Liquidation of the evangelical christian sect of the holy zionists (murashkivtsy) in Rivne region by soviet security services (1940 s – 1950 s)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the operational and repressive activities of Soviet state security agencies aimed at the organisational elimination of one of the Protestant sects – the Murashkivtsy, which existed in Western Polissya and Western Volhynia in the 1930 s – 1950 s. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, and systematicity. General scientific, special historical, and interdisciplinary methods were used, as well as critical analysis of archival sources combined with a prosopographic approach. Each of these methods made it possible to reconstruct the methods and results of the NKVD/NKGB/MGB's actions against the Evangelical Christians of the Holy Zionists. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that, for the first time, the agent-provocateur factor in the termination of the Murashkivtsy sect's functioning in the context of the activities of the Soviet special services has been identified and analysed. A significant number of archival sources have been processed, some of which have been introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. Conclusions. As has already been established in historiography, the Soviet authorities considered the Zionist-Murashkivtsy sect to be «anti-state» and «barbaric» due to its mystical-ecstatic cult, anti-militarism, Sabbath-keeping, and generally negative attitude towards collective farms. As a result, between 1940 and 1953, the Soviet secret services repressed more than 100 members of the sect, which led to the cessation of the activities of the Evangelical Christians of the Holy Zionists in the Rivne region. In order to establish control over the activities of the Murashkivtsy, the NKVD/NKGB/MGB recruited the sect's leaders into their agent network. With the help of agents, the secret services attempted to instrumentalise the structure, make it loyal to the authorities, identify and repress its anti-Soviet members.