Echoes of Holodomor: Manitoban shares stories, warnings about forced famine in Ukraine

In 1932 and 1933, Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin ordered food seizures aimed at starving Ukrainian peasantry, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians. Now, comparisons are being made between the Holodomor and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

By Alex Karpa

A University of Manitoba professor whose grandparents were famine survivors in Ukraine shares the horrors of the Holodomor – 89 years later.

In 1932 and 1933, Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin ordered food seizures aimed at starving Ukrainian peasantry, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians.

Saturday was Holodomor Memorial Day.

“That artificial famine that was created by Stalin regime basically targeted Ukrainian population and what we are witnessing today is no different,” said Iryna Konstantiuk, a senior instructor of Ukrainian language and culture at U of M.

“Both my grandparents were famine survivors and the stories they were telling about the famine were horrific. They had absolutely nothing to eat. Everything was confiscated. They only survived because they could eat leaves, grass, rats, mice.

“All these stories were horrific.”


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Konstantiuk says it’s now more important than ever to talk about the genocide because of what Russia is doing to Ukraine and Ukrainians now.

“We see how the Russian army is fighting against civilian population,” she said. “How the whole energy infrastructure is being destroyed and people in Ukraine today are talking about Holodomor and Holod, which means cold, because the houses have no heat.”

‘Cultural genocide’

Ostap Skrypnyk from the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Manitoba branch says Russia continues to use food as a weapon to destroy Ukraine. He says this was the case during the Holodomor in the early 1930s and is the case now.

“Wherever the Russians retreat from, or are forced out, they wreak havoc on the agriculture system,” said Skrypnyk. “They steal grain, export it to Russia to be sold abroad, any other food products they can and if they can’t steal it, they’ll destroy it.”


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Skrypnyk says Russia is not just destroying food but is destroying Ukrainian culture in the occupied areas.

“Recently in liberated Kherson, the local museum was completely looted,” he said. “Fourteen thousand pieces of art and cultural heritage was stolen from the museum, it’s like empty. It’s as if someone came in a cleaned out the Winnipeg Art Gallery. This is an example, not of a physical genocide, but a cultural genocide which is being perpetrated by the Russians.”

Konstantiuk says it’s important for Ukrainians like herself to not lose hope.

“Russia is repeating itself again, and again. We are witnesses of a horrific act of genocide in the 21st century.”

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