A Monument to the River Mussel, Eating of Which Saved the Locals during the Famine of 1946–1947, Was Opened in Vinnytsia Region,

A monument to the river mussel was opened in the village of Oksanivka in Vinnytsia region. Due to these shellfish, in the years 1946–1947, thousands of farmers survived the period of mass artificial famine.

“The monument was erected in the center of the village, near the House of Culture. It was performed by sculptors visiting the workshop in the neighboring village of Busha. The monument has the shape of a mussel with a baby in the middle as a symbol of new life. The material from which it was made is a local stone,” Mykola Sobko, the village head, told Vinnytsia.info.

The monument was opened by a local old-timer, 93-year-old Olga Kharevska, who witnessed the events of the time. Ms. Kharevska said that in the postwar years many people came from to Oksanivka. The mussels were collected on the shore. Every morning there were new mussels. This way people survived.

 “Indeed, during this period, people survived due to the river mussels from the Dniester. And not only from Oksanivka, then called Fliminda, but also from the villages nearby and even from the neighboring city of Uman,” local historian Halyna Sobko said to Vinnytsia.info.