Difference between revisions of "Holodomor denial"

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The Soviet stance was supported by Soviet-friendly journalists in the [[Western world|West]], such as [[Walter Duranty]] and [[Louis Fischer]].  Today, Holodomor denial continues to exist among [[leftist]] fringe writers and pseudo-scholars. It is not supported by serious academic scholars.   
 
The Soviet stance was supported by Soviet-friendly journalists in the [[Western world|West]], such as [[Walter Duranty]] and [[Louis Fischer]].  Today, Holodomor denial continues to exist among [[leftist]] fringe writers and pseudo-scholars. It is not supported by serious academic scholars.   
  
In 1997 the Soviet Union finally aknowleged the Holodomor. In November 2006, the [[Verkhovna Rada|Ukrainian Parliament]] passed a bill branding the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.<ref>Jan Maksymiuk, [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/11/03ac02a4-6e3a-481b-8932-fafd4c13abab.html "Ukraine: Parliament Recognizes Soviet-Era Famine As Genocide"], ''[[Radio Free Europe|RFE/RL]]'', November 29, 2006</ref>  In November 2007, the government of [[Ukraine]] tabled a law which would make public statements of both Holodomor and [[Holocaust denial]] illegal acts in Ukraine.
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In 1997 the Soviet Union finally acknowledged the Holodomor. In November 2006, the [[Verkhovna Rada|Ukrainian Parliament]] passed a bill branding the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.<ref>Jan Maksymiuk, [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/11/03ac02a4-6e3a-481b-8932-fafd4c13abab.html "Ukraine: Parliament Recognizes Soviet-Era Famine As Genocide"], ''[[Radio Free Europe|RFE/RL]]'', November 29, 2006</ref>  In November 2007, the government of [[Ukraine]] tabled a law which would make public statements of both Holodomor and [[Holocaust denial]] illegal acts in Ukraine.
  
 
==Soviet Union==
 
==Soviet Union==
 
===Initial cover-up during the famine===
 
===Initial cover-up during the famine===
  
The Soviet leadership undertook extensive efforts to prevent the spread of any information about the Holodomor. State communications about the famine were kept a [[top secret]]. [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] sent a telegram to the party and provincial police chiefs requiring that Ukrainian peasants going north to [[Russia]] to seek bread were to be stopped.<ref>[[Robert Conquest]] ''The Dragons of Expectation. Reality and Delusion in the Course of History'', W.W. Norton and Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-05933-2, page 102.</ref>  The telegram blamed the influx of peasants on [[Poland|Polish]] agents, who allegedly wanted to start a famine scare.  [[State Political Directorate|OGPU]] chairman [[Genrikh Yagoda]] reported that over two hundred thousands peasants had been sent back.  The secret correspondence included a letter sent by a party official from [[Dnipropetrovsk]] where he warned that "there will be no one left" alive to sow and ensure grain production, unless some amount of grain will not be taken.  Molotov replied that the needs of the state, as "defined in party resolutions", are more important than the lives of people.<ref>[[Robert Conquest]] ''The Dragons of Expectation. Reality and Delusion in the Course of History'', W.W. Norton and Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-05933-2, page 102.</ref>
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The Soviet leadership undertook extensive efforts to prevent the spread of any information about the Holodomor. State communications about the famine were kept a [[top secret]]. [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] sent a telegram to the party and provincial police chiefs requiring that Ukrainian peasants going north to [[Russia]] to seek bread were to be stopped.<ref name="Expectation 2004 page 102">[[Robert Conquest]] ''The Dragons of Expectation. Reality and Delusion in the Course of History'', W.W. Norton and Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-05933-2, page 102.</ref>  The telegram blamed the influx of peasants on [[Poland|Polish]] agents, who allegedly wanted to start a famine scare.  [[State Political Directorate|OGPU]] chairman [[Genrikh Yagoda]] reported that over two hundred thousands peasants had been sent back.  The secret correspondence included a letter sent by a party official from [[Dnipropetrovsk]] where he warned that "there will be no one left" alive to sow and ensure grain production, unless some amount of grain will not be taken.  Molotov replied that the needs of the state, as "defined in party resolutions", are more important than the lives of people.<ref name="Expectation 2004 page 102"/>
  
 
Various acts were committed to conceal the true number of dead people. Out of 9,472 only 3,997 corpses were registered in the Kyiv Medical Inspectorate. Similar cover-ups took place everywhere.<ref name="reflections"/>   
 
Various acts were committed to conceal the true number of dead people. Out of 9,472 only 3,997 corpses were registered in the Kyiv Medical Inspectorate. Similar cover-ups took place everywhere.<ref name="reflections"/>   
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While the famine was taking place, [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities denied its existence.  It was a criminal offense to mention the famine, punishable with a five-year term in the [[Gulag]] [[labor camp]]s; placing the blame on the authorities led to a death sentence.<ref name="reflections">[[Robert Conquest]] ''Reflections on a Ravaged Century'' (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, p. 96</ref>
 
While the famine was taking place, [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities denied its existence.  It was a criminal offense to mention the famine, punishable with a five-year term in the [[Gulag]] [[labor camp]]s; placing the blame on the authorities led to a death sentence.<ref name="reflections">[[Robert Conquest]] ''Reflections on a Ravaged Century'' (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, p. 96</ref>
  
As a result the population growth failed to meet the expected targets set by the Communist party.  When this became evident from the population statistics data, three successive heads of the [[Goskomstat|Soviet Central Statistical Administration]] were executed, while others were arrested.<ref>Lisa Shymko, [http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12306 "The Politics of Genocide"], ''[[The American Spectator]]'', November 14 2007</ref>
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As a result, the population growth failed to meet the expected targets set by the Communist party.  When this became evident from the population statistics data, three successive heads of the [[Goskomstat|Soviet Central Statistical Administration]] were executed, while others were arrested.<ref>Lisa Shymko, [http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12306 "The Politics of Genocide"], ''[[The American Spectator]]'', November 14, 2007</ref>
  
 
The [[Soviet Census (1937)|1937 Soviet Census]] was thought to be exemplary due to its apparent thoroughness and near-perfect organization.  Government officials in charge of the census received state awards immediately upon the census conclusion.  When it became apparent that the final population figures were significantly lower than expected, the results were classified and the census organizers were repressed.  The new [[Soviet Census (1939)|1939 census]] was organized in such a way as to have certainly inflated data on population numbers. It showed a population figure of 170.6 million people, manipulated so as to match the numbers stated by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his report to the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party. No other censuses were conducted until 1959.
 
The [[Soviet Census (1937)|1937 Soviet Census]] was thought to be exemplary due to its apparent thoroughness and near-perfect organization.  Government officials in charge of the census received state awards immediately upon the census conclusion.  When it became apparent that the final population figures were significantly lower than expected, the results were classified and the census organizers were repressed.  The new [[Soviet Census (1939)|1939 census]] was organized in such a way as to have certainly inflated data on population numbers. It showed a population figure of 170.6 million people, manipulated so as to match the numbers stated by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his report to the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party. No other censuses were conducted until 1959.
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=== Official Holodomor denial by Soviet officials ===
 
=== Official Holodomor denial by Soviet officials ===
  
Soviet President [[Mikhail Kalinin]] responded to Western offers of food by telling of “political cheats who offer to help the starving Ukraine,” and commented that, “only the most decadent classes are capable of producing such cynical elements."<ref>[http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3513136.html How Liberals Funked It]</ref><ref name="reflections"/>
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Soviet President [[Mikhail Kalinin]] responded to Western offers of food by telling of “political cheats who offer to help the starving Ukraine,” and commented that, “only the most decadent classes are capable of producing such cynical elements."<ref name="reflections"/><ref>[http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3513136.html How Liberals Funked It]</ref>
  
 
In an interview with [[Gareth Jones (journalist)|Gareth Jones]] in March 1933, Soviet Foreign Minister [[Maxim Litvinov]] stated, “Well, there is no famine", and went on to say, "You must take a longer view. The present hunger is temporary. In writing books you must have a longer view.  It would be difficult to describe it as hunger.”<ref name="Jones-Litvinov">[[Gareth Jones (journalist)|Gareth Jones]], [http://www.colley.co.uk/garethjones/st_patricks/litvinov_famine_denia_oldl.htm Interview with Maxim Litvinov], March 1933</ref>
 
