Timeline.
1922 --The Soviet Union is formed with Ukraine, becoming one of the republics.
1924 --Joseph Stalin, one of the worst dictators in human history ascends to power.
1928--Stalin introduces a program of agricultural collectivization that forces peasants and farmers to give up land along with livestock, and join state-owned, factory-like collective farms. Stalin decided that collective farms would not only feed industrial workers in cities, but also provide a great amount of grain to be sold abroad, with the profits used to finance his industrialization plans.
1929--a policy of enforcement is applied that uses troops and secret police. Many Ukrainians refused to join collective farms. Stalin decided to ‘liquidate them as a class’ and accused Ukrainians of ‘bourgeois nationalism' (refers to the alleged practice by the ruling classes of deliberately dividing people by nationality, race, ethnicity, or religion, so as to distract them from possible class warfare.)
1930--(when it erupts) Hundreds of thousands Ukrainian’s are taken away, packed into freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they are left, often without food or shelter. In the end over 1 million Ukrainian peasants are seized and more than 850,000 deported to the frozen tundras of Siberia where many of them perished.
1932-1933--The Soviet government increases Ukraine's production quotas by 44%, and made sure that quota could not be met. With this increase starvation becomes widespread. Secret decrees are implemented which allow arrest or execution of any starving peasant that is found taking as little as a few stalks of wheat or a potato from the fields where he worked. By decree, discriminatory voucher systems are implemented, and military blockades are erected around Ukrainian villages that prevented the transport of food into the villages, and prevented the hungry from leaving in search of food. Brigades of young activists from other Soviet regions are brought in to these villages to confiscate hidden grain, and eventually all foods from peasants’ homes. Stalin states of Ukraine that “the national question is in essence a rural question” and he and his henchmen were determined to “teach a lesson through famine” and ultimately, to deal a “crushing blow” to the backbone of Ukraine, its rural population.
1933--More than half of the Ukrainian people dying were children. In the end, up to 10 million starve to death. Stalin denies to the world that there is any famine in Ukraine, and also prevents international aid from entering the country. Ukrainian people would ask their family who lived abroad to send food to their starving families, but the troops and police would take the food, as is was 'international aid'.
1924 --Joseph Stalin, one of the worst dictators in human history ascends to power.
1928--Stalin introduces a program of agricultural collectivization that forces peasants and farmers to give up land along with livestock, and join state-owned, factory-like collective farms. Stalin decided that collective farms would not only feed industrial workers in cities, but also provide a great amount of grain to be sold abroad, with the profits used to finance his industrialization plans.
1929--a policy of enforcement is applied that uses troops and secret police. Many Ukrainians refused to join collective farms. Stalin decided to ‘liquidate them as a class’ and accused Ukrainians of ‘bourgeois nationalism' (refers to the alleged practice by the ruling classes of deliberately dividing people by nationality, race, ethnicity, or religion, so as to distract them from possible class warfare.)
1930--(when it erupts) Hundreds of thousands Ukrainian’s are taken away, packed into freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they are left, often without food or shelter. In the end over 1 million Ukrainian peasants are seized and more than 850,000 deported to the frozen tundras of Siberia where many of them perished.
1932-1933--The Soviet government increases Ukraine's production quotas by 44%, and made sure that quota could not be met. With this increase starvation becomes widespread. Secret decrees are implemented which allow arrest or execution of any starving peasant that is found taking as little as a few stalks of wheat or a potato from the fields where he worked. By decree, discriminatory voucher systems are implemented, and military blockades are erected around Ukrainian villages that prevented the transport of food into the villages, and prevented the hungry from leaving in search of food. Brigades of young activists from other Soviet regions are brought in to these villages to confiscate hidden grain, and eventually all foods from peasants’ homes. Stalin states of Ukraine that “the national question is in essence a rural question” and he and his henchmen were determined to “teach a lesson through famine” and ultimately, to deal a “crushing blow” to the backbone of Ukraine, its rural population.
1933--More than half of the Ukrainian people dying were children. In the end, up to 10 million starve to death. Stalin denies to the world that there is any famine in Ukraine, and also prevents international aid from entering the country. Ukrainian people would ask their family who lived abroad to send food to their starving families, but the troops and police would take the food, as is was 'international aid'.
Promotion
This genocide was promoted mostly because no one really knew what was going on. This was a man-made famine. No one was allowed to talk about what was going on. No newspapers could mention it. Countries didn't know what was going on. In fact, some countries in the West praised Stalin in newspapers while this genocide was being executed. They praised the Soviet Union for their move towards industrialization. Back in Ukraine, by even saying the words famine, hunger or starvation you could be be jailed. Doctors, when they wrote up death certificates had to falsify the cause of death.
