Violation of food taboos by peasant women of Kyiv region and political use of accusations of anthropophagy: the case of Hanna Bilorus

Abstract

The article analyzes the emergence of psychopathological changes in peasant women resulting from long-term deprivation, using the examples of the archival and criminal case of Hanna Bilorus, oral historical testimonies, and official sources. These changes affected the deformation of women’s behavior and led to the spread of its extreme manifestations — violations of food taboos, an increase in cases of anthropophagy and necrophagy since the beginning of 1933. However, they were perceived by the peasants in different ways: from a sympathetic attitude to condemnation and lynchings. We discovered the long-term impact of the consequences of cannibalism on rural communities and the psyche of eyewitnesses to the tragedy. Additionally, it investigates the representation of cannibalism cases by the authorities, which often carry political undertones. Anthropophages were represented in official sources as marginal non-working elements (“ledar”), representatives of hostile social groups (“kurkuli”, “odnoosibnyky”), and spies. Using the archive-criminal case of Hanna Bilorus, the article demonstrates the correlation between accusations of espionage for Poland and the suspicion of cannibalism with the broader political context of 1932–1933. This context emphasized the “Polish threat” and the alleged dismantling of the DPU «counter-revolutionary network» associated with the Polish General Staff.