Our ancestors dreamed of a happy life for many centuries. And only we, the elderly people, having lived a lifetime of hard labor, have lived to see this happy time.

At present, we are no longer miserable and powerless slaves that could be exchanged for animals. We have become equally empowered people of our great Motherland. The Soviet people fought and won for the right of human freedom and dignified life. Our people won this right through a bloody and brutal battle in the days of October, 1917.

The Soviet government is mindful of all of its citizens. Men and women that have worked through to old age are provided with a state pension, in accordance to their earnings and length of work served, regardless of where they worked; enterprises, factories, collective or state farms.

On the 17^th of October, 1964, the Council of Ministers of the USSR, issued a decree (No. 859) on the order of appointment and payment of pensions to members of the collective and state farms. This regulation came into effect on the 1^st of January, 1965. It was the first law in the world which provided for the pensions of village laborers in their old age.

On February 2^nd, 1965, all of the male and female farmers of the collective farm New Life gathered in the Divin House of Culture to collect their Pensioner Certificates. There were a total of 120 people. A representative of the Kobryn leadership, Comrade Plovka, gave a speech to the collective farmer-pensioners. He congratulated all those gathered with the designation of pensioners, wished them good health and a long life. In response, the farmer-pensioners and all those present burst into lengthy applause.

After that, a member of the Kobryn Department of Social Welfare, Comrade Burachkov, called by last name each of the pensioners and presented them with their Pensioner Certificates, along with words of good wishes and a hearty handshake.

The Pensioner Certificates were given out to the music of the wind orchestra band of the Divin High School. After that, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the farm laborers came out onto the stage. Girls and boys with red ties warmly greeted the retirees. They were proud of their labor and promised to be their successors in labor for the good of the motherland. {76}

Comrade N. S. Sokolyuk, the overseer of the New Life collective farm, came out on stage. He also congratulated the senior farmers with their well-deserved pension. In his speech, he called on the names of individual laborers that have earned praise for their honest and conscientious work in the production of agricultural products.

Comrade M. Z. Jakubovich , a farmer, delivered a speech on behalf of the retirees. He thanked the Communist Party and the Soviet Government for providing for him in his old age. He promised to continue to work to the best of his abilities on the fields of the farm.

Following this there were a lot of other speeches congratulating the retirees.

On behalf of the workers, from the teachers and doctors of the Divin district, comrade Klochkovich, Alexander Ignatevich came out onto the stage. He spoke of the great, laborious path which all of these elders had taken, about the amount of strength, health, and labor they gave for their native farm.

After that, there was a concert for the pensioners. Their children and grandchildren gave a large and interesting amateur concert. That is how good and interesting the farmer-elders were welcomed to pensioner life in Divin’s collective farm New Life.

This was all conducted correctly. These people deserved such honor and respect through their honest and faithful labor.

On November 2nd, 1969, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our farm, New Life.

In Divin this was celebrated ceremoniously. A big gathering of the entire collective took place in the House of Culture. The overseer of the collective, comrade Sokolyuk N. S. came onto the stage with a big announcement. He spoke about accomplishments and successes, which were accomplished through the years of collective efforts, of plans of collective life in the future. Veterans of the collective, comrades M. H. Kuharchuk, M. Z. Jakubovich, Klochkovich and other presenters told of times in the cultural and material lives of our people throughout these years. After the presentations of the veterans of the collective and the selected, best field workers, awards were given out: 39 people were awarded with valuable gifts, while 24 people were awarded with honorary diplomas.

The forest is one of the treasures of our region. Care for it and its security are a government priority and important issue. This is why in Divin a forestry service was formed. It successfully operates in Divin presently. Each year, it forests trees on big plots of land in our region. It monitors the security of our forest, which is very valuable for the rural villager. There is also an adjoined mechanical shop that was begun being built in the first days of the fall of 1967. This shop was designated for the treatment of forest productions and is to mainly create wood planks and other products.

{77} In the summer of 1966, we had created an inter-collective forestry district. It united five collectives: the Divin collective, New Life, the Povit collective, Labor, the Lelikov collective, Red Star, the Ossov collective, Friendship of Nations, and the Habovichev collective, Kutuzova. The center of control is located in Divin.

In the time of its existence, the Divin inter-collective forest district forested more than 300 hectares [750 acre]; of land.

We had already lived for a quarter of a century after the war. Those gloomy and difficult times had remained in the past. Sometimes it seems to us that none of this really happened, that it was all a dream. But when our thoughts return to the past, horrible times of war, our hair stands up on our heads and a frost covers our bodies. One shivers from these memories. You think: where did a person find the strength and willpower to endure so much different grief and calamity? This is why the Soviet government, Party, and the Soviet people so insistently fight for eternal peace in the entire world. This is necessary so that today’s generation and those to follow would not have to know those sorrows which we encountered and lived through.