The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор, "death by hunger") refers to the catastrophic famine that struck Soviet Ukraine in 1932–1933 under the leadership of Joseph Stalin. While famine also affected other grain-producing regions of the USSR, scholars distinguish the Ukrainian case because of the deliberate policies that intensified mortality there and in the ethnically Ukrainian Kuban region.
The famine emerged in the context of forced collectivization of agriculture and the campaign against so-called kulaks. Soviet authorities imposed unrealistic grain procurement quotas, confiscated seed grain and household food stores, and introduced measures that prevented peasants from leaving affected areas. A January 1933 directive sealed Ukraine's borders, trapping starving villagers. Villages that failed to meet quotas were placed on "blacklists" cutting them off from manufactured goods and food supplies.
Estimates of deaths vary by methodology. Demographic studies, including work by Ukrainian and Western historians, generally place direct famine losses in Ukraine at roughly 3.5 to 5 million people, with some higher estimates including lost births. Entire villages were depopulated.
Recognition of the Holodomor as genocide is a live legal and political question. Ukraine's parliament passed a 2006 law declaring it a genocide of the Ukrainian people. Numerous states — including the United States, Canada, Germany (Bundestag resolution, 2022), Australia, and the European Parliament (2022 resolution) — have recognized it as genocide or a crime against humanity. The Russian Federation rejects the genocide characterization, framing the famine as a Soviet-wide tragedy.
Key scholarly works include Robert Conquest's The Harvest of Sorrow (1986), Andrea Graziosi's research, and Anne Applebaum's Red Famine (2017). Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term "genocide," described Soviet actions against Ukrainians in a 1953 speech as "a classic example of Soviet genocide."
The Holodomor is commemorated annually on the fourth Saturday of November in Ukraine.
Example
In November 2022, the German Bundestag passed a resolution recognizing the Holodomor as a genocide, joining over a dozen states that had previously done so.
Frequently asked questions
Although 1932 harvests were poor, mortality was driven by Soviet policies: excessive grain quotas, confiscation of food and seed, blacklisting of villages, and a January 1933 decree sealing Ukraine's borders to prevent peasants from fleeing in search of food.
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