Youtube

Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40

Dnipro (Chicago, Philadelphia, Trenton, NJ; 1921-1926, 1928-1950) was a Ukrainian-language newspaper of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the United States. In the period 1931-40 it was published in Philadelphia as a biweekly. Its intended primary audience was the Ukrainian immigrant community in the US, and the range of topics covered included news from Ukraine, faith, church and community events and affairs, literature, and letters from readers. 

The following selection of excerpts from Dnipro gives some sense of what Ukrainians abroad knew about the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine at the time and about the larger socio-political context in which it occurred. In 1933, virtually every issue included more than one mention of the famine as well as related stories about Soviet economic and demographic policies, political purges, the war on religion and church, reversal of the Ukrainianization policy, and escapes from the Soviet Union.

In the 1930s, digests of news from Ukraine were featured on the front page of every issue, along with international news. Most of these ‘secondhand’ stories were based on reporting from Soviet newspapers, including the Kharkiv-based Kommunist or Moscow-based Komsomolskaia Pravda, with anecdotal evidence about, for example, the murder of members of village councils, protests to grain requisitioning, attacks on antireligious agitators, and the state prosecution of activists accused of being ‘negligent in grain procurement’, i.e., not hard enough on peasants. Quite a few news items about the famine were drawn from the eyewitness accounts of Western correspondents who visited the USSR that had been published in The Manchester Guardian, The New York Times, or The Times or by personalities such as Robert I. Ripley. One story mentions that the writings of Walter Duranty of The New York Times were likely shaped by Soviet censorship and that his reports about the situation in the USSR were not to be trusted. The paper published a summary of a letter from the journalist Rhea Clyman to NKVD head Yagoda in which she accuses him of the political persecution of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and mentions 35,000 Ukrainian peasant families branded as ‘kulaks’ and deported to distant labor camps.  

A significant share of pieces are reports of rumors, anonymous eyewitness accounts, and personal letters from Ukraine sent to relatives in the US with desperate pleas for help, mainly for a few US dollars that would allow them to buy some bread and survive. A recurrent theme of the reporting based on ‘rumors’ (chutky) from Ukraine is rebellion among peasants, workers, and even the military and their dissatisfaction with government policies and food shortages, both in cities and the countryside. Such stories are often accompanied by a commentary that Ukraine is ready to secede from the Soviet Union and that the protest moods are more intense than ever before. One such story of a local DPU (secret police) squad burning down the village of Trubacheve or Turbacheve somewhere near Kyiv in reprisal for the peasant resistance to grain requisitioning is featured three times. However, no village by this name can be verified.

In the absence of information about the famine, the paper strives to find clues in unrelated news items, for example, in a speech by Postyshev in which he states that a quarter of the population or four million Ukrainians was illiterate, a figure that the editors see as possible indication of a drastic fall in Ukraine’s population. Thus, the news stories often feature interpretations and re-interpretations in view of the publisher’s own agenda. Many events are presented through the prism of whether they are beneficial to Ukraine’s eventual independence or impede it. Several references to a rumor that the Soviet government was preparing to repopulate Ukrainian territory devastated by famine by representatives of other Soviet nationalities, mostly by Russians, show concern that such a policy would result in the ‘denationalization’ of Ukraine. 

Alarming appeals on the pages of Dnipro appear throughout 1933 both from the exiled Ukrainian intelligentsia to ‘the international moral public,’ and from the Ukrainian church leaders to Ukrainians abroad about their moral responsibility to Ukrainians in the Soviet Ukraine to be their voice and to mobilize attention and the resources of the West to try and save the millions of Ukrainian peasants dying of starvation.

Despite some questionable stories, overall, the editors of Dnipro strove to supply their readers with the best information available at the time about the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine and the efforts to address it. The primary value of the selection included here is that it reflects the American Ukrainian diaspora’s reception of the famine and surrounding events in Soviet Ukraine and the USSR at large. It is evident that the editorial staff and the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the US maintained strong emotional connection to events in Ukraine and felt a moral obligation to try to help their ‘brothers’ in ‘Great Ukraine’ (Central and Eastern Ukraine) through prayer, donations, and information campaigns. They perceived the famine as one aspect of a Bolshevik assault on Ukrainian culture, spirituality, and the Ukrainian political nation and lived in anticipation of the day when Soviet, ‘Muscovite’ rule that had been violently imposed on Ukraine from the outside and, according to their reporting,  was opposed by every major Ukrainian social group, would fall. They called for unity within the diaspora and solidarity with Ukrainians under Soviet (and Polish) rule as a necessary precondition to achieving that end.

In some cases, we have chosen to provide a screenshot of an entire page from the newspaper in order to present a larger context and illustrate how reports of famine were surrounded by news about purges, executions and persecution of former Ukrainian Communist party leaders, intelligentsia members, religious representatives, and ‘petliurites’ (followers of Symon Petliura and advocated of Ukrainian independence). In 1934-40, when the famine had subsided, reports about persistent problems with the collectivized agriculture the Soviets had forcibly imposed are laced with hopes for a new wave of resistance among the Ukrainian peasants and workers and fear that another deadly famine could be pending in Ukraine.

This sampling of the coverage of the 1932-33 famine by one of the Ukrainian diaspora’s leading interwar periodicals is also informative about the moral struggles of Ukrainians abroad at the time. Despite their knowledge of the events widely viewed today as one of the twentieth century’s genocides, they lacked the agency and international recognition sufficient to wage an effective international humanitarian intervention campaign that might have had some impact on the suffering of the victims of famine in Soviet Ukraine.

We thank Ksenya Kiebuzinski of the Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre at Robarts Library, University of Toronto, and Wasyl Sydorenko for their assistance in sourcing the materials included here.

 

Read Online

Dnipro (1921-1926, 1928-1950) [Trenton Nj, Chicago IL, Philadelphia PA, Pittsburgh PA]

Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 1

(PDF) Dnipro, 15 March 1931


“ПРОТИ-БОЛЬШЕВИЦЬКИЙ РУХ НА УКРАЇНІ” (Page 7: Column 1 : Article 2)

Based on reporting from the daily Kommunist, headquartered in Kharkiv. Topics include elections to the village councils in Ukraine, anecdotal evidence about a killing of a communist agitator, and intentional damage to agricultural equipment in Kharkiv oblast.

“СЕЛЯНИ ХОВАЮТЬ ЗБІЖЖЯ ПЕРЕД ВЛАДОЮ” (Page 7 : Column 1 : Article 3)

Based on reporting from the daily Kommunist, headquartered in Kharkiv. Reports about the discovery by a search brigade of twenty pits with grain in one hamlet, and the death of a village council member in charge of a search brigade in another hamlet in Kharkiv oblast.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 2

(PDF) Dnipro, 15 June 1931


“ДОМАГАННЯ РОБІТНИКІВ ДОНЕЦЬКОГО БАСЕЙНУ НА УКРАЇНІ” (Page 7 : Column 1 : Article 2)

Based on reporting from the Paris-based Borba. Reports about self-organized workers in Luhansk area demanding political reform, the decommunization of government, and an end to the prosecution of peasants. The demands were met with harsh repressions.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 3

(PDF) Article 1
1931-12-01 : Page 1 : Column 3
“ВОГНЕМ ПАЛАЄ УКРАЇНА”

Report on the growing resistance of Ukrainian peasants, including an incident of peasants burning down a commune and attacking communists. Thousands of communists previously sent to the countryside reportedly returned to Kharkiv, fearing the peasant unrest.

