Joseph Stalin, was one of the most ruthless humans ever to hold power. To Stalin, the Ukranian movement for independence from the Soviet Union was completely unacceptable. To crush the people's free spirit, he began to employ the same methods he had successfully used against other people within the Soviet Union. Thus, beginning in 1929, over 5,000 Ukrainian intellectuals, scientists, cultural and religious leaders were arrested after being accused of plotting an armed revolt. Those arrested were either shot without a trial or deported to prison camps in remote areas of Russia.
Stalin also started the Soviet system of land management known as collectivization. This resulted in the the government taking of all privately owned farmlands and livestock. In the Ukraine 80 percent of the people were traditional village farmers. Among those farmers, were a class of people called Kulaks by the Communists. They were formerly wealthy farmers that had owned 24 or more acres, or had employed farm workers. Stalin believed any future rebellions would be led by the Kulaks, and his started his goal of "liquidating the Kulaks as a class."
Declared "enemies of the people," the Kulaks were left homeless and without a single possession as everything was taken from them, even their pots and pans. It was also forbidden by law for anyone to help the Kulak families. Some researchers estimate that ten million people were thrown out of their homes, put on railroad box cars and deported to "special settlements" in the wilderness of Siberia. During this time up to a third of them perished becauses of the frigid living conditions. Men and older boys, along with childless women and unmarried girls, also became slave-workers in Soviet-run mines and big industrial projects.
Back in the Ukraine, anyone refusing to participate in the mandatory collectivization system was simply denounced as a Kulak and sent to Siberia. However, many of Stalins attempts to collect crops and farming equipment failed. Many of the people rebelled and even burned their own homes rather than surrender them to Stalin. This ultimately put them in direct conflict with the power and authority of Joseph Stalin.
Soviet troops and secret police were rushed in to put down the rebellions. They confronted rowdy farmers by firing warning shots above their heads. In some cases, however, they fired directly at the people. Stalin's secret police (The KGB) also went to work waging a campaign of terror designed to break the people's will. KGB squads systematically attacked and killed farmers.
But the resistance continued. The people simply refused to give up their property to Stalin. Some refused to work at all, leaving the wheat and oats to rot in unharvested fields. Once again, they were placing themselves in conflict with Stalin.
In Moscow, Stalin responded to their defiance by beginning a policy that would purposely cause mass starvation and result in the deaths of millions. On Stalin's orders, foods were shipped out to the Ukraine until there was simply no food remaining to feed the people. The Soviets now had all the wheat produced in the Ukraine. It was estimated that there was enough wheat to feed all of the people there for up to two years.
The Soviets then sealed off the borders of the Ukraine, preventing any food from entering, in effect turning the country into a gigantic concentration camp. Soviet police troops inside the Ukraine also went house to house seizing any stored up food, leaving farm families without a morsel. All food was considered to be the "sacred" property of the State. Anyone caught stealing State property, even an ear of corn or stubble of wheat, could be shot or imprisoned for not less than ten years.
Starvation quickly ensued throughout the Ukraine, with the most vulnerable, children and the elderly, first feeling the effects of malnutrition. The once-smiling young faces of children vanished forever amid the constant pain of hunger. It gnawed away at their bellies, which became grossly swollen, while their arms and legs became like sticks as they slowly starved to death.
Mothers in the countryside sometimes tossed their emaciated children onto passing railroad cars traveling toward cities such as Kiev in the hope someone there would take pity. But in the cities, children and adults who had already flocked there from the countryside were dropping dead in the streets, with their bodies carted away in horse-drawn wagons to be dumped in mass graves. Occasionally, people lying on the sidewalk who were thought to be dead, but were actually still alive, were also carted away and buried.
While police and Communist Party officials remained quite well fed, desperate Ukrainians ate leaves off bushes and trees, killed dogs, cats, frogs, mice and birds then cooked them. Others, gone mad with hunger, resorted to cannibalism, with parents sometimes even eating their own children.
Meanwhile, nearby Soviet-controlled granaries (where crops are stored) were said to be bursting at the seams from huge stocks of 'reserve' wheat. Often the food went uneaten and spoiled. In some locations, grain and potatoes were piled in the open, protected by barbed wire and armed GPU guards who shot down anyone attempting to take the food. Farm animals, considered necessary for production, were allowed to be fed, while the people living among them had absolutely nothing to eat.
By the spring of 1933, the height of the famine, an estimated 25,000 persons died every day in the Ukraine. Entire villages were left dead. In Europe, America and Canada, persons of Ukrainian descent and others responded to news reports of the famine by sending in food supplies. But Soviet authorities halted all food shipments at the border.
It was a law in the Soviet Union to deny there was a famine and thus to refuse any outside assistance. Anyone claiming that there was a famine was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. Inside the Soviet Union, a person could be arrested for even using the word 'famine' or 'hunger' or 'starvation' in a sentence.
