,
aiming by these and other means to dominate all over the world.

JMr. Walter. Thank you, sir.

STATEMENT OF DR. VITAUT TUMASH

JMr. Arens. Dr. Tumash, please identify yourself by name, resi-
dence, and occupation.

Dr. Tumash. JMy name is Vitaut Tumash. I reside at 376 East
138th Street, The Bronx, New York. I am a medical doctor, born in
Byelorussia. I studied at the University of Vilna. In 1950 I
emigrated to the United States, where I have been a citizen since 1956.
I am chairman of the Byelorussian Institute of Arts and Sciences in
the United States, an organization of Byelorussian scholars, writers,
and artists. It is the main aim of the Byelorussian Institute to
promote scientific research and publications on the land, history, and

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 19

culture of the Byelorussian people, and to support creative activities
in Byelorussian literature and the arts.

Mr. Arens. Do you, sir, have current information respecting mass
deportations in Byelorussia mider Khrushchev's regime?

Dr. TuMASH. I do.

Mr. Aeens. Kindly proceed at your own pace to make that in-
formation available to the committ'Ce.

Dr. TuMAsn. On the grounds of the information at my disposition,
I am in a position to niform the committee of the tragic years oi
Khrushchev's dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. as it has affected the
Byelorussian people.

Mr. Arens. What is the source of your information ?

Dr. TuMASH. Many of my sources are confidential, as I have ex-

Elained to you informally off the record before. Others are official
oviet statistics and publications about the population of Byelorus-
sian S.S.R.

Today we definitely can say that the rate per year of deportations of
Byelorussians to distant lands of the Soviet Union during the years
of Khrushchev's regime is higher than during the time of Stklin's
dictatorship.

Mr. Arens. With what facts can you support that statement, sir?

Dr. TuMASH. The deportations of the Byelorussian population in
recent years have increased to an extent never before known in the
history of Byelorussia. These people, hundreds of thousands yearly,
are transported to the far countries of Soviet Asia and the northern
European Soviet districts. The initiative and design of this depor-
tation plan have come directly from Khrushchev as first secretary
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The deportations were started in March 1954 under Khrushchev's
plan of the so-called cultivation of virgin lands. To accomplish this
plan under the orders of Moscow there was immediately organized
a central recruiting office under the Council of Ministers of the Byelo-
russian S.S.R. Besides, in every district and county of Byelorussia,
there were established offices for recruiting. Through these offices,
people are recruited under pressure of Communist political propa-
ganda apparatus and through their fear of the terrorism of the
M.V.D., the secret police.

Those deported were both families and single young people. Those
who tried to avoid deportation or later to escape from the deportation
areas were publicly persecuted and denounced.

Mr. Arens From what place ajid to where were the people
deported ?

Dr. TuMASH. They were deported en masse from all of Byelorussia
and directed mostly to the southern regions of Soviet Asia, districts
several thousand miles from Byelorussia. In the spring 1955 special
trains were put into regular operation on the Minsk-Pavlodar route to
carry Byelorussians to the virgin lands in the Kazakh S.S.R. In the
Tears 1954 and 1955, hundreds of thousands of the Byelorussian popu-
lation were transported in this way from their home country. Accord-
ing to Moscow Pravda of ]\Iarch 9, 1954, the deported were directed
mainly to Krasnoyarsk and Altay lands, to Kazakh S.S.R., to the dis-
tricts of Chita, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Kurgansk, Novosibirsk, Omsk,
Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Chkalov, and Saratov.

20 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

Mr. Arens. Were there any other actions of mass deportations from
Byelorussia besides the forcible resettlement to the virgin lands ?

Dr. TuMASH. Yes, there were. Mass deportation from Byelorussia
under Khrushchev's dictatorship is a permanent activity.

]\Ir. Arens. IIow many people have been forcibly deported from
your native land, Byelorussia, during Khrushchev's regime?

Dr. TuMASH. Many hundreds of thousands. That will come at the
end of my report. I want to give you a more exact figure.

The deportations for cultivation of virgin lands were not finished
when, May 19, 195G, there was published a call of the Central Com-
mittee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council
of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. to komsomols and youth of the U.S.S.R.
This call was mainly directed to the youth of western European Re-
publics of the Soviet Union. In this appeal, the party and Council of
Ministers asked for new contingents, but now only of youth, instead of
both youth and families as before, to resettle the far Asian and Sibe-
rian lands, and the northern parts of the European Soviet Union, for
industrial development and for population of these areas. They were
asking for at least half a million youth ; and a very large part, if not
most, of this forcibly resettled youth were recruited in the Byelorus-
sian Soviet Socialist Republic.