Article 2
1931-12-01 : Page 1 : Column 3
"УКРАЇНА МУСИТЬ ДАТИ"

Report on the Ukrainian government in Kharkiv imposing a ban on exporting foodstuffs from Ukraine. In response, the Soviet government in Moscow demanded that Ukraine lift the ban and urgently send fifty train cars of foodstuffs to Moscow and Leningrad.

Article 3
1931-12-01 : Page 1 : Column 4
"ЧЕРВОНИЙ ТЕРОР"

Report on the ongoing repressions and mass executions by the DPU in the Soviet Union. Two peasants were executed in Zhytomyr for organizing "the kulak counterrevolution." The article questions why the Human Rights League was silent about the incident.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 4

1932-01-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 4
“КОНТРТЕРОР НА УКРАЇНІ”

Based on reporting from the Kommunist. Peasant guerilla groups burned down communes, and attacked and killed communists and their families in villages in the Kyiv area.

1932-01-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
"АРЕШТОВАННЯ НА РАДЯНСЬКІЙ УКРАЇНІ"

Based on reporting from the Kommunist. Includes anecdotal evidence about the arrests of those who spoke up against the Soviet authorities. Also includes accounts of bread requisition and taxation in the Berdychiv area and elsewhere.

1932-01-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 4
"НАПИС НА БІЛЬШЕВИЦЬКОМУ ВАГОНІ"

Reports of an inscription found on the inside of a railroad car that arrived in Stovptsi with a cargo of frozen fish from Soviet Ukraine – "We send you fish but [we] ourselves are dying of hunger." [Stovptsi is likely in the Dubno raion, currently Rivne oblast, part of Poland at the time].
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 5

1932-03-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“З РАДЯНСЬКОЇ УКРАЇНИ”

Anecdotal evidence of peasant resistance to collectivization based on reporting from a Kharkiv radio station. Incidents mentioned include peasants destroying agricultural implements, sabotaging a sowing campaign, setting haystacks on fire, and attacking the leadership of collective farms.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 6

1932-04-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 4
"УКРАЇНІЗАЦІЯ"

Reports that Ukrainianization is being reversed under the pretext of fighting "the Petliurite vestiges" (petliurivshchyna). A long-time Ukrainian communist party member, head of a village council, was arrested for "negligence in grain procurement", i.e., for humane treatment of the peasants. Government signage and stamps are still in Ukrainian but official communications are conducted in Russian.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 7

1932-04-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
"ДНІСТЕР В ПОТОКАХ КРОВІ. Пекольні сцени над українською рікою"

The French Le Journal reported about nighttime attempts by desperate Ukrainian peasants to cross the Dniester River into Romania. The peasants were shot at and killed on mass by the Soviet border guards during the attempted crossings. 324 families of 2-12 people crossed successfully in the previous year and 359 families had crossed successfully starting from January [1932?].
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 8

1932-05-01 : Page 2 : Column 3 : Article 1
"ВЕЛИКОДНЯ НІЧ. Витяги з книжки "Пекло на землі." В. Юрченка."

An excerpt from a fictionalized account of the life of author V. Yurchenko in Soviet Ukraine and in Soviet prison camps before his escape to Western Ukraine. The account depicts the former Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra conducting an Easter Vigil for Ukrainian prisoners in a prison camp in the Archangelsk region. He was moved to a punishment cell as a result. The account also mentions the prosecution of Ukrainians for their religious beliefs and physical extermination, death by starvation.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 9

1932-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“ЧЕРВОНА МАСКАРА НА ДНІСТРІ”

Accounts of people being killed trying to cross the Dniester into Romania.

1932-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2 “ГОЛОД В БОЛЬШЕВІЇ”

Includes reports about the famine by people who arrived from Soviet Ukraine into Western Ukraine via Stovptsi. They told how food in cities was only accessible using food stamps, that peasants were leaving villages and collective farms for cities, and that a pood of grain cost over 100 rubles.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 10

1932-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article
“ЯК ЖИВУТЬ СЕЛЯНИ ЗА ЗБРУЧЕМ”

An Austrian national visited a radhosp [state-owned farm] in Boiarka. In the article, he described the abject working and living conditions of agricultural workers, and cited their wages and the cost of food on offer in a radhosp cafeteria. He also spent some time in a prison in Kyiv, where over 50 people, mostly Ukrainians and peasants, were locked in one cell.

1932-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
“ПОМІЧ НАНСЕНІВСЬКОГО "ОФІСУ" УКРАЇНСЬКИМ ВТІКАЧАМ”

Based on reporting from Journal de Genève. The Nansen International Office for Refugees aided Ukrainian refugees who managed to flee Ukraine for Romania by crossing the Dniester.

1932-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 3
"БОЛЬШЕВІЯ"

Report based on unidentified sources about the risk of increased unrest among the Ukrainian peasants and workers. The Bolsheviks feared a mass uprising of the Ukrainian peasants and workers. Prompted by this fear, authorities decided to leave some livestock and grain for the peasants instead of confiscating it all.

1932-6-15 : Page 1: Column 4 : Article 2
"СТРАШНА БІЛЬШОВИЦЬКА ДІЙСНІСТЬ"

Based on a letter to an emigrant from his relatives in Soviet Ukraine. His brother-in-law, the owner of 40 acres of land, was burnt alive for refusing to join a collective farm. Reports that all grain was taken away from the peasants and that food could be bought only in specialized stores and only with gold or dollars.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 11

1932-06-15 : Page 3 : Column 1 : Article 1
“УКРАЇНА В КІГТЯХ МОСКОВСЬКОГО БОЛЬШЕВИЗМУ. Очевидець оповідає про відносини на Вел. Україні. Галичани в С.Р.С.Р.”

‘Eyewitness’ reflects on the fate of the Galician Ukrainians in Soviet Ukraine in the context of the great terror and political repressions. He claims that at least 100,000 Ukrainians were executed, hundreds of thousands imprisoned, and that the intelligentsia was affected the most.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 12

1932-07-01 : Page 7 : Column 3 : Article 1 o.C.M.
“ЧЕРВОНИМ КАТАМ УКРАЇНИ”

A poem condemning the Bolsheviks’ treatment of ‘the bountiful’ Ukraine that mentions starvation and swollen bodies.

1932-07-01 : Page 7 : Column 3 : Article 2
"АНГЛІЙСЬКИЙ ЧАСОПИС ПРО ВІДНОСИНИ НА РАД. УКРАЇНІ"

Report based on a letter to the publisher of The Manchester Guardian, from the June 4 issue. In it, the author, Mr. Greenwood, explains that the Ukrainian peasants are crossing the Dniester into Romania to avoid death by starvation or deportation to Siberia. He believes that the discontent and desire for independence among the Ukrainians is high, and that it would demoralize the rest of the republics if Ukraine were to become independent. He describes the mood among the workers, who refuse to go to the countryside to take part in grain procurement. They believe that they would be better off if peasants kept more foodstuffs and sold them directly to workers rather than with meager rationing.

