In 1929 , the church was closed by the Soviet government . Life in the Soviet Union turned out to be hard . The famine of 1932 – 1933 renewed interest in the idea of returning to Sweden – some villagers signed a list stating that they wanted to leave the country . This led to the arrest of 20 people by the secret police , the GPU . Five of them were sent to prison . Several villagers were killed in the Stalinist purge of the following years . In 1930s , the majority of the 3,500 Scandinavian descendants who lived in the Southern Ukraine were accused of spying and sent along with their families to katorga in Siberia and Karelia
Stalinist purge
Great Purge
Gammalsvenskby