Tetiana Perga1; 1 TU Berlin/Institute of World History of National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Discussion
The report investigates the role of children in gopher extermination campaigns during the 1930s–1950s in the Ukrainian SSR, situating these practices within the broader context of agricultural modernization in the Soviet Union. It examines how nature was framed as an enemy to be eradicated and how children were mobilized as agents in this struggle. Special attention is given to the propaganda targeting children, the tasks assigned to them in pest-control campaigns, and the roles they played in such campaigns. The analysis highlights how such practices contributed to the normalization of violence against animals and shaped children’s moral frameworks, producing tensions between ideals of kindness and acts of cruelty. By exploring this neglected intersection of childhood, propaganda, and environmental policy, the study reveals how a totalitarian regime instrumentalized children to serve both ecological and ideological objectives.