By the end of 1933, nearly 25 percent of the population of the Ukraine, including three million children, had perished. The Kulaks as a class were destroyed and an entire nation of village farmers had been wiped out.
Stalin also started the Soviet system of land management known as collectivization. This resulted in the the government taking of all privately owned farmlands and livestock. In the Ukraine 80 percent of the people were traditional village farmers. Among those farmers, were a class of people called Kulaks by the Communists. They were formerly wealthy farmers that had owned 24 or more acres, or had employed farm workers. Stalin believed any future rebellions would be led by the Kulaks, and his started his goal of "liquidating the Kulaks as a class."
Declared "enemies of the people," the Kulaks were left homeless and without a single possession as everything was taken from them, even their pots and pans. It was also forbidden by law for anyone to help the Kulak families. Some researchers estimate that ten million people were thrown out of their homes, put on railroad box cars and deported to "special settlements" in the wilderness of Siberia. During this time up to a third of them perished becauses of the frigid living conditions. Men and older boys, along with childless women and unmarried girls, also became slave-workers in Soviet-run mines and big industrial projects.
Back in the Ukraine, anyone refusing to participate in the mandatory collectivization system was simply denounced as a Kulak and sent to Siberia. However, many of Stalins attempts to collect crops and farming equipment failed. Many of the people rebelled and even burned their own homes rather than surrender them to Stalin. This ultimately put them in direct conflict with the power and authority of Joseph Stalin.
Soviet troops and secret police were rushed in to put down the rebellions. They confronted rowdy farmers by firing warning shots above their heads. In some cases, however, they fired directly at the people. Stalin's secret police (The KGB) also went to work waging a campaign of terror designed to break the people's will. KGB squads systematically attacked and killed farmers.
But the resistance continued. The people simply refused to give up their property to Stalin. Some refused to work at all, leaving the wheat and oats to rot in unharvested fields. Once again, they were placing themselves in conflict with Stalin.
In Moscow, Stalin responded to their defiance by beginning a policy that would purposely cause mass starvation and result in the deaths of millions. On Stalin's orders, foods were shipped out to the Ukraine until there was simply no food remaining to feed the people. The Soviets now had all the wheat produced in the Ukraine. It was estimated that there was enough wheat to feed all of the people there for up to two years.
The Soviets then sealed off the borders of the Ukraine, preventing any food from entering, in effect turning the country into a gigantic concentration camp. Soviet police troops inside the Ukraine also went house to house seizing any stored up food, leaving farm families without a morsel. All food was considered to be the "sacred" property of the State. Anyone caught stealing State property, even an ear of corn or stubble of wheat, could be shot or imprisoned for not less than ten years.
Starvation quickly ensued throughout the Ukraine, with the most vulnerable, children and the elderly, first feeling the effects of malnutrition. The once-smiling young faces of children vanished forever amid the constant pain of hunger. It gnawed away at their bellies, which became grossly swollen, while their arms and legs became like sticks as they slowly starved to death.
Mothers in the countryside sometimes tossed their emaciated children onto passing railroad cars traveling toward cities such as Kiev in the hope someone there would take pity. But in the cities, children and adults who had already flocked there from the countryside were dropping dead in the streets, with their bodies carted away in horse-drawn wagons to be dumped in mass graves. Occasionally, people lying on the sidewalk who were thought to be dead, but were actually still alive, were also carted away and buried.
While police and Communist Party officials remained quite well fed, desperate Ukrainians ate leaves off bushes and trees, killed dogs, cats, frogs, mice and birds then cooked them. Others, gone mad with hunger, resorted to cannibalism, with parents sometimes even eating their own children.
Meanwhile, nearby Soviet-controlled granaries (where crops are stored) were said to be bursting at the seams from huge stocks of 'reserve' wheat. Often the food went uneaten and spoiled. In some locations, grain and potatoes were piled in the open, protected by barbed wire and armed GPU guards who shot down anyone attempting to take the food. Farm animals, considered necessary for production, were allowed to be fed, while the people living among them had absolutely nothing to eat.
By the spring of 1933, the height of the famine, an estimated 25,000 persons died every day in the Ukraine. Entire villages were left dead. In Europe, America and Canada, persons of Ukrainian descent and others responded to news reports of the famine by sending in food supplies. But Soviet authorities halted all food shipments at the border.
It was a law in the Soviet Union to deny there was a famine and thus to refuse any outside assistance. Anyone claiming that there was a famine was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. Inside the Soviet Union, a person could be arrested for even using the word 'famine' or 'hunger' or 'starvation' in a sentence.
By the end of 1933, nearly 25 percent of the population of the Ukraine, including three million children, had perished. The Kulaks as a class were destroyed and an entire nation of village farmers had been wiped out.