Where Did It Happen?

Stalin's Famine raged through the Ukraine, and the lower Volga River region in 1932-33. This resulted in the death of between 7 to 10 million people, mainly Ukrainians.

 

Why Did Stalin Kill The People?

The Ukrainian people told the Moscow Jewish communists they wouldn't give them their land, and in fact wanted independence from Russia. The Kremlin used the famine as a political weapon to destroy Ukrainian aspirations for independence.

 

Who Did They Kill?

They killed Ukrainian farmers, villagers, intelligentsia, and anyone that could unite and lead the people. A wave of persecutions of thousands of Ukrainian intellectuals, writers, and leaders took place. Plots for liberating the Ukraine were discovered, not only in the smallest villages, but even in the top ranks of the Ukrainian Communist Party itself. Eighty percent of Ukrainian intellectuals were shot.

Mass Murder

The Jewish NKVD secret police took the crops and livestock, and were shooting up to 10,000 Ukranians a day. During the bitter winter of 1932-33, 25,000 Ukrainians per day were being shot or died of starvation and cold. Cannibalism became common.
 

How Did They Do It?

In 1932, the Communists installed a quota, that essentially took all of the peasantry's grain, and stored it in grain elevators. Communists used military troops and NKVD secret police units to collect the grain.

Next, they instigated an internal passport system, and the peasants could not travel in search of food. The grain was stored in elevators, guarded by the NKVD, while Ukrainians were starving in the immediate area.

What Did America Say?

The New York Times' reporter Walter Duranty, British writers Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and French Prime Minister Edouard Herriot, toured Ukraine, denied reports of genocide, and applauded what they called Soviet "agrarian reform."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was well aware of the genocide, but closed his eyes, even to the point of blocking aid groups from going to the Ukraine. Roosevelt always referred to Stalin as "Uncle Joe".