How Stalin starved Ukraine

Vox
25 Mar 202215:09
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThe video recounts the harrowing story of the Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed millions in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. Through the words of Lydia, a survivor, it details the brutal policies of Joseph Stalin, who confiscated grain and imposed collectivization to suppress Ukrainian independence. The narrative highlights the severe starvation, resistance, and resilience of Ukrainians, and the subsequent disinformation campaign that sought to erase this tragedy from history. The video also draws parallels to contemporary conflicts, emphasizing the ongoing struggle for Ukrainian sovereignty and the dangers of historical revisionism.

Takeaways
  • 📜 The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, killing millions.
  • 💔 Lydia, a survivor, described the horrific scenes of swollen bodies and dead people on the roads.
  • 🏡 Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, was targeted by Stalin for its fertile farmland.
  • 😢 Stalin feared Ukrainian nationalism and purged intellectuals, priests, and religious structures.
  • 🔧 Stalin's Five Year Plan aimed to industrialize the Soviet Union by collectivizing agriculture, consolidating individual farms into state-run farms.
  • 🌾 Ukrainian farmers resisted collectivization, leading Stalin to label them as 'kulaks' and enemies of the state, seizing their belongings and exiling or executing them.
  • 🚫 Stalin imposed grain quotas far beyond farmers' capacity, confiscating all grain, and punishing those who hid or took grain.
  • 🚷 The borders of Ukraine were closed to prevent people from fleeing the famine, leading to widespread starvation.
  • 📉 The Soviet Union suppressed information about the famine, denying its existence and manipulating the media narrative.
  • 🌍 Despite some attempts to expose the famine, the West did not intervene, and the Soviet Union continued to cover up the Holodomor for decades.
Q & A

  • What is the Holodomor?

    -The Holodomor was a man-made famine that took place in Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians due to starvation. It is recognized by many as a genocide orchestrated by Joseph Stalin.

  • Why did Stalin target Ukrainian farmers and agriculture?

    -Stalin targeted Ukrainian farmers and agriculture as part of his effort to control grain production and fund Soviet industrialization. He saw the independent farming culture as a threat to Soviet ideology and sought to collectivize agriculture, consolidating individual farms into state-run farms.

  • How did Stalin enforce collectivization and grain quotas in Ukraine?

    -Stalin enforced collectivization and grain quotas by setting impossibly high quotas for grain production. When farmers failed to meet these quotas, Soviet authorities confiscated all available grain and food, leaving the population to starve.

  • What were some of the methods used by Ukrainians to survive during the Holodomor?

    -Ukrainians used various methods to survive, such as hiding grain in secret places, making makeshift bread at night to avoid detection, and finding food in rivers, streams, or even resorting to eating animals, pets, birds, and in extreme cases, cannibalism.

  • How did the Soviet government cover up the Holodomor?

    -The Soviet government covered up the Holodomor by denying its existence, banning the press from reporting on it, manipulating language to downplay the crisis, destroying archives, falsifying death certificates, and suppressing census data that showed population declines.

  • Who was Walter Duranty, and what role did he play in the Holodomor narrative?

    -Walter Duranty was a Moscow correspondent for the New York Times who denied the existence of the Holodomor in his reporting, describing it as a 'food shortage.' His influential articles helped downplay the severity of the famine to the outside world.

  • What is the significance of Raphael Lemkin's research in relation to the Holodomor?

    -Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term 'genocide,' applied it to the Holodomor based on four factors: the extermination of intellectuals, the destruction of churches and priests, the starvation of farmers, and the fragmentation of the Ukrainian people through resettlement.

  • How did the Holodomor impact Ukrainian culture and population in the long term?

    -The Holodomor had a devastating impact on Ukrainian culture and population, killing millions and decimating rural communities. It also led to a resettlement program that brought in people from various parts of the Soviet Union, particularly Russia, to rebuild the labor force in Ukraine.

  • Why has the Russian government not acknowledged the Holodomor as genocide?

    -The Russian government has not acknowledged the Holodomor as genocide, maintaining that the famine affected Russia just as severely. This stance helps them avoid taking historical responsibility for the deliberate policies that targeted Ukrainians.

  • What parallels are drawn in the script between the Holodomor and the current situation in Ukraine?

    -The script draws parallels between the Holodomor and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the use of similar tactics of disinformation and the targeting of Ukrainian identity and sovereignty. It warns of the potential rewriting and forgetting of history if Russia succeeds in its current aggression.

