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In this section you may explore the following questions with students: Why did it happen? and why were the Ukrainians targeted? Students will need to be aware that, just like with all larger cultural umbrella terms, there is no singular Ukrainian identity now or in the past.

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In this section you may explore the following questions with students: Why did it happen? and why were the Ukrainians targeted? Students will need to be aware that, just like with all larger cultural umbrella terms, there is no singular Ukrainian identity now or in the past.

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These two poems will help grapple with the above questions:

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These two poems will help grapple with the above questions:

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1. Through the Eyes of a Child by Halia Dmytryshyn

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Poetry
Poetry is another form of literature that could be used to describe the Holodomor to children. This poem was written by Halia Dmytryshyn. It is a narrative of events leading to, during and after the Holodomor. The inspiration for this poem is a series of drawings done by schoolchildren, Grades 5 and 6.
Through the Eyes of a Child
Halia Dmytryshyn
In the 1920s, 1930s, the people of Ukraine,

Lived north of the Black Sea, on beautiful terrain,

in villages, cities, towns and farms

Trees and flowers grew all around.

The people were hardworking and strong,

Proud of their heritage and bountiful land,

And dearly yearned someday to see their beloved country, Ukraine,

Independent and free!

The people were content, to live their lives as God had meant,

To tend their families, homes, animals and farms,

To pray to God and go to church

To celebrate traditional feasts

To laugh and dance and sing their songs.

And blessed with land rich in minerals and good soil,

Ukrainians lived life filled with hard work and fruitful-toil.

Their fields were vast and ripe with wheat,

The land was rich, black soil ran deep.

They grew all manner of food to eat.

Cabbages, fruit, berries and beets.

Sunflowers, turnips, grain and seeds.

And everyone in Europe knew

That in Ukraine's Bread Basket grew:

The richest grain and golden wheat,

That weaved and danced upon the wind,

And pushed its stalks toward the sun.

Baskets were filled and stored away,

Food would be needed each wintry day.

At Harvest's end, the people prayed to

Thank God for all that He gave.

They also prayed in the dark of night,

That no one come to take away,

That which belonged to them, each day.

But in their hearts, Ukrainians knew,

The enemy, not far away was coming closer everyday.

The communists from Russian lands formed into dangerous bands

They came to force all farmers to forfeit their land and join collective farms.

With guns in hand - the enemy came,

In trucks and tanks, on horses too,

In wagons, trains and on foot

By threat of force they swarmed the land.

And took away all food and grain,

Till only stalks, husks, and empty fields remained.

The people knew not where to turn,

As hunger took its terrible toll.

Day by day the sadness grew,

The sorrow, fear and despair

They felt was beyond all words to tell.

Mothers held their children's heads and

Pressed them close upon their hearts

To hush their cries - they had not milk or food to give

And many died upon their beds.

People searched and hunted for food

Through meadows, woods and fields,

They took whatever they could find to eat,

leaves, seeds, grass, even tiny birds.

But as time went by,

No matter what they did, However hard they looked and searched,

All their precious food was gone.

Still, people prayed upon their knees,

And asked for help in their great need.

Candles lit in the dark of the night,

They begged for help in their desperate plight.

But no help came from near or far,

And it soon became very clear,

Roaming the land like ravaging wolves,

The horror of Famine was here.

Over the land, all you saw,

Were bloated bodies, lying there,

Starving children and people dying,

Death's "Grim Reaper" hovered everywhere.

The land which once was golden and bright,

Turned into darkness overnight.

Ravaged by crops torn out of the ground,

Tears, mingled with blood to stain it brown.

All across Eastern Ukraine,

Crosses and graves covered the terrain.

Death didn't care if you were big or small,

Bodies lay dead where they fell,

Few were left to mourn them all.

After the ruthless communists came,

Millions of people died in Ukraine.

Borders were sealed as though with a shroud,

Help for Ukraine would not be allowed.

No nation would answer her plea,

The world would not know or see,

The Hunger and Genocide brought to be,

By the Communist forces in 1933.

NO ONE ANSWERED UKRAINE'S CALL,

NO ONE HEARD AND

NO ONE SAW

MILLIONS OF UKRAINIANS FALL!

[Excerpt From Holodomor in Ukraine, The Genocidal Famine 1932-33: Teaching Materials for Teachers and Students

- By Valentina Kuryliw]

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Poem "Through the Eyes of a Child" - HREC Education

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Poetry Poetry is another form of literature that could be used to describe the Holodomor to children. This poem was written by Halia Dmytryshyn. It is a narrative of events leading to, during and after the Holodomor. The inspiration for this poem is a series of drawings done by schoolchildren, Grades 5 and 6.

