The Ukrainian Holocaust of 1933

1. Introduction

The subject of this book is Soviet genocide directed against Ukrainians as a nation within the borders of the Soviet Union. However, the genocidal aspect of the Communist Party general policy is directed in varying degree against all the nations under its totalitarian rule and is universal in its ideological motives and political goals. Because of this it is necessary at the outset to review briefly the nature of Soviet genocide against the background of the internationally recognized definition of genocide.

The concept of genocide attracted world-wide attention when the United Nations General Assembly declared in its resolution of 11 December 1946, that genocide is "a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world." Subsequently, a special committee of the United Nations Economic and Social Council drafted a convention on the subject, and it was unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948. The Convention defined genocide in Article II as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part; a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such." This general definition was also detailed in five paragraphs, two of which were: "a) killing members of the group," and "c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." I