The Holodomor

Jaden Aguon, Staff Writer


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The Holodomor, meaning murder through starvation in Ukranian, is the genocide of Ukranians by a man made famine in 1932 and 1933. The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin knew a famine was coming years in advance, but only cared for the industrialization of the USSR, moving workers from farms to factories, and in the year of 1933 exported millions of pounds of grain and food out of Ukraine. Thousands turned to cannibalism and crimes such as prostitution and thievery. Newspapers such as The New York Times and other major newspapers around the world denied the fact that there was a famine, Joseph Stalin for years claimed everyone in the Soviet state were well fed and happy, but this was just simple denial. Walter Duranty, The New York Times Moscow correspondent, saw this famine first hand but denied the genocide, calling it a bunk lie, and for this flat out lie he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. This famine killed between 3 million to seven million, some estimates ranging higher to lower.