What is the Holodomor?
First of all, let's try to find out what
the Holodomor was, and what had
preceded this genocide of
Ukrainians and one of the biggest
crimes against humanity in world
history.
In 1921 the American Relief
Administration was negotiating
with the Soviet Union the terms
for their future operations in the
Soviet state.
Maksym Lytvynov, a Soviet diplomat at that
time and later the People's Commissar of the
Foreign Affairs, in his response to an American
representative said, "Food is a weapon." And
in 1932-1933 on the territory of modern
Ukraine, the Soviet regime demonstrated what
a devastating weapon it could
The Holodomor was
recognised as a genocide
by 17 countries.
Perhaps the classic example of
Soviet genocide, its longest and
broadest experiment in
Russification - the destruction of
the Ukrainian nation.
The Holodomor is a proper
name of the genocide of
Ukrainians.
RAPHAEL LEMKIN The
author of the term "Genocide"
who also helped to create the
legislative framework for
recognising a crime as
genocide.
Its main element is the
United Nations Convention
on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide.
For the first time in the world
history, this document defined
genocide as any of the acts
committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group,
as such.
Over the long period of time this
Soviet crime of destroying millions
of people and their national and
collective consciousness remained
little known even in those places,
where the events occurred.
The Holodomor was
civilizational annihilation
of Ukrainians.