A Social History of the Holodomor: Voices from Kharkiv Oblast, 1926–1934

Speaker: Dr. Olga Bertelsen, Petro Jacyk Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto

This presentation focused on people’s social behavior and tactics of survival in rural areas of Kharkiv oblast, one of the regions in Ukraine  most affected by the Famine of 1932–33.  Prominent themes examined included: people’s behavioral transformations under hunger; survival strategies of women, men, the elderly, and children; alcohol; material culture; and the role of Shevchenko’s poetry in people’s survival. The materials for this lecture were gathered from archival sources in Kharkiv as well as memoir accounts.

Sponsored by the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (CIUS, University of Alberta), the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre, and St. Vladimir Institute