The 1932-1933 Famine-Holodomor in Ukraine: Myths and Facts

Although there is an extensive body of research on the 1932-1933 Famine-Holodomor in Ukraine, there are still many unanswered questions and empirically unverified beliefs. A controversial topic has been the number of Holodomor losses, claims that it only targeted Ukraine, or that it was a strictly rural phenomenon. Dr. Oleh Wolowyna (CSEEES Fellow) will present findings of a research project at the Institute of Demography and Social Studies in Ukraine, which tend to support the historical argument that the Famine changed from a case of general famine in 1932 to famine as a tool of terror in 1933. He will also examine how a combined demographic-historical approach to the Famine could contribute to its better understanding.

Oleh Wolowyna is a CSEEES Fellow and Director of the Center for Demographic and Socio-Economic Research of Ukrainians in the U.S. at the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography from Brown University in 1979. He is the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar grants for research in Ukraine. He is currently coordinating a research project on the 1932-1933 Famine-Holodomor in Ukraine with a team of demographers at the Institute of Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and in collaboration with the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.