In an interview with [[Gareth Jones (journalist)|Gareth Jones]] in March 1933, Soviet Foreign Minister [[Maxim Litvinov]] stated, “Well, there is no famine", and went on to say, "You must take a longer view. The present hunger is temporary. In writing books you must have a longer view.  It would be difficult to describe it as hunger.”<ref name="Jones-Litvinov">[[Gareth Jones (journalist)|Gareth Jones]], [http://www.colley.co.uk/garethjones/st_patricks/litvinov_famine_denia_oldl.htm Interview with Maxim Litvinov], March 1933</ref>
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===The early 1980s===
 
===The early 1980s===
  
In 1983 for the first time, Holodomor remembrance was co-ordinated by the Ukrainian community world wide. The [[Ukrainian diaspora]] exerted pressure on the media and various governments, including the governments of the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], to raise the issue of the Holodomor with the government of the Soviet Union. The United States created a Commission into the famine. The Soviet authorities predicted this commission would place the Soviet state responsible for the act.<ref name="symp">[http://www.cym.org/au/archives/Holodomor.pdf The Great Famine of 1932-33 - A Symposium], 22 October, 2003, pp.4-5</ref>
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In 1983 for the first time, Holodomor remembrance was co-ordinated by the Ukrainian community worldwide. The [[Ukrainian diaspora]] exerted pressure on the media and various governments, including the governments of the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], to raise the issue of the Holodomor with the government of the Soviet Union. The United States created a Commission into the famine. The Soviet authorities predicted this commission would place the Soviet state responsible for the act.<ref name="symp">[http://www.cym.org/au/archives/Holodomor.pdf The Great Famine of 1932-33 - A Symposium], 22 October 2003, pp.4-5</ref>
  
 
In an attempt to counter this, the [[Soviet government]] admitted that some peasantry died to climatic conditions mainly [[drought]].
 
In an attempt to counter this, the [[Soviet government]] admitted that some peasantry died to climatic conditions mainly [[drought]].
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One of the first Western Holodomor deniers was [[Walter Duranty]]. Duranty was the winner of the 1932 [[Pulitzer prize]] in journalism in the category of correspondence, for his dispatches on [[Russia]] and the working out of the [[Five-Year Plan (USSR)|Five Year Plan]].<ref>[http://duranty.pelech.org/duranty2003/pulitzer2003.pdf "Correspondence between Markian Pelech and the Board of the Pulitzer Prizes regarding Walter Duranty's 1932 Pulitzer Prize"] (December 30, 2002&ndash;April 28, 2003)</ref> While the famine was raging, he wrote in the pages of ''[[The New York Times]]'' that "Any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda," and that "There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition."<ref>[[Arnold Beichman]], [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/791vwuaz.asp ''Pulitzer-Winning Lies''], ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'', June 12, 2003</ref>
 
One of the first Western Holodomor deniers was [[Walter Duranty]]. Duranty was the winner of the 1932 [[Pulitzer prize]] in journalism in the category of correspondence, for his dispatches on [[Russia]] and the working out of the [[Five-Year Plan (USSR)|Five Year Plan]].<ref>[http://duranty.pelech.org/duranty2003/pulitzer2003.pdf "Correspondence between Markian Pelech and the Board of the Pulitzer Prizes regarding Walter Duranty's 1932 Pulitzer Prize"] (December 30, 2002&ndash;April 28, 2003)</ref> While the famine was raging, he wrote in the pages of ''[[The New York Times]]'' that "Any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda," and that "There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition."<ref>[[Arnold Beichman]], [http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/791vwuaz.asp ''Pulitzer-Winning Lies''], ''[[The Weekly Standard]]'', June 12, 2003</ref>
  
In his reports, Duranty downplayed the impact of food shortages in Ukraine. In private however, he told [[Eugene Lyons]] and reported to the [[United Kingdom|British]] Embassy that at least seven million had died of famine <ref> Embassy dispatch dated 30 September 1933 included the following: "According to Mr. Duranty the population of [[North Caucasus]] and the Lower [[Volga River|Volga]] had decreased in the past year by three million, and the population of Ukraine by four to five million" (cited from ''"Reflections on the ravaged century"'', p. 123)</ref>. Duranty acted more like a spokesman for the Soviet government than an independent reporter for a Western newspaper.  As Duranty wrote in a dispatch from Moscow in March 1933, "Conditions are bad, but there is no famine... But—to put it brutally—you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."<ref name="NYT">[http://www.nytco.com/company/awards/statement.html "New York Times Statement About 1932 Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Walter Duranty"]</ref>
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In his reports, Duranty downplayed the impact of food shortages in Ukraine. In private however, he told [[Eugene Lyons]] and reported to the [[United Kingdom|British]] Embassy that at least seven million had died of famine.<ref>Embassy dispatch dated 30 September 1933 included the following: "According to Mr. Duranty the population of [[North Caucasus]] and the Lower [[Volga River|Volga]] had decreased in the past year by three million, and the population of Ukraine by four to five million" (cited from ''"Reflections on the ravaged century"'', p. 123)</ref> Duranty acted more like a spokesman for the Soviet government than an independent reporter for a Western newspaper.  As Duranty wrote in a dispatch from Moscow in March 1933, "Conditions are bad, but there is no famine... But—to put it brutally—you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."<ref name="NYT">[http://www.nytco.com/company/awards/statement.html "New York Times Statement About 1932 Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Walter Duranty"]</ref>
  
 
Duranty wrote articles denying the fact that the Holodomor was taking place in Ukraine. He also wrote denunciations of those who wrote about the famine, accusing them of being reactionaries and [[anti-communism|anti-Bolshevik]] [[propaganda|propagandists]]. Duranty continued to repeat Soviet disinformation without verifying its veracity. As the ''New York Times'' notes: "Taking Soviet propaganda at face value this way was completely misleading, as talking with ordinary Russians might have revealed even at the time."<ref name="NYT"/>  
 
Duranty wrote articles denying the fact that the Holodomor was taking place in Ukraine. He also wrote denunciations of those who wrote about the famine, accusing them of being reactionaries and [[anti-communism|anti-Bolshevik]] [[propaganda|propagandists]]. Duranty continued to repeat Soviet disinformation without verifying its veracity. As the ''New York Times'' notes: "Taking Soviet propaganda at face value this way was completely misleading, as talking with ordinary Russians might have revealed even at the time."<ref name="NYT"/>  
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===Louis Fischer and ''The Nation''===
 
===Louis Fischer and ''The Nation''===
  
[[Louis Fischer]], an American reporter who glossed over Soviet reality had a deep ideological commitment to [[communism]] dating back to 1920. Fischer traveled to Ukraine in October and November of 1932, for ''[[The Nation]]'', and was initially alarmed at what he saw. "In the [[Poltava]], [[Vinnitsa]], [[Podolsk]] and [[Kiev]] regions, conditions will be hard," he wrote, "I think there is no starvation anywhere in Ukraine now — after all they have just gathered in the harvest but it was a bad harvest."
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[[Louis Fischer]], an American reporter who glossed over Soviet reality had a deep ideological commitment to [[communism]] dating back to 1920. Fischer traveled to Ukraine in October and November 1932, for ''[[The Nation]]'', and was initially alarmed at what he saw. "In the [[Poltava]], [[Vinnitsa]], [[Podolsk]] and [[Kiev]] regions, conditions will be hard," he wrote, "I think there is no starvation anywhere in Ukraine now — after all they have just gathered in the harvest but it was a bad harvest."
  
 
Initially critical of the Soviet grain procurement program because it created food problem, Fischer adopted the official Soviet government view, which blamed the problem on Ukrainian [[counter-revolutionary]] [[Nationalism|nationalist]] "[[Wrecking (Soviet crime)|wreckers]]." It seemed "whole villages" had been "contaminated" by such men, who were deported to "lumbering camps and mining areas in distant agricultural areas which are now just entering upon their pioneering stage." These steps were forced upon the [[Kremlin]], Fischer wrote, but the Soviets were, nevertheless, learning how to rule wisely.
 
