Holodomor

The Holodomor was a human-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians during the 1930s. Some historians classify the famine as genocide, although the Russian government in the early twenty-first century denied that the Soviets intentionally starved people. The Holodomor is also known as Stalin's famine, as Joseph Stalin was the Soviet Union's leader at the time of the event. The famine happened when peasant farmers were forced to collectivize their farms and give their grain and other food to the Soviet government. The death toll of the famine ranges from 3.5 million to as high as 10 million, according to different sources. Many Ukrainians remember the Holodomor each year on the fourth Saturday of November.

Background

Before the 1910s, Russia was a vast empire and the largest country in the world. A monarch called the tsar ruled Russia. In the 1800s, many countries in Europe became democracies, and the Russian people wanted more power in their own government. Many in Russia were poor, working-class people who labored hard for low wages. In the late 1800s, socialism—a political and economic system whose goal was a fairer society through violent revolution—became popular with some Russian people. A number of groups, including the Bolsheviks, wanted to bring socialism to Russia. Eventually the Bolsheviks forced the tsar to abdicate his throne, and—after a bloody civil war—took control and instituted their form of government. The Bolsheviks eventually became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin was a member of the Communist Party who became one of the most powerful people in Russia by the mid-1920s. After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, Stalin took power in the country. Stalin was a harsh, violent leader, and he eventually became a dictator. After taking power, Stalin made many changes to the Soviet Union in the hopes of making it a powerful, industrialized country. As part of his Communist goals, Stalin had the Soviet government seize power of all the farmland. Any farmers who resisted the Soviet takeover were punished or killed. Although the takeover was meant to make the Soviet Union more powerful, it caused hunger and strife. Stalin was a brutal dictator, and he kept control of the Soviet Union despite the hunger and backlash. He had a powerful secret police force and maintained absolute control over the country.

Overview

When Stalin took over power and began the collectivization of the farmlands throughout the Soviet Union, he faced backlash from some of the peasant farmers. Oftentimes, people were killed for resisting collectivization, but many Ukrainians rebelled against government control. Some historians think that this rebellion caused Stalin to think of harsh ways to try to convince the Ukrainians to go along with the collectivization plan. In the early 1930s, the Soviet government began requesting more grain from Ukraine than the peasant farmers could provide. Soviet troops raided the Ukrainian farms taking personal stores of grain. Many historians believe that the Soviet government took the stores of grain and other foods to purposefully cause a famine. These historians claim that the Soviet government wanted to starve the Ukrainians into submission. After the famine, the Soviet government claimed the lack of food was the result of a poor harvest.

Holodomor literally means "death by hunger." In the winter of 1932 into 1933, the Ukrainians experienced terrible hunger and famine. As the Ukrainians began to starve, the Soviet government prohibited them from crossing the border to obtain food elsewhere, causing even more starvation. Many historians believe that Stalin himself ordered the ban on travel to punish the Ukrainians. Survivors of the Holodomor said that Communist grain was even stored within the sight of some starving Ukrainians, but they were not permitted to have any.

Some people who lived through the Holodomor recounted horrible experiences they endured to survive. Many people who survived did so by eating grass, horsehides, and other materials that were eaten only for mere survival. Other people survived through cannibalism, although many people died because they refused to take part in the practice. Some people who were starving died when they tried to eat a small amount of food, as trying to eat can kill people who are starving. Some survivors of the event explained that people were very quiet during the winter months of the Holodomor because they did not have the energy even to move and speak because they were so hungry.

Estimates of the number of people who died in the Holodomor vary widely. Some researchers believe that roughly 3.5 million Ukrainians died in the famine, but others say that the death toll was actually much higher—even as high as 10 million victims. Entire villages were wiped out during the famine in some places, and in some towns and cities, as many as 30 percent of the population died during the Holodomor.

The Soviet government and later the Russian government argued that a poor harvest was the reason so many people died in Ukraine and other parts of the Soviet Union at the time. However, others believe that Stalin intentionally orchestrated the famine. Some Russian and other former Soviet leaders deny the Holodomor was meant by Stalin to punish the Ukrainians. Even some pro-Russian Ukrainians doubt whether the Holodomor happened as survivors say it did. Despite the doubts of some, the Holodomor has been labeled as genocide by many historians and other experts. In 2008, Canada became the first country to recognize the Holodomor as an act of genocide. The United States opened a Holodomor memorial in Washington, DC, in the 2010s.

Since the Holodomor was perpetuated during the Communist Party's reign, the event was not discussed widely in the Soviet Union until the country broke up in the early 1990s. Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. After that, more of the survivors of the Holodomor discussed their experiences openly, allowing people to learn about the event.

In the twenty-first century, Holodomor Remembrance Day is held in Ukraine every fourth Saturday in November. This day is meant to honor the victims and remember the terrible events in the hopes of never repeating them.

Bibliography

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Makuch, Andrij, and Vasyl Markus. "Famine-Genocide of 1932–3." Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, 2009, www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CF%5CA%5CFamine6Genocideof1932hD73.htm. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Marson, James. "Ukraine's Forgotten Famine." Guardian, 18 Nov. 2009, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/18/ukraine-famine-russia-holodomor. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Mosendz, Polly. "Ukrainians Mourn Holodomor with Memorial Ceremonies around the World." Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2015, www.newsweek.com/ukrainians-mourn-holodomor-memorial-ceremonies-around-world-399301. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Sebag, Simon. "Holocaust by Hunger: The Truth behind Stalin's Great Famine." Daily Mail, 25 July 2008, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1038774/Holocaust-hunger-The-truth-Stalins-Great-Famine.html. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Young, Cathy. "Remember the Holodomor." Weekly Standard, 8 Dec. 2008, www.weeklystandard.com/remember-the-holodomor/article/16943. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Young, Cathy. "Russia Denies Stalin's Killer Famine." Daily Beast, 31 Oct. 2015, www.thedailybeast.com/russia-denies-stalins-killer-famine. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.