Toggle navigation menu.
Holodomor Monument 368x331

The 80th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine

  • Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin
    US












Senate

113th Congress, First Session

Madam President, this year we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holodomor, the genocidal Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933. Eighty years ago, an engineered famine in Soviet-dominated Ukraine and bordering ethnically-Ukrainian territory resulted in the horrific deaths of millions of innocent men, women, and children.

I visited the Holodomor monument in central Kyiv, a poignant reminder of the suffering perpetrated by Soviet dictator Stalin’s deliberate and inhumane policy to suppress the Ukrainian people and destroy their human, cultural, and political rights. Requisition brigades, acting on Stalin’s orders to fulfill impossibly high grain quotas, took away the last scraps of food from starving families and children. Eyewitness accounts describing the despair of the starving are almost unfathomable. Millions of rural Ukrainians slowly starved–an excruciatingly painful form of death–amid some of the world’s most 
fertile farmland, while stockpiles of expropriated grain rotted by the ton, often nearby. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s borders were sealed to prevent the starving from leaving to less-affected areas. International offers of help were rejected, with Stalin’s henchmen denying a famine was taking place. At the same time, Soviet grain was being exported to the West.

The final report of the congressionally created Commission on the Ukraine Famine concluded in 1988 that “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-33.” No less than Rafael Lemkin, the Polish-Jewish-American lawyer who coined the term “genocide” and was instrumental in the adoption of the 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, described the “destruction of the Ukrainian nation” as the “classic example of Soviet genocide.”

We must never forget the victims of the Holodomor or those of other republics in the Soviet Union, notably Kazakhstan, that witnessed cruel, mass starvation as a result of Stalin’s barbarism, and we must 
redouble our efforts to protect human rights and democracy, ensuring that 20th-century genocides such as the Holocaust, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Ukraine, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Rwanda become impossible to imagine in the future.

Category
Country
Issue
Date
Filter Topics Open Close
In the News

Bipartisan House members push Biden to allow Poland ...

Oct 30, 2024

In the News

US Weighs NATO Ally’s Offer To Shoot Down Russ...

Nov 01, 2024

screen-reader-text
In the News

Bipartisan report urges rethink of America’s Russia ...

Sep 28, 2024

screen-reader-text
In the News

Wilson Talks Russia Strategy

Oct 02, 2024

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Chairman Wilson Issues Statement on Government Raids...

Oct 25, 2024

WASHINGTON—Today, US Helsinki Commission Chairman Joe Wilson (SC-02), issued the following statement regarding the government raids on the homes of the two Tbilisi, Georgia-based researchers with the US-based Atlantic Council: “It […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

BRIEFING—Intercepting Terror: Strengthening Ukrainia...

Jul 24, 2025

Cannon House Office Building 210 Stream live here Over the past several months, Russia has scaled up its production of drones and missiles, using its growing arsenal to launch nightly […]

screen-reader-text
Briefings

Intercepting Terror: Strengthening Ukrainian Air Def...

Jul 24, 2025

Over the past several months, Russia has scaled up its production of drones and missiles, using its growing arsenal to launch nightly barrages on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. In […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

BRIEFING—From Persecution to Protection: Strategies ...

Jul 16, 2025

Longworth House Office Building 1324 Stream live here Religious persecution is not limited to totalitarian states. Illiberal democracies often infringe on religious freedom in more subtle ways. While dictators see unsanctioned […]

screen-reader-text
Briefings

From Persecution to Protection: Strategies to Defend...

Jul 16, 2025

Religious persecution is not limited to totalitarian states. Illiberal democracies often infringe on religious freedom in more subtle ways. While dictators see unsanctioned religious thought and practice as a challenge […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

HEARING—The Cost of a Bad Deal in Ukraine

Jun 26, 2025

Russell Senate Office Building 222 Stream live here  Ukraine is fighting not only for its own survival, but for freedom and security around the world. Western leaders seeking to end Vladimir […]

screen-reader-text
Hearings

The Cost of a Bad Deal in Ukraine

Jun 26, 2025

Ukraine is fighting not only for its own survival, but for freedom and security around the world. Western leaders seeking to end Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war should note that any […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

BRIEFING—A Historic Opportunity: Advancing the Armen...

Jun 25, 2025

Rayburn House Office Building 2212 Stream live here   After decades of war, Armenia and Azerbaijan are on the verge of a peace deal that promises to bring stability and prosperity […]

screen-reader-text
Briefings

A Historic Opportunity: Advancing the Armenia-Azerba...

Jun 25, 2025

After decades of war, Armenia and Azerbaijan are on the verge of a peace deal that promises to bring stability and prosperity while lessening Russia and Iran’s grip on the […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Ranking Member Rep. Cohen Welcomes Release of 14 Bel...

Jun 24, 2025

WASHINGTON—U.S. Helsinki Commission Ranking Member Representative Steve Cohen (TN-09), OSCE PA Special Representative on Political Prisoners, today issued a statement following the release of fourteen political prisoners in Belarus. “I […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Chairman Wicker, Senators Shaheen, Durbin Honor Bela...

May 28, 2025

WASHINGTON—U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Roger Wicker (MS), Commissioner Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Senator Dick Durbin (IL) today issued a statement on the fifth anniversary of the arrest of […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Ranking Member Rep. Cohen Marks Belarus Political Pr...

May 21, 2025

WASHINGTON—U.S. Helsinki Commission Ranking Member Representative Steve Cohen (TN-09), OSCE PA Special Representative on Political Prisoners, today issued a statement marking the Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus. […]

screen-reader-text
Press Releases

Helsinki Commission House Leadership Issue Statement...

May 16, 2025

WASHINGTON—U.S. Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Representative Joe Wilson (SC-02) and Ranking Member Representative Steve Cohen (TN-09) today issued a statement ahead of Romania’s presidential elections this weekend: “Romania is a core […]

screen-reader-text