Initially critical of the Soviet grain procurement program because it created food problem, Fischer adopted the official Soviet government view, which blamed the problem on Ukrainian [[counter-revolutionary]] [[Nationalism|nationalist]] "[[Wrecking (Soviet crime)|wreckers]]." It seemed "whole villages" had been "contaminated" by such men, who were deported to "lumbering camps and mining areas in distant agricultural areas which are now just entering upon their pioneering stage." These steps were forced upon the [[Kremlin]], Fischer wrote, but the Soviets were, nevertheless, learning how to rule wisely.
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===Communist Party of the USA ===
 
===Communist Party of the USA ===
  
The Ukrainian American community upon receiving reports of the Famine in November and December 1933 organized marches in a number of U.S. cities to protest against American recognition of a government which was starving millions of Ukrainians.<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref><ref name="sulz">[http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/duranty42.htm Letter to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, NY Times]</ref> [[Communist Party USA|American Communists]] resorted to violence in an attempt to silence the Ukrainians.<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref><ref>[http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/duranty42.htm Letter to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, NY Times]</ref><ref>[http://www.shevchenko.org/famine/21_27.htm Dushnyck, Walter.  50 Years Ago: The Famine Holocaust in Ukraine: Terror and Human Misery as Instruments of Russian Imperialism]</ref> On November 18, 1933, in [[New York City]], 8,000 Ukrainians marched from [[Washington Square Park, New York|Washington Square Park]] to 67th Street, while 500 Communists ran beside the parade and snatched the Ukrainians' handbills, spat on the marchers and tried to hit them.<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref><ref>[http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/duranty42.htm Letter to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, NY Times]</ref> Five persons were injured.<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref> Only the presence of 300 policemen on foot and a score on horseback leading the parade and riding along its flanks prevented serious trouble.<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref><ref name="sulz"></ref>
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The Ukrainian American community upon receiving reports of the Famine in November and December 1933 organized marches in a number of U.S. cities to protest against American recognition of a government which was starving millions of Ukrainians.<ref name="ukrweekly.com">[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1988/028822.shtml Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine]</ref><ref name="sulz">[http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/duranty42.htm Letter to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, NY Times]</ref> [[Communist Party USA|American Communists]] resorted to violence in an attempt to silence the Ukrainians.<ref name="ukrweekly.com"/><ref name="sulz"/><ref>[http://www.shevchenko.org/famine/21_27.htm Dushnyck, Walter.  50 Years Ago: The Famine Holocaust in Ukraine: Terror and Human Misery as Instruments of Russian Imperialism]</ref> On November 18, 1933, in [[New York City]], 8,000 Ukrainians marched from [[Washington Square Park, New York|Washington Square Park]] to 67th Street, while 500 Communists ran beside the parade and snatched the Ukrainians' handbills, spat on the marchers and tried to hit them.<ref name="ukrweekly.com"/><ref name="sulz"/> Five persons were injured.<ref name="ukrweekly.com"/> Only the presence of 300 policemen on foot and a score on horseback leading the parade and riding along its flanks prevented serious trouble.<ref name="ukrweekly.com"/><ref name="sulz" />
  
 
In [[Chicago]], on December 17, 1933, several hundred Communists mounted a massed attack on the vanguard of 5,000 Ukrainian American marchers, leaving over 100 injured in what ''The New York Times'' called "the worst riot in years":
 
In [[Chicago]], on December 17, 1933, several hundred Communists mounted a massed attack on the vanguard of 5,000 Ukrainian American marchers, leaving over 100 injured in what ''The New York Times'' called "the worst riot in years":
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=== Holodomor denial by Foreign Dignitaries visiting the USSR ===
 
=== Holodomor denial by Foreign Dignitaries visiting the USSR ===
  
Prominent dignitaries who visited the Soviet Union in 1934, such as [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[H. G. Wells]], are also on record as denying the existence of the Famine in Ukraine<ref>[http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/communism/com107.html Stalin-Wells talk / the verbatim record and a discussion by G.B. Shaw, H.G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, E. Toller and others]</ref>.
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Prominent dignitaries who visited the Soviet Union in 1934, such as [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[H. G. Wells]], are also on record as denying the existence of the Famine in Ukraine.<ref>[http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/communism/com107.html Stalin-Wells talk / the verbatim record and a discussion by G.B. Shaw, H.G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, E. Toller and others]</ref>
  
In 1934 the British Foreign Office in the House of Lords stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations against the Soviet government regarding the Famine in Ukraine. The testimony of Sir John Maynard, a renowned famine expert who visited the Ukraine in the summer of 1933 rejected tales of famine-genocide propagated by the Ukrainians<ref>[http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk/ukrainian.html The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth]</ref>.
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In 1934 the British Foreign Office in the House of Lords stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations against the Soviet government regarding the Famine in Ukraine. The testimony of Sir John Maynard, a renowned famine expert who visited the Ukraine in the summer of 1933 rejected tales of famine-genocide propagated by the Ukrainians.<ref>[http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk/ukrainian.html The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth]</ref>
  
The height of manipulation was reached during a visit to Ukraine carried out between August 26 and September 9, 1933, by [[Prime Minister of France|French Prime Minister]] [[Edouard Herriot]], who denied accounts of the famine.  The day before his arrival, all beggars, homeless children and starving people were removed from the streets.  Shop windows in local stores were filled with food, but purchases were forbidden, and anyone coming too close to the stores was arrested.  The streets were washed.  Just like all other [[Western World|Western]] visitors, Herriot met fake "peasants," all selected Communists or Komsomol members, who showed him healthy cattle.<ref>''Reflections'', p. 122</ref>  Herriot declared to the press that there was no famine in Ukraine, that he did not see any trace of it, and that this showed adversaries of the Soviet Union were spreading the rumor.  "When one believes that the Ukraine is devastated by famine, allow me to shrug my shoulders," he declared.  The September 13 1933 issue of ''[[Pravda]]'' was able to write that Herriot "categorically contradicted the lies of the bourgeoisie press in connection with a famine in the
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The height of manipulation was reached during a visit to Ukraine carried out between August 26 and September 9, 1933, by [[Prime Minister of France|French Prime Minister]] [[Edouard Herriot]], who denied accounts of the famine.  The day before his arrival, all beggars, homeless children and starving people were removed from the streets.  Shop windows in local stores were filled with food, but purchases were forbidden, and anyone coming too close to the stores was arrested.  The streets were washed.  Just like all other [[Western World|Western]] visitors, Herriot met fake "peasants," all selected Communists or Komsomol members, who showed him healthy cattle.<ref>''Reflections'', p. 122</ref>  Herriot declared to the press that there was no famine in Ukraine, that he did not see any trace of it, and that this showed adversaries of the Soviet Union were spreading the rumor.  "When one believes that the Ukraine is devastated by famine, allow me to shrug my shoulders," he declared.  The September 13, 1933 issue of ''[[Pravda]]'' was able to write that Herriot "categorically contradicted the lies of the bourgeoisie press in connection with a famine in the
USSR."<ref>[http://colley.co.uk/garethjones/ukraine2005/Etienne%20Thevein%20%20English%20translation.pdf "France, Germany and Austria Facing the famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine"]</ref>.
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USSR.".<ref>[http://colley.co.uk/garethjones/ukraine2005/Etienne%20Thevein%20%20English%20translation.pdf "France, Germany and Austria Facing the famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine"]</ref>
  
 
The lack of knowledge of this genocide was observed by English writer [[George Orwell]], who commented that "''huge events like the Ukraine famine of 1933, involving the deaths of millions of people, have actually escaped the attention of the majority of [[England|English]] [[Russophiles]]"''.<ref>George Orwell, "''Notes on Nationalism''" in "The ''Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell''" ([[London]], 1968), Vol. 3, p. 370.</ref>
 
