Holodomor

The Holodomor was a massive man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. The term itself comes from the Ukrainian language. It is a compound of words meaning "death by hunger" or "killing by starvation."

This event was part of a much larger Soviet famine that affected major grain-producing regions between 1930 and 1933. While many scholars agree the famine was man-made, they still debate its exact nature. They disagree on whether it was a deliberate act of genocide or a result of economic policies. This debate continues because there are no surviving documents that explicitly order the starvation of specific areas.

To understand the famine, one must look at the Soviet government's economic goals. During the First Five Year Plan, the Soviet Union pushed for rapid industrialization. To pay for this, Joseph Stalin required a "tribute" or tax from the peasantry. This was done through a process called collectivization. In collectivization, the state took control of how farms were managed and operated. Ukraine was one of the largest grain-producing regions in the USSR. Because of its high production, it was assigned unreasonably high grain quotas in 1930. These quotas were much higher than those in other parts of the Soviet Union.

Several different theories explain why the famine became so deadly. Some historians conclude that Stalin deliberately engineered the famine. They believe his goal was to eliminate the Ukrainian independence movement. Other scholars suggest the famine was a consequence of rapid industrialization and collectivization. They see it as a byproduct of shifting the economy. A middle position suggests the initial causes were unintentional results of collectivization. However, once the starvation began, leaders may have "instrumentalized" it. This means they used the hunger as a weapon to punish Ukrainians for resisting Soviet policies.

Natural factors also played a role in the low food supply. Historian Stephen G. Wheatcroft noted that the Soviet grain yield was low before the famine. He suggests damp weather might have hurt the harvest. Another historian, Mark Tauger, suggested that drought and damp weather were causes. He also pointed to endemic plant rust, which is a type of plant disease. Some scholars argue that a lack of crop rotation made these problems worse. Despite these natural factors, the grain collections by the state remained very high. In 1932, the state collected 22.8 million tons of grain, but in 1933, it collected 18.5 million tons.

The impact on the population was devastating and can be seen in statistics. Between 1926 and 1939, the Ukrainian population grew by only 6.6%. In comparison, Russia grew by 16.9% and Belarus grew by 11.7%. The number of people identifying as ethnically Ukrainian decreased by 10%. The famine was most severe in the spring of 1933. Many reports of mass starvation emerged from the Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts, which are administrative regions. Other heavily affected areas included Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Donetsk. In some areas, 70% to 80% of all famine deaths occurred in the first seven months of 1933.

Estimates of the total death toll vary among researchers. In 2003, a joint statement to the United Nations signed by 25 countries estimated 7 to 10 million deaths. More recent scholarship has provided a lower range. These newer studies estimate between 3.5 and 5 million victims. The famine also caused significant urban hardship. Rations in towns were cut back drastically during the winter of 1932 and spring of 1933. While urban workers originally had a rationing system, those rations were eventually cut as well. By the spring of 1933, even people living in cities faced starvation.

For many years, the truth about the Holodomor was kept secret. The Soviet Union banned all public discussion of the famine. It was not until the 1980s that the policy of "glasnost," or openness, began. This allowed for the declassification of historical documents. In 1987, Volodymyr Shcherbytskyi used the word "famine" in an official speech. Since 2006, the Holodomor has been recognized as a genocide by Ukraine and 33 other UN member states. The European Parliament and 35 U.S. states have also made this recognition. Today, the event is a major part of how people understand modern history.