Russian mass media (see more) and news agencies deny the tragedy of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine. In particular, they claim that as a result of the 1932-33 famine, the largest number of people in the USSR died not in Ukraine, but in Kazakhstan and Russia.
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The veracity of this statement was assessed by Mark Beygelzimer, PhD, a systems analyst and the head of the Trust but Verify project.
Facts
On the basis of archival documents, census data and excess mortality, historians have obtained the following estimates of the victims of the famine in 1932-33 in the republics of the Soviet Union (this is without taking into account demographic losses due to a decrease in the number of born children associated with the effects of the famine) [1-6]:
• Ukrainian SSR as a whole: from 3.3 to 4.8 million people (11-16% of the total population)
- North Caucasus (within Russian SFSR): from 0.8 to 1.1 million (10-15%)
- Volga region (within the Russian SFSR): from 0.35 to 0.45 million (5-7%)
• Russian SFSR as a whole: from 1.5 to 3.2 million (1-3%)
• Kazakh SSR as a whole: 1.2 to 1.5 million (21-27%)
Since a total of seven to nine million people died of starvation in the USSR at that time, Ukraine accounted for about half of all victims.
In 1933, according to official data, the mortality rate in Ukraine was 3.2 times higher than expected. This is the highest indicator among all regions and republics of the USSR [7]
Verdict
This is not true. The number of victims of the mass famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine was the largest among all regions and republics of the USSR in absolute value and the second largest after Kazakhstan as a percentage of the population.
Sources of information
1. O. Rudnytskyi et al. Demography of a man-made human catastrophe: The case of massive famine in Ukraine 1932–1933. Canadian Studies in Population 42, no. 1–2 (2015): 53–80.
2. Ukraine - The famine of 1932-33. Britannica. Archived April 5, 2016.
3. Brockhaus Enzyklopädie. 21. Aufl. in 30 Bde. Leipzig-Manheim, 2006. — Bd. 28, S.243.
4. J.Vallin, F. Mesle, S.Adamets and S. Pyrozhkov. Causes de décès en Ukraine au XXè siècle (Mortality and causes of deaths in Ukraine in the XX century). Chapitre 1. La crise des anées 1930. Archived June 17, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
5. J. Wallin, F. Mesle, S. Adamets, S. Pirozhkov. New estimates of population losses in Ukraine during the crises of the 1930s and 1940s. Demography and Social Economy. 2005. № 2. 7-29. Archived August 22, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. [in Ukrainian]
6. D.-P. Khymka. How many people died during the Holodomor and why it is important. Archived January 2, 2010 at the Wayback Machine // Ukrainska Pravda, 28.04.2008. [in Ukrainian].
7. Т. Kharkova. Remembering the Holodomor. Weekly “Demoscope Weekly”, 17.02-02.03.2003. - № 101-102. Archived May 30, 2008.
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