Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. CONCLUSION

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By 1935, news of the Great Famine no longer occupied the pages of Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly. Instead, the pages of the two newspapers were filled with reports on other forms of Stalinist terror: purges, trials, mass executions, etc. To be sure, some Western publications did write about the famine in 1935 – two years after the height of the famine – reporting on what was “old news” to the free world’s Ukrainian community which had tried so desperately to make the existence of the famine known to the world at large and to save their kin. Many in the Ukrainian community, including The Ukrainian Weekly in a January 11, 1935, editorial, were left with the nagging question: “Why?” Why was the world indifferent to Ukraine’s plight in 1932-33?

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART LII

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December 15-31, 1934
On December 18, Svoboda printed a large three-line headline on the front page calling on the Ukrainian community to honor the memory of Mykhailo Hrushevsky and to protest against renewed terror on the Ukrainian lands. An appeal on the subject was issued by the United Ukrainian Organizations of the United States. Also on December 18, a headline in Svoboda read: “Soviets Want to Scare the Population.” The article stated that foreign correspondents were looking for the reasons behind the new wave of Soviet terror. According to the articles the Soviet government was completely aware of the fact that it was losing favor with the rest of the world.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART LI

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December 1-15, 1934
On December 3, Svoboda printed a news item from the Ukrainian Bureau in London which stated that members of the British Parliament had spoken out against the artificial famine in Ukraine during their session. According to the report, Sir William Davison questioned the Parliament on the subjects of the famine and religious freedom in the Soviet Union. He inquired whether these topics had been presented to the League of Nations before admitting the Soviet Union into its ranks. Parliament members assured him that this had been done. That same day a news report from Kiev was published in Svoboda.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART L

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November 1934
On November 6, Svoboda reprinted a news article which had appeared in a London-based newspaper, The Empire Record. The newspaper commented on the booklet, “Famine In Ukraine,” released by the United Ukrainian Organizations of the United States. It stated: ‘Famine in Ukraine’ soberly and methodically puts on record its evidence of this crime of the Bolsheviks against humanity.” The article continued with quotes from The Christian Science Monitor reports written by William Henry Chamberlin. He wrote:

“I crossed Ukraine from the southeast to the northwest by train and at every station where I made inquiries, the peasants told the same story of major famine during the winter and spring of 1932-33.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLIX

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October 16-31,1934
On October 17, Svoboda printed an article datelined Moscow, which reported that Harold Denny, Moscow correspondent for The New York Times, traveled through various regions of the Soviet Union and saw no signs of famine. In Ukraine, he wrote, the peasants were satisfied and had smiles on their faces. On October 18, Svoboda once again published news of Mr. Denny’s reports in The New York Times. He continued to deny that there was famine in the Soviet Union, specifically in Ukraine. He wrote that he had traveled to the Kherson region where the fields were burnt out, but the peasants in that area insisted that they did not suffer from famine.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLVIII

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October 1-15, 1934
The headline in the October 1 issue of Svoboda read: “Chaos During the Transport of Grain in Russia.” The story, datelined Moscow, stated that there was a lack of transport cars to carry grain, and it often rotted at railway stations. In a station near Kiev, the report stated, the grain was being stolen by peasants and then sold at the market. The reports stated that sometimes the wagons had holes in the floors and the grain would pour out during transport. The October 3 issue of Svoboda noted that, according to reports in the Soviet press, only 56 percent of the grain needed had been collected from the farms. Pravda blamed these low figures on saboteurs.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLVII

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September 1934
On September 4, Svoboda printed a news item datelined London, which reported that the English Institute of Slavic and Eastern Studies at the University of London had recently published a book on collectivization. The study, which included the essays of many authors, concluded that collectivization in the Soviet Union brought ruin to agriculture, mainly the production of grain in the USSR.

The book reported that the populace of the country was worse off that year than in previous years, and the Soviets continued to confiscate the peoples’ grain. The authors concluded with the statement that collectivization had completely failed in the Soviet Union. On September 8, Svoboda published a lengthy article about the Soviets and their tax-collecting system. According to the article, the Soviets lowered the tax on the agricultural products because they had been scarce in the past year’s harvest.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLVI

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August 16-31, 1934
On August 16, Svoboda printed news reports datelined Kiev which stated that the purges under Pavel Postyshev continued. Newest reports revealed that Shevchenko’s “Kobzar” was also being purged of any nationalistic ideas so as not to give youth the wrong direction. That same day Svoboda ran a lengthy report from a famine eyewitness titled “An Eyewitness to Soviet Hell.” The report stated that the Soviet Union pays much attention to its youth, establishing such organizations as the Zhovteniata (for kids under 10) and the Yuni Pionery (for ages 10-18) as training programs to the Komsomol (Communist Youth League). The writer went on to say that very often these children are taught to be spies.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLV

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August 1-15, 1934
On August 2, Svoboda printed a report from Moscow which stated that the yearly harvest was nearing completion in Ukraine. The report stated that although the year’s crop was worse than the previous year’s, modern methods allowed the Soviets to gather almost as much grain as in the last harvest. The news item also revealed that in Ukraine’s bread-producing areas, the harvest was poor because there were no workers to collect the grain. They had all moved to industrial towns, had been relocated or had run away rather than face being placed on collective farms.

On August 6, Svoboda reported that new concentration camps were being organized for Ukrainians, Byelorussians and Georgians suspected of being “enemies of the state.” The camps, located in Ukraine and Byelorussia, were for prisoners interned between one and five years and solely for those who were accused of acts against the Communist government.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XLIV

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July 16-31, 1934
On July 16, the headline in Svoboda read “Soviet bureaucrat denies famine threat in Soviet Union.” The story, datelined New York, reported that The New York Times had published Dr. Ewald Ammende’s letter which told of the ongoing famine in the Soviet Union. A few days later, The Times published a letter from a Soviet attache which stated that bread prices had gone up in state stores to match the prices of the bread in privately owned stores. The Soviet bureaucrat avoided Dr. Ammende’s statements that grain was being shipped to the Soviet Union from Argentina. He told The New York Times that the country expected an “unparalleled harvest.”