1932-07-01 : Page 7 : Column 4 : Article 1
"БІЛЬШОВИЦЬКА ВЕСНА"

Ukrainian newspapers Visti and Kommunist report about the failure of the spring sowing campaign and procurement plans in most regions. New mechanized stations were performing poorly. Kurkuls were often being accused of sabotage.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 13

1932-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“БОЛЬШОВИКИ ЗНИЩИЛИ ЦІЛЕ СЕЛО”

Report about the DPU (secret police) unit killing 370 peasants, including women and children, in the village of Turbacheve (?) near Kyiv as a retaliatory measure for their resistance to grain requisitioning. [A village with this name cannot be localized.]
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 14

1932-08-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
"СТРАШНІ ЧУТКИ З-ЗА ЗБРУЧА"

A repeat of the story about the DPU unit burning down the village of Turbacheve (?) near Kyiv and killing its residents for their resistance to the requisitioning of grain.

1932-08-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 3
“СТРАШНИЙ ГОЛОД НА УКРАЇНІ”

Based on a letter from Soviet Ukraine about a ‘terrible famine’ in the Poltava region. Reports of people dying of starvation on the streets and stealing food from each other at night to survive. Virtually no grain was available and food was too expensive to purchase.

1932-08-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 4
“УТІКАЮТЬ З ПЕКЛА НА ЗЕМЛІ”

Anecdotal accounts of an escape from Soviet Ukraine to Romania through the crossing of the Dniester, including a story of a peasant with a 5-year-old son and two military officers who fled from famine.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 15

1932-08-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 1
"ЦЕРКОВНІ НОВИНИ З КИЄВА"

Reports of monasteries being shut down, turned into museums, monks and nuns forced out. A lot of nuns and monks moved to Kyiv trying to find refuge.

1932-08-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
"ВЕЛИКИЙ ЗАГОВІР НА РАД. УКРАЇНІ"

Reports that the DPU (secret police) uncovered a ‘conspiracy’ of national communists in Ukraine. Arrests were conducted in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odesa to supress Ukrainian ‘separatism’.

1932-08-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“УКРАЇНА ПЕРЕД ВИМИРАННЯМ З ГОЛОДУ. ВЖЕ ТЕПЕР НАСЕЛЕННЯ УКРАЇНИ ЇСТЬ СОЛОМУ ТА ПОСЛІД”

Reports that the Ukrainian peasant population was on the verge of dying out of starvation. Peasants are forced to eat mock foods to substitute the missing bread.

1932-08-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 3
“ПШЕНИЦЯ ДЛЯ ВЛАДИВОСТОКУ”

Reports that 315,000 bushels of grain were ordered from Vladivostok to be shipped from Vancouver, Canada. Millions of bushels of grain were previously shipped from Vancouver to the USSR.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 16

1932-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“ВТЕЧА 6 ЛЮДЕЙ ЧЕРЕЗ ДНІСТЕР”

An anecdotal account of a family successfully crossing the Dniester to Romania to flee starvation and persecution in Soviet Ukraine, evading shots by Soviet border guards during their escape.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 17

1932-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 2: Article 3
"ВІСТІ З "ЧЕРВОНОГО РАЮ""

Reports that over 100 people fell sick and died of a stomach sickness in Proskurov area. Poor nutrition as well as the lack of sugar and salt were believed to be contributing factors.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 18

1932-10-01 : Page 6 : Column 1: Article 1
"ПЕКЛО НА УКРАЇНІ"

The situation in Ukraine is described as ‘hell’. Reports that famine had reached large cities, that people were dying on the streets of Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Dniprelstan (Zaporizhzhia). Spontaneous peasant uprisings “against the Commune and the Jews” are said to be commonplace.

1932-10-01 : Page 6 : Column 2: Article 1
"З ЛИСТІВ З УКРАЇНИ"

А letter from someone who visited relatives in a village in Soviet Ukraine describes the visible desolation and ruin, ghost houses, weed-ridden streets and yards, and peasants eating mock foods, working and looking like slaves. Party and collective farm leadership and their families reportedly ‘do nothing,’ lead ‘different lives,’ and obtain supplies through their own distribution system.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 19

1932-11-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 4
“КРІВАВА МАСАКРА СЕЛЯН НА УКРАЇНІ”

Report of a peasant resistance to grain requisition in the Kremenchuk area. Peasants stormed the stored grain that was taken from them. The ‘punishing expedition’ sent in retaliation killed and wounded a few dozen peasants. The wounded were denied medical assistance or access to a hospital and were left for dead in the fields.

1932-11-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 3
“БУНТ “КУРКУЛІВ””

Report that peasants (‘kurkuls’) kept in the concentration camp near Ostroshitskiy Gorodok (Belarus) disarmed the guards and broke away. Some of them managed to cross the border into Poland, while one group was captured at Radashkovichy.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 20

1933-02-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 3
"МОБІЛІЗАЦІЯ НА ВЕЛ. УКРАЇНІ"

Based on reporting from the Chernivtsi-based periodical Chas. In November of 1932, eight people were trying to escape from Ukraine to Romania by boat. The boat was shot at by Soviet border guards, capsized, and six people drowned. Two survivors said that they were escaping conscription.

1933-02-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 3
“РЕВОЛЮЦІЙНИЙ РУХ ПРОТИ БОЛЬШЕВИЦЬКОЇ НЕВОЛІ”

Based on reports from ‘Russian newspapers’ that peasants in Ukraine were prohibited from trading their food products on the local markets without a special permit, and that numerous peasant uprisings were taking place in Russia, the Caucasus, and Ukraine. Peasants were also protesting the grain requisition in the Poltava area, as well as in Oleksandrivsk (‘on the Left bank of the Dnieper’) and the Novotroitske areas. They were being executed and arrested in retaliation.

1933-02-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“НЕВДОВОЛЕНІ ВИСЛІДОМ 5-ЛІТКИ”

According to Duranty's reporting for The New York Times, the Soviet people reacted with excitement and disappointment to the achievements of the first five-year plan. Dnipro’s editorial staff notes that Duranty's writings are shaped by Soviet censorship and are not to be trusted.

1933-02-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 3
“РЕВОЛЮЦІЙНИЙ РУХ СЕРЕД АРМІЇ НА УКРАЇНІ”

Based on a report from London. Escapees from the Soviet Union alleged that the revolutionary movement for independence was growing in Ukraine, and that it was supported by peasants, workers, and teachers. Moscow allegedly wanted to move some Ukrainian military units from Ukraine to Russia, questioning their loyalty.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 21

1933-02-15 : Page 7 : Column 4 : Article 1
"ВІСТІ З "РАЮ". Звірства Г.П.У."