The lack of knowledge of this genocide was observed by English writer [[George Orwell]], who commented that "''huge events like the Ukraine famine of 1933, involving the deaths of millions of people, have actually escaped the attention of the majority of [[England|English]] [[Russophiles]]"''.<ref>George Orwell, "''Notes on Nationalism''" in "The ''Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell''" ([[London]], 1968), Vol. 3, p. 370.</ref>
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In 1987 the Canadian trade-unionist and activist [[Douglas Tottle]], published the controversial book ''Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: the Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard'', where he claimed that the Holodomor was "fraudulent", and "a creation of [[Nazism|Nazi]] propagandists".<ref name="tottle">Douglas Tottle, [http://www.rationalrevolution.net/special/library/famine.htm/ "Fraud, famine, and fascism: the Ukrainian genocide myth from Hitler to Harvard"], Toronto: Progress Books, 1987. ISBN 0919396518</ref> By the author's own account, his book is only carried by 28 libraries around the world. His book, published by the Communist ''Progress Publishers'' in [[Toronto]], appeared practically at the same time Ukrainian Communist party leader [[Volodymyr Shcherbytsky]] publicly acknowledged the Holodomor, in December 1987, and the book was subsequently withdrawn from circulation.<ref>[http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-September/021722.html link Letter from David R. Marples]</ref> Only the first two chapters of the book deal with the Famine in Ukraine. The rest is written to discredit the work done by western Scholars, to associate the Ukrainian diaspora in the West with Fascism, and to discredit the US support of Holodomore research. Nevertheless, the book is available on the internet, and continues to be cited as an "invaluable" and "important" book by groups such as the [[Stalin Society]] in [[Great Britain]], author [[Jeff Coplon]], and others.
 
In 1987 the Canadian trade-unionist and activist [[Douglas Tottle]], published the controversial book ''Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: the Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard'', where he claimed that the Holodomor was "fraudulent", and "a creation of [[Nazism|Nazi]] propagandists".<ref name="tottle">Douglas Tottle, [http://www.rationalrevolution.net/special/library/famine.htm/ "Fraud, famine, and fascism: the Ukrainian genocide myth from Hitler to Harvard"], Toronto: Progress Books, 1987. ISBN 0919396518</ref> By the author's own account, his book is only carried by 28 libraries around the world. His book, published by the Communist ''Progress Publishers'' in [[Toronto]], appeared practically at the same time Ukrainian Communist party leader [[Volodymyr Shcherbytsky]] publicly acknowledged the Holodomor, in December 1987, and the book was subsequently withdrawn from circulation.<ref>[http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2003/2003-September/021722.html link Letter from David R. Marples]</ref> Only the first two chapters of the book deal with the Famine in Ukraine. The rest is written to discredit the work done by western Scholars, to associate the Ukrainian diaspora in the West with Fascism, and to discredit the US support of Holodomore research. Nevertheless, the book is available on the internet, and continues to be cited as an "invaluable" and "important" book by groups such as the [[Stalin Society]] in [[Great Britain]], author [[Jeff Coplon]], and others.
  
In a review of Tottle's book in the ''[[Ukrainian Canadian Magazine]]'', published by the pro-Communist Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, [[Wilfred Szczesny]] wrote: "Members of the general public who want to know about the famine, its extent and causes, and about the motives and techniques of those who would make this tragedy into something other than what it was will find Tottle's work invaluable" (''The Ukrainian Canadian'', April 1988, p. 24).<ref name="Szcz">[http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/serbyn/ "The last stand of the Ukrainian famine-genocide deniers"]</ref>
+
In a review of Tottle's book in the ''[[Ukrainian Canadian Magazine]]'', published by the pro-Communist Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, [[Wilfred Szczesny]] wrote: "Members of the general public who want to know about the famine, its extent and causes, and about the motives and techniques of those who would make this tragedy into something other than what it was will find Tottle's work invaluable" (''The Ukrainian Canadian'', April 1988, p.&nbsp;24).<ref name="Szcz">[http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/serbyn/ "The last stand of the Ukrainian famine-genocide deniers"]</ref>
  
 
In his book, ''Searching for place'', Lubomyr Luciuk comments: "For a particularly base example of famine-denial literature, see Tottle, ''Fraud, famine, and fascism...''".<ref>Lubomyr Luciuk, ''Searching for place: Ukrainian displaced persons, Canada, and the migration of memory'', Toronto: [[University of Toronto Press]], 2000, p. 413. ISBN 0802042457</ref> Professor [[Roman Serbyn]] a professor of history at the University of Quebec at Montreal has published an analysis and critical review of Tottles book which is available [http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/serbyn/ here].
 
In his book, ''Searching for place'', Lubomyr Luciuk comments: "For a particularly base example of famine-denial literature, see Tottle, ''Fraud, famine, and fascism...''".<ref>Lubomyr Luciuk, ''Searching for place: Ukrainian displaced persons, Canada, and the migration of memory'', Toronto: [[University of Toronto Press]], 2000, p. 413. ISBN 0802042457</ref> Professor [[Roman Serbyn]] a professor of history at the University of Quebec at Montreal has published an analysis and critical review of Tottles book which is available [http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/serbyn/ here].
Line 134: Line 134:
 
===Mario Sousa===
 
===Mario Sousa===
  
In 1998 [[Mario Sousa]] published "''Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Union''"<ref>[http://www.mariosousa.se/LiesconcerningthehistoryoftheSovietUnion.html Lies concerning the history of the Soviet Union]</ref>.
+
In 1998 [[Mario Sousa]] published "''Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Union''".<ref>[http://www.mariosousa.se/LiesconcerningthehistoryoftheSovietUnion.html Lies concerning the history of the Soviet Union]</ref>  
  
 
Sousa's arguments against the Holodomor are based on his interpretation that the early Holodomor campaign was started by the Nazi's and was later taken up and funded by Ukrainian refugees who he states were Nazi collaborators. Sousa continues that Holodomor scholarship was later supported by the CIA during the [[Cold War]] specifically aimed at slandering and discrediting the Soviet government.
 
Sousa's arguments against the Holodomor are based on his interpretation that the early Holodomor campaign was started by the Nazi's and was later taken up and funded by Ukrainian refugees who he states were Nazi collaborators. Sousa continues that Holodomor scholarship was later supported by the CIA during the [[Cold War]] specifically aimed at slandering and discrediting the Soviet government.
Line 140: Line 140:
 
===The Stalin Society===
 
===The Stalin Society===
  
Holodomor denial continues into the 21st century with the publication of "''The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth''", a pamphlet penned by prominent British physician [[John Puntis]] and published in July 2002 by the [[Stalin Society]]. The Stalin Society itself has been described as "''tiny, aging and schism-ridden''"<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article120991.ece "Stalin apologists drink to the memory of Uncle Joe"], ''[[The Independent]]'', 2 March 2003</ref>. Once again heavily relying on Tottle, facts are reinterpreted with sources questioned, numbers questioned and the whole history of the famine made to look like the continuation of the Cold War<ref>[http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk/ukrainian.html#After The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth]</ref>.
+
Holodomor denial continues into the 21st century with the publication of "''The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth''", a pamphlet penned by prominent British physician [[John Puntis]] and published in July 2002 by the [[Stalin Society]]. The Stalin Society itself has been described as "''tiny, aging and schism-ridden''".<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article120991.ece "Stalin apologists drink to the memory of Uncle Joe"], ''[[The Independent]]'', 2 March 2003</ref> Once again heavily relying on Tottle, facts are reinterpreted with sources questioned, numbers questioned and the whole history of the famine made to look like the continuation of the Cold War.<ref>[http://www.stalinsociety.org.uk/ukrainian.html#After The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth]</ref>
  
 
===Soviet role===
 
===Soviet role===
Line 147: Line 147:
 
==Holodomor denial in University courses==
 
==Holodomor denial in University courses==
  
In 2004 Toronto University offered a history course on "The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question" by M. Rodsky. Rather than starting from a neutral point of view, Rodsky took a revisionist version of Stalin and the history of the Soviet Union. In his third lecture in the series he approached "The Famine in Ukraine: What is the Truth?". The reading list consisted exclusively of materials that denied the existence of the Holodomor<ref>[http://individual.utoronto.ca/mrodden/study/ssustudy.html The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question]</ref>.
+
In 2004 Toronto University offered a history course on "The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question" by M. Rodsky. Rather than starting from a neutral point of view, Rodsky took a revisionist version of Stalin and the history of the Soviet Union. In his third lecture in the series he approached "The Famine in Ukraine: What is the Truth?". The reading list consisted exclusively of materials that denied the existence of the Holodomor.<ref>[http://individual.utoronto.ca/mrodden/study/ssustudy.html The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question]</ref>
  
