Epic Holodomor Genocide Essay

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The Epic Holodomor Genocide
The term Holodomor refers specifically to the brutal artificial famine imposed by Joseph Stalin, in the Northern Caucasus areas. The Ukrainian genocide began in 1929 with the massive waves of deadly deportations of ukraine’s most successful farmers(Lee 1). Before being deported, Stalin forced farmers to give up their private land, equipment and livestock to join state owned, factory-like collective farms. Ukrainians, Russians, and Jews were living inside of a jail-like environment. To avoid starvation, nearly every family attempted to conceal food. So the Communist party of the USSR had passed a law that states, if caught stealing or hiding food, it’s an automatic death penalty. The Holodomor had no symbolization …show more content…

He said the problem was "bourgeois nationalism". Fifthteen Ukrainian villages were arrested by the Soviets. The Soviets clearly had the upper hand over the people. Stalin deported mostly successful farmers, which helped him increase in grain. Successful farmers, or kulkuls are branded as the class enemy, and brutal enforcement by regular troops and secret police is used to "liquidate them as a class”(Babij 1). Eventually anyone who resists collectivization was considered a kulaks. Even though people tried to classify the Holodomor as a tragedy, a crime against humanity is a serious genocide and must be recognized as one …show more content…

In order to prepare for a genocide, the victims are almost always separated from the rest of the population. In this case, while geography played a role in this separation, all those who were to be starved were forced to move to “communal farms,” which were simple ghettos in rural areas. Troops were stationed internally and along the borders to prevent starving peasants from leaving to other areas of the USSR in search of food (Figini). The Soviet Union also they just made sure people did not have grain anywhere. The Ukrainians had no power to change anything or make life better. Which demonstrates that unlimited power destroys rights and can ruin a