#holdomor

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Memorial Day for Stalin's Holodomor genocide in Ukraine.

28th November 2020

[warsofasoiaf]

Why did Walter Duranty cover up the Soviet Famine and the holdomor in Ukraine?

Partially it's because if he wrote anything too critical of the Soviet Union, he would be forbidden from returning. Duranty actually had a relatively comfortable life when he went to the Soviet Union - he had a nice apartment in Moscow complete with staff and a lover named Katya, with whom he bore a son. Moreover, he was invited to very glamorous parties, and his influence allowed him to request interviews and receive them from a variety of sources, thus punching his professional ticket and ensuring he could remain a highly-paid foreign correspondent.

There are other contributing factors. It's believed that he was being blackmailed, and there's some evidence that he believed that honestly reporting the scope of the Soviet famine would have denigrated the idea of a worker's state and cast an unbearable pall on the ideology itself.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[thedivinemsem]

This video is posted really just for me, so that I don't lose it. My grandfather was from the village of Targan - he left Russia in 1914 right before the war. In 1932 and 1933, Stalin's Holdomor starved more than one third of the village's population. This may be why we know nothing of my grandfather's family except the village name.

[boydyke]

I also used to have a trotsky phase where I really really liked trotsky and hated Stalin. Yes this was when I identified as an anarcho communist & unironically referred to auths as tankies. It's okay guys. I deny holdomor and glorify the CPC now.

[duct-taping-zhenguo]

Honestly? If the Holdomor was unintentional, that would be an even bigger indictment of Soviet socialism.

If it was intentional, you (as in a hypothetical defender of the system) could say "we want to do that without the genocide", but if it wasn't intentional, that means that the system was fucked up enough that millions of people died because of it being inefficient.

[ohsalome]

On war goals, lies and personal responsibility

One of arguments I’ve heard used by Holodomor denialists is that “There is no singular document that specifically assigns genocide as the aim of Holodomor, and therefore it didn’t happen”, and it got me thinking. Every war, every authoritarian operation, every war crime has a final goal it’s supporsed to achieve. Whether it is written down or not, it determines the general strategy of the operation and needs to be communicated from the military leaders to their subordinates. And I argue that if there is no General Execution Order, but everyone from the higher administration to the ordinary soldier understands that their goal is extermination of ukrainian people, then there is no difference.

As an example, let’s look at the behaviour of russian army on the occupied territories. They systematically use rape and torture as a weapon against civillian population, and the field grade personel does not punish this behaviour, de-facto reinforcing it. However, I bet that we will never find an instruction that will specify in which poses are those soldiers supporsed to rape ukrainian women and what to tell them during the assault. But somehow, the victims tell us similair stories: that russian soldiers are directly telling them that they are doing this “to make them despise men and never have children, so that ukrainians will die out”. Even if they were given no direct orders to do this, they understand the goals their commanders pursue and put them to life the way they can.

On the other end of spectrum, let’s take an example from WW2. Holocaust was a directly stated policy of the Third Reich, and they enforced it in every country they occupied. When the german forces entered Denmark, they demanded the jewish population of the country to be handed over. And the king of Denmark, Christian X, refused to do that. At that point, Denmark had no army, little to no police, and no way to enforce their will. However, surprisingly, instead of beginning the pogroms, the german occupying forces shared their plans with the danish government, which allowed the entire jewish population of the country to be saved. One can only deduce that the germans, knowing the goals of their countiry’s policies, purposefully sabotaged them. Perhaps, they understood the utter barbarity of the Holocaust, and perhaps, living under an authoritarian regime, they were afraid opposing it openly (as they could get arrested by the police, and, god forbid, fired. Like, can you imagine*), so they did what the could in their situation - sabotage.

And I want us all to understand that such course of actions is very possible for russian soldiers today. Since the very beginning of the war, Ukraine has addressed russian soldiers, appealing them to capitulate and hand over weapons & equipment in excange for full amnesty and financial compensation. Some agreed. Yet most did not. And when they get captured by our soldiers, they cry crocodile tears and promise they didn’t know they were going to slaughter ukrainians. Even though the papers they signed clearly show they were aware and willing. Even though, months and years ago, they have been threating us with "conquering Kyiv in 4 days". Even though the intercepted phone calls show them bragging about “shooting hohols”. Even though they pack condoms, when going to war. And then their tearful western sympathyzers are flooding inboxes of ukrainians, calling for us to take pity on those “poor, innocent boys, who are just as much victims of putin as you (and maybe more!)."

I began this talk with Holodomor. Despite what tumblr pseudo-historians want you to believe, there is a consensus between historians that it was a genocide organised by the USSR against Ukraine. They came to this conclusion through careful analysis of documents, testimonials and other forms of evidence, viewed within the context of Ukrainian history. “There was no document that stated genocide as a goal” doesn’t matter. If one piece of the puzzle is missing, you still can see the full picture. Except when you don’t want to. If you are so afraid of the real world that you cling to the illusion of a fair universe, where every crime is openly communicated, and every pain is only a punishment for a misdeed. So you hide behind the meaningless papers, the empty “both sides are wrong” statements, the debunked fakes. And if this is how you choose to live, it isn’t my place to cruelly throw you into the real world. But, kindly and respectfully, shut the fuck up about war in Ukraine. You don’t know anything about us, you refuse to learn anything about us, and yet you think you have any right to dictate us what should we do when our literal existance is under the threat of extinction.