At these times, the youths had to carry on not agricultural work as
before in the virgin lands action, but had to work very hard in mining,
in the exploitation of forests, in the building of railroads, in the
building of hydroelectric power stations and of factories.

Due to this appeal, the first transportees from Byelorussia were
taken to these far lands of the Soviet Union on the 13th of June 1956,
from the capital of the Republic, Minsk. The mass deportations of
Byelorussian youth continued since through the following years.
Hundreds of thousands of Byelorussian boys and girls were torn from
their parents, their families, their homes, and their native country.
They were sent thousands of miles away for hard slave work, suffering
from raw climate, chronic lack of sufficient food, clothing, and neces-
sary housing.

Gusev, the director of the recruiting office under the Council of
Ministers of the Byelorussian S.S.R., announced February 27, 1957,
in the Byelorussian newspaper Zviazda in Minsk, that this time the
deportees from Byelorussia were directed mainly to Karelian Auton-
omous S.S.R., to the districts of Vologda, Irkutsk, Molotov, Tomsk,
Tyumen, and to Sakhalin Island which lies in the Pacific Ocean and
which was annexed by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of
World War II. The same Zviazda of February 21, 1957j reported
about many new settlements of Byelorussians on Sakhalin Island.

]\Ir. Arens. Do you have any facts respecting the repercussions of
these deportations on the economic life of Byelorussia ?

Dr. TuMASH. Yes, I do. The mass deportation from Byelorussia
in the time of Khrushchev's dictatorship has caused, through the
decrease of the labor force in that country, an especially acute prob-
lem in agriculture. This situation has become in some years, espe-
cially at harvesting time, a catastrophic thing.

As an example, in 1957, at the end of August, when normally the
harvesting in Byelorussia is finished, it had been impossible to reap
more than about 50 percent of the harvest. At this time Moscow, in
order to save at least the grain which was to be delivered to the State,

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 21

had to call a conference of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Bj^elorrussian Republic, together with the Council of
Ministers, in a special emergency session, to devise drastic measures
to save the situation.

One striking point in the resulting appeal or order issued by this
emergency session was that all schoolchildren in Byelorussia between
the ages of 10 and 14, under the leadership of their teachers, had to
take part in this harvesting operation, throughout the Republic.
From this you can see how acute the artificially created deficit of
labor is in Byelorussia now.

This remarkable document on the compulsory woik of minors on
the order of the Communist regime w^as published in the newspaper
Zviazda, in Minsk, August 27, 1957. The acute labor deficit is the
cause that physical work by schoolchildren in Byelorussia is today a
permanent condition. The Communist press of the Byelorussian
S.S.R. in 1955 proudly announced the fact that the schools of the
Republic had sown 31,000 hectares of corn, harvested 8,000 hectares
of flax, and 93,000 hectares of potatoes.

In addition, the situation is made worse because Moscow is taking
from Byelorussia, as a normal thing, most of the production in agri-
cultural machinery, trucks, and other necessary equi]:»ment, to send
them — as the Prime Minister of Byelorussia in 1958 reported — to
China, Korea, Mongolia, India, Burma, and other countries. So that
besides having too few people to work in the countrj^, those few very
often have to work only with their bare hands, because their agricul-
tural implements are so poor, and they do not have a sufficient supply
of machines. This is a part of the general catastrophic situation
caused by Khrushchev's depopulation of B3^elorussia.

Mass deportations are also paralyzing considerably the industrial-
ization of the Republic and they are slowing the growth of Byelorus-
sian cities. According to the Soviet 1959 census the Byelorussian
S.S.R. has 31 percent of the urban population only, the lowest per-
centage among all other Republics of the Soviet Union with one excep-
tion only, Moldavian S.S.R. The average for the entire U.S.S.R. is
now 48 percent. Khrushchev's Russian Communist regime is trying
to transform Byelorussia into Moscow's colony for the specific pur-
pose of being a reservoir of slave labor masses which will supply at
the will and order of Moscow the people to populate, colonize, and
industrialize the other areas and lands of the Moscow empire.

Mr. Arens. ^Vliat percentage of the population of Byelorussia
has been deported during the Khrushchev regime?

