Abstract
The article examines one of the most dramatic pages in the history of the Pentecostal religious movement, which is related to the repression against them in the postwar years of 1945-1953 (the period of late Stalinism). The object of the study involves the communities of Pentecostals in the South of Ukraine, which operated in the territory of modern Mykolayiv and Odessa regions. After presenting the historiography of the question, it is shown that despite thorough scientific research on the activities of Protestant movements in Ukraine during the Soviet era, there are not enough separate studies related to the Pentecostals. Pentecostals were mainly studied in the context of other Protestant denominations, usually Baptists. Thus, the repressions between 1945 and 1953 are insufficiently covered. In fourteen cases stored in the Sectoral State Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Archives of the Security Service of Ukraine in Mykolayiv region, the work of repressive bodies (People's Commissariat of State Security – Ministry of State Security of the Ukrainian SSR) of the Ukrainian South were explored. The personal case of Andriy Mykhailovych Kits, arrested in 1946 and sentenced to correctional camps in 1947, is provided as an example and the content of other cases are analyzed. The absurdity and artificiality of the accusations and the severity of the sentences are also shown. The article ends with the authors’ conclusions.
Recommended Citation
Fedorenko, Mykhailo and Makarchuk, Serhii
(2021)
"Protestant Pentecostals in the Post-War Repression in Southern Ukraine 1945 – 1953,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 41
:
Iss.
4
, Article 8.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol41/iss4/8