Although opinions differ as to whether the famine that occurred in Ukraine in the 1930s can actually be called a genocide, there are many signs that point to this. The famine in the area certainly did not arise by chance. About seven million people died during the famine. In Ukraine, this famine is referred to as Holodomor, which means genocide through hunger.
What came before
Ukraine is originally a rich agricultural area, it was the breadbasket of the former Soviet Union and that is why it is all the stranger that a huge famine occurred in this large area. With the fall of the Tsar in 1917, hope dawned for the nationalist Ukrainians, they hoped for their own state separate from Russia, they founded the People’s Republic of Ukraine and proclaimed Kiev as their capital. At the end of that year, however, Lenin decided to make all the areas that had belonged to the Tsar’s Russia part of his Soviet Union, and he especially wanted the breadbasket of Ukraine as part of his country. Fighting ensued between the Red Army and Ukrainian nationalist forces, with the Ukrainians ultimately defeated after four years. The western part of the country fell into the hands of Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia. The Russians immediately started sending grain to Moscow and Leningrad in particular, because of the hunger prevailing there. At the same time, a drought broke out in Ukraine, causing hunger. Dislike for the Soviet Union and its policies grew rapidly, but Lenin was a good politician who saw that he had to keep Ukraine on friendly terms. Lenin relaxed the rules: quotas were reduced, room was made for a kind of free market and traditional Ukrainian customs were allowed to revive. The Orthodox Church also regained some freedom.
Kulaks
In 1924, Stalin had come to power in the Soviet Union and was not charmed by the nationalism of the Ukrainians and their aversion to the collective farm system. Unlike Lenin, Stalin was not one to relax things. He wanted to break the power of the kulaks . The kulaks were those in communist jargon who, before the arrival of the communists, had owned an area of more than 24 acres or had employed people themselves. Stalin believed that any uprising would be led by these kulaks. That is why they had to be liquidated. About ten million people, the kulaks and their relatives, were driven from their homes. It was forbidden to help them and they were deported to the east.
The farmers in Ukraine, who at that time made up about 90% of the Ukrainian population, did not like the new system of collective farms and had become factory workers. However, anyone who refused to cooperate was declared a ‘kulak’ and deported. Yet many farmers could not tolerate the system and slaughtered all their livestock to prevent them from falling into the hands of the communists, while others destroyed their tools. The punishments were severe and many farmers were shot.
Hunger as a Weapon
Stalin then decided on a policy that he knew would lead to famine and the death of millions. The government began asking for extremely high grain quotas, forcing farmers to give up even their stocks for planting. It is clear that the government knew that this would lead to a lack of food in the area. Military and secret police searched for hidden food supplies and took or destroyed that food. Quotas were increased in August and October 1932 and again in January 1933, until there was no food left in the Ukraine. Much grain was sold abroad to fulfill the Five Year Plan and to propel the Soviet Union into the modern nation. If that grain had been used to feed its own population, it would probably have been enough for two years. Communist authorities who requested food aid for Ukraine were turned down and 100,000 soldiers were brought into Ukraine to close the area to incoming food and to ‘cleanse’ the Ukrainian Communist Party. Anyone found in possession of food that was not lawful was killed or sentenced to ten years in prison.
Millions of Victims
The elderly and children were the first victims of hunger, people fled to the cities, but hunger had now struck everywhere. When the quotas were lifted later in 1933, it was too late and the seeds of famine had been sown. At the height of the famine in the spring of 1933, 25,000 people died every day and by the end of that year 25% of the population had died, including three million children. There are no exact numbers and the number of victims is estimated at five to ten million, with seven million deaths as the most frequently mentioned number. The official Soviet policy was to ignore the famine, which simply did not exist. Anyone who talked about it was guilty of anti-Soviet propaganda. It was not until the end of 1933 that food was allowed into Ukraine again and the famine ended, but political terror continued. Until 1941 when German troops invaded and communist terror gave way to Nazi terror.
Holodomor
Source: Alexander Wienerberger, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
It has taken Ukraine years to recover from this famine. Russian ‘settlers’ were sent to the area to bury the dead and repopulate the area. This made Russification a fact. This famine was swept under the carpet for years, but the people of Ukraine have never forgotten it. They even have a special word for this famine, which was a means to break the people: Holodomor, a genocide through hunger.
Was the Famine Genocide?
Not all scientists agree on whether the famine in Ukraine was actually man-made, but there are many signs that it is. The case may not meet all the requirements for calling it genocide, but it is clear that Stalin deliberately banned people from leaving the area, did not allow new supplies to enter the area, and exported large quantities of grain while he knew there was hunger in Ukraine. If there is no genocide in the strict sense , then there are certainly crimes against humanity and mass murder.