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A.I. Kurbatova was born in 1926 and survived the Holodomor with her parents in the village of Denykhivka in Tetiiv raion of Kyiv oblast (currently Bila Tserkva raion of Kyiv oblast). Her family was not rich; they had a horse that they eventually surrendered to the collective farm, a cow that they had to sell to finish the house, and two pigs that died of disease.

Kurbatova’s father was a tradesman, likely a carpenter.  She remembers that he was designated as a kulak. As such, he was not allowed to join the collective farm initially and had to look for work outside the village. Kurbatova’s mother joined the collective farm, and “before the famine,” the search brigade came to their house to demand that she deliver 18 poods (1 pood is 16.3807 kg) of grain. They searched the house, taking with them a jug of grain, pillows, and a sewing machine, and kicking Kurbatova, her mother and sister out of their house. Eventually, in spring, Kurbatova’s mother managed to return to the house with her family. With the money that their father made, he could buy some bread, but the activists came for the bread, too. They took a loaf of bread that Kurbatova’s little sister Ania tried to cover up with her body. It was such a shock for the little Ania that she refused to eat cereal that her mother offered her, said that she wanted bread, and died shortly after. Kurbatova’s father joined the collective farm later and was exploited ruthlessly. He fought  in WWII and was killed in 1944.

Kurbatova mentions that she always wanted to have a cow and milk her. Later the family purchased a cow, and she took care of it and had enough of the milk which she had so craved and could not have during the Famine.

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