A synopsis of Rhea Clyman's letter to Yagoda, published in the Daily Express in November 1932. She cites the inhumane treatment of 200, 000 political prisoners in the USSR and the fate of 35,000 Ukrainian peasants who were accused of being kulaks, deported to labor camps with their families, and left there for dead. She describes how workers were barely surviving on meager rations. Every foreigner was placed under surveillance and the DPU (secret police) agents were placed at every factory and at every house.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 22

1933-03-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 3
“МОСКВА”

News that IDs were being introduced in the USSR by March 15, 1933, spiked suspicion that they were likely to be used for controlling the population’s mobility and for relocating the ‘socially undesirable’ groups and people to where a workforce was required.

1933-03-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 1
“НЕЗВИЧАЙНІ ВІСТИ З УКРАЇНИ. Правдивий Українець, хочби й комуніст, обуруюється на Україну”

Based on reporting from Chernivtsi-based periodical Chas. Fifteen Ukraine representatives in the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR allegedly signed and read at a meeting a statement accusing Stalin, the Communist Party, and the central government of violating the Soviet Constitution, hijacking Ukraine's autonomous rights, and acting against Ukraine's economic and national interests. For this, they were accused of separatism and arrested by the secret police (DPU) on the spot. Includes reports that more arrests being conducted in Ukraine were causing mass uproar, and that there was an expectation that ‘big events’ would erupt in Ukraine.

1933-03-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
“ГОЛОДОВІ ЗАВОРУШЕННЯ”

German diplomats report about a mass famine in the South of Russia, Don region, Caucasus and Ukraine. Bread could only be bought for gold. Railway stations were packed with people trying to flee from starvation to the North, but military units prevented people from boarding the trains. Daily protests against food shortages occurred in Odesa, Kyiv and Kharkiv; daily attacks on state depots and trains, and bloody clashes with the DPU occurred. Railway stations were guarded by military guards and foodstuffs were loaded only at night.

1933-03-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 3
“БОЛЬШЕВИКИ ПРОМАХНУЛИСЯ”

Maurice Hindus, the author of Red Bread, an account of the author’s five-month stay in the Soviet Union, writes that grain requisition had an adverse effect on the peasantry, especially in Ukraine. People felt no stimulus whatsoever to do any agricultural work. The "intellectual workers" were given some incentives, provided they became members of the Communist Party.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 23

1933-04-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 3
“НА УКРАЇНІ ПІД БОЛЬШИВИКАМИ”

Rumors from Ukraine allege that a five-year plan to fight religion currently involves the mass deportation of clergy from Ukraine to the North or Siberia.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 24

1933-05-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
“ПРОТИСОВІЦЬКИЙ РУХ”

Reports that the protest movement against the Soviet authorities is strong in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Turkestan. 15,000 communists were killed in Ukraine alone in 1932. As a result of a large uprising near Tikhoretskaia, tens of thousands of the Kuban Cossacks were being moved to Siberia, their settlements were being wiped out and occupied by ‘red settlers’ from Siberia.

1933-05-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 3
“НА ВЕЛИКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

Reports from a digest of news from ‘Great Ukraine’. Thirty-five Soviet leaders, including Ukrainians, were executed in Moscow. Two agricultural workers were executed by the secret police (DPU) as leaders of a strike to protest food shortages and unpaid wages in a collective farm near Zviahel. Postyshev ordered that Ukrainian peasants could only borrow seed grain from the state and pay for the ten per cent interest in kind.

1933-05-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“НОВІ АРЕШТИ”

Report about a new wave of political prosecutions in Ukraine, Caucasus, Turkestan and Far East.

1933-05-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 4
“ГОЛОД НА УКРАЇНІ”

Reports from the “Communist newspapers” suggest that the Soviet government was attempting to organize assistance to those suffering from famine in Ukraine and North Caucasus (Kuban). The article states that the scale of the famine was unclear from those reports.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 25

1933-05-01 : Page 4 : Column 1: Article 2
"ДВАНАДЦЯТА ГОДИНА: ЧИ МИ ВЖЕ ГОТОВІ?"

An anonymous opinion about the causes of the great famine in Ukraine and the inadequate response to it. Ukrainians’ inability to act in critical historic moments is attributed to Ukraine’s lack of national statehood and the individualism of its political leaders and people.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 26

1933-05-01 : Page 7 : Column 4: Article 2
"НЕСПОКІЙ СЕРЕД НАСЕЛЕННЯ"

Anecdotal evidence of unrest among workers caused by the state terror and food shortages. The article includes a report about workers in one of Odesa’s agricultural machinery plants protesting the arrest of their colleagues. It also cites incidents at the Kyiv and Odesa railway stations involving crowds storming railroad cars containing grains or potatoes. People were reportedly killed in clashes with the GPU.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 27

1933-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“ЗНИЩЕННЯ НЕПОКІРНОГО СЕЛА”

A story about a DPU unit burning down the village of Trubachov (?) in Kyiv region in retaliation for the peasants’ attack on a local DPU department to protest the grain requisitions. [This story was previously mentioned twice in Dnipro.]

1933-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 3
"СЕЛЯНИ ВБИВАЮТЬ БЕЗБОЖНИКІВ"

Anecdotal evidence of peasants attacking anti-religious brigade activists who approached peasants with anti-religious propaganda in the Kyiv region.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 28

1933-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“КРІВАВІ РОЗРУХИ НА ВЕЛИКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

A story passed via Berlin and Moscow about a workers’ delegation elected at a public meeting in Katerynoslav, which was to report the workers’ grievances about the shortage of food and goods, as well as the difficult living conditions. The delegation was arrested, and the workers and other supporters who gathered to protest their arrest were violently dispersed, killed, or arrested by the secret police (DPU). Those arrested were subsequently executed.

1933-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“ЗА ЗБРУЧЕМ І НАД ЗБРУЧЕМ”

Stories about people escaping from Soviet Ukraine across the Zbruch River into Poland; some were successful, others subjected to arrest.

1933-06-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
"КІНЕЦЬ УКРАЇНІЗАЦІЇ В УКРАЇНІ"

Based on news from France that Ukrainianization was being reversed in Ukrainian schools. Postyshev allegedly argued that it hurt Russian speakers who were being "forced" to study in Ukrainian.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 29

1933-06-15 : Page 7 : Column 4 : Article 2
"ЧИ СОВІТИ СПАСУТЬСЯ?"

A synopsis of the article by John Baker White in The Morning Post portraying the results of the first five-year plan in the USSR as generally dismal. Armed uprisings were on the rise, considered perhaps the most serious since the Civil War. Famine and the peasants’ refusal to work are deemed the main reasons behind the crisis in the Soviet Union.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 30

1933-07-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 3
"БОЛЬШЕВИЦЬКА СТАТИСТИКА БРЕХЛИВА"

Claims by a Manchester Guardian correspondent, who recently returned from the USSR and wrote a few articles about the USSR and Ukraine, that all Soviet statistics are fake and inaccurate.

1933-07-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
"НЕ "СОВІТИ", А КОМУНІСТИЧНЕ САМОДЕРЖАВІЄ"

Report that the village councils (sovity), which were originally created as elected local government, no longer had any actual power. The authority was de facto taken over by the party appointees, commissars.

