Skip to main content

On This Day: International Holodomor Memorial Day

Today is the International Holodomor Memorial Day. Today, Ukrainians worldwide remember the 81st anniversary of the Holodomor, Famine Genocide of 1932-33.


A Holodomor is a man made famine or genocide. In 1932, the Soviets increased the quota for grain by 44%. They were well aware that this ridiculously high quota would cause a grain shortage. The grain shortage in turn would result in Ukrainian peasants starving. At that time, Soviet law dictated that no grain was allowed to be given to the peasants for food until the quota for the government had been reached. Hence, there were peasants working in wheat fields day in and day out, seeing a wealth of grain every day and knowing that they would go hungry that night and that their children would go hungry.

This unnecessary government induced famine resulted in the death of between 7 to 10 million people, mainly Ukrainians. It was instigated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his henchman Lazar Kaganovich to break the spirit of the Ukrainian farmer and peasant. Stalin’s goal was to force them into collectivization and break the renaissance of Ukrainian culture. Stalin wanted to "ethnically cleanse" Ukrainians from various territories.

Secret police units were used to watch for peasants who may be hiding grain from the Soviet government. In addition, an internal passport system was created and put in action to restrict movements of Ukrainian peasants. Now they could not travel for food or to escape. Children were taught in school that there was great famine abroad and the Stalin was a great man. They were taught this while at the same time their parents were forced to steal handfuls of grain from the horses or to grain stalks. This was dangerous because if caught, they could be sent to Siberia to serve a 10 year sentence which often resulted in death.

The dead – and sometimes those barely hanging on to life – were collected in carts. Someone came around with a pitchfork and collected the dead and carried them off. People were not given proper burials. Churches were destroyed. The Communists destroyed them and the icons, the holy icons, in the peoples’ homes.

On This Day in 2006, the Parliament of Ukraine passed a Law defining the Holodomor as a deliberate Act of Genocide. Since then many nations, including the United States, have recognized that the Holodomor was an act of Genocide against the Ukrainian people. Russia of course remains in complete denial and even made illegal to commemorate this event.

Earlier this month, the National US National Holodomor Memorial opened in Washington, DC. Tonight, at 5 p.m. ET, there will be a candlelight religious service to remember the victims of the Holodomor.  

Vichnaya Pamyat.

Sources
HolodomorSurvivors Tell Their Stories. Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

November28, 2015 – the Holodomor Remembrance Day in Ukraine  Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Press Center.
 

 

On This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.
                

© Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Coatesville's First Serial Killer

Young Alexander Meyer was a disturbed and angry young man with some major issues. He had failed sixth and seventh grade, and instead of having to repeat eighth grade again, he finally gave up on school. At age 16 he quit Downingtown Junior High. Meyer is not a relative, nor are his victims (that I am aware). I stumbled upon young Alex while reading Tortured Minds: Pennsylvania's Most Bizarre - But Forgotten - Murders by Tammy Mal. On 11 February 1937 Alexander Thweatt Meyer killed young Helen Moyer as she walked home from school in Coatesville along Modena Road. She was not his first. The jury was out only three minutes after hearing Dr. Michael Margolis' testimony on the death of Helen Moyer. The jury determined Meyer had murdered Moyer and should be held for first degree murder. The jury also condemned the parole system which had released Meyer back into the public, after having served just 14 months in Huntingdon Reformatory, for the murder of two other girls - Anna Blasc

Thaddeus Stevens at the Lancaster Convention Center

Within the Lancaster Convention Center (Lancaster, PA) is a small section dedicated to Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith. The section is known as the Stevens & Smith Historic Site. It is scheduled for development this year. At the moment one can only get a glimpse of it through the Convention Center or by peeking in from the outside. Here at Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, Thaddeus Stevens had his law office. Stevens was an abolitionist. An abolitionist is a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution, especially capital punishment or (formerly) slavery. Stevens was born 4 April 1792 to Joshua Stevens and Sarah (Sally) Morrill in Danville Vermont. One of four children, he attended Vermont University from 1810 to 1812 when the War prompted its closure. He then went to Dartmouth, where he graduated in 1814. He then studied law and found himself set up in Gettysburg, PA in 1816. He practiced law there until 1828 when he found hi

Living History Offers Opportunity to Step Back in Time

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to work the fields on a plantation during the Revolutionary War? Or stroll through an 18th century village? Or fight in battle during the Civil War?  Living history  offers an interactive perspective which incorporates  historical  activities and dress providing a sense of stepping back in time. So, how can YOU step back in time? Rock Ford volunteer Nancy Bradley in the Study of the mansion Rock Ford Plantation, in Lancaster County, PA, will be hosting a Volunteer Tour Guide Recruitment Event on Sunday, 22 March. They need tour guides for its upcoming tour season.  Built circa 1794, Rock Ford was the home of Edward Hand and his family. Hand, an Irish immigrant and physician, served as Adjutant General to George Washington during the Revolutionary War.   Volunteer tour guides at Rock Ford bring the past to life for museum visitors. A tour guide can be any person aged 18 years and up. No experience is necessary, and trainin