Chronology of the Famine

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXIII

By Staff | October 2, 1983

December 1-15, 1933
On December 1, Svoboda reprinted an entire page of press accounts about the Ukrainian protest march held in New York on November 18. The New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, New York American, New York World Telegram, The Sun and the Sunday Mirror all carried articles about the march to protest Moscow’s starvation of Ukrainians as well as the recognition of the Soviet Union by the United States. It was also one of the few times Svoboda printed a photograph in the newspaper, which pictured the thousands of marchers with banners. Following are a few excerpts from the news items.

The New York Times wrote: “Five persons were injured and nine arrested in street disturbances that lasted for two hours yesterday morning, when 500 Communists attempted to break up a parade of 8,000 Ukrainians from Washington Square to the Central Opera House at 67th Street and Third Avenue. “Three hundred policemen, including a score of mounted men, were called out to enable the marchers to reach the opera house and to conduct a meeting there in peace.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXXI

By Staff | September 18, 1983

November 1 -15, 1933
In Rohatyn, a Committee to Save the Hungry in Ukraine received a letter written by a girl to her mother, describing the family’s living conditions. The letter was forwarded to Svoboda and reprinted on November 2. The text follows. “By the time we received your last package, we practically died. For 11 days all we ate were cucumbers.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXX

By Staff | September 11, 1983

October 16-31, 1933
On October 16, Svoboda published a news item datelined Moscow, which stated that yet another purge of the Ukrainian SSR Communist Party had taken place, reducing the party membership by 30 percent. The following day, a news item datelined Kolomyia appeared in Svoboda. It stated that the community had scheduled a public meeting protesting Soviet persecution and the famine in Soviet Ukraine. The meeting, planned for October 1, attracted hundreds of peasants and community leaders, but when the participants reached the meeting hall, Polish officials banned them from holding the protest. That same day, Svoboda carried a news report stating that many Ukrainians from Galicia, who had resettled in Soviet Ukraine years ago, were fleeing the area because of the Soviet persecution.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXIX

By Staff | September 4, 1983

October 1-15, 1933
On October 2, Svoboda published a report datelined Moscow which stated that Pavel Postyshev would most likely be elected to the Soviet Politburo at the next Communist Party Congress. According to the news, this was his reward for waging a battle against Ukrainian nationalism. Now Ukraine would be represented by Stanislav Kosior in the Soviet government. In Geneva, the Congress of European Minorities passed a resolution concerning the famine in the Soviet Union, reported Svoboda in its October 2 issue. The leaders of the congress welcomed concrete proposals on this matter, stating that the congress would do anything it could to help the famine victims in the Soviet Union.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXVIII

By Staff | August 21, 1983

September 16-30, 1933
On September 16, Svoboda printed a news item, datelined Moscow, which revealed that the Soviet regime was sending children, age 6 to 16, as well as the elderly, age 60 to 80 to harvest the crops. The regime mentioned that the elderly would act as grain inspectors. News reports from Kharkiv were printed in Svoboda on September 18. According of The New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, the Soviet regime had broken the resistance of the peasants. Now, he wrote, the grain elevators were overflowing with wheat; along the railroad tracks, one could find seeds, spilled over from the transport cars.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXVII

By Staff | August 21, 1983

September 1-15, 1933
On September 2, Svoboda reported news from Prague which revealed that Moscow was exporting all the grain from Ukraine. Refugees and people writing letters to their families outside eastern Ukraine had reached Prague. The news reports said the harvest in Ukraine was picked as members of the secret police, Red Army and youth cavalry brigades stood guard over the peasants to make sure nothing was stolen for their families. The peasants had to give a portion of the grain to Moscow for export, a portion to the state (for planting in the spring and fall), and a portion for other purposes. By the time all these quotas were filled, the peasants had no grain, or very little, for themselves.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXVI

By Staff | August 14, 1983

August 15-31, 1933
On August 17, Svoboda reported on commentaries about Ukraine published by the French press. After the suicide of Mykola Skrypnyk, a correspondent for the French press stationed in Riga, Latvia, wrote the following in regard to the situation in Ukraine: “What the rest of the world would call a national movement, the Soviet Union labels a counterrevolution, opportunism, sabotage and opposition.” The correspondent wrote that Ukraine – one of the richest agricultural countries in the world – was constantly on the brink of a famine. He added that Bolshevik Russia is the reason for the hunger in Ukraine. On August 18, the headline in Svoboda read: “Irregular harvests in the Soviet Union.”

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXV

By Staff | August 7, 1983

August 1-15, 1933
Commentaries in Svoboda
By August 1933, the famine in Ukraine was peaking. More and more Ukrainians outside the Soviet Union realized the devastating impact the famine was having on the population, and began to comment on the tragedy in the Ukrainian press. In August, Svoboda carried several commentaries about the situation in Soviet Ukraine. One such commentary, published in two parts, was written by Prof. R. Rosova and Dr. S. Kononenko, president and secretary, respectively, of the Ukrainian National Women’s Council. It appeared in the August 4 and 5 editions of Svoboda.

Holodomor

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FAMINE YEARS. PART XXIV

By Staff | July 31, 1983

August 1-15, 1933
A brief commentary on the situation in Ukraine was printed on the pages of Svoboda on August 1. Written by O. Snovyda, it was titled “The End of a Comedy,” and it referred to the suicide of Mykola Skrypnyk, minister of education in Soviet Ukraine and an advocate of Ukrainianization policies. The author stated that the suicide should serve as a “reminder to Ukrainians” that Moscow, whether it be Red or White, wishes only to destroy Ukraine. The author also said that no Ukrainian should ever think that Moscow wants to work together with Ukraine, or work toward some kind of compromise, adding that all Moscow wants to do is wipe Ukraine off the map of Europe. That same day, news from a French newspaper was printed in Svoboda.