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2. Lament of Iaroslavna by Pavlo Tychyna is a more complex poem on which I am working to find literature

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Comments & analysis: Snow. Light flurries falling / on the Prince's palace. / Around it day and night / walks a

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Exploring poems using Facing History and Ourselves Resources

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Exploring poems using Facing History and Ourselves Resources

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You can explore these poems using Facing History’s teaching strategies: Slowdown with the Slowdown, Close Reading Protocol, Big Paper

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The National Museum of Ukraine's Website

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The National Museum of Ukraine's Website

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The National Museum of Ukraine’s website is well translated into English, and provides insights into Ukrainian culture of the early 20th century.

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The University of Minnesota’s website explores the way Stalin started to go about targeting the Ukrainians.

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The Harvest of Sorrow by Robert Conquest

The Holodomor Reader: A Sourcebook on the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine by Bohdan Klid and Alexander Motyl

Stalin’s Genocides by Norman Naimark

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Holodomor Research and Education Consortium

The Harvard Holodomor Project

Holodomor 1932-33

Holodomor National Awareness Tour

Holodomor Photo Directory

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1. Genocide Revealed Documentary film by Yurij Luhovy, Montreal
This documentary “exposes Moscow’s policy of genocide against the Ukrainian nation and focuses on the 1932-33 man-made famine (Holodomor) in Soviet Ukraine, engineered by Stalin’s regime”

2. Holodomor: Voices of survivors  a Documentary film by Ariadna Ochrymych

This documentary features the stories of “Canadian Survivors of the Holodomor, who were children during the 1930’s.”

3. Hunger for Truth: The Rhea Clyman Story: This documentary “tells the story of Rhea Clyman, a young Canadian reporter who traversed the starving Soviet heartland when Stalin's man made famine was ravaging Ukraine.”

4. Mr. Jones written by Andrea Chalupa: This is a 2019 biographical thriller film about Welsh journalist, Gareth Jones, who risks his life to expose the truth about the devastating famine in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.

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Ivan Danylchenko - London, Ontario

Sophia Cilin - New Jersey

Mykola Latyshko - Toronto, Ontario

Sonia Lebedin- Both of her parents were Holodomor survivors.

Holodomor National Awareness Tour: 6 Survivor Stories

12 Holodomor Survivors Tell Their Story

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“A Tale of Truth and Two Journalists” by Ian Hunter 

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“A Tale of Truth and Two Journalists” by Ian Hunter 

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“A Tale of Truth and Two Journalists” by Ian Hunter tells the story of two journliasts, Malcolm Muggeridge and William Durante, known for their coverage of the Holodomor, but with very different accounts.

Muggeridge investigated stories about famine in Ukraine and managed to sneak the stories about what was happening in diplomatic bags. His stories were published in the Manchester Guardian.

Walter Durante was the Moscow bureau chief and journalist for New York Times at the time of The Holodomor. His reports included false information that amounted to denial of The Holodomor, as he wanted to gain favour with Joseph Stalin.  He won a Pulitzer prize for his work in 1932, and there is a campaign to get this prize stripped from him posthumously.

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Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (“Holodomor”) Memorial Day Act- Government of Canada. Throughout Canada, in each and every year, the fourth Saturday in November shall be known as “Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (“Holodomor”) Memorial Day”.

NATIONAL HOLODOMOR MEMORIAL “FIELD OF WHEAT” Washington, DC

The Toronto Holodomor memorial

You may choose to pair this with Facing History’s teaching idea  Analyzing and Creating Memorials. This could be a suggested activity using Toronto’s Holodomor memorial instead of the Holocaust memorials linked in the lesson.

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There are two major pieces with which I familiarize students with so they can understand these events within current legal definitions and understandings of genocide prior to really digging into the Holodomor:

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There are two major pieces with which I familiarize students with so they can understand these events within current legal definitions and understandings of genocide prior to really digging into the Holodomor:

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Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

Gregory Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide

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Holodomor. Bolshevik. Kulak. Kolhosp. Stalin. Kaganovich. Collectivization. Kharkiv oblasts. There will be many words that students will not know. To provide students with these definitions and with an overview of the Holodomor, I use  the Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC).

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I use HREC’s timeline to introduce students to the general story of the Holodomor.

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HREC’s Director of Education,Valentina Kuryliw, has recently published an amazing text full of resources, including a timeline for The Holodomor. The timeline is also available in Valentina’s book, Holodomor In Ukraine, the Genocidal Famine 1932-1933 which is a tremendous resource for students and teachers alike.

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When the Holodomor was happening, the word genocide didn’t even exist yet and it would still be 11 years until Raphael Lemkin would create that word.