The number of Ukrainian dead in Holodomor

The question of Holodomor keeps being raised, again and again. One of the most frequent attempts to lessen the severity of the genocide is by arguing for a lower number of people who died from the Famine. Frequently it is stated that less than 3 million died from Holodomor in Ukraine.

These are Soviet population census figures for the top nationalities in the Soviet Union in 1926. The number of Russians rose by 21% in 11 years, showing a normal rate of growth, and the number of Ukrainians fell by 15%, showing a highly abnormal fall of population and resulting in the difference of 36% between Russians and Ukrainians, which corresponds to at least a 10 million decrease in the population of Ukraine within the same time period, assuming similar birth rates in Russia and Ukraine. In effect, in just 11 years the number of Russians vs. Ukrainians went from a ratio of 2:1 to a ratio of 3:1, which still holds today.

The only people who have suffered at least as heavily in the same time period are the Kazakhs, not so much from famine, but from forced resettlements and death marches of populations of entire areas of Kazakhstan. The Soviet state took the nomadic population of Kazakhs and forcibly resettled them into kolkozes. This should also qualify as genocide - of the Kazakhs. But in numerical terms, since the number of Ukrainians was so much greater than the number of Kazakhs, Ukrainians lost about 10 times as many people as the Kazakhs.

Additionally, the Soviet leadership, and Stalin in particular, were motivated to inflate the number of Ukrainians in the 1937 Soviet Census. It is a known fact that after they returned a number of Ukrainians that was too small for his liking, Stalin had the Census Director responsible for Ukraine executed, and ordered another Census in the territory of Ukraine, which came back with a higher number of Ukrainians.


My previous post on the topic:
http://ukraineblogg.blogspot.com/2008/09/remembering-holodomor-ukrainian.html

Remembering Holodomor - Ukrainian Genocide

A few items in memory of one of the worst genocides in history:

There is an excellent analysis by Yevhen Zakharov of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, showing that the Holodomor is genocide under all applicable international laws: http://www.khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1221299499

Ukraine's experience in the Russian empire has been anything but positive for Ukrainians. All you have to do is look at the population figures. When Ukraine was taken over by Muscovy, as it was called at the time, its population was greater than the population of Muscovy. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ukrainian population was about half of Russia's population. And at the end of the 20th century, Ukraine's population was less than third of Russia's population. Many Ukrainians died in Russian imperial wars, helping to build Russia's empire. The last Ukrainian Cossacks died as slaves, building St. Petersburg from the marshes. But by far the worst crime against the Ukrainian nation was the Holodomor perpetrated in 1932-33 and other famines visited upon Ukraine during the Soviet period of the Russian Empire.

For reference:
Representatives of the most numerous nations in the territory of the USSR according to the 1926, 1937 censuses.



A short film about the Holodomor, produced by http://www.holodomorthemovie.com/





Another short film by http://www.holodomorthemovie.com/



"HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33" SHORT FILM

The Purpose of the Famine is to Kill Ukrainians

This is a quote from a communist leader speaking in the Kharkiv region in 1934:

"Famine in Ukraine was brought on to decrease the number of Ukrainians, replace the dead with people from other parts of the USSR, and thereby to kill the slightest thought of any Ukrainian independence."

Original Ukrainian:

'"Голод на Україні був викликаний для того, щоб зменшити кількість українців, переселити на їхнє місце людей з іншої частини СРСР і цим убити будь-яку думку про самостійність." Комуніст Прокопенко, уповноважений Сахновщинського районного виконавчого комітету (Харківської області) проговорився про голод перед групою колгоспників і 12 травня 1934 р.'

- V. Danilov et al., Sovetskaia derevnia glazami OGPU_NKVD. T. 3, kn. 2. Moscow 2004. P. 572