1933-07-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
"ЗБІЛЬШЕННЯ КОНТРОЛІ НАД КОЛХОЗАМИ"

Reports that the Communist Party created 2,776 political sections for state farms and tractor stations since January 1933 to strengthen the party's political control and policing over agriculture. The intention was to create a section for each collective farm.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 31

1933-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 1
“НА ВЕЛИКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

Reports from a digest of events in Ukraine covering several topics. A special decree was issued ordering the completion of the harvest within seventeen days under strict surveillance by local officials. Moscow-based Bolshevik newspapers accused Ukrainian newspaper editors of sympathizing with the kurkuls and the process of Ukrainization, rather than taking a stronger stance against them. Ukrainian communist leaders originally from Halychyna were arrested. Officials and workers travelling outside cities on vacation are ordered to bring their own food.

1933-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 3
“ЩЕ ПРО ГОЛОД НА ВЕЛИКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

Report that a German Mennonite from Saskatchewan received a letter from his brother who lived in a village near Mykolaivsk (?) "close to the Dnieper Rapids". His brother wrote that forty people had died in the village from starvation and many more were too weak even to bury the dead.

1933-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“ЛЮДОЇДСТВО НА УКРАЇНІ ЯК НАСЛІДОК ГОЛОДУ”

Report from the Lviv-based Narodna Sprava based on personal letters written by people in Soviet Ukraine to their relatives in Halychyna. The letters include accounts of physical deterioration from starvation, villagers burying several dead bodies in one grave, and cases of cannibalism. Despite their physical exhaustion from starvation, peasants were forced to work even on weekends.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 32

1933-08-15 : Page 6 : Column 4 : Article 1
""ТЯЖКО ЖИТИ НА ВКРАЇНІ": ЛИСТ З СОВІЦЬКОЇ УКРАЇНИ""

A letter from a woman in Soviet Ukraine to her brother in the US about the abject living conditions of her family, their neighbors, and acquaintances. Her family was thrown out of their house, and did not have enough to eat. She claimed it was impossible to buy food even if they had money. She expressed concern as to whether the parcel that her brother might send her would arrive intact. She heard about instances where sugar in a parcel was replaced by salt or stones.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 33

1933-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 1
"ДО КУЛЬТУРНОГО СВІТА. (В СПРАВІ ГОЛОДУ НА РАДЯНСЬКІЙ УКРАЇНІ)"

An appeal of the Union of Ukrainian Writers and Journalists to the international ‘moral public’ and international organizations advocated for a commission to be sent to investigate the famine in Ukraine, and to help prevent more famine-related deaths in Ukraine. The famine is said to be organized by the ‘Russian Bolshevyk occupying authorities.’

1933-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
"ВИКИНУЛИ АКАДЕМІКІВ І НАУКОВИХ РОБІТНИКІВ З ПАРТІЇ"

Report that thirty members of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences were expelled from the Communist Party as a result of a purge directed from Moscow. Following Skrypnyk's suicide, people perceived as "former opposition members," such as Mykhailo Levytsky, were being arrested.

1933-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“УКРАЇНСЬКЕ РОБІТНИЦТВО У ЛЬВОВІ ПРОТЕСТУЄ ПРОТИ ВИНИЩУВАННЯ МОСКВОЮ УКРАЇНИ”

Report that Volia, an organization of household service staff in Lviv, adopted a resolution demanding that Western powers stop buying grain from the Soviet Union until an independent commission investigates the organized famine in Ukraine. The resolution also called on Ukrainian peasants and workers in the Soviet Union to carry on the resistance against Moscow.

1933-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 4
“СЕЛЯНСЬКА ВІДПОВІДЬ НА БЕЗБОЖНИЦЬКУ НАГІНКУ”

Report that an extended family of thirty-eight firm believers conducted acts of self-immolation in Malyi Kurhan to protest religious persecutions.

1933-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“НА ПОМІЧ ГОЛОДУЮЧИМ”

An appeal issued by Cardinal Innitzer of Vienna calling for urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine suffering from the dehumanizing famine.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 34

1933-09-01 : Page 4 : Column 1 : Article 2
“БЕНКЕТ ПІДЧАС ЧУМИ”

An op-ed stating that Ukrainian diaspora in different countries have been slow to react to the horrific death by starvation of 10 million of their Ukrainian brethren. It is argued that the diaspora bears a responsibility to show their moral support through their parishes and to inform the world about the famine perpetrated by the Bolsheviks. This responsibility is seen to be especially urgent given that the famine had yet to garner significant international attention or condemnation.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 35

1933-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 1- 4: Article 1
“ДО ВІРНИХ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПРАВОСЛАВНОЇ ЦЕРКВИ В АМЕРИЦІ І КАНАДІ: АРХИПАСТИРСЬКЕ ПОСЛАННЯ АРХІЄПИСКОПА АМЕРИКАНСЬКОГО І КАНАДСЬКОГО ІОАННА ТЕОДОРОВИЧА”

In this archpastoral epistle to his Ukrainian Orthodox faithful in America and Canada, Archbishop Ioan Teodorovych presents the terrible news that millions of peasants in Soviet Ukraine have been slowly and brutally starved to death by the Soviet regime or deported in the hundreds of thousands to the Soviet North and Siberia. He entreats his flock to pray for the victims of this horrific crime against the entire Ukrainian nation by “Red Moscow” and its “Jewish commissars,” committed with the goal of depopulating and denationalizing Ukraine, transforming it into a “modern-day Samaria” whose various nationalities are landless and enslaved, and forever destroying the possibility of an independent Ukrainian state. Teodorovych beseeches God to intervene and deliver the Ukrainian people from its suffering.

1933-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 2
“ЗEЛЕНИЙ КЛИН В НУЖДІ”

Based on reporting from Manchzhurskyi Visnyk, that Ukrainian settlers in Russia's Far East (Zeleny Klyn) suffer from collectivization and de-Ukrainianization.

1933-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
“НАЙБІЛЬШИЙ ГОЛОД НА УКРАЇНІ БУДЕ В ЗИМІ”

Report that the Secretary of the International Congress of National Minorities feared that an even worse famine would occur in Ukraine in the winter of 1933-34. Claims that the sowing campaign in the spring of 1933 was not conducted properly due to poor health, peasant deaths, and the lack of draft animals. Report predicts that it is likely the harvest would not be adequate.

1933-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
"КОМІТЕТ НА ПОМІЧ ГОЛОДАЮЧІЙ УКРАЇНІ"

Report that a Committee for the Relief of Hunger in Ukraine (Komitet Pomochi Holoduiuchii Ukraini) was formed and held its first meeting in Chicago in September 1933.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 36

1933-09-15: Page 4 : Column 4 : Article 1
"В СПРАВІ ГОЛОДУ НА ВЕЛИКІЙ УКРАЇНІ"

Report that the Spiritual Consistory of the Orthodox Church designated October 1, 1933, as a day for general prayer for those suffering from famine in Ukraine. A memorial service (panakhyda) for those who died of famine and a fundraiser for the living victims of famine was planned for the same day.

