Every fourth Saturday in November, Ukraine observes the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holodomor. This year marks the 91st anniversary of the Holodomor of 1932–1933. At 16:00, Ukrainians will pause for a nationwide minute of silence and take part in the Light a Candle campaign.
The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance describes the Holodomor-genocide of 1932–1933 as one of the most horrific crimes of the twentieth century. It was orchestrated by Stalin’s communist regime to break Ukrainian resistance, erase Ukrainian identity and memory of statehood, enslave peasants through forced collectivisation, and secure unrestricted access to food resources.
Ukrainians endured three famines during the twentieth century: 1921–1923, 1932–1933, and 1946–1947. The famine of 1932–1933 was the largest and is recognised as genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Under Soviet orders, special food detachments seized all grain and food supplies from Ukrainian households. Collective farms faced punitive in-kind fines, and villages that failed to meet unattainable grain quotas were blacklisted, effectively blockaded and starved. Authorities closed borders to prevent people from fleeing Ukraine. By June 1933, the death toll reached catastrophic levels. Bodies were often left unburied, and instances of cannibalism were reported.
The Holodomor claimed millions of lives, but its scale makes it impossible to determine the exact number of victims. In 2000, researchers from Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Relations and US universities estimated the death toll at over 3.9 million. An additional 0.6 million lives were lost due to the absence of births during the famine, bringing total demographic losses to approximately 4.5 million.
Today, 23 November, at 16:00, Ukrainians will honor Holodomor victims with a minute of silence and the Light a Candle campaign.
In preparation for this solemn occasion, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has released a new video highlighting the three man-made famines inflicted on Ukrainians under Soviet rule.