The interrogations went on and on. During this time, three investigators changed. After the final conclusions of the previous one, a note from the head of the investigative department followed something like this: “Send for a second investigation. Appoint Major So-and-So as responsible for the investigation.” As a rule, the new investigator was higher in rank than the previous one and older in age. Naturally, more experienced. Everything started again. The same materials, the same questions, the same protocols.
But something in this whole process of interrogation did not work out for the investigators. Either the evidence base was unstable, or there were not enough facts. My father realized this later, many years later, remembering everything he had experienced. And by analyzing, comparing, guessing, I made the following conclusions.
Once during another interrogation the investigator asked:
– In your sermons, did you call for the overthrow of the existing Soviet system?
- I never called.
– Did they try to organize a conspiracy in private conversations or at religious gatherings?
- No, this has never happened.
- Witnesses testified that you said: “The earth and all the things on it will burn!” Was there such a thing?
- Maybe. This is recorded in the Bible in the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter.
– What does this mean?
- Only what is written, literally. There is no double meaning here.
– What could your parishioners think then, listening to you?
- Don't know. Everyone has their own thoughts.
– Tell me, will Soviet power also burn down along with the land?
– It’s not specifically written about this, but we, as believers, believe the Bible. However, I never spoke about it directly like this.
– Well, could the people who listened to you think so?
- I don't know. Maybe they could. It is unknown what is in a person’s heart.
- Clear! So let’s write down that you do not deny that as a result of your address to your listeners, people could possibly take the words you said as a call for a conspiracy to overthrow the Soviet regime...
Similar arguments became the basis for the court’s verdict: “...condemned on October 28, 1944 by the military tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Dnepropetrovsk region under Article 54-10, part two, of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR to imprisonment for ten years with loss of rights for five years.”
That is, from April 13 to October 28, more than six months, at each interrogation: “Did you say...? Where did you go? Who was the meeting with? And who was in charge?” And once a day - two hundred grams of bread. And soup with herring. And at night the echoing steps of the corridor attendant: “You are the enemy, you are the enemy, you are the enemy...”
A couple of years have passed. Left behind the pre-trial detention center, awaiting their fate. What remains in my memory is the cell, the proximity to various criminals. One day, having received a package with unenviable provisions, I heard: “Man! Give me half here, you can put the rest on the window, don’t be afraid, no one will take it!” These are the rules: give half, don’t be afraid for the rest. What if you don’t give it away? Then be afraid!
