2024 © eng: genocide-copyright
Marco Zheliznyak – amateur-photographer from the farm Romanivka in the Donetsk region. He left a true chronicle of destroying Ukrainian village Udachne in the late 1920s – early 1930s. His pictures show collectivization, dispossession and destruction of peasants, confiscation bread and exile to Siberia.
Marco Zheliznyak from 12 years old was fond of photography. During of the Holodomor he was invited to work as a photographer in the NKVD, he disagreed. To save the family from starvation, he exchanged his awards from the First World War for two pounds of bread and removal his family from Romanivka. In Gryshyne (later – Krasnoarmiysk, now– Pokrovsky) he worked at the plant. But in 1933, he had to return to Romanivka. In 1934, the he had conflict with the head of the village council, and was convicted of theft and devastation of collective farm in 5 years of prison with eviction. Marco Zheliznyak appealed. The case stretched for almost a year, but was closed.
There are not so much photos certifying crime against the Ukrainians by Soviet regime. And Marco Zheliznyak fully understood the significance of his frames that his son confirmed: "What is now an ordinary shot, that tomorrow will be history."
The photos of Marco Zheliznyak were taken as a basis for the creation of documentary films "Moments of our lives", "Symphony of Donbass", "Holodomor" and others. These photographs are extremely valuable in keeping the truth about the Holodomor. They are printed in textbooks, monographs and more.
