HOLODOMOR – Literally translated means “killing by hunger”. From the early 1700’s Ukraine had been under the domination of Russia’s Czarist system. When the Russian Revolution occurred in 1917 the Ukraine seized the opportunity to declare their independence. But by the end of 1917 the new leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, sought to reclaim all of the areas formerly under Czarist rule, especially the fertile Ukraine.

By 1932, nearly 75% of the farms in the Ukraine had been forcibly collectivised (small private farms converted into giant collective farms run by the government) Stalin ordered shipments of food out of the Ukraine until there was simply no food remaining to feed the people of the Ukraine

The Soviets then sealed off the borders of the Ukraine, preventing any food from entering the country Soviet police inside the country seized all stored up food claiming it as property of the State

Starvation quickly ensued throughout the Ukraine with the very young and elderly feeling the first effects of malnutrition Meanwhile, nearby Soviet-controlled granaries were bursting at the seams from huge stocks of ‘reserve’ grain, not yet shipped out of the Ukraine

By the spring of 1933, the height of the famine, an estimated 25,000 people a day were dying in the Ukraine Any outside help was halted by Soviet authorities and any existence of a famine was denied

The Soviets were able to bolster their famine denial by duping members of the foreign press through carefully staged photo opportunities in the Soviet Union and Ukraine By the end of 1933, nearly 25% of the population of the Ukraine had perished, approximately 7 million, including 3 million children