Intensification of the Process of Mass Closing of Churches and Houses of Prayer in the Kharkiv Region in the First Half and Middle of the 1930s

The article is concerned with the quickening of the pace of mass closing of churches and houses of prayer in Kharkiv and the region during the first half and middle of the 1930s. The author surveys the current state of research on the issue and finds that this phenomenon remains poorly described. An overview of primary sources shows that the source base for the study of church closures during this period is reliable and sufficient. The article situates the upsurge in the closing of churches in the context of the agenda of the Communist Party and the anti-religious policy of the Soviet totalitarian state, aimed at creating a non-religious society in the shortest possible timeframe (the so-called ‘godless five-year plan’). The process of closing churches and houses of prayer in Kharkiv and the region is outlined in some detail, along with the legal framework that regulated it. The article sheds light on the administrative and repressive methods (including persistent intimidation of believers and clergy) that were mainly used by local authorities in this sphere. The author concludes that the scale and negative outcomes of churches and houses of prayer closures in the first half to mid- 1930s far exceeded those of a similar process in the late 1920s. The author demonstrates that the closing of churches in the region reached its peak in the first half and middle of the 1930s; clarifies the scale and extent of this phenomenon; and highlights the deeply negative consequences of the large-scale suppression of the activity of churches and houses of prayer and their eradication, which was accompanied by demolition of monuments of religious architecture from different eras and destruction of objects of worship and artifacts of religious art (unique iconostases, kiots, bells, murals, etc.). Finally, the article considers the resistance of believers to the closure and destruction of churches and houses of prayer in the Kharkiv region.