The stamp “Monument to Pavlik Morozov” from the series “50 Years of the All-Union Pioneer Organization” was issued on May 10, 1972. Print run: 4,500,000 copies. Artist: I. Martynov.
Pavel was born on November 14, 1918, in the village of Gerasimovka, Ural Region. His father, the Belarusian Trofim Morozov, had been resettled to this village together with his family as part of Stolypin’s agrarian reform. The elder Morozov held the post of chairman of the village council. Using work-related privileges, he issued forged documents in exchange for baskets of food.
Trofim Morozov’s scandalous reputation was tied not only to document forgery. The elder Morozov was not a model family man. He suffered from alcoholism, regularly beat his wife, and took his anger out on the children. When Pavel was 10, his father left the family for a mistress who lived next door. Pavel had to replace the head of the household and take responsibility for his three younger brothers. To manage helping his mother, the child often missed school.
In 1931, Trofim Morozov was removed from his post as chairman of the village council. Around the same time, forged “certificates of poor status” bearing his signature began to surface. The elder Morozov was accused of helping kulaks. On February 20, 1932, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
It is known that Trofim Morozov’s former wife, Pavel’s mother, testified against him. Whether the boy himself was present at the hearing is unclear. There is no reliable evidence of this. According to one version, the child independently wrote a denunciation of his father for ideological reasons. According to another, the boy wrote under his mother’s dictation, as she wanted revenge on the man who had wronged her. Finally, there is also the view that Pavel did not take part in the case at all.
On September 3, 1932, Pavlik Morozov did not go to school. Instead, at his grandmother’s instruction, he went into the forest to pick cranberries. He took his brother Fyodor with him. Three days later, both boys were found dead with stab and slash wounds.
The main suspects in the murder of the children were their grandfather and a cousin. A knife and bloodstained clothing were found in their possession. They and two of Pavlik’s uncles were arrested, and the boys’ cousin was sentenced to death by shooting.