 
* In Search of a SOVIET HOLOCAUST (short reading)[http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/vv.html Here]
 
* In Search of a SOVIET HOLOCAUST (short reading)[http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/vv.html Here]
Line 161: Line 161:
 
==Holodomor denial and Ukrainian law==
 
==Holodomor denial and Ukrainian law==
  
On November 28 2006, Ukraine's parliament, the [[Verkhovna Rada]], passed a law recognizing the 1932&ndash;1933 Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. The voting figures were as follows: supporting the bill were [[BYuT]]—118 deputies, [[NSNU]]—79 deputies, [[Socialist Party of Ukraine|Socialists]]—30 deputies, 4 independent deputies, and the [[Party of Regions]]—2 deputies (200 deputies did not cast a vote). The [[Communist Party of Ukraine]] voted against the bill.  In all, 233 deputies supported the bill—a minimum of 226 votes were required for it to be passed.<ref>[http://www.day.kiev.ua/179841/ "Holodomor and Holocaust denial to be a criminal offense"], 3 April 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.lucorg.com/luc/news.php?id=2241 "What the Verkhovna Rada actually passed"], February 28, 2007</ref>
+
On November 28, 2006, Ukraine's parliament, the [[Verkhovna Rada]], passed a law recognizing the 1932&ndash;1933 Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. The voting figures were as follows: supporting the bill were [[BYuT]]—118 deputies, [[NSNU]]—79 deputies, [[Socialist Party of Ukraine|Socialists]]—30 deputies, 4 independent deputies, and the [[Party of Regions]]—2 deputies (200 deputies did not cast a vote). The [[Communist Party of Ukraine]] voted against the bill.  In all, 233 deputies supported the bill—a minimum of 226 votes were required for it to be passed.<ref>[http://www.day.kiev.ua/179841/ "Holodomor and Holocaust denial to be a criminal offense"], 3 April 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.lucorg.com/luc/news.php?id=2241 "What the Verkhovna Rada actually passed"], February 28, 2007</ref>
  
 
A draft law "On Amendments to the Criminal and the Procedural Criminal Codes of Ukraine" was submitted by [[President of Ukraine|President]] [[Viktor Yushchenko]] for consideration by the [[Verkhovna Rada|Ukrainian Parliament]].  The draft law envisages prosecution for public denial of the Holodomor Famine of 1932&ndash;1933 in Ukraine as a fact of genocide of the Ukrainian people, and of [[the Holocaust]] as the fact of genocide of the [[Jew]]ish people. The draft law foresees that public denial as well as production and dissemination of materials denying the above shall be punished by a fine of 100 to 300 untaxed minimum salaries, or imprisonment of up to two years.<ref>[http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=56782 "Public denial of Holodomor Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of Ukrainian people to be prosecuted"], December 12, 2007</ref>
 
A draft law "On Amendments to the Criminal and the Procedural Criminal Codes of Ukraine" was submitted by [[President of Ukraine|President]] [[Viktor Yushchenko]] for consideration by the [[Verkhovna Rada|Ukrainian Parliament]].  The draft law envisages prosecution for public denial of the Holodomor Famine of 1932&ndash;1933 in Ukraine as a fact of genocide of the Ukrainian people, and of [[the Holocaust]] as the fact of genocide of the [[Jew]]ish people. The draft law foresees that public denial as well as production and dissemination of materials denying the above shall be punished by a fine of 100 to 300 untaxed minimum salaries, or imprisonment of up to two years.<ref>[http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=56782 "Public denial of Holodomor Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of Ukrainian people to be prosecuted"], December 12, 2007</ref>
Line 176: Line 176:
 
*Paris, Erna. ''Long shadows: truth, lies, and history'', New York: [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]], 2001.  ISBN 1582342105
 
*Paris, Erna. ''Long shadows: truth, lies, and history'', New York: [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]], 2001.  ISBN 1582342105
 
*Springer, Jane, ''Genocide'', Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2006.  ISBN 0888996810
 
*Springer, Jane, ''Genocide'', Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2006.  ISBN 0888996810
*Tauger, Mark B., [http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2500600 ''The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933''], [[Slavic Review]], Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 70-89
+
*Tauger, Mark B., [http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2500600 ''The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933''], [[Slavic Review]], Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp.&nbsp;70–89
 
*[[James Waller|Waller, James]], ''Becoming evil: how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing'', Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 2002. ISBN 0195148681
 
*[[James Waller|Waller, James]], ''Becoming evil: how ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing'', Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 2002. ISBN 0195148681
 
*Crowl, James William, ''Angels in Stalin's Paradise. Western Reporters in Soviet Russia, 1917 to 1937. A case study of Louis Fisher and Walter Duranty'', [[University Press of America]], 1982. ISBN 0819121851
 
*Crowl, James William, ''Angels in Stalin's Paradise. Western Reporters in Soviet Russia, 1917 to 1937. A case study of Louis Fisher and Walter Duranty'', [[University Press of America]], 1982. ISBN 0819121851

Revision as of 17:11, July 20, 2016

Holodomor Denial is the act of stating that the Holodomor, the disastrous famine of 1932-1933 in Eastern Ukraine (then known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, in the Soviet Union), never took place.[1][2][3]

The Holodomor was denied immediately and repeatedly by Soviet authorities (starting with President Mikhail Kalinin and Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov), and this denial continued unabated, well into the 1980s.[4]

The Soviet stance was supported by Soviet-friendly journalists in the West, such as Walter Duranty and Louis Fischer. Today, Holodomor denial continues to exist among leftist fringe writers and pseudo-scholars. It is not supported by serious academic scholars.

In 1997 the Soviet Union finally acknowledged the Holodomor. In November 2006, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill branding the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.[5] In November 2007, the government of Ukraine tabled a law which would make public statements of both Holodomor and Holocaust denial illegal acts in Ukraine.

Soviet Union

Initial cover-up during the famine

The Soviet leadership undertook extensive efforts to prevent the spread of any information about the Holodomor. State communications about the famine were kept a top secret. Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov sent a telegram to the party and provincial police chiefs requiring that Ukrainian peasants going north to Russia to seek bread were to be stopped.[6] The telegram blamed the influx of peasants on Polish agents, who allegedly wanted to start a famine scare. OGPU chairman Genrikh Yagoda reported that over two hundred thousands peasants had been sent back. The secret correspondence included a letter sent by a party official from Dnipropetrovsk where he warned that "there will be no one left" alive to sow and ensure grain production, unless some amount of grain will not be taken. Molotov replied that the needs of the state, as "defined in party resolutions", are more important than the lives of people.[6]

Various acts were committed to conceal the true number of dead people. Out of 9,472 only 3,997 corpses were registered in the Kyiv Medical Inspectorate. Similar cover-ups took place everywhere.[7]


Early years

While the famine was taking place, Soviet authorities denied its existence. It was a criminal offense to mention the famine, punishable with a five-year term in the Gulag labor camps; placing the blame on the authorities led to a death sentence.[7]

As a result, the population growth failed to meet the expected targets set by the Communist party. When this became evident from the population statistics data, three successive heads of the Soviet Central Statistical Administration were executed, while others were arrested.[8]

The 1937 Soviet Census was thought to be exemplary due to its apparent thoroughness and near-perfect organization. Government officials in charge of the census received state awards immediately upon the census conclusion. When it became apparent that the final population figures were significantly lower than expected, the results were classified and the census organizers were repressed. The new 1939 census was organized in such a way as to have certainly inflated data on population numbers. It showed a population figure of 170.6 million people, manipulated so as to match the numbers stated by Joseph Stalin in his report to the 18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party. No other censuses were conducted until 1959.

