Contextualizing the Holodomor
The impact of thirty years of Ukrainian famine studies
Published in
Edmonton, Toronto
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It was in the 1980s that the Famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine became the subject of serious academic study. The publication of Robert Conquest’s ground-breaking The Harvest of Sorrow in 1986 in particular focused attention on what has come to be known as the Holodomor. The pace of research accelerated in the wake of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, when archives that had been off limits became accessible. Issues that had once raised controversy such as whether the Ukrainian borders had been closed were resolved by documentary evidence. Careful demographic studies replaced intuitive estimates on population losses. In addition, the amount of survivor testimony expanded many times over. Yet many issues continue to be debated, such as the relation of the Holodomor to the general Soviet famine, intentionality, and the question of genocide.
