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Event

Whether the Holodomor was genocide

The dispute among parliaments, a Kyiv court and historians over whether the 1932–33 famine in Ukraine was genocide.

9 links, 7 backed by primary records

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Dates
1988 –

A dispute among parliaments, a Ukrainian court and historians. Each side is given in its own words in the story The Hunger.

Connections 9

interventions

  • Raphael Lemkin 1953 his 1953 essay, as the Senate quotes it, calls the Soviet case "a case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation" Primary record 12
  • State Duma of Russia 2 Apr 2008 statement of 2 April 2008: repressive grain measures worsened the crop failure; no historical evidence the famine was organised along ethnic lines; genocide "cannot be ascribed" Primary record 3
  • Kyiv Court of Appeal 13 Jan 2010 ruled on 13 January 2010 that seven Soviet leaders committed genocide, and closed the case because they were dead; no trial was held Primary record 4
  • U.S. Congress 3 Oct 2018 a Senate resolution of 2018 recognises a 1988 commission's finding that Stalin and those around him committed genocide against the Ukrainians Primary record 1
  • European Parliament 15 Dec 2022 voted 507 to 12 (17 abstentions) on 15 December 2022 to recognise the Holodomor as genocide Primary record 5
  • Anne Applebaum calls it genocide in Lemkin's original sense, and says it is harder to show in international law Scholarship & press 2
  • Hiroaki Kuromiya argues in 2008 that there is not enough evidence that Stalin caused the famine in order to kill millions, or that it was a Ukrainian ethnic genocide Scholarship & press 6

involved

  • Ukraine Law No. 376-V of 28 November 2006 states that the Holodomor was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people Primary record 14

influenced by

Timeline 6 dates
  1. 1953 Raphael Lemkin intervened in Whether the Holodomor was genocide
  2. 1988 – Whether the Holodomor was genocide
  3. 2 Apr 2008 State Duma of Russia intervened in Whether the Holodomor was genocide
  4. 13 Jan 2010 Kyiv Court of Appeal intervened in Whether the Holodomor was genocide
  5. 3 Oct 2018 U.S. Congress intervened in Whether the Holodomor was genocide
  6. 15 Dec 2022 European Parliament intervened in Whether the Holodomor was genocide
Proof 7 sources
  1. S. Res. 435, 115th Congress: the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, U.S. Senate, 3 Oct 2018. Primary record
    authored an essay in 1953 entitled, ``Soviet Genocide in [the] Ukraine,'' which highlighted the ``classic example of Soviet genocide,''
    a case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation
    recognizes the findings of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine as submitted to Congress on April 22, 1988, including that “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932-1933”;
    Ukraine's law N 376-V “About the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine” of November 28, 2006, gave official recognition to the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people
  2. Historian Anne Applebaum Details Stalin's War Against Ukraine: 'I Believe It Was Genocide', Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 25 Sep 2017. Scholarship & press
    I'm very happy to call it a genocide, according to the original definition of the word genocide as it was invented by Raphael Lemkin, who was the lawyer who came up with the term.
    I know that legally it can be more difficult to do it, but, yes, of course, I believe in essence it was a genocide.
    the UN Convention on Genocide was created with the help of the Soviet Union, which was very anxious not to include Ukrainian famine and other Soviet crimes
  3. Statement by the State Duma, 2 April 2008: In memory of the victims of the famine of the 1930s in the USSR (UN document A/62/813), Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, circulated by the United Nations, 2 Apr 2008. Primary record
    the leaders of the USSR and of the Union Republics employed repressive measures for the purpose of grain procurement, which greatly exacerbated the grave impact of the crop failure of 1932.
    However, there is no historical evidence to indicate that the famine was organized along ethnic lines. Millions of Soviet citizens, representatives of the diverse peoples and nationalities living mainly in agricultural areas of the country, were victims of the famine.
    The internationally recognized characteristics of genocide are not and cannot be ascribed to this tragedy, which should not be the subject of contemporary political speculation.
  4. Ruling of the Kyiv Court of Appeal in criminal case no. 1-33/2010 on genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 (English translation), Kyiv Court of Appeal; translation published by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, 13 Jan 2010. Primary record
    finds well-founded and proven the conclusions laid out in the resolution that Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Postyshev, Kosior, Chubar and Khatayevych committed the crime correctly qualified under Article 442 § 1 of the Criminal Code as genocide of a part of the Ukrainian ethnic group.
    To terminate the criminal case initiated over the committing of genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 against Stalin (Dzhugashvili), Joseph Vissarionovich; Molotov (Skryabin), Viacheslav; Kaganovich, Lazar;
    Postyshev, Pavel; Kosior, Stanislav; Chubar, Vlas and Khatayevych, Mendel in connection with their death.
    such examination with regard to people who are deceased is not allowed for by Ukraine’s current criminal procedure legislation
    Article 1 of the Law “On Holodomor 1932-1933 in Ukraine” from 28.11.2006 № 376-V states that “Holodomor 1932-1933 in Ukraine was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people”.
  5. Resolution on 90 years after the Holodomor: recognising the mass killing through starvation as genocide (summary of the text adopted), European Parliament, 15 Dec 2022. Primary record
    The European Parliament adopted by 507 votes to 12, with 17 abstentions, a resolution on 90 years after the Holodomor: recognising the mass killing through starvation as genocide.
    Parliament recognises the Holodomor, the artificial famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine caused by a deliberate policy of the Soviet regime, as a genocide against the Ukrainian people
    as it was committed with the intent to destroy a group of people by deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
  6. The Soviet Famine of 1932-1933 Reconsidered (abstract), Europe-Asia Studies, 2008. Scholarship & press
    The present essay re-examines this debate in two areas: intentionality (did Stalin cause the famine in order to kill millions?) and the Ukrainian factor (was the famine a Ukrainian ethnic genocide?). I argue that there is not enough evidence to answer in the affirmative.
    most notably the monograph by R. W. Davies and S. G. Wheatcroft [2004, The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931–1933 (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan)], have generated a debate, involving Michael Ellman and Mark Tauger, on the pages of this journal.
    The essay concludes by discussing the international context of the famine as a factor of critical importance.
  7. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, United Nations, 9 Dec 1948. Primary record
    Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
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