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Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine, 1921-1933
by Anne Applebaum
Books have always been a means of learning for me, and while I tend to read mainly fiction, I've been making a concerted effort to read at least one nonfiction book each month. This month, I knew that I wanted to read something about Ukraine, and figured that this was a good place to start. The audiobook version of this is incredible, with the narrator sharing so much information in a way that made it easy to process.
The history of Russian aggression against Ukraine is nothing new. In this book, the author focuses on the Holodomor (to kill by starvation), although I appreciated the way the author delved into the events that led up to this event. While the Ukrainian people were working towards Ukrainization, a process of having their language and culture officially recognized, the Soviet government was slowly and methodically painting Ukrainian farmers and peasants as "enemies" trying to subvert the government.
Once the Ukrainian farmers were painted as counter-revolutionary and enemies of the state, impossible demands were placed on them. They were required to collectivize their farms and meet impossible quotas for grain. As the grain was being exported to other parts of the Soviet Union, these people were slowly starving to death. And Stalin seemed to view it as a way to get rid of a problematic element - ever more restrictive policies were enacted and brutally enforced, to the point where all food was confiscated from starving people.
The author managed to portray this immense suffering in a sensitive way, even as she was discussing the breakdown of Ukrainian society, to the point where people were forced to do things they should never have needed to in order to survive. Eating whatever they could find, and in some cases, cannibalism, were the only way for these poor, starving farmers to survive. However, what came across as worse to me was the way that these people were constantly demonized, portrayed as "at fault" for their own suffering, refused any offers of aid, and then this atrocity was promptly covered up for many years.
It wasn't an easy book to read, but it was incredibly informative. I also appreciated that the author detailed what happened in the years after the Holodomor, including during World War II and the role that Ukrainian people played in the Holocaust, which has some eerie parallels to their own experiences during a man-made famine. Since the Holodomor occurred in the early 1930s, it is entirely possible that people who lived through these events are still alive, and their descendants certainly are. Although I was already firmly behind Ukraine against Russian aggression in the present day, this book offered even greater insight into the Ukrainian fight for independence.
This is definitely a book that should be on reading lists, because it's incredibly informative while also breaking my heart. There's a section where the impact on Ukrainian life was being estimated, since records were not kept to thoroughly track the deaths - many of these people died without being recognized, and those that were didn't always have "starvation" listed as a cause of death. However, the fact that children born during this time had an estimated lifespan of 5 years for boys and 8 years for girls. Absolutely horrific, yet a very important read.
The history of Russian aggression against Ukraine is nothing new. In this book, the author focuses on the Holodomor (to kill by starvation), although I appreciated the way the author delved into the events that led up to this event. While the Ukrainian people were working towards Ukrainization, a process of having their language and culture officially recognized, the Soviet government was slowly and methodically painting Ukrainian farmers and peasants as "enemies" trying to subvert the government.
Once the Ukrainian farmers were painted as counter-revolutionary and enemies of the state, impossible demands were placed on them. They were required to collectivize their farms and meet impossible quotas for grain. As the grain was being exported to other parts of the Soviet Union, these people were slowly starving to death. And Stalin seemed to view it as a way to get rid of a problematic element - ever more restrictive policies were enacted and brutally enforced, to the point where all food was confiscated from starving people.
The author managed to portray this immense suffering in a sensitive way, even as she was discussing the breakdown of Ukrainian society, to the point where people were forced to do things they should never have needed to in order to survive. Eating whatever they could find, and in some cases, cannibalism, were the only way for these poor, starving farmers to survive. However, what came across as worse to me was the way that these people were constantly demonized, portrayed as "at fault" for their own suffering, refused any offers of aid, and then this atrocity was promptly covered up for many years.
It wasn't an easy book to read, but it was incredibly informative. I also appreciated that the author detailed what happened in the years after the Holodomor, including during World War II and the role that Ukrainian people played in the Holocaust, which has some eerie parallels to their own experiences during a man-made famine. Since the Holodomor occurred in the early 1930s, it is entirely possible that people who lived through these events are still alive, and their descendants certainly are. Although I was already firmly behind Ukraine against Russian aggression in the present day, this book offered even greater insight into the Ukrainian fight for independence.
This is definitely a book that should be on reading lists, because it's incredibly informative while also breaking my heart. There's a section where the impact on Ukrainian life was being estimated, since records were not kept to thoroughly track the deaths - many of these people died without being recognized, and those that were didn't always have "starvation" listed as a cause of death. However, the fact that children born during this time had an estimated lifespan of 5 years for boys and 8 years for girls. Absolutely horrific, yet a very important read.