Dr. TuMASH. Official sources have never published a general ac-
count of this; but from the census of 1959 which was taken in the
U.S.S.R., the population for that year was 8,060,000 in Byelorussia,
compared with 9,300,000 in 1939, in the same territory. 1 ou can see
from that how large a decrease in population there had been within
just two decades. It is a decrease of 13 percent. Only one other
Republic of the Soviet Union, Lithuanian S.S.R., has in the same
time decreased in population, but to a much smaller extent, 5 percent
only. All other Republics are showing increases averaging 9.5 per-
cent for the entire U.S.S.R. This fact shows that Byelorussia at the
present time is chosen hj Moscow as its main victim in a genocidal
attempt to erase with time all non-Russian nations from the map
of the U.S.S.R.

22 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

But this comparison does not really show the actual deficit, because
we must take into account that during 20 years in Byelorussia in nor-
mal times, when there were no wars going on and no Communist mass
deportations, the normal yearly population increase was 2 percent.
On this basis, in 20 years, we could expect in this same territory not
just 8 million but something like 13,800,000 population, which means
there is actually an overall deficit of 5,800,000, or 42 percent.

According to tlie statement of Prime Minister Mazurov of the
Byelorussian S.S.R. in the Moscow Izvestia of February 10, 1955,
during the last World War the Byelorussian S.S.R. had 1,500,000 war
casualties. Together with the fall in the natural increase of the popu-
lation caused by the war, this gives about 2 million war losses for
Byelorussia. If we subtract these war losses from 5,800,000, we still
have a deficit of 3,800,000 unexplained by the war.

This deficit is due partially, in fact, mostly, to the persecutions and
deportations in Stalin's time under his dictatorship, which accounts
for 15 years of this 20-year period. But the last 5 years are Khru-
shchev's responsibility, for this mass depopulation in Byelorussia.

Mr. Arens. What, besides economic goals, does Khrushchev have
as an objective for these mass deportations of the population of
Byelorussia ?

Dr. TuMASH. I think the economic goals are important, but they
were not the only goals, and not always decisive. There were several
others, too.

For example, at the time of mass deportations to the Kazakh
S.S.E. — Moscow Pravda of October 21, 1954, published an article
written according to the information from the Byelorussian Ministry
of Melioration, stating that the Byelorussian Republic has vast areas,
around 190,000 hectares — that is about a half million acres — of fertile
virgin lands in the southern Byelorussian region of Palessie, not culti-
vated due to the lack of labor. It was land already meliorated; al-
ready drained, prepared, too. If only it could have been plowed and
sown, there could haA^e been an additional 10 million poods of grain for
the Byelorussian people. So stated Pravda.

This fact was known, certainly not only to Pravda, but also to the
Central Committee of the Communist Party and Khrushchev, as well.
But despite these possibilities in these virgin lands in Byelorussia, he
still took hundreds of thousands of people from there and transported
them several thousand miles to other parts of the U.S.S.R.

This means that not only economical considerations were taken
into account, but there were others, too. Some other considerations
which I think were very important were : through the mass transpor-
tation of the population, to decrease the number of Byelorussians in
Byelorussia, on the one hand; and on the other, to dilute the non-
Russian Republics in Asia with the population from our country.
Either way, it is really an intention to commit genocide, in the areas
where the population is resettled and in the country from which they
are taken.

Besides, we must take into account what most of the areas are like
where the populations were transported: in Asia along the China
border. I think strategical considerations of the Soviet Union are
playing a very important part in all this transportation of masses,
to secure the borders of the Soviet empire against China. The final

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 23

goal of all Khrushchev's mass resettlements is to raise economic and
military strength of Russian communism for the future conquest of
the world.

Mr. Arens. Are there any differences in the methods of mass de-
portations followed by Khrushchev from the methods followed by
his predecessor, Stalin ?

Dr. TuMASH. There are some differences, but really there is no
change in principles, no change in goals. One of the differences, to
take an example, was that when Stalin had these mass deportations
performed from Byelorussia, his aim was mostly to destroy these
people physically. He arrested them and sent them to concentration
camps, where they had to endure and work under inhuman conditions,
and perish. It seems that Khruslichev's method is, on the other hand,
that he does not think about killing the population, but he wants to
transfer it to other regions, to Russify it and to use it for colonization
of other Republics of the U.S.S.R. His intent does not seem to be to
destroy them physically, but nationally, and through this action to
make Russians stronger in numbers on the one hand, and on the other
to decrease the population of the non-Russian Republics, in this case,
the Byelorussian population.

