"Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine" - Unveiling the Untold Horror of the Holodomor

The "Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine" is a harrowing tale of one of the darkest periods in human history. It is a chilling account of how Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, deliberately orchestrated a brutal famine in Ukraine during the early 1930s, leading to the death of millions.

During this era, Ukraine was known as the "breadbasket of Europe" due to its fertile land and abundant food production. However, Stalin had other plans. He saw Ukraine's independence-minded farmers, or kulaks, as a threat to Soviet power. In order to crush this resistance, he implemented a series of measures designed to destroy Ukraine's agriculture and eliminate the kulaks.

The first step in Stalin's plan was the forced collectivization of agriculture. Under this policy, individual farms were taken away from the peasants and merged into large collective farms. This not only disrupted the efficient functioning of the agricultural system but also destroyed the pillars of Ukrainian society, as the kulaks were the backbone of the rural communities.

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine

by Anne Applebaum(Kindle Edition)

4.7 out of 5

Language	:	English
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
X-Ray	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
File size	:	93040 KB
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Print length	:	466 pages

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In addition to collectivization, Stalin imposed impossibly high grain procurement quotas on Ukraine. The Soviet authorities confiscated the entire food production, leaving the peasants to starve. Any attempts to hoard or hide food resulted in severe punishment, including imprisonment or execution. The aim was to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people and force them into submission.

The consequences of these policies were disastrous. The Ukrainian people faced starvation on an unimaginable scale. Families were torn apart as hunger led to desperation, and those who survived did so at a great cost. Cannibalism became prevalent as people resorted to unthinkable measures to feed themselves and their loved ones.

The world remained oblivious to the suffering in Ukraine, as Stalin's regime orchestrated a massive cover-up to hide the true extent of the famine. Access to food was restricted, and any information about the famine was strictly controlled. Foreign correspondents who were able to report on the situation faced significant barriers and were often manipulated by the Soviet authorities.

It wasn't until years later, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that the full horror of the famine was revealed. Historical documents and eyewitness accounts shed light on the immense suffering and loss of life experienced by the Ukrainian people during the famine, which came to be known as the Holodomor.

The Holodomor is now recognized as a genocide, as it was an intentional act of mass murder targeting the Ukrainian people. Millions died as a direct result of Stalin's policies, making it one of the deadliest famines in history.

Remembering the Holodomor is crucial to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated. It serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of safeguarding human rights and individual freedoms.

, "Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine" is a powerful account of the Holodomor, shedding light on one of the darkest chapters in human history. It is a story that needs to be told and remembered, honoring the victims and reminding us of the immense strength that comes from unity and resilience.

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine

by Anne Applebaum(Kindle Edition)

4.7 out of 5

Language	:	English
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
X-Ray	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
File size	:	93040 KB
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Print length	:	466 pages

FREE

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A revelatory history of one of Stalin's greatest crimes, the consequences of which still resonate today, as Russia has placed Ukrainian independence in its sights once more—from the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag and the National Book Award finalist Iron Curtain.

"With searing clarity, Red Famine demonstrates the horrific consequences of a campaign to eradicate 'backwardness' when undertaken by a regime in a state of war with its own people." —The Economist

In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization—in effect a second Russian revolution—which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people died between 1931 and 1933 in the USSR. But instead of sending relief the Soviet state made use of the catastrophe to rid itself of a political problem. In Red Famine, Anne Applebaum argues that more than three million of those dead were Ukrainians who perished not because they were accidental victims of a bad policy but because the state deliberately set out to kill them. Devastating and definitive, Red Famine captures the horror of ordinary people struggling to survive extraordinary evil. 

Applebaum’s compulsively readable narrative recalls one of the worst crimes of the twentieth century, and shows how it may foreshadow a new threat to the political order in the twenty-first.