1933-09-15: Page 4 : Column 4 : Article 2
"ІСПИТ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ЗРІЛОСТІ"

The article states that Ukrainian believers in the diaspora, as part of a 40-million-strong Ukrainian nation, share in the responsibility for the fate of Ukrainians in ‘Great Ukraine’ who were on the verge of complete extermination by famine. The diaspora is seen to be the voice of the nation, obliged to raise worldwide awareness about the fate of Ukrainians in Ukraine. The task is said to be a test of the maturity of the diaspora’s conscience.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 37

1933-10-01: Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 1
“МИ ЩЕ ПОКАЖЕМО, ЩО МИ КОЗАЦЬКОГО РОДУ”

Based on reporting from the Komsomolskaia Pravda in Moscow, that regularly published articles discussing “separatism,” “chauvinism,” and "Petliurite" sympathies among the Ukrainian youth. The article cites letters sent by Ukrainian youth, Komsomol members, in which they condemn Moscow-led purges and repressions and describe their intention to demonstrate that “they are of Cossack ancestry” (“kozatskoho rodu” – a reference to a line from Ukraine’s national anthem).

1933-10-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 2
“КОЛЬОНІЗАЦІЯ УКРАЇНИ”

Report that a colonization committee was allegedly formed in Moscow with the goal of re-populating the areas in Ukraine that had seen population losses from famine, uprisings, and mass deportations to the Russian North.

1933-10-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“ПОМІЧ З РІДНОГО КРАЮ ГОЛОДНИМ БРАТАМ”

Report that the Ukrainian Public Committee for the Rescue of Ukraine, formed in Halychyna, made an appeal to Ukrainians worldwide to protest the terror and famine in Ukraine organized by Moscow. The appeal was supported by Ukrainian representatives in the Polish parliament and regional Ukrainian representatives.

1933-10-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“ВИДИРАЮТЬ ХЛІБ ВІД ГОЛОДНИХ”

Article based on reports from Moscow about a decree issued by the central authorities that tripled procurement quotas for villages accused of sabotaging the procurement timeline. Peasants labeled as ‘leaders of saboteurs’ were put on trial. Most were said to be from the Odesa region, which suffered the most from famine.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 38

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 1
“КІНЕЦЬ ЗРАДНИКА”

Comment on the suicide of Mykola Skrypnyk comparing him to Judas and calling him a ‘traitor’ of the interests of Ukrainian people.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 2
“НАША ЦЕРКВА НА ЛІНІЇ ПРОТЕСТУ ПРОТИ ГОЛОДУ”

Report that on September 24th and October 1st, 1933, all churches in the diocese of Philadelphia held services and raised donations in support of their brothers and sisters in Soviet Ukraine suffering from famine. Some parishes held rallies protesting the organized famine.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“БОЛЬШЕВИКИ НЕ ПУСКАЮТЬ НА УКРАЇНУ АНГЛІЙСЬКИХ ЖУРНАЛІСТІВ”

Report that the British and American journalists of The Manchester Guardian and The Christian Science Monitor who wrote stories unfavourable toward the Bolsheviks were banned by Soviet authorities from returning to the Soviet Union. Soviet authorities would continue organizing visits for those journalists whose writings they approved.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“УКРАЇНСЬКІ КОМУНІСТИ КАЮТЬСЯ”

A letter by the Central Committee of the Communist party of Western Ukraine and Ukrainians on the Central Committee of the Communist party of Western Belarus. They state their disappointment with the Soviet Union, and call on western Ukrainian peasants to “offer an adequate response to the Moscow perpetrators” whose newspapers, they claim, should also be distrusted.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“КОНҐРЕС НАЦІОНАЛЬНИХ МЕНШОСТЕЙ В БЕРНІ ЗАКЛИКАЄ ПРИЙТИ УКРАЇНІ НА ПОМІЧ"

Report on the opening session of the International Congress of National Minorities, which sent sympathies to the people in the Soviet Union suffering from famine. Milena Rudnytska made a presentation to the Congress explaining that the famine in Ukraine was part of an intentional Soviet policy to physically eliminate the Ukrainian people. The congress adopted a resolution demanding that ‘civilized nations’ take action to help those suffering from the famine.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 3
“ЖЕРТВИ ГОЛОДУ НА УКРАЇНІ”

Report that the Soviet government and media observed a strict silence about the famine. Only anecdotal evidence is seen to offer evidence for assessing the famine’s extent. Only 300 people are reported to have survived in a village near Bila Tserkva out of a population of 2,500. Nearly seventy percent of the population are said to have perished in the villages of Zhydovchyk [currently Stepove, Tetiiv raion, possibly Kyiv oblast] and Budionovka [cannot be verified]. In Dubivka [currently Tarashcha raion, possibly Kyiv oblast] only forty percent of the population survived. On average, about half of the population in the area are said to have died of famine.

1933-10-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 4
“ОТРУЮЮТЬ ЛЮДОЇДІВ”

Report that several imprisoned cannibals did not survive in prison. Most of them lost their mind, purportedly poisoned by prison guards.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 39

1933-10-15 : Page 7 : Column 4 : Article 2
"НАЙСТРАШНІШИЙ З ПЛЯНІВ СРСР"

An article based on reporting from The Times, stating that Soviet authorities had designed an ominous colonization plan to resettle rebellious minorities in Ukraine to the North, in Siberia, as was done to the population of the Kuban. Their land was to be re-populated with other nationalities and the poor. The article claims this would be damaging for Ukraine.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 40

1933-11-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“КОНТРРЕВОЛЮЦІЯ В ЧЕРВОНІЙ АРМІЇ НА УКРАЇНІ”

Reports from Berlin allege strong "anti-Soviet" attitudes in the Red Army units stationed in Ukraine. Central authorities allegedly reshuffled the younger army commanders, arrested or sent several to Russia, and reinforced the secret police (DPU) units in the army.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 41

1933-11-01 : Page 4 : Column 4 : Article 2
ОЛЕКСАНДР ОЛЕСЬ. "ГОЛОД"

A poem by Oleksandr Oles about a mother delirious from starvation who is not sure whether she had cannibalized her own child or simply imagined it.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 42

1933-11-01 : Page 6 : Column 2 : Article 1
"ДО УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ВИСТУПІВ У СПРАВІ ГОЛОДУ. ШЛЯХЕТИЙ ВИСТУП ГОЛОВИ РАДИ ЛІГІ НАЦІЙ В ОБОРОНІ УКРАЇНИ. Справа наша стала на годину центром світової уваги."