Outlines
00:00
🇺🇦 Memories of the Holodomor

Rostyslav reads his grandmother Lydia's harrowing recollections of the Holodomor, a man-made famine that devastated Ukraine from 1932 to 1933. Lydia describes the horror of watching people die of starvation and the struggle to survive. She recounts how Stalin's policies, aimed at industrializing the Soviet Union and breaking Ukrainian self-reliance, led to widespread suffering. Farmers were labeled as 'kulaks' and persecuted, leading to mass executions and famine. Lydia's personal anecdotes provide a poignant testimony to the brutality of this period.

05:02
🌾 Stalin's Famine and its Deadly Consequences

Stalin's oppressive policies included setting unattainable grain production quotas and seizing all available food, which led to mass starvation in Ukraine. Despite pleas from party members to change these policies, Stalin doubled down, exacerbating the famine. Ukrainian villages were decimated, with many people resorting to eating anything they could find, including animals and even resorting to cannibalism. Lydia's efforts to help her starving neighbors highlight the small acts of humanity amidst the widespread despair.

10:02
📰 Cover-up and Legacy of the Holodomor

The aftermath of the Holodomor saw massive population loss in Ukraine and other regions like Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union attempted to cover up the famine through disinformation and suppression of evidence, including censoring the press and altering census data. Despite efforts to deny the famine, the truth was preserved through oral histories. In recent years, the Holodomor has been recognized as a genocide by several countries, but Russia continues to deny historical responsibility. This denial is echoed in modern disinformation tactics used during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. It is considered a genocide by many due to the deliberate actions of the Soviet government, under Joseph Stalin, to suppress Ukrainian nationalism and independence. The term 'Holodomor' itself means 'death by starvation' and encapsulates the mass suffering and death caused by Stalin's policies, as detailed in the script.
💡Collectivization
Collectivization was a policy introduced by Joseph Stalin to consolidate individual landholdings and labor into collective farms. This policy aimed to increase agricultural productivity and produce surplus grain to fund Soviet industrialization. In Ukraine, it led to widespread resistance and was enforced with brutal methods, contributing significantly to the famine described in the video.
💡Kulak
A 'kulak' was a term used by the Soviet government to describe wealthy peasants who owned larger farms and were seen as class enemies. Stalin's regime used this label to justify the persecution, deportation, and execution of many Ukrainian farmers who resisted collectivization. This campaign against kulaks was part of a broader effort to suppress Ukrainian independence and contributed to the Holodomor.
💡Genocide
Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The script highlights how the Holodomor is recognized as a genocide due to Stalin's deliberate policies aimed at exterminating Ukrainian farmers, intellectuals, and culture to undermine Ukrainian identity and independence. Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term 'genocide,' applied it to the Holodomor based on these targeted actions.
💡Five Year Plan
The Five Year Plan was a series of nationwide economic goals implemented by Stalin to rapidly industrialize the Soviet Union. To fund this plan, Stalin relied on grain exports, leading to the forced collectivization of farms and the subsequent famine in Ukraine. The plan prioritized industrial growth over human lives, significantly contributing to the catastrophic events described in the script.
💡Industrialization
Industrialization in the Soviet context refers to the rapid development of industries such as coal, steel, and electricity. Stalin's push for industrialization required substantial funding, which he sought to obtain by exporting grain from collectivized farms. This policy led to severe grain shortages and famine in rural Ukraine, as explained in the video.
💡Propaganda
Propaganda refers to biased or misleading information used to promote a political cause or point of view. The script describes how Stalin's regime used propaganda to vilify resisting farmers as 'kulaks' and justify their persecution. It also highlights how Soviet authorities downplayed the famine and manipulated information to cover up the Holodomor.
💡Resettlement
Resettlement in the context of the Holodomor refers to the Soviet policy of moving people from various parts of the Soviet Union, particularly Russians, into depopulated areas of Ukraine. This policy aimed to replace the lost Ukrainian population and integrate these regions more firmly into the Soviet state. It had long-term effects on the demographic and cultural landscape of Ukraine.
💡Famine
A famine is an extreme scarcity of food, leading to widespread hunger and death. The script details the engineered famine in Ukraine during 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, caused by Stalin's grain requisition policies. This famine resulted in millions of deaths and is described through personal accounts of starvation and desperate survival strategies.
💡Disinformation
Disinformation involves deliberately spreading false information to deceive people. The Soviet government used disinformation to deny the existence of the Holodomor, controlling the narrative by banning reports on the famine and punishing those who tried to expose the truth. The script illustrates how this disinformation campaign kept the extent of the crisis hidden from the international community and future generations.
Highlights

Lydia, a Holodomor survivor, recounts the harrowing experiences of the man-made famine in Ukraine that resulted in millions of deaths.

The Holodomor,

Transcripts

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HolodomorUkraine FamineGenocideSurvivor StoriesStalin1930sMan-Made DisasterSoviet UnionHistorical TraumaFamily History