Transmigration
Starting fron 1956 till 1959 there was a great building of the new villages and people transmigration. It took great pains of local villagers, organizations and local authorities.
At first, the woodcutters brigades were made to clear the bottom of the future handmade sea. Then they started to build new villages. Each villager got a new house. The construction was very fast. In April people started to leave their homes and in October a new village appeared. In the old village the houses were built without foundation. The floor was made of clay. The roof was made of thatch. People received very good money for new house construction. General amount of money was calculated by a special committee. People didn’t want to leave their native places and some people stayed with their old houses until the water level reached their homes.
Sudyr Zavalko (now 92 years old) is a former villager of the submerged village Samovytsa. According to his words people heard about the submersion in early 1950. People could not believe that for the water power station a huge territory must be submerged. People discussed that fact and still couldn’t believe that this territory may be under water. It was their native land, the land of their grand grand parents. According to the plan all this beauty, all the forests and all this rich black soil will be submerged. Nechuporenko was the first to leave his village and moved to Cherkassy. He recalls: "When I was born in 1917 there was almost 1 meter water level in our house. It was usual yearly flood. ” Anyway people didn’t want leave that place. They worried about the goods and the changes a new mode of life will bring. The village Samovytsa was taken 35 kilometers away to the village Batalovo. The new village was named Lenynske. The village was divided into 200-300 meters blocks. In June 1956 people started to receive their land. Each house received 25 hundreds square meters. Everyone received his place by chance. The water was 18 meters deep in the ground. He first year only 14 houses were built, 48 houses – next year, the rest of the houses and buildings were built in 1958-1959. The first 11 students in the village Lenynske started their education in the usual house. A new 2storey school was open in 1960.
The submersion started in spring 1959 and continued till the autumn. People used to come to their old houses to check if everything is taken away.
Sometimes, because of higher the level of water the same day, people had to come to their new homes searching for a new way. A part of people from the submerged territory moved to Crimea, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Kyrovograd, and Odessa. Some of them used to come back closer to their native villages. Even now people remember each of more than 110 houses in their old village Samovytsa. People migrated not only near the Dnieper river region but also all over Ukraine.
Now many scientists work on resolving the problems created with Kremenchutsk water basin.
Now the ancient benches of Dnieper are under water. These benches are the center of ancient Ukrainian nation; they are also the home of free Cossacks – the cradle of human culture! The most beautiful landscapes are lost. Ancient Cossack graveyards are submerged – a Pantheon of Ukrainian nation. As a result of submersion 3000 churches, 10000 graveyards (5 million graves!) are under water.
A unique natural system of islands, lakes and forests disappeared. Water basin changed the natural water flow completely. The natural self-cleaning prosess of the river disappeared. The chemical and physical structure of water changed, water blossoming appeared. People used to call Dnieper - "Borycfen”, that means "the center of life energy”. Now it turned into the center of hazards. Many new kinds of bakeries appeared that cause new diseases. Now we have a problem of the benches strengthening. Every spring 60% of water in the region gets into the water basin.
Soviet Party considered the Kremenchutsk water basin to be a great achievement; a real victory over the nature; a triumph of science and progress! But, in real, it was an ecological disaster of Ukraine. Water started to decay, many fish died. And for the people it became a tragedy of their lives. Together with the villages, churches and graveyards people left a part of their souls there.
Starting fron 1956 till 1959 there was a great building of the new villages and people transmigration. It took great pains of local villagers, organizations and local authorities.
At first, the woodcutters brigades were made to clear the bottom of the future handmade sea. Then they started to build new villages. Each villager got a new house. The construction was very fast. In April people started to leave their homes and in October a new village appeared. In the old village the houses were built without foundation. The floor was made of clay. The roof was made of thatch. People received very good money for new house construction. General amount of money was calculated by a special committee. People didn’t want to leave their native places and some people stayed with their old houses until the water level reached their homes.
Sudyr Zavalko (now 92 years old) is a former villager of the submerged village Samovytsa. According to his words people heard about the submersion in early 1950. People could not believe that for the water power station a huge territory must be submerged. People discussed that fact and still couldn’t believe that this territory may be under water. It was their native land, the land of their grand grand parents. According to the plan all this beauty, all the forests and all this rich black soil will be submerged. Nechuporenko was the first to leave his village and moved to Cherkassy. He recalls: "When I was born in 1917 there was almost 1 meter water level in our house. It was usual yearly flood. ” Anyway people didn’t want leave that place. They worried about the goods and the changes a new mode of life will bring. The village Samovytsa was taken 35 kilometers away to the village Batalovo. The new village was named Lenynske. The village was divided into 200-300 meters blocks. In June 1956 people started to receive their land. Each house received 25 hundreds square meters. Everyone received his place by chance. The water was 18 meters deep in the ground. He first year only 14 houses were built, 48 houses – next year, the rest of the houses and buildings were built in 1958-1959. The first 11 students in the village Lenynske started their education in the usual house. A new 2storey school was open in 1960.
The submersion started in spring 1959 and continued till the autumn. People used to come to their old houses to check if everything is taken away.
Sometimes, because of higher the level of water the same day, people had to come to their new homes searching for a new way. A part of people from the submerged territory moved to Crimea, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Kyrovograd, and Odessa. Some of them used to come back closer to their native villages. Even now people remember each of more than 110 houses in their old village Samovytsa. People migrated not only near the Dnieper river region but also all over Ukraine.
Now many scientists work on resolving the problems created with Kremenchutsk water basin.
Now the ancient benches of Dnieper are under water. These benches are the center of ancient Ukrainian nation; they are also the home of free Cossacks – the cradle of human culture! The most beautiful landscapes are lost. Ancient Cossack graveyards are submerged – a Pantheon of Ukrainian nation. As a result of submersion 3000 churches, 10000 graveyards (5 million graves!) are under water.
A unique natural system of islands, lakes and forests disappeared. Water basin changed the natural water flow completely. The natural self-cleaning prosess of the river disappeared. The chemical and physical structure of water changed, water blossoming appeared. People used to call Dnieper - "Borycfen”, that means "the center of life energy”. Now it turned into the center of hazards. Many new kinds of bakeries appeared that cause new diseases. Now we have a problem of the benches strengthening. Every spring 60% of water in the region gets into the water basin.
Soviet Party considered the Kremenchutsk water basin to be a great achievement; a real victory over the nature; a triumph of science and progress! But, in real, it was an ecological disaster of Ukraine. Water started to decay, many fish died. And for the people it became a tragedy of their lives. Together with the villages, churches and graveyards people left a part of their souls there.