Official Holodomor denial by Soviet officials

Soviet President Mikhail Kalinin responded to Western offers of food by telling of “political cheats who offer to help the starving Ukraine,” and commented that, “only the most decadent classes are capable of producing such cynical elements."[7][9]

In an interview with Gareth Jones in March 1933, Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov stated, “Well, there is no famine", and went on to say, "You must take a longer view. The present hunger is temporary. In writing books you must have a longer view. It would be difficult to describe it as hunger.”[10]

On instructions from Litvinov, Boris Skvirsky, embassy counselor of the recently opened Soviet Embassy in the United States, published a letter on January 3, 1934, in response to a pamphlet about the Holodomor.[11] In his letter, Skvirsky stated that the idea that the Soviet government was "deliberately killing the population of the Ukraine" "wholly grotesque." He claimed that the Ukrainian population was increasing at an annual rate of 2 percent during the preceding five years. He asserted that the death rate in Ukraine "was the lowest of that of any of the constituent republics composing the Soviet Union," concluding that it "was about 35 percent lower than the pre-war death rate of tsarist days."[12]

The early 1980s

In 1983 for the first time, Holodomor remembrance was co-ordinated by the Ukrainian community worldwide. The Ukrainian diaspora exerted pressure on the media and various governments, including the governments of the United States and Canada, to raise the issue of the Holodomor with the government of the Soviet Union. The United States created a Commission into the famine. The Soviet authorities predicted this commission would place the Soviet state responsible for the act.[13]

In an attempt to counter this, the Soviet government admitted that some peasantry died to climatic conditions mainly drought.

Glasnost and the late 1980s

The future President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, was charged in 1983 with finding rainfall evidence for the 1930s famine. However, Kravchuk's inquiry into the rainfalls for the 1933-1932 period found that they were within normal parameters.[14]

It was only during the late 1980s that the Soviet Government admitted that its agricultural policies played a direct role in the causing Holodomor. Ultimately, as President of Ukraine, Kravchuk would admit to the cover-up attempts, and support in recognizing the Holodomor as genocide.[14]

Contemporary denial outside of the USSR

Walter Duranty and The New York Times

One of the first Western Holodomor deniers was Walter Duranty. Duranty was the winner of the 1932 Pulitzer prize in journalism in the category of correspondence, for his dispatches on Russia and the working out of the Five Year Plan.[15] While the famine was raging, he wrote in the pages of The New York Times that "Any report of a famine in Russia is today an exaggeration or malignant propaganda," and that "There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition."[16]

In his reports, Duranty downplayed the impact of food shortages in Ukraine. In private however, he told Eugene Lyons and reported to the British Embassy that at least seven million had died of famine.[17] Duranty acted more like a spokesman for the Soviet government than an independent reporter for a Western newspaper. As Duranty wrote in a dispatch from Moscow in March 1933, "Conditions are bad, but there is no famine... But—to put it brutally—you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs."[18]

Duranty wrote articles denying the fact that the Holodomor was taking place in Ukraine. He also wrote denunciations of those who wrote about the famine, accusing them of being reactionaries and anti-Bolshevik propagandists. Duranty continued to repeat Soviet disinformation without verifying its veracity. As the New York Times notes: "Taking Soviet propaganda at face value this way was completely misleading, as talking with ordinary Russians might have revealed even at the time."[18]

In August 1933, Theodor Cardinal Innitzer of Vienna called for relief efforts, stating that the Ukrainian famine was claiming lives “likely. . . numbered. . . by the millions” and driving those still alive to infanticide and cannibalism. The New York Times, August 20, 1933, reported Innitzer’s charge and published an official denial: “in the Soviet Union we have neither cannibals nor cardinals”. The next day, the Times added Duranty’s own denial.

British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge characterized Duranty as "the greatest liar of any journalist I have met in 50 years of journalism."[19]

Campaigns were launched in 1986 for the retraction of the Pulitzer Prize given to The New York Times. Despite the fact that the Times admits that the fraudulent coverage led to it receiving the prize, they have refused to relinquish it.[20] The Times acknowledges that "some of Duranty's editors criticized his reporting as tendentious", and that "collectivization was the main cause of a famine that killed millions of people in Ukraine, the Soviet breadbasket, in 1932 and 1933 - two years after Duranty won his prize."[18]

Louis Fischer and The Nation

Louis Fischer, an American reporter who glossed over Soviet reality had a deep ideological commitment to communism dating back to 1920. Fischer traveled to Ukraine in October and November 1932, for The Nation, and was initially alarmed at what he saw. "In the Poltava, Vinnitsa, Podolsk and Kiev regions, conditions will be hard," he wrote, "I think there is no starvation anywhere in Ukraine now — after all they have just gathered in the harvest but it was a bad harvest."

Initially critical of the Soviet grain procurement program because it created food problem, Fischer adopted the official Soviet government view, which blamed the problem on Ukrainian counter-revolutionary nationalist "wreckers." It seemed "whole villages" had been "contaminated" by such men, who were deported to "lumbering camps and mining areas in distant agricultural areas which are now just entering upon their pioneering stage." These steps were forced upon the Kremlin, Fischer wrote, but the Soviets were, nevertheless, learning how to rule wisely.

Fischer was on a lecture tour in the United States when Gareth Jones' famine story broke. Speaking to a college audience in Oakland, California, a week later, Fischer stated emphatically: "There is no starvation in Russia." He spent the spring of 1933 campaigning for American diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union. As rumors of a famine in the USSR reached American shores, Fischer continued to vociferously deny the reports.

Fischer's article entitled "Russia's Last Hard Year," stated, "The first half of 1933 was very difficult indeed. Many people simply did not have sufficient nourishment." Fischer blamed poor weather and the refusal of peasants to harvest the grain, which then rotted in the fields. Government requisitions drained the countryside of food, he admitted, but military needs (a potential conflict with Japan) explained the need for such deadly thoroughness in grain collections.[21]

Fischer maintained his general optimism about the Soviet Union through the publication of his Soviet Journey in 1935. The book devoted three pages to a discussion of the famine of 1932-1933, where he wrote of food left rotting in the fields as the result of peasants' "passive resistance." Fischer once again blamed the peasants directly for having "brought the calamity upon themselves" and stressed the positive results ensuing from Bolshevik victory in the countryside, and connected the famine to peasant action (or inaction).[21]

Communist Party of the USA

The Ukrainian American community upon receiving reports of the Famine in November and December 1933 organized marches in a number of U.S. cities to protest against American recognition of a government which was starving millions of Ukrainians.[22][23] American Communists resorted to violence in an attempt to silence the Ukrainians.[22][23][24] On November 18, 1933, in New York City, 8,000 Ukrainians marched from Washington Square Park to 67th Street, while 500 Communists ran beside the parade and snatched the Ukrainians' handbills, spat on the marchers and tried to hit them.[22][23] Five persons were injured.[22] Only the presence of 300 policemen on foot and a score on horseback leading the parade and riding along its flanks prevented serious trouble.[22][23]

In Chicago, on December 17, 1933, several hundred Communists mounted a massed attack on the vanguard of 5,000 Ukrainian American marchers, leaving over 100 injured in what The New York Times called "the worst riot in years":

"Brick, clubs, rotten eggs and other missiles rained on the marchers from the Hermitage Avenue elevated station bridging Madison Street. The street fight which followed saw brass knuckles, blackjacks, fists and rifle butts used until a dozen squads of police restored order."[12]

Holodomor denial by Foreign Dignitaries visiting the USSR

Prominent dignitaries who visited the Soviet Union in 1934, such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, are also on record as denying the existence of the Famine in Ukraine.[25]

In 1934 the British Foreign Office in the House of Lords stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations against the Soviet government regarding the Famine in Ukraine. The testimony of Sir John Maynard, a renowned famine expert who visited the Ukraine in the summer of 1933 rejected tales of famine-genocide propagated by the Ukrainians.[26]

The height of manipulation was reached during a visit to Ukraine carried out between August 26 and September 9, 1933, by French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot, who denied accounts of the famine. The day before his arrival, all beggars, homeless children and starving people were removed from the streets. Shop windows in local stores were filled with food, but purchases were forbidden, and anyone coming too close to the stores was arrested. The streets were washed. Just like all other Western visitors, Herriot met fake "peasants," all selected Communists or Komsomol members, who showed him healthy cattle.[27] Herriot declared to the press that there was no famine in Ukraine, that he did not see any trace of it, and that this showed adversaries of the Soviet Union were spreading the rumor. "When one believes that the Ukraine is devastated by famine, allow me to shrug my shoulders," he declared. The September 13, 1933 issue of Pravda was able to write that Herriot "categorically contradicted the lies of the bourgeoisie press in connection with a famine in the USSR.".[28]

The lack of knowledge of this genocide was observed by English writer George Orwell, who commented that "huge events like the Ukraine famine of 1933, involving the deaths of millions of people, have actually escaped the attention of the majority of English Russophiles".[29]

Orwell clearly knew of a press cover-up about the famine as in his 1945, Proposed Preface to Animal Farm he wrote: “…it was considered equally proper to publicize famines when they happened in India and to conceal them when they happened in the Ukraine. And if this was true before the war, the intellectual atmosphere is certainly no better now.”[30] For an interesting 'work-in-progress' including a discussion on the influence of the Ukrainian Famine and Holodomor denial by Duranty on Orwell's book "Animal Farm" see Nigel Colley's article Was Gareth Jones's surname behind George Orwell’s naming of ‘Farmer Jones' in Animal Farm?.

