Research Grants 2024
The HREC Research Grants Competition is held annually to support academic research on the Holodomor, the publication of research results, the preservation of materials, and the organization of and participation in academic venues. Each year, a new thematic focus is established, though proposals for other topics are considered. The applications are reviewed by a committee of scholars and HREC associates.
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2024 HREC Research Grants Competition
The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC) announces its 2024 Research Grants Competition. Grants are intended to support research that expands our knowledge and understanding of the Holodomor; publication and translation of research results; preservation of and increasing access to materials; and organization of and participation in academic forums. Examples of research that could be supported include the policies of foreign governments during collectivization and the Holodomor; the fate of various groups living in Ukraine (ethnic, social, etc.); diaspora communities and their kin in Soviet Ukraine; and the Holodomor at the national and sub-national levels (eg., oblasts, raions, villages). Grants to individuals will not exceed C$7,000.00, with most grants ranging from C$1,000.00 to C$3,000.00 in the past years. HREC also accepts proposals for larger collaborative projects that engage scholars and institutions from both in and outside Ukraine.
Deadline: May 15, 2024
Individual Projects 2024
Oleksandra Smilianets
Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University
“Holodomor in Victims' Ego-Documents. Family Stories on Holodomor in the War Conditions in Rural United Territorial Communities of Ukraine”
Amid Russian aggression, Ukrainian families, especially in rural areas, are increasingly uncovering and preserving stories of their relatives’ experiences during the Holodomor. This project examines how war conditions have reshaped personal and collective memory of the Holodomor, highlighting the eagerness of survivors’ descendants to share their family histories through oral testimony. By focusing on rural communities and engaging local residents, Oleksandra Smilianets aims to understand how memory is passed down, how it shapes national consciousness, and how it can serve as a foundation for civic resilience.
Inna Shugalyova
The National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide
“Social Orphanhood During the Holodomor of 1932-33: Origins, Essence and Post-genocidal Consequences for the Fate of Children in Ukraine”
The purpose of the study is to clarify the goals and essence of the communist policy in regards to juveniles, which contributed to the transformation of children in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic into social orphans, especially during the Holodomor-genocide. The project analyzes the essence of the phenomenon of social orphanhood, identifies its causes and consequences during the Holodomor, characterizes the circumstances that led to children becoming social orphans, and analyzes the psychophysical state of children in orphanages and outside them. The study pays particular attention to the manifestations of post-genocidal syndrome in children who became social orphans during the Holodomor of 1932-33.
Natalia Kuzovozova
Kherson State University
“The famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine in the politics of Poland and Germany”
The 1932-33 famine in Ukraine was observed by Polish and German diplomats despite. This project explores the experiences of these diplomats in cities, and in Kharkiv in particular, as well as reports from affected ethnic minorities. While Polish officials informed their government, fears of Soviet aggression and economic concerns limited public acknowledgement. German diplomats pushed for joint efforts to highlight the famine and aid victims, but political tensions prevented significant action.
Olha Honcharova
Hryhorii Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University
“Return of Homeless Children to the Villages of Kharkiv County During the Holodomor of 1932-33 and its Consequences”
Olha Honcharova’s research focuses on the little-studied practice of returning homeless children from cities to starving villages in the Kharkiv region during the Holodomor. Building on previous research on guardianship of these children, both state-run collective and individual, the project investigates who initiated these returns, how families were located, whether food conditions in the villages were considered, and what criteria or incentives shaped individual guardianship. The study aims to fill a gap in existing scholarship by examining the mechanisms and consequences of this state policy at the intersection of famine, child homelessness, and survival strategies.
Serhii Vodotyka
Kherson State University
“National Book of Memory for the Victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine»: Conception, Implementation, Role in the Formation of Historical Memory”
In his research, Serhii Vodotyka investigates the conception, implementation, and impact of the "National Book of Memory for the Victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine" on shaping Ukraine’s historical memory and national identity, highlighting how official recognition of the Holodomor as genocide and the commemoration of its victims marked a crucial turning point in Ukraine’s move away from its Soviet past and Russian influence toward European integration. The study analyzes the social, political, and historiographical changes triggered by this publication, as well as its role in fostering modern Ukrainian national consciousness. It also aims to provide expert recommendations to improve future research and public awareness of the Holodomor’s legacy.
Vitalii Ogiienko
Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
“The Holodomor Trauma and the Origin of the Stakhanovite Movement in Ukraine”
The project “The Holodomor Trauma and the Origin of the Stakhanovite Movement in Ukraine” explores a historical paradox: during the devastating Holodomor of the early 1930s, many Ukrainians worked exceptionally hard in the fields, far exceeding normal labor norms. These “five-hundreders” were the forerunners of the Stakhanovite movement, which quickly grew to hundreds of thousands in Ukraine. This research examines how the surge in labor effort was directly linked to the trauma of the Holodomor. The movement’s members came from two groups: activists and Komsomol members, and desperate starving peasants who, faced with starvation, had little choice but to accept harsh control and to become forced laborers on collective farms as their only chance for survival.
Kristina Hook
Kennesaw State University
“From Stalin to Putin: Holodomor Narratives during Russia's Full-Scale War against Ukraine”
This research investigates the Holodomor’s generational impact and evolving memory in modern Ukraine, especially in light of Russia’s war against the country since 2014. Based on multi-year ethnographic fieldwork across 33 Ukrainian locations and extensive archival research, the project explores the Holodomor’s lasting effects on social life, health, and cultural heritage. It introduces the concept of cosmological destruction to describe the genocide’s deep societal rupture and examines how Holodomor memory has shifted through three key post-Soviet periods. This grant supports final-stage interviews on how Russia’s full-scale invasion is reshaping Ukrainian discourse around the Holodomor, national identity, and historical trauma.
Wiktoria Kudela-Świątek
University of the National Education Commission
“Memory and Commemoration of the Holodomor by North American Ukrainians During the Cold War”
This study examines how Ukrainian communities in North America commemorated the Holodomor from 1930 to 1980, focusing on how participants in these memorial efforts perceived their roles and the meanings they attached to preserving the memory of the tragedy. Using Marianne Hirsch’s concept of “postmemory,” the project explores how later generations that did not directly experience the trauma nonetheless made it central to their identity and public actions. It also investigates how post-war Ukrainian emigrants transmitted their personal memories of the Holodomor within the diaspora.
Serhii Humenniy
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
“Illegal Activities in the Ternopil Region of the Polish-Soviet Borderland during the Holodomor of 1932-33”
Between 1921 and 1939, thousands of people crossed the Polish-Soviet border near the Zbruch River, fleeing Soviet repression, famine, and religious persecution. This research investigates the patterns and causes of illegal migration in that border zone, drawing on archival materials to trace the social, political, and national backgrounds of those who crossed, primarily Ukrainians, Jews, and Poles. By analyzing these cases using historical and statistical methods, the project will contribute to our understanding of how the Soviet policies of collectivization and the Holodomor shaped population movements and will offer insight into a lesser-known aspect of interwar European history that has ongoing relevance.
Collaborative Projects 2024
Viktoria Sukhenko
Liliia Kharchuk
Viktoria Sukhenko
Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics
Liliia Kharchuk
Lviv Polytechnic National University
“Verbalization of the Holodomor Concept in the Documentary Literature of the Sumy Oblast”
Focusing on the Sumy oblast of Ukraine, this research analyzes how the Holodomor is conceptualized and verbalized in regional documentary literature. Through the study of eyewitness testimonies and archival texts, it explores how language conveys trauma, memory, and historical truth. The project also examines the educational relevance of these materials and offers recommendations for their integration into school and university curricula.