Romania, Moldova, and Ireland recognized Holodomor famine as genocide of Ukrainians

The Holodomor, a man-made famine created by Stalin in 1932–1933 that resulted in the deaths of almost four million Ukrainians, has been recognized as a genocide by the parliaments of Romania, Moldova, and Ireland.

Ireland declared Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people

Ireland’s Seanad Eireann declared the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people on November 22. According to the Ukrainian embassy in Ireland, the declaration said, “We show our solidarity with Ukraine in commemorating this man-made famine which was inflicted on the Ukrainian people by the deliberate policies of the totalitarian Stalinist regime and caused the death of millions of innocent lives.”

Romania declared Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people

A joint resolution denouncing the purposeful Holodomor famine was approved by both chambers of the Romanian parliament on November 23 with 248 votes in favor (one deputy abstained), AgerPress reported. 

The Romanian resolution acknowledges the Holodomor as a “genocidal, systematic actions, direct, cynical, criminal activities of the Soviet Union and its officials to physically annihilate the Ukrainian country.”

Moldova declared Holodomor a genocide against the Ukrainian people

The following day, the Moldovan parliament passed a resolution declaring the Holodomor a genocide against the Ukrainian people with 54 votes in favor and no opposition representatives present. It was reported by the local media NewsMaker.

The Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine was caused by premeditated plans to kill off opponents of the communist regime, and it served as the primary tool for that era’s strategy of widespread collectivization and enslavement.  As a result, some 22.4 million people were forcibly isolated in a zone of mass starvation,” reads the text of the declaration, NewsMaker reports.

Ireland, Moldova, and 19 other nations have joined those that have declared the Holodomor to be a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The Holodomor, a famine created by Soviet regime, killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33

On November 24, Ukraine commemorates the Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainian peasants during Stalin’s purges 85 years ago, in the years 1932–1933.

The Holodomor was one of Stalin’s deliberate policies toward the Ukrainian people; it was a coercive and intimidating act in response to the Ukrainians’ disobedience and opposition to the forced collectivization that was to be the foundation of the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime.

The Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Studies’ research indicates that the Holodomor claimed the lives of 3 million 530 thousand people in 1933. 250 thousand people perished from famine in 1932, and 160 thousand in 1934. In total, 3.9 million people perished in three years, along with an additional 0.6 million unborn children, or “indirect losses,” as they are also known. 4.5 million Ukrainians were killed as a result of the Holodomor in 1932–1933.

Soviet regime silenced and concealed the Holodomor genocide

The Holodomor has been considered taboo for many years. The communist crime was kept under wraps during the Soviet era. The Ukrainian parliament did not declare the Holodomor a genocide until November 28, 2006. Numerous other governments followed suit.

Genocide refers to deliberate acts meant to completely or partially exterminate particular racial, ethnic, racial, religious, or national groups of people or entire nations. Holocaust, Armenian Genocide in Turkey (1915–1923), Rwandan Genocide (1994), and Srebrenica Genocide are a few examples of genocides (1995).

Rafael Lemkin, one of the coauthors of the legal concept of genocide, regarded the Holodomor as a typical example of a Soviet genocide since it was the longest and most comprehensive effort to Russify and wipe out the Ukrainian nation.

Find out about the Holodomor at a glimpse: Holodomor: Stalin’s genocidal famine of 1932-1933 | Infographic