Modern denial

The 50th Anniversary

The rallying and lobbying of the Ukrainian Diaspora Community around the 50th anniversary of the Holodomor became a concern for the governing body of the Soviet Union.[13] In February 1983, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) activated its counter-propaganda section to focus on the Ukrainian famine. The head of the directorate for relations with foreign countries for the CPSU, A. Merkulov, was given the task of directing disinformation to the West and contacted Leonid Kravchuk, the chief idealog for the Communist Party in Ukraine. The materials were to be sent to the Novosti Press (APN) centers in the United States and Canada to demonstrate the "antidemocratic base of the Ukrainian bourgeois Nationalists, the collaboration of the Banderovtsev and the Hitlerite Fascists during the Second World War."[31]

In preparation for the expected rise in activity associated with the 55th anniversary, the Soviet Union launched a campaign of disinformation. In Canada, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (a pro-Communist Labor temple (Hall) movement in the Ukrainian community) published numerous articles denying the Holodomor in Ukraine in its English and Ukrainian language magazines and newspapers. Through its chain of bookstore outlets, it distributed pamphlets and materials whose point supplied to them from the counter-propaganda section of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 2007, correspondence and instructions from Soviet sources such as the Ukraina Society to the organization regarding the Holodomor have been made available for study by scholars.

In an open letter to Mikhail Gorbachov in August 1987, veteran dissident Viacheslav Chornovil wrote about the denial of the Holodomor by the Communist Party of the USSR, and also Western denial.[32]

"The biggest and most infamous blank spot in the Soviet history of Ukraine is the hollow silence for over 50 years about the genocide of the Ukrainian nation organized by Stalin and his henchmen ... The Great Famine of 1932-33, which took millions of human lives. In one year - 1933 - my people lost more than throughout all of World War II, which ravaged our land."

Douglas Tottle and Holodomor denial

In 1987 the Canadian trade-unionist and activist Douglas Tottle, published the controversial book Fraud, Famine, and Fascism: the Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard, where he claimed that the Holodomor was "fraudulent", and "a creation of Nazi propagandists".[33] By the author's own account, his book is only carried by 28 libraries around the world. His book, published by the Communist Progress Publishers in Toronto, appeared practically at the same time Ukrainian Communist party leader Volodymyr Shcherbytsky publicly acknowledged the Holodomor, in December 1987, and the book was subsequently withdrawn from circulation.[34] Only the first two chapters of the book deal with the Famine in Ukraine. The rest is written to discredit the work done by western Scholars, to associate the Ukrainian diaspora in the West with Fascism, and to discredit the US support of Holodomore research. Nevertheless, the book is available on the internet, and continues to be cited as an "invaluable" and "important" book by groups such as the Stalin Society in Great Britain, author Jeff Coplon, and others.

In a review of Tottle's book in the Ukrainian Canadian Magazine, published by the pro-Communist Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Wilfred Szczesny wrote: "Members of the general public who want to know about the famine, its extent and causes, and about the motives and techniques of those who would make this tragedy into something other than what it was will find Tottle's work invaluable" (The Ukrainian Canadian, April 1988, p. 24).[35]

In his book, Searching for place, Lubomyr Luciuk comments: "For a particularly base example of famine-denial literature, see Tottle, Fraud, famine, and fascism...".[36] Professor Roman Serbyn a professor of history at the University of Quebec at Montreal has published an analysis and critical review of Tottles book which is available here.

Jeff Coplon

Tottle's book inspired a number of articles by other Holodomor deniers, such as Jeff Coplon's article "In Search of a Soviet Holocaust".[37] This article not only denies the Holodomor, but also tries to associate those who continued to bring the Holodomor to the attention of the public with the Nazis, even giving quotes from Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf to stress this point.

"Just as the Nazis used the OUN for their own ends, so has Reagan exploited the famine, from his purple-prosed commemoration of "this callous act" to his backing of the Mace commission. ... But if people could be convinced that Communism is worse than fascism; that Stalin was an insane monster, even worse than Hitler; that the seven million died in more unspeakable agony than the six million ... One cannot appease an Evil Empire, after all.[37]

Coplon also penned the article "Rewriting History - How Ukrainian nationalists imposed their doctored history on High School Students" heavily relying on Tottle's publication with his additional comments regarding the inclusion the Holodomor as one of a number of subjects included in the curriculum for social studies classes in New York. In the article published in the magazine "CAPITAL Region" March 1988, he wrote:

"The losers, of course, are the New York state schoolchildren, who will absorb this disinformation between algebra and chemistry - and may even be asked to parrot the fraud for a higher score on their regents exam." [38]

Other similar writings include an article by Wilfred Szczesny ("Fraud, Famine and Fascism", The Ukrainian Canadian, April 1988); an unsigned article ("The Ukrainian Famine: Fact or Fiction"), which appeared in the McGill Daily, November 22, 1988,[35] and Challenge-Desafio's ("The Hoax of the Man-Made Ukraine Famine of 1932-33"),[39] which appeared in a newspaper of the Progressive Labor Party in 1987.[40]

Stephan Merl

In 1989, Stephan Merl (a professor at Bielefeld University) published "Entfachte Stalin die Hungersnot von 1932-1933 zur Auslöschung des ukrainischen Nationalismus?".[41] This publication, once again relying heavily on Tottle, describes the work of James Mace and Robert Conquest as part of a campaign by Ukrainian nationalists to discredit the Soviet Union and pillory liberal journalists like Walter Duranty.[42]

Mario Sousa

In 1998 Mario Sousa published "Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Union".[43]

Sousa's arguments against the Holodomor are based on his interpretation that the early Holodomor campaign was started by the Nazi's and was later taken up and funded by Ukrainian refugees who he states were Nazi collaborators. Sousa continues that Holodomor scholarship was later supported by the CIA during the Cold War specifically aimed at slandering and discrediting the Soviet government.

The Stalin Society

Holodomor denial continues into the 21st century with the publication of "The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth", a pamphlet penned by prominent British physician John Puntis and published in July 2002 by the Stalin Society. The Stalin Society itself has been described as "tiny, aging and schism-ridden".[44] Once again heavily relying on Tottle, facts are reinterpreted with sources questioned, numbers questioned and the whole history of the famine made to look like the continuation of the Cold War.[45]

Soviet role

In 1988 the International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine was set up to establish whether the famine existed and its cause. Tottle was invited by the commission to attend the hearings, however he ignored the request. While the commission was organized along judicial lines, it had no judicial power to compel witnesses to attend or testify. However Tottle's book was examined during the Brussels sitting of the commission,[46] held between May 23–27, 1988, with testimony from various expert witnesses. The commission president Professor Jacob Sundberg subsequently concluded that Tottle was not alone in his enterprise to deny the famine on the basis that material included in his book could not have been available to a private person without official Soviet assistance.[47]

Holodomor denial in University courses

In 2004 Toronto University offered a history course on "The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question" by M. Rodsky. Rather than starting from a neutral point of view, Rodsky took a revisionist version of Stalin and the history of the Soviet Union. In his third lecture in the series he approached "The Famine in Ukraine: What is the Truth?". The reading list consisted exclusively of materials that denied the existence of the Holodomor.[48]

  • In Search of a SOVIET HOLOCAUST (short reading)Here
  • The Hoax of the Man-Made Ukraine Famine of 1932-33 (longer reading)here
  • Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Union by Mario Sousa (scroll down and read 'The myth concerning the famine in the Ukraine')
  • Maoist Internationalist Movement's Review of the The Black Book of Communism'Black Book of Communism' (scroll down and read 'The Ukrainian famine')
  • Fraud Famine & Fascism by Douglas Tottle, International Publishers (Can be purchased from the Communist Party of Canada, 190A Danforth Ave.)