"To cover up its bloody crime, the Soviet government warned all doctors not to state true cause of death on death certificates. Instead, they stated a prevalent digestive ailment was the cause." Polikarp Kybkalo - Genocide Survivor testimony presented before the United States Ukraine Famine Commission in Washington, DC on October 8, 1986.
Stalin did his best to keep everyone oblivious to what was going on. He went to great measures to cover up what was really going on.
"...Our family lived in downtown Odessa, and I attended school there. I never saw starving people downtown, but many of the latter were seen on the outskirts of the city. Odessa was a port where foreign sailors and businessmen could always be found, so the authorities took measures not to allow hungry peasants to reach the downtown area. But everyone in Odessa knew that there was a horrible shortage of food in the villages. People swelled from hunger and died..." -Sviatoslav Karavansky, a famine survivor.
No one was to acknowledge that this was an act of genocide instead they were to acknowledge it as an unfortunate famine. The Soviet Union still claims that this was a widespread famine, not a calculated act of genocide. The genocide was also promoted through sheer force. Stalin sent in the army to seize control of the grain, and to ensure that no people were allowed to leave the country. The soldiers also monitored to make sure all of the grain got shipped out to Russia, but that no food came back for the people. Silence was one of Stalin's greatest tools.
"...(Our reporting) served Moscow's purpose of smearing the facts out of recognition and declaring the situation which, had we reported simply and clearly, might have worked up enough public opinion abroad to force remedial measures. And every correspondent each in his own measure, was guilty of collaborating in this monstrous hoax on the world."
Eugene Lyons - Moscow United Press correspondent from 1928 - 1934.
Assignment in Utopia, p. 573.
Most Western nations didn't know what was happening until 1933. The sad part is even by 1933, when the Western world knew about Holodomor, nothing was really done about it. Some Western reporters who witnesses the Holodomor first hand were black mailed into helping with the cover up of what was going on. Even when the Western nations found out about the genocide going on, they found it hard to believe that a country producing so much grain [that was being sold to them] was starving.
"To cover up its bloody crime, the Soviet government warned all doctors not to state true cause of death on death certificates. Instead, they stated a prevalent digestive ailment was the cause." Polikarp Kybkalo - Genocide Survivor testimony presented before the United States Ukraine Famine Commission in Washington, DC on October 8, 1986.
Stalin did his best to keep everyone oblivious to what was going on. He went to great measures to cover up what was really going on.
"...Our family lived in downtown Odessa, and I attended school there. I never saw starving people downtown, but many of the latter were seen on the outskirts of the city. Odessa was a port where foreign sailors and businessmen could always be found, so the authorities took measures not to allow hungry peasants to reach the downtown area. But everyone in Odessa knew that there was a horrible shortage of food in the villages. People swelled from hunger and died..." -Sviatoslav Karavansky, a famine survivor.
No one was to acknowledge that this was an act of genocide instead they were to acknowledge it as an unfortunate famine. The Soviet Union still claims that this was a widespread famine, not a calculated act of genocide. The genocide was also promoted through sheer force. Stalin sent in the army to seize control of the grain, and to ensure that no people were allowed to leave the country. The soldiers also monitored to make sure all of the grain got shipped out to Russia, but that no food came back for the people. Silence was one of Stalin's greatest tools.
"...(Our reporting) served Moscow's purpose of smearing the facts out of recognition and declaring the situation which, had we reported simply and clearly, might have worked up enough public opinion abroad to force remedial measures. And every correspondent each in his own measure, was guilty of collaborating in this monstrous hoax on the world."
Eugene Lyons - Moscow United Press correspondent from 1928 - 1934.
Assignment in Utopia, p. 573.
Most Western nations didn't know what was happening until 1933. The sad part is even by 1933, when the Western world knew about Holodomor, nothing was really done about it. Some Western reporters who witnesses the Holodomor first hand were black mailed into helping with the cover up of what was going on. Even when the Western nations found out about the genocide going on, they found it hard to believe that a country producing so much grain [that was being sold to them] was starving.
Disposing of the Dead
By 1933 around 25,000 Ukrainian people were dying a day. No one really had the time, or the strength to bury the dead.
In some cases, people who were alive, were mistaken as dead, and thrown into the mass grave sites as well.
In some cases, people who were alive, were mistaken as dead, and thrown into the mass grave sites as well.
