The hunger games: famine 1932–1933 in the historical policy of Ukraine and Russia

  • Viachaslau I. Menkouski Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3417-4589
  • Michal Šmigel’ Matej Bel University, 12 Narodna Street, Banska Bystrica 97401, Slovakia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2255-3135
  • Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha Copenhagen Business School, 24B Porcelænshaven, 4.53C, Frederiksberg 2000, Denmark
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2021-4-7-20

Abstract

The modern historical policy of Ukraine and the Russia is analysed. The study uses the methodology of historical memory studies, specifically, research of historical consciousness, collective and historical memory. The methodology is based on the analysis of a situation when ideas about the past as national history depend on the mentality and goal setting of a particular social, national or other group. The object of the study is the modern socio-political situation in Ukraine and Russia associated with the understanding and assessment of the famine of 1932–1933 both in the Soviet Union as a whole, and in Ukraine in particular. The authors consider the modern memorial culture of the two nations, highlight issues of regional and national identity and the formation of myths of national memory as central issues in the paper. The transformation of memorial practices and the legal framework of the Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union is considered. The authors arrive at the conclusion that the discussion between the Russian and Ukrainian sides to this day has turned into constructing a scheme of the «reverse history» based on the projection of the present state of affairs into the past. It is not possible to find any fundamentally new evidence as long as the Russian archives remained classified, and the parties increasingly resort to a nationalist type of argumentation. Punning on the name of the famous Hollywood blockbuster, we can say that the «hunger games» have become a reality in the modern politics of memory of post-Soviet states.

Author Biographies

Viachaslau I. Menkouski, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

doctor of science (history), full professor; professor at the department of Russian history, faculty of history

Michal Šmigel’, Matej Bel University, 12 Narodna Street, Banska Bystrica 97401, Slovakia

PhD (history), docent; associate professor at the faculty of arts

Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha, Copenhagen Business School, 24B Porcelænshaven, 4.53C, Frederiksberg 2000, Denmark

PhD (history); assistant at the department of international economics, government and business

References

  1. Levchuk NM, Borjak TG, Volovyna O, Rudnyc’kyj OP, Kovbasjuk AB. [Losses of urban and rural population of Ukraine as a result of the Holodomor in 1932–1934: new estimates]. Ukrai’ns’kyj istorychnyj zhurnal. 2015;4:84–112. Ukrainian.
  2. Danilov V, Manning R, Viola L, editors. Tragedija sovetskoj derevni. Kollektivizacija i raskulachivanie. Dokumenty i materialy. Tom 3. Konec 1930–1933 [The tragedy of the Soviet village. Collectivisation and dispossession. Documents and materials. Volume 3. End of 1930–1933]. Moscow: ROSSPEN; 2001. 1008 p. Russian.
  3. Khlevnyuk OV. Khozyain. Stalin i utverzhdenie stalinskoi diktatury [Master of house. Stalin and the establishment of the Stalinist dictatorship]. Moscow: ROSSPEN; 2010. 479 p. (Istoriya stalinizma). Russian.
  4. Kasianov G. The open grave: the 1932–1933 famine in Ukrainian historiography, politics, and mass consciousness. Ab Imperio. 2004;3:237–269. Russian.
  5. Merl’ Sh. [Famine of 1932–1933 – genocide of Ukrainians for the implementation of the policy of Russification?]. Otechestvennaya istoriya. 1995;1:49–61. Russian.
  6. Gratsiozi A. [Soviet famine and Ukrainian Holodomor]. Otechestvennye zapiski. [Internet]. 2007 [cited 2021 February 2];1(34). Available from: www.strana-oz.ru/2007/1/sovetskiy-golod-i-ukrainskiy-golodomor. Russian.
  7. Marochko VI. [Contemporary foreign historiography of the famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine]. Ukrai’ns’kyj istorychnyj zhurnal. 2006;3:186–199. Ukrainian.
  8. Menkouski VI. Review of: Stanislav Kulchytsky. The Famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine. An Anatomy of Holodomor. Edmonton and Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 2018. Ab Imperio. 2019;4:219–224. Russian.
  9. Kul’chits’kii SV. [To assess the situation in agriculture of the USSR in 1931–1933]. Ukraїns’kij іstorichnij zhurnal. 1988;3:15–27. Ukrainian.
  10. Veber V. Rudý car. Stalin v čele Sovětského svazu v letech 1924–1953 [Red Tsar. Stalin led the Soviet Union in 1924–1953]. Praha: Stanislav Juhaňák – Triton; 2016. 192 s.
  11. Likhachev DS. Vospominaniya [Memories]. Saint Petersburg: Logos; 1995. 519 p. Russian.
  12. Іsakova NP. [Historiography of the Holodomor problem of 1932–1933 in Ukrainian and foreign literature]. Storinky istorii’. 2012;33:135–146. Ukrainian.
  13. Assman A. Novoe nedovol’stvo memorial’noi kul’turoi [New dissatisfaction with memorial culture]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie; 2016. 232 p. (Biblioteka zhurnala «Neprikosnovennyi zapas»). Russian.
  14. Graciozi A. Velikaya krest’yanskaya voina v SSSR. Bol’sheviki i krest’yane. 1917–1933 [The Great Peasant War in the USSR. Bolsheviks and peasants. 1917–1933]. Moscow: ROSSPEN; 2008. 136 p. (Istoriya stalinizma). Russian.
Published
2021-11-02
Keywords: Ukraine, Russia, famine of 1932–1933, Holodomor, genocide, historical policy, memorial culture, historiography
How to Cite
Menkouski V. I., Šmigel’ M., Dubinka-Hushcha L. The hunger games: famine 1932–1933 in the historical policy of Ukraine and Russia // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2021. 4. PP. 7-20.
Issue
No 4 (2021): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
Section
Special Topic Section

Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of the Belarusian State University. History

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)