Report about the united efforts of Oleksander Shulhyn, on behalf of the Government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Exile, and Milena Rudnytska, on behalf of the Ukrainian Committee for the Rescue of Ukraine and the International Congress of Women's organizations, to place the famine in Ukraine at the fore of the League of Nation's 76th session. The president of the League, Movinckel, spoke in support of the international effort to investigate and alleviate the famine, and conducted a meeting of the major powers dedicated to the Ukrainian famine. The famine was recognized as a humanitarian problem. However, the League could not decide on the course of action and referred the issue to the International Red Cross.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 43

1933-11-01 : Page 7 : Column 3 : Article 2
"ВІСТІ З УКРАЇНИ"

Reports from a digest of news from Ukraine. Famine caused unrest and terror in Ukrainian cities and the countryside. Ukraine is said to have turned into a military camp, with military units stationed in every major city, ready to respond to predicted unrest caused by vulnerable workers who lost their livelihood and food stamps and face the possibility of death from starvation if they are fired. In the countryside, military cavalry units are said to guard the fields and the harvested grain and to fight off peasants who attempt to steal it. Purges of the alleged separatists and "Petliurites" continue. The Bolshevik apparatus in Ukraine is perceived to be permeated by disloyalty and on the verge of collapse, while Moscow continues to fight any perceived disloyalty with proven methods of arrest, deportation, and terror.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 44

1933-11-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“ГОЛОД ЗАСОБОМ БОЛЬШЕВИЦЬКОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ”

Reports from Moscow via Berlin retell catastrophic consequences of the famine in Soviet Ukraine. An estimated 15 per cent of the population or 6 million Ukrainians had died and 9 million more were displaced in their search for a chance for survival elsewhere. The Soviet government allegedly created a commission for the repopulation (colonization) of the areas devastated by famine with Russians and Jews. The official death toll cited by the Soviet government is 2 million people.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 45

1933-11-15 : Page 6 : Column 1-4 : Article 1
"ДОПИСИ. ГОЛОД НА УКРАЇНІ. (Зізнання втікачів з України і листи тих, хто втікати не змогли)"

Letters from Ukraine and recorded eyewitness accounts of the famine given by those who escaped from Soviet Ukraine. They document how excessive grain and food requisitioning led to food shortages in November 1932, then to early signs of imminent starvation in January 1933 and, finally, to mass famine in February 1933. People begged relatives living abroad for dollars, as the US dollar was the only currency with which they can buy bread. Accounts from March 1933 described strategies of survival and mock foods that peasants were making to substitute for wheat or garden vegetables.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 46

1934-02-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 3
“КЛОПОТИ З КОМСОМОЛЬЦЯМИ НА УКРАЇНІ”

Based on reporting from the Komsomolskaia Pravda. Many Komsomol organizations were deemed to not be as effective as expected in the ‘class struggle for bread,’ as they were ‘infested’ with ‘kurkuls’ and ‘petliurites’. Postyshev ordered a purge and 8,242 members were expelled from the Komsomol in Ukraine, mostly in the Odesa oblast.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 47

1934-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“СТРАШНІ ВІСТІ З УКРАЇНИ”

An article about Postyshev’s statement at a Congress of the Communist Party of Ukraine in which he claims that 4 million, or 25 per cent, of Ukraine's population are illiterate. The article posits that unless Postyshev misspoke, the population of Ukraine is only 16 million (in 1934), compared to 29 million according to the 1929 census, which means that 13 million Ukrainians died of famine or moved elsewhere to escape starvation. The Soviet government allegedly created a commission to re-populate Ukrainian lands affected by the population losses with Russians and Jews.

1934-05-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 4
“БОЯТЬСЯ УКРАЇНИ”

A report that Bolsheviks forcibly send thousands of workers to Ukraine to help with the spring agricultural works. Those from Moscow were apparently scared about the dispatch. Such a trip was referred to as “a business trip to gray death" because corpses of those who died of starvation turn gray.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 48

1934-06-01 : Page 1 : Column 1: Article 2
“ПОСУХА В УКРАЇНІ Й КАВКАЗІ”

Based on reporting from Moscow, the article states that a lack of rain in Ukraine and the North Caucasus caused serious concern about a draught and low crop yields. It was predicted that good crop yields would solidify the government's authority, and that a bad harvest would prompt more unrest among peasants already hostile toward the government because of their suffering from the lack of food.

1934-06-01 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“НОВА ГОЛОДОВА КАТАСТРОФА НА УКРАЇНІ”

An article based on reporting by the Neue Züricher Zeitung from Moscow on April 15, stating that the Soviet government in Moscow officially acknowledged the lack of basic food supplies in Ukraine, including flour, buckwheat, baked goods, sugar, butter, and fats. Whereas the authorities attributed the famine in the Volga region in the 1920s to the civil war and poor roads, the contemporary famine in Ukraine was attributed to flawed state agricultural policy. The author questions whether the acknowledgement is a sign that the Soviet government finally acknowledges the fact of famine, hoping to receive humanitarian assistance from the West.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 49

1934-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 1
“ДАЛЬШЕ ВИНИЩУВАННЯ УКРАЇНЦІВ НА ПРИМУСОВИХ РОБОТАХ”

Report that in the first four months of 1934, nineteen district (raion) political police (DPU) divisions in Ukraine received a directive to arrest and send to labor camps in Western Siberia 38,000 people, accused of "nationalist inclinations."

1934-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 2
“ВІСТІ ЗІ СХІДНОЇ УКРАЇНИ”

Report announcing that the Black Sea Fleet was purged of 200 Ukrainians, and that efforts were ongoing to purge “unreliable” officers of the fleet associated with the alleged uprising against Bolshevik Russia on May 1. Another purge was reportedly conducted among workers in Kerch after a strike. The article claims that the goal of the purge was to get rid of the Ukrainian party members who remained in the party after the first wave of purges. Similar purges were also reportedly conducted among the few Ukrainian military units remaining in Ukraine. Moscow was believed to fear the uprising. In Odesa, flyers were distributed among workers informing them of the famine that was previously concealed from them.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 50

1934-11-15 : Page 1 : Column 2 : Article 1
“СОВІТИ ЗАБОРОНЯЮТЬ ПРИСИЛКУ ПОМОЧІ ГОЛОДАЮЧИМ”

Report that the Soviet government declined any humanitarian assistance to those affected by famine having denied the existence of famine. A German aid organization sent donations collected for German colonists affected by famine to a Torgsin, but they were turned down.

1934-11-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 4
“ВІДБИРАЮТЬ ОСТАННЮ КОРОВУ”

Report of the Soviet government’s new ‘Milk decree’ that ordered every owner of a cow to deliver 120 – 280 liters of milk a year to the state. Non-compliance was said to be punishable according to ‘Article 69’ by a sentence to prison or a labour camp, or even capital punishment.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 51

1935-03-15 : Page 7: Column 1: Article 1
"З ЛИСТІВ З УКРАЇНИ"

An anonymous letter from Kyiv states that the situation in Ukraine is comparatively better to ‘last year's famine,’ when ‘whole villages’ were dying of starvation. Food is still said to be lacking, but more accessible. The letter mentions ongoing purges of the communists, persecution of any dissent, and the ongoing touting of industrial achievements. Grocery stores with ‘luxury’ goods are said to exist, but are not accessible for an average worker.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 52

1935-04-15 : Page 6: Column 4: Article 3
"НЕМА ГОЛОДУ В СРСР" (1 of 2)

A letter sent from Ukraine on January 29, 1935, from a woman working on a collective farm to a relative working in a gold mine in the US. The woman complains of her abject poverty, and states that her mother and two brothers died of starvation, and the addressee’s relatives (uncles, aunts and cousins) had died as well. She claims that she is sick and cannot work on the collective farm, and since she does not work, she receives no pay or ration from the kolhosp and has no means by which to support herself.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 53

