learntoquestion ltq discussions

The Holodomor portrays to us the true history of the USSR/Russia and Ukraine. Rather than being two allied neighboring countries, they have a troubled, leader/subject relationship. Russia consistently tortures and takes advantage of the Ukrainian people. During the Holodomor, crops of wheat, beans, and more were taken away from citizens all over the USSR, but specifically Ukraine. These people were not allowed to leave Ukrainian borders as a means to get food, as it was punishable by death. This sharply contrasted the lavish lifestyle of Soviet elites, who often had feasts full of the most expensive and rare foods in the country. This contrast can be best represented by the photos of James Abbe, who toured the Soviet Union and saw people dying on the streets, but also frequently dined with Soviet high society.

Although there were not mass executions, this was a deliberate and premeditated plan to wipe out the Ukrainian population. By getting rid of almost all crops in the Soviet Union’s most fertile land, there was nothing to expect but death by starvation and malnutrition. This makes the genocide more controversial because it is not easily labelled as intentional and planned. By learning about the Holodomor, we can see that genocide is much broader and hard to define than we think. That also makes it easier for the Soviet Union to spread propaganda because there was not an officially defined word to describe what was happening.

With how “successful” the Holodomor was, as almost no one learns about it in schools or talks about it in the media, Russia still thinks that they have power over Ukraine and can get away with committing atrocious acts against the Ukrainians. If we did not have the press and media that we do today, Ukraine’s story right now may not be told to the extent that it is.

This leaves me wondering what is the Russian government hiding from us now and when will we find out?

The Holodomor, along with other events mentioned in the articles, explains the strained relationship between Russia and Ukraine. After this event Ukraines past is now stained by the actions of Russia and the treatment of their country. This actually provides some explanation and context to what is happening currently in Ukraine. This makes clear that this is not a one time incident and that tension between these countries has been present for years.

This large scale event exposed the dangers of using food deprivation as a weapon. It was horrifying to learn about the deaths and the frequency at which they were occurring. Something that brought this into reality for me was how the BBC article said the seats were 2/3s empty and I thought about my own experience and what that would look like and it was shocking. Another thing this caused was the weakness of a nation, and a nation without strength is a nation without fight which is a nation without hope.

Russia ended up highly benefiting from the death of millions. Being subject to an event like the Holodomor can have a very large effect on a country and severely slow it down. Something that is consistently mentioned when we talk about things like this is the after effects and what is left. These nations often suffer from many things but a very big one is they are set very far back in terms of their position in the world and the political and economic market. Seen similarly in Ukraine they had to recover from the big hit taken by Russia.

My main concern is how we prevent something like this happening again. There is danger and consequences to almost every possible response so how do we prevent events like these becoming a recurring theme. It is a very complicated thing to think about because there is a counter to every argument for and against any given solution.