Atrocities
During the Ukrainian Genocide the largest form of atrocities were letting the people starve to death although this wasn't the only method of killing. Starvation is known as one of the most ruthless forms of torture and death. But the Soviets also outlawed Ukrainian language and culture to create more suffering for the people.
One of Stalin's plans was to deport Ukrainians to the frozen tundras of Siberia. In the end hundreds of thousands Ukrainians were taken away, packed into freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they were left, often without food or shelter. In the end over 1 million Ukrainian peasants were seized and more than 850,000 deported to Siberia where many of them perished.
Stalin also introduced a program of agricultural collectivization in 1928 that forced peasants and farmers to give up land along with livestock, and join the state-owned, factory-like collective farms. Stalin decided that collective farms would not only feed industrial workers in cities, but also provide a great amount of grain to be sold abroad, with the profits used to finance his industrialization plans. Any Ukrainian farms now belonged to the state, and while Ukrainians were required to work on these collective farms many protested by burning their own crops and livestock rather then turning them to the state.
Stalin later on confiscated all crops down to the last grain on the Ukrainian farms. If any food was left over Soviet troops would seize it all and anyone who was hiding food or did not co-operate with the troops were executed or deported to forced labor camps. Stalin also sealed Ukrainian borders in 1933 this made it so no one could get out to buy food and no food could get in. The borders of Ukraine and much of the Ukraine-populated Kuban region were isolated by an armed forces unit that were ready to kill anyone who disobeyed or tried to escape. Tickets for transportation were also banned and peasants were prevented from entering urban districts, and expelled if they did. Over several thousand Ukrainian peasants managed to cross a river into Romania and received asylum there however many were killed during the crossing by Soviet border-guards.
Another extreme Stalin took was to spread poison over any plants remaining that could be used for food. The poison was spread over plants such as potatoes and sometimes grain.
The youth brigades (youths that supported the Stalin regime) lived off the land and ate whatever they confiscated from the peasants. The youth brigades often humiliated starving peasants by forcing them to fight each other for sport (boxing), or by forcing them to crawl and bark like dogs. Under the pretext of grain confiscation, the brigades routinely raped women living alone.
One of the more extreme atrocities during the Holodomor was actually done by fellow Ukrainian's trying to survive. Because there was no food, Ukrainians were forced to eat pets dead or alive, and sometimes even people such as their children. This happened mostly due to the isolation and confiscation of food. It was a common occurrence for families to eat their young in order to survive during the genocide. There was even some reported cases of peasants who were selling human sausages in the town, in order to survive. In the end over 2500 people were convicted of cannibalism during the famine. Because there was almost no food, people drank lots and lots of water to help with their hunger pains. As a result, people were swollen and sore. The water built up in people's skin and blood, making any movement painful.
Starvation reached a peak in the winter-spring of 1933 when over 25,000 persons died every day, over half of these people were children. During this time 20-25% of the population of Ukraine was exterminated.
Aside from the starvation going on Stalin also implemented a law that was authored by himself, on the protection of socialist property, which carried a sentence of either death or 10 years in prison for the misappropriation of kolhosp (Ukrainian acronym for 'collective farm') property. This law led to mass amounts of arrests and executions. Even children that were caught picking a handful of ears of grain were convicted regardless of whether the grain had once belonged to their parents. This law became known as the 'Law of Five ears of grain.'
Other laws Stalin created were fines on individual farms and whole villages that had not fulfilled grain quotas in the fall of 1932. This law gave Soviet authorities the right to confiscate all food items including grain. Another form of punishment Stalin made was for lagging behind on grain deliveries which introduced a ban on retail trade in August of 1932. This made it impossible for peasants to purchase bread.
In the fall of 1932 a system of blacklists were introduced. Any villages that failed to deliver the imposed amount of grain were placed on these lists and then encircled by armed detachments so that all movement of goods were halted. All of the food in these blockaded areas were confiscated. This is also linked to the borders of Ukraine being sealed. Grain procurement's still continued on in blacklisted communities and collective farms until all food items were confiscated. Peasants living in the blacklisted areas were thus condemned to starvation which was a death sentence. Almost all of Ukraine was turned into a starvation 'ghetto.'
The main objective of this engineered famine was to destroy the Ukrainian national idea by wiping out national elites and their social support base, and then by turning the peasants who survived the Holodomor into obedient collective farm workers-- or rather slaves of the state.
In the end, over 10 million Ukraine's starved to death or were killed by the authorities. One third of these victims were children.
“The dead were all around: on the roads, near the river, by the fences. I used to have 5 brothers. Altogether 792 souls have died in our village during the famine, in the war years – 135 souls."