1935-04-15 : Page 8: Column 2: Article 3
"НЕМА ГОЛОДУ В СРСР" (2 of 2)

The letter from page 6 continues. The author states that her godson died in a labour camp in Russia in 1932. 50 out of 220 households in their villages ceased to exist. Some people died of hunger and others escaped to cities pursuing better chances for survival. The author of the letter asks the addressee to send her some US dollars that are valued at 40 roubles each and would allow her buy flour and bread.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 54

1935-06-15 : Page 6 : Column 3-4: Article 1
""ВІРТЕ АБО НЕ ВІРТЕ, Я БАЧИВ ГОЛОД!" сказав Robert I. Ripley" (1 of 2)

An article based on Robert I. Ripley’s eyewitness account of conditions in the USSR, published by The Chicago Herald-Examiner. He mentions that 4 million people died of starvation in Ukraine and the North Caucasus. He states that the famine was the result of excessive requisitioning of grain. The author argues that plan to export grain demonstrates the Soviet government’s concern for money over its people. Ukraine is seen to suffer the most from persecution. In 1932, 80, 000 Ukrainian families were said to have been deported to Siberia and left for dead.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 55

1935-06-15 : Page 8 : Column 1 : Article 1
""ВІРТЕ АБО НЕ ВІРТЕ, Я БАЧИВ ГОЛОД!" сказав Robert I. Ripley" (2 of 2)

Additional excerpts from Robert I. Ripley’s eyewitness account of conditions in the USSR published by The Chicago Herald-Examiner. Ripley cites prices for food in the USSR and describes the oppressive situation of workers. He wishes no such system for the US.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 56

1935-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 2
“ВИНАРОДОВЛЕННЯ СОВІТСЬКОЇ УКРАЇНИ”

Based on reporting from Moscow, the article states that the Soviet government decided to establish the Moldovan autonomous republic and 28 ‘minority raions’ in Ukraine on those territories where the non-Ukrainian population was dominant.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 57

1935-09-01 : Page 1 : Column 1 : Article 3
“ПРОДАВАЛИ М’ЯСО ЛЮДЕЙ В ХАРКОВІ”

Based on Fred Bill’s reporting for The New York Evening Journal about instances of cannibalism in Kharkiv, where a gang was killing people and making sausages from their flesh. Also includes reports of starving people jumping in a shallow river in the hope of being arrested by the police and put in jail, where they assumed they would have a better chance of being fed. The gang would ‘rescue’ some of those people only to kill them.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 58

1935-12-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 1
“НЕМА СПОКОЮ НА УКРАЇНІ”

An article based on a report by Pravda in Moscow about Postyshev's latest speech about unrest in Ukraine. Postyshev stated that the reasons for sabotage – including intentional damage to agricultural machinery, and the killings of shock workers – are unclear. He expressed his belief that the employment situation and living conditions for the people had improved.

1935-12-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“TАЙНІ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ НА СОВІТСЬКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

Based on reporting from Kyiv. Two clandestine anti-Bolshevik nationalist organizations are said to have been uncovered in Soviet Ukraine. The one in the Donbas was allegedly composed of workers-communists, while the other mainly consisted of students and teachers.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 59

1937-06-01 : Page 4 : Column 1-2 : Article 2
“СВОБОДА, РІВНІСТЬ, БРАТЕРСТВО І КОМУНІЗМ”

The article discusses ‘war communism’, political trials and torture by the DPU, death by hunger of 6 million Ukrainians, collectivisation, deportations, persecution of the church, and the trials of former communist leaders, and attributes these misfortunes to the 20-year rule of the communists. "Communism must die so that freedom, equality, and communism live."
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 60

1937-11-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 3
“ПРОДАЮТЬ КОЛХОЗИ З ЖІНКАМИ І ДІТЬМИ”

Report that a collective farm was sold to a state-owned winemaking enterprise in a Kyiv suburb, with all its inventory, land, and people.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 61

1938-06-15 : Page 3 : Column 2 : Article 2
“АНТИРЕЛІГІЙНА ПРОПАГАНДА І СІВБА В УССР”

A report about a radio program dedicated to “the battle over the harvest” and the goals of anti-religious propaganda, which aired on Kyiv radio. The program was prepared by the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Ukrainian Radio Committee. It portrayed the war on religion as part of a larger fight over the harvest and against saboteurs. Religion was deemed a force that constrained progress, priests were accused of being spies and saboteurs, and religious holidays were considered demoralizing and subversive.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 62

1938-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 1
“КАТАСТРОФАЛЬНИЙ ЗАНЕПАД ХЛІБОРОБСТВА В УКРАЇНІ”

Report that top Ukraine agricultural officials admitted that collective farms lack horses and fertilizers. The author perceives this as evidence of the devastation caused by collectivization.

1938-07-15 : Page 1 : Column 3 : Article 5
“ВБИВАЮТЬ КОМУНІСТІВ В УКРАЇНІ”

Report that the head of the controlling commission of a collective farm near Melitopol was shot dead. DPU reportedly conducted arrests in retaliation.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 63

1938-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 2
“ПОВСТАНЦІ НА РАДЯНСЬКІЙ УКРАЇНІ”

Report from the Moscow-based daily Krasnaia Zvezda about guerilla rebel groups in Ukraine that clashed with the regular army units.

1938-09-15 : Page 1 : Column 4 : Article 3
“ВОГОНЬ УКРАЇНИ НА БОЛЬШЕВИКІВ”

An article based on reports from Riga about numerous peasant and worker uprisings supported by the army that lead to ‘bloody battles.’ The article states that “Ukraine is on fire,” burning with hatred towards the Bolsheviks.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 64

1940-04-15 : Page 3 : Column 1 : Article 2
“УКРАЇНСЬКА ЗЕМЛЯ ПІД СОВІТАМИ”

Report that Western Ukraine, recently occupied by the Soviet Union, is being subjected to similar treatment as that previously imposed on Great Ukraine. Soviet Ukraine is silent, exhausted by the horrors of famine, forced deportations, collectivization, executions, and the suppression of religious beliefs and spiritual culture.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 65

1940-05-15 : Page 3 : Column 2 : Article 2
“ЗАГРОЗА ГОЛОДУ НА УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ЗЕМЛЯХ”

Report about concerns over whether the collectivized agricultural sector in Ukraine was prepared for the spring sowing campaign. Only half of necessary collective farm agricultural equipment was ready, and peasants and collective farmers, robbed by the state, felt demoralized and unmotivated for work. It was feared that this might lead to a new famine.
PDF
Ukraine’s Famine as Reflected on the Pages of Dnipro, 1931–40 additional 66

1940-06-01 : Page 3 : Column 1 : Article 1
“В СОВІТСЬКІМ РАЮ”

An article based on reporting from The Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia, from May 29, 1940, about the dismal state of affairs in Soviet agriculture. Reports of food shortages, poor harvests, broken and abandoned agricultural equipment, and only partially cultivated arable land. Taxes imposed by the state on land and gardens are said to weigh heavily on collective farmers, who passively resist taxation, escape to cities, and cultivate only as much land as is necessary to survive.
PDF