P.S. Oh, and also, russian KGB archives are still closed, so we have no ability to say whether or not a document on the “final solution of the ukrainian question” ever existed or not.

* If this phrase sounded extremely sociopathic to you and you wanted to write me an angry message saying I’m a fascist for sympathyzing with literal nazis, perhaps you should stop using the same argument in defence of literal russian nazis in the midst of the genocide of my people.

[a-teardrop-of-the-sun]

don't look up the Holdomor.... don't wonder about the forced russification and both physical and cultural genocide of countless Indigenous groups across two continents... don't remember that it has famously been in many forms an imperial and therefore settler colonial power for centuries...

[theanarchistscookbook]

[tired-gaypop]

Why is Ukraine’s role in the Holocaust never talked about?

75% of the Jewish massacres in Poland’s Eastern borderlands were carried out by Ukrainians

Around 100,000 Ukrainians joined police units providing key assistance to the Nazis

Many other Ukrainians staffed the local bureaucracies or lent a helping hand during mass shootings of Jews

The guards in Aushchwitz and other Polish concentration camps were Ukrainian volunteers

When Jewish people attempted to find refuge in forests, many were killed by the Home Army, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or other partisan groups during the German retreat

Ukraine has never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator

I feel like this deserves a discussion

[jacensolodjo]

Better pictures of the Holodomor exhibit in the 10 Stages of Genocide Gallery at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. [Click pic to embiggen. Or open in new tab for even bigger but also grainier.]

Please consider donating to the DHHRM if possible. You may donate in the name of others, such as those who have passed and have asked for donations in their memory be made to institutions of their choice. 

The Empty Baskets graphic novel mentioned on the plaque is available for purchase with 9 others in a collection that you can find at each ‘stage’ exhibit (hence 10 stages of genocide) from the DHHRM museum’s gift shop here. 

The Holodomor was an attempt to wipe out the Ukrainian population of the then-USSR. Up to 10 million died of hunger, froze to death, were shot or hanged, sent to Siberia (where they then also died). To this day it is still denied as being genocide as well as whether or not it was actually a thing that happened at all (Some people will actually claim the Holodomor happened far more readily than the Holocaust. Which kinda turns into people believing that anyone who says the Holodomor happened has to be a nazi/neo-nazi/fascist which of course is Holodomor denial yay paradox). And yes, it didn’t just affect Ukrainians but Poles and some Russians as well (along with a few other ethnicities) but the victim target was predominantly Ukrainian. Incidentally, another stage in the 10 Stages is ‘Denial’ which is exemplified by the Armenian Genocide, (in)famously noted as attaining more than 100 years of denial. 

Anyone who knows the story of the Holodomor cannot have that idea coexist with the idea that anything Russia is doing now is not just another extension of trying to wipe out the remainder of the lines of Ukrainians who have been rebelling since time immemorial. When we talk about how we survived everything, we mean it. We mention the Holodomor constantly as proof of our spirit that Russia has been trying to crush for at least 100 years. It is little exaggeration to say that the Holodomor is one of the first dominoes to fall to bring us to this point of the war in Ukraine. How can you believe otherwise when Commies have been caught saying exactly what we’ve been saying: that the Holdomor was genocide and they chose us because they couldn’t allow us to be alive thanks to what all we represented and treasured: Freedom. (To say nothing of being considered too stupid, too ugly, too lazy, etc.,) And we all know P*tin has lied about the real reasons for the war as we all know the truth: he and Russia can’t stand that Ukraine has been trying to become more independent, to join the geopolitical stage. Same fucking reasons. Same fucking war crimes. Perhaps the same fucking end as the original mass murdering fuckhead of Russia.

[dumbassgaywithissuses]

Cooking Companions

They react to the Karin Ending :   TW! Mentions of Drowning and Cannibalism    Requested by @deadite-decimator-deluxe Mariah: Her spirit is angry. She drowned...the memories filling her brain like water did to her lungs. Her body eaten and gave the boys the disgusting hunger. She is the spirit who messes with MC. She isn’t nearly as mad at Karin, her brain got turned by MC. Despite being eaten by Anatoly and Gregor, she still cares deeply about them.  Anatoly: Sobs and wails thru the radio from guilt. He feels so sorry to Mariah for eating her. And Karin loving MC dearly and feasting on more innocent people on the run from Holdomor. He can’t let go of the past and goes to Gregor and just cries into his chest, wanting comfort.  Gregor: Of course, He feels guilty for eating his now boyfriend and his friend. He still can’t get the taste out of his mouth. Karin lied and went behind his back because MC gave her that hunger... He hovers toward being in whatever room MC isn’t in to avoid pain.

[ulysseus]

You uh. You know that according to the fuckin CIA of all orgs the average USSR citizen did in fact eat better than their USAmerican counterpart right?

www dot cia dot gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85M00363R000601440024-5 dot pdf

People who believe the CIA deserve whatever Holdomor they create

[dailyhistorymemes]

Ever heard of the holdomor?(via)

[aksemmi]

hiv in america was a genocide, in much the same way the holdomor was, though on a smaller scale

[windex-for-blood]

AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!

THE HOLDOMOR AND THE HOLOCAUST WERE BOTH SHANDAS YOU FUCKING IDIOT!

When the Jews were oppressed under Pharaoh, God sent Moses.

When the Jews were oppressed under the Romans, God sent Jesus.

When the Jews were oppressed under the Nazis, God sent Stalin.