But the practical effect of all this on Byelorussian people and the
Republic is just about the same, because so or so, it is a mass depopula-
tion of the country.

Mr. Arens. What, concretely, is the responsibility of Khrushchev
for the mass deportations of the Byelorussian people?

Dr. TuMASH. The action of mass deportation of Byelorussians con-
nected with the cultivation of virgin lands of Soviet Asia, and mass
deporations of Byelorussian youth for the purpose of populating
and industrializing Siberia and other lands of the Soviet empire were
both initiated and carried out by the order of Khrushchev as first
secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and as premier
and unquestionable dictator of the U.S.S.R. For this reason Khru-
shchev and his regime are definitely responsible for the big deficit in
the population of Byelorussia, at least for the part which has taken
place since Stalin's death. I think that I will be very close to the
truth, if I say that at least 1 million of all the deficit in the population
of the Byelorussian S.S.R. is a direct or indirect result of Khrushchev's
recent forcible mass resettlement of Byelorussians. The rest was
Stalin's work, whose ardent helper Ivhrushchev always was. Khru-
shchev's deportations in Byelorussia are robbing the Republic of
nearly all natural increase of the population.

In the country of their destination Byelorussian deportees are
deprived of their national organizations and institutions, of Byelorus-
sian press and Byelorussian schools. Far from their homeland with
its old national traditions and customs, scattered among alien people,
they are condemned to rapid denationalization, Russification, and
national death.

Through the permanent mass deportations and consequently de-
population of Byelorussia, Khrushchev and his government are obvi-
ously violating the Convention of the United Nations of December 9,
1948, concerning genocide. This convention declares that genocide,
whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is an interna-
tional crimes, and defines it as "acts committed with intent to destroj^,

24 THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV

in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such." Khrushchev is definitely guilty of the violation of this
convention and especially of tlie violation of point (e) of Article II
of it, which speaks about "forcibly transferring children of the group
to another group."

The Goverment of the Soviet Union ratified the convention on
genocide in 1954, and they in effect acknowledge the binding validity
of this convention for the U.S.S.R. Consequently Khrushchev and
his government have not only moral but also juriciical responsibility
before the United Nations and all the world for their crime of geno-
cide committed in continuous attempts to destroy Byelorussian people
as a nation.

Mr. Walter. Thank you, Dr. Tumasli.

STATEMENT OF ANTON SHUKELOYTS

Mr. Arens. Please identify yourself by name, residence, and occu-
pation, and give us a word of your personal background.

Mr. SiiUKELOYTS. My name is Anton Shukeloyts. I live at 70 East
Third Street, New York City. I work at Ohrbach's, Inc. I am taking
an active part in the civic life of the Byelorussian organizations in
New York. I Avas born in 1915 from a country family. In 19,59 I
graduated from the Humanist Faculty in the Vilna University, where
I had studied ethnography and Slavic languages.

I worked as a teacher, and in 1941 1 was arrested by the Communists
and later liberated by the Germans. I worked until 1944 in the Mu-
seum of Minsk as custodian and was a member of the Commission for
the Eeconstruction of Churches Destroyed by Communists.

In 1944 I was in Germany as a worker. Then I became a refugee
and came to the United States in 1950.

Mr. Arens. What can you tell us about the churches in Byelorussia,
having been a member of the Commission for Reconstruction ?

Mr. Shukeloyts. We have to take into account that the Bj^elorus-
sian people have confessed the Christian faith for almost a thousand
years, yet, as a result of the Communist antireligious terror at the be-
ginning of the Second World War, there was not a single church of
the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish denom-
ination in the whole territory of the Byelorussian S.S.R. There was
not a single priest of these denominations who could legally perform
his religious duties. As our commission soon found, the same situation
also existed in Minsk, the capital of Byelorussia: In this city with a
population of more than 240,000 we found not a single open church
regardless of religion. The Orthodox cathedral was dynamited, and
there was a place for a circus on its site. The other church, seat of the
metropolitan in Minsk, also Orthodox, was turned into a museum, and
later turned into an amusement club for Soviet officers. What had
been the body of the church was turned into a theater hall. In recon-
structing this house for the Soviet officers, all the marble material was
taken out of Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish cemeteries.

In the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, there was constructed a
garage for trucks.

]\Ir. Arexs. What do you know about the present situation as to the
churches in JNIinsk under the Khrushchev dictatorship ?

