The German Bundestag on Nov. 33 voted [16] to formally recognize [17] the Holodomor, a politically induced famine that decimated Ukraine in 1932 and 1933, as a genocide. The declaration found that Soviet authorities demanded inflated quantities of grain from Ukrainian farmers and punished those who fell short with additional demands. Affected regions were cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union so that Ukrainians could not receive aid. As a result, approximately 3.5 million Ukrainians starved to death. Ukraine declared [18] the Holodomor a genocide in 2006.
The Bundestag officially characterized the Holodomor as a project of Joseph Stalin to suppress the Ukrainian "way of life, language and culture," and one of the most "unimaginable crimes against humanity" in Europe's history. The motion also recognized Germany's own history of genocide and the Bundestag's "special responsibility" to acknowledge and condemn crimes against humanity.
The Bundestag directed the federal government to continue to: (1) remember the Holodomor and educate the public; (2) oppose Russian narratives of the Holodomor; (3) reflect on Germany's position in history and in Europe; and (4) support Ukraine in its fight against Vladimir Putin's war, which "violates international law."
Germany's actions fall in line with others in the international community. On Nov. 24, Michael Carpenter, US ambassador to the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE [21]), commemorated [22] the 90th anniversary of the start of the Holodomor at an official OSCE event in Vienna. Carpenter called those who died during the famine "victims of the brutal policies and deliberate acts of the regime of Joseph Stalin." Carpenter also drew similarities between Stalin and Putin, saying that "Putin's regime is demonstrating its brutality in Ukraine by conducting attacks across Ukraine's agriculture sector and by seizing Ukraine's grain, effectively using food as a weapon of war."
To mark the anniversary, legislative bodies in Romania [23], Moldova [24] and Ireland [25] also recognized the famine as a genocide.
From Jurist [26], Nov. 30. Used with permission.