Human Saga

The Holodomor (Soviet famine in Ukraine)

1932 to 1933·Social & demographic·Eastern Europe (Soviet Ukraine)·
1932 to 1933Date
Social & demographicCategory
13Empires active
Date
1932 to 1933
Category
Social & demographic
Region
Eastern Europe (Soviet Ukraine)
Era
Modern
Significance

A man-made famine devastated the grain-growing regions of the USSR in 1932 to 33, striking Soviet Ukraine with particular severity.

Driven by Stalin's collectivisation drive, impossibly high grain-procurement quotas, the seizure of food and seed from starving villages, and decrees that blacklisted farms and restricted peasant movement, the famine killed millions. Demographic estimates of excess deaths in Ukraine commonly range from about 3.5 to 7 million; at its peak in June 1933 Ukrainians were dying at a rate of tens of thousands per day. The Soviet state denied the famine and suppressed information about it for decades. Whether the Holodomor, the term combines the Ukrainian words for 'starvation' and 'extermination', constituted a genocide of the Ukrainian nation remains debated among historians, but Ukraine, the European Parliament, and more than thirty states have formally recognised it as such. It stands as one of the defining atrocities of the Stalinist era.

Play the daily history gameSee the world map in 1932 to 1933 →More social & demographicThe Modern era

One piece of history in your inbox, weekly

New empires, events and features as they land. One good email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Empires active in 1932 to 1933

Related social & demographic events

Essential reading

Further reading

The wider story

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

Global best-seller on how our species, its populations and societies remade the world.

Get it on Amazon →

As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.