THE CRIMES OF KHRUSHCHEV 25

Mr. Shukeloyts. Under the Khrushchev dictatorship, the Ortho-
dox Cathedral of St. Catherine, which is the oklest one of the churches
in Minsk, and which was, before the Second World War, changed into
a warehouse and then reverted again to a church by the people dur-
ing the German occupation, has now again been converted, this time
into the archives of the State.

The Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, changed first into a garage,
but reconstructed under the German occupation by the people, has
now been converted into a sport club.

The Catholic Church of Sts. Simeon and Helen, popularly called
the "Red Church" because of its color, which before the Second World
War served as a theater for youth, and which was reconstructed by
the Byelorussian people during the time of German occupation, has
now, according to the sources we have, been converted again, into a
warehouse.

The principal Jewish synagog in Minsk, which before the Second
World War was converted into a traveling artists' theater, has now
been completely reconstructed and converted into a Russian dramatic
theater. Through this reconstruction, the building is now so changed
that it would take an expert to find out that it was formerly a
synagog.

The oldest Jewish synagog in Minsk, built in 1633, is now changed
into a warehouse.

The principal Protestant church in Minsk has been converted into a
moving picture theater for children.

Thousands of churches of all denominations in all other cities,
towns, and villages of Byelorussia are in similar condition today..
Many of the destroyed churches were priceless ancient relics of the
architecture and art of Byelorussia. To understand the extent of
the destruction of religious life in Byelonissia brought on by 40 years
of this Communist terror, we should consider the fact that this coun-
try, which before World War I, had about 4,500 Orthodox, about
450 Catholic, and 700 Jewish churches, now has religious services
performed only in several hundred of Orthodox, and a few Catholic,
Protestant, and Jewish churches.

Tlie independent Byelorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church,
which was restored twice, once after World War I and again during
World War II, was again destroyed by Moscow in 1944 and forcibly
replaced by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Byelorussian Auto-
cephalic Orthodox Church exists today only in exile, in the United
States and several other countries of the free world.

Basically, the religious life of the Byelorussian people under
Khrushchev dictatorship differs very little from the life under Stalin's
terror. Religions and churches of all denominations in Byelorussia
are still under continuous oppression and persecution. The final
Khrushchev goal is the total destruction of every faith.

The Chairmax. Thank you very much, Mr. Shukeloyts.

(Whereupon, at 4 :40 p.m., the consultation was concluded.)

INDEX

Individuals Page

Ali-oglu, Hidir 11

Brovka, P. U 3, 17

Gusev (M. I.) 20

Kalinovski, Kastvis 35

Khrushchev (Nikita) 1-A, 9-14, 16-25

Mazurov (K. T.) 22

Mierlak, Constant 2,14-18 (statement)

Nasar, Rusi 1, 7-14 (statement)

Safarov (Georgii I.) 9

Salisbury, Harrison (PI) 12

Schermatoglu, Ergacsh 1, 2, 7-14 (statement)

Shukeloyts, Anton 4,24—25 (statement)

Stalin (Josef) 1-3, 10-13. 16, 19, 22, 23, 25

Tumash, Vitaut 2, 3, 18-24 (statement)

Organizations

All-Byelorussian Congress 15

Executive Council 15

Rada 15

Byelorussian-American Association 2, 15

Byelorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church 25

Byelorussian Institute Of Arts and Sciences in the United States 2, 18

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Government of 17

Council of Ministers 19,21

Byelorussian Writers Union, Committee of 3,17

Commission for the Reconstruction of Churches Destroyed by Communists

(Minsk) 4, 24

Committee of Byelorussian Writers Union. {See Byelorussian Writers
Union, Committee of.)

Communist Party, Byelorussia 17

Central Committee 21

Communist Party, Soviet Union, Central Committee 20

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Government of, Council of Ministers — 20
United Nations :

Byelorussian delegation to 3, 17

Convention on the Prevention and I'unishment of the Crime of

Genocide, December 9, 1948 23, 24

World Youth Festival, Seventh ; July 2G to August 4, 1959, Vienna 13

Publications

"Colonial Revolution and Its Practice in Turkesbm, The" (book) 9

Kul'turnoe Stroitel 'Stvo S.S.S.R.— Statisticheskii Sbornik— Moscow, 1956

(book) 17, 18

"Sovietskaya Belorussia" (nevpspaper) 18

Zviazda (newspaper) 18

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