(As remembered by Antonina Meleshchenko, village of Kosivka, region of Kyiv)
One of Stalin's plans was to deport Ukrainians to the frozen tundras of Siberia. In the end hundreds of thousands Ukrainians were taken away, packed into freight trains, and shipped to Siberia where they were left, often without food or shelter. In the end over 1 million Ukrainian peasants were seized and more than 850,000 deported to Siberia where many of them perished.
Stalin also introduced a program of agricultural collectivization in 1928 that forced peasants and farmers to give up land along with livestock, and join the state-owned, factory-like collective farms. Stalin decided that collective farms would not only feed industrial workers in cities, but also provide a great amount of grain to be sold abroad, with the profits used to finance his industrialization plans. Any Ukrainian farms now belonged to the state, and while Ukrainians were required to work on these collective farms many protested by burning their own crops and livestock rather then turning them to the state.
Stalin later on confiscated all crops down to the last grain on the Ukrainian farms. If any food was left over Soviet troops would seize it all and anyone who was hiding food or did not co-operate with the troops were executed or deported to forced labor camps. Stalin also sealed Ukrainian borders in 1933 this made it so no one could get out to buy food and no food could get in. The borders of Ukraine and much of the Ukraine-populated Kuban region were isolated by an armed forces unit that were ready to kill anyone who disobeyed or tried to escape. Tickets for transportation were also banned and peasants were prevented from entering urban districts, and expelled if they did. Over several thousand Ukrainian peasants managed to cross a river into Romania and received asylum there however many were killed during the crossing by Soviet border-guards.
Another extreme Stalin took was to spread poison over any plants remaining that could be used for food. The poison was spread over plants such as potatoes and sometimes grain.
The youth brigades (youths that supported the Stalin regime) lived off the land and ate whatever they confiscated from the peasants. The youth brigades often humiliated starving peasants by forcing them to fight each other for sport (boxing), or by forcing them to crawl and bark like dogs. Under the pretext of grain confiscation, the brigades routinely raped women living alone.
One of the more extreme atrocities during the Holodomor was actually done by fellow Ukrainian's trying to survive. Because there was no food, Ukrainians were forced to eat pets dead or alive, and sometimes even people such as their children. This happened mostly due to the isolation and confiscation of food. It was a common occurrence for families to eat their young in order to survive during the genocide. There was even some reported cases of peasants who were selling human sausages in the town, in order to survive. In the end over 2500 people were convicted of cannibalism during the famine. Because there was almost no food, people drank lots and lots of water to help with their hunger pains. As a result, people were swollen and sore. The water built up in people's skin and blood, making any movement painful.
Starvation reached a peak in the winter-spring of 1933 when over 25,000 persons died every day, over half of these people were children. During this time 20-25% of the population of Ukraine was exterminated.
Aside from the starvation going on Stalin also implemented a law that was authored by himself, on the protection of socialist property, which carried a sentence of either death or 10 years in prison for the misappropriation of kolhosp (Ukrainian acronym for 'collective farm') property. This law led to mass amounts of arrests and executions. Even children that were caught picking a handful of ears of grain were convicted regardless of whether the grain had once belonged to their parents. This law became known as the 'Law of Five ears of grain.'
Other laws Stalin created were fines on individual farms and whole villages that had not fulfilled grain quotas in the fall of 1932. This law gave Soviet authorities the right to confiscate all food items including grain. Another form of punishment Stalin made was for lagging behind on grain deliveries which introduced a ban on retail trade in August of 1932. This made it impossible for peasants to purchase bread.
In the fall of 1932 a system of blacklists were introduced. Any villages that failed to deliver the imposed amount of grain were placed on these lists and then encircled by armed detachments so that all movement of goods were halted. All of the food in these blockaded areas were confiscated. This is also linked to the borders of Ukraine being sealed. Grain procurement's still continued on in blacklisted communities and collective farms until all food items were confiscated. Peasants living in the blacklisted areas were thus condemned to starvation which was a death sentence. Almost all of Ukraine was turned into a starvation 'ghetto.'
The main objective of this engineered famine was to destroy the Ukrainian national idea by wiping out national elites and their social support base, and then by turning the peasants who survived the Holodomor into obedient collective farm workers-- or rather slaves of the state.
In the end, over 10 million Ukraine's starved to death or were killed by the authorities. One third of these victims were children.
“The dead were all around: on the roads, near the river, by the fences. I used to have 5 brothers. Altogether 792 souls have died in our village during the famine, in the war years – 135 souls."
(As remembered by Antonina Meleshchenko, village of Kosivka, region of Kyiv)