Symposia about Holodomor denial

In November 2007, an International Conference entitled The Ukrainian Holodomor and the Denial of Genocides was organized by the Guarini Institute, and held at John Cabot University, in Italy. The Ukrainian Ambassador, Heorhiy Cheriavskyi, addressed the conference and spoke about the importance of international education and recognition of the Ukrainian Holodomor. Federigo Argentieri, from the Guarini Institute, read the paper: “Ideology and Diplomacy: How the Ukrainian Famine Was—and Still is—Denied.” In his presentation, Argentieri introduced the history of denial of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33. Conflicting reports on the events in 1933 highlighted the willingness of the Great Powers to ignore the plain facts witnessed by British government officials in the Soviet Union. At the time, political and economic interests took precedence over internal human rights matters. Argentieri noted that today, the famine remains virtually ignored, even in academic circles in the West.[49]

Holodomor denial and Ukrainian law

On November 28, 2006, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a law recognizing the 1932–1933 Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. The voting figures were as follows: supporting the bill were BYuT—118 deputies, NSNU—79 deputies, Socialists—30 deputies, 4 independent deputies, and the Party of Regions—2 deputies (200 deputies did not cast a vote). The Communist Party of Ukraine voted against the bill. In all, 233 deputies supported the bill—a minimum of 226 votes were required for it to be passed.[50][51]

A draft law "On Amendments to the Criminal and the Procedural Criminal Codes of Ukraine" was submitted by President Viktor Yushchenko for consideration by the Ukrainian Parliament. The draft law envisages prosecution for public denial of the Holodomor Famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine as a fact of genocide of the Ukrainian people, and of the Holocaust as the fact of genocide of the Jewish people. The draft law foresees that public denial as well as production and dissemination of materials denying the above shall be punished by a fine of 100 to 300 untaxed minimum salaries, or imprisonment of up to two years.[52]

References

  1. Famine denial The Ukrainian Weekly, July 14, 2002, No. 28, Vol. LXX
  2. Initially he Soviet government dismissed all references to the famine as anti-Soviet propaganda. Denial of the famine declined after the Communist Party lost power and the Soviet empire disintegrated @ Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity By Dinah Shelton; Page 1055 ISBN 0028658485
  3. After over half a century of denial, in January 1990 the Communist Party of Ukraine adopted a special resolution admitting that the Ukrainian Famine had indeed occurred. Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts - Page 93 ISBN 0415944295
  4. Robert Conquest, The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine Oxford University Press (1987), ISBN 0195051807, p. 308. [1]
  5. Jan Maksymiuk, "Ukraine: Parliament Recognizes Soviet-Era Famine As Genocide", RFE/RL, November 29, 2006
  6. 6.0 6.1 Robert Conquest The Dragons of Expectation. Reality and Delusion in the Course of History, W.W. Norton and Company (2004), ISBN 0-393-05933-2, page 102.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Robert Conquest Reflections on a Ravaged Century (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, p. 96
  8. Lisa Shymko, "The Politics of Genocide", The American Spectator, November 14, 2007
  9. How Liberals Funked It
  10. Gareth Jones, Interview with Maxim Litvinov, March 1933
  11. Marco Carynnyk, "The New York Times and the Great Famine", The Ukrainian Weekly, September 25, 1983, No. 39, Vol. LI
  12. 12.0 12.1 James E. Mace, "Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine" (paper delivered at a conference on "Recognition and Denial of Genocide and Mass Killing in the 20th Century", held in New York City on November 13, 1987), The Ukrainian Weekly, January 10, 1988, No. 2, Vol. LVI
  13. 13.0 13.1 The Great Famine of 1932-33 - A Symposium, 22 October 2003, pp.4-5
  14. 14.0 14.1 Stephen Bandera, "Holodomor as a source of national unity", Ukrainian Echo, February 5, 2007
  15. "Correspondence between Markian Pelech and the Board of the Pulitzer Prizes regarding Walter Duranty's 1932 Pulitzer Prize" (December 30, 2002–April 28, 2003)
  16. Arnold Beichman, Pulitzer-Winning Lies, The Weekly Standard, June 12, 2003
  17. Embassy dispatch dated 30 September 1933 included the following: "According to Mr. Duranty the population of North Caucasus and the Lower Volga had decreased in the past year by three million, and the population of Ukraine by four to five million" (cited from "Reflections on the ravaged century", p. 123)
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 "New York Times Statement About 1932 Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Walter Duranty"
  19. Robert Conquest. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine Oxford University Press (1987), ISBN 0195051807, page 320. [2]
  20. Correspondence between Markian Pelech and the Board of Pulitzer Prizes
  21. 21.0 21.1 Louis Fisher, at ArtUkraine.com
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Collaboration in the suppression of the Ukrainian famine
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 Letter to Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Publisher, NY Times
  24. Dushnyck, Walter. 50 Years Ago: The Famine Holocaust in Ukraine: Terror and Human Misery as Instruments of Russian Imperialism
  25. Stalin-Wells talk / the verbatim record and a discussion by G.B. Shaw, H.G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, E. Toller and others
  26. The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth
  27. Reflections, p. 122
  28. "France, Germany and Austria Facing the famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine"
  29. George Orwell, "Notes on Nationalism" in "The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell" (London, 1968), Vol. 3, p. 370.
  30. Was Gareth Jones's surname behind George Orwell’s naming of ‘Farmer Jones' in Animal Farm?.
  31. ЦГАООУ. Ф.1. Оп. 25 Д. 2719. Л.27-28. Подлинник.
  32. "Soviet crimes remain unpunished"
  33. Douglas Tottle, "Fraud, famine, and fascism: the Ukrainian genocide myth from Hitler to Harvard", Toronto: Progress Books, 1987. ISBN 0919396518
  34. link Letter from David R. Marples
  35. 35.0 35.1 "The last stand of the Ukrainian famine-genocide deniers"
  36. Lubomyr Luciuk, Searching for place: Ukrainian displaced persons, Canada, and the migration of memory, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000, p. 413. ISBN 0802042457
  37. 37.0 37.1 Jeff Coplon, "In Search of a Soviet Holocaust", The Village Voice, January 12, 1988.
  38. Rewriting History - How Ukrainian nationalists imposed their doctored history on High School Students
  39. The Hoax of the Man-Made Ukraine Famine of 1932-33
  40. "The Hoax of the Man-Made Ukraine Famine of 1932-33", Challenge-Desafio, February 25, 1987.
  41. Stephan Merl, "Entfachte Stalin die Hungersnot von 1932-1933 zur Auslöschung des ukrainischen Nationalismus?", Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 37 (1989), vol. 4, p. 569-590
  42. Letters of David Marples
  43. Lies concerning the history of the Soviet Union
  44. "Stalin apologists drink to the memory of Uncle Joe", The Independent, 2 March 2003
  45. The Ukrainian famine-genocide myth
  46. International Commission of Inquiry Into the 1932–33 Famine in Ukraine by Prof. Jacob Sundberg
  47. A.J.Hobbins, Daniel Boyer, Seeking Historical Truth: the International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in the Ukraine, Dalhousie Law Journal, 2001, Vol 24, page 166
  48. The Soviet Union and the Stalin Question
  49. "The Ukranian Holodomor and the Denial of Genocides"
  50. "Holodomor and Holocaust denial to be a criminal offense", 3 April 2007
  51. "What the Verkhovna Rada actually passed", February 28, 2007
  52. "Public denial of Holodomor Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of Ukrainian people to be prosecuted", December 12, 2007

Sources

Video resources

  • Harvest of Despair. (1983), produced by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center.