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In 1929, Stalin targeted Ukraine's church and intelligentsia, initiating the systematic liquidation of intellectuals. The communist regime arrested 5,000 scholars, scientists, poets, and artists prominent during Ukraine's independence, accusing them of belonging to the SVU, a secret organization allegedly planning an armed insurrection.
Only 45 faced a public trial, with no evidence deemed necessary. Thousands were imprisoned, deported, and executed as mass arrests continued throughout the 1930s. The church was also accused of involvement in the alleged plot, leading to the arrest, imprisonment, and execution of many priests. One individual recounts that their father, a priest, was among those who never returned. According to this individual, 30 bishops and thousands of priests perished, and hundreds of thousands of faithful were liquidated, including Metropolitan Wasyl Lipkiewski and his two successors, whose fates remain unknown.