H. Res. 931 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

December 11, 2018. 

Whereas 2017–2018 marks the 85th anniversary of the 

Ukrainian Famine of 1932–1933, known as the 

Holodomor; 

Whereas in 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainian people perished at the will of the totalitarian Stalinist government 

of the former Soviet Union, which perpetrated a premeditated famine in Ukraine in an effort to break the nation’s 

resistance to collectivization and communist occupation; 

Whereas the Soviet Government deliberately confiscated grain 

harvests and starved millions of Ukrainian men, women, 

and children by a policy of forced collectivization that 

sought to destroy the nationally conscious movement for 

independence; 

Whereas Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the borders of 

Ukraine sealed to prevent anyone from escaping the manmade starvation and to prevent the delivery of any international food aid that would provide relief to the starving; 

Whereas numerous scholars worldwide have worked to uncover the scale of the famine, including Canadian wheat 

expert Andrew Cairns, who visited Ukraine in 1932 and 

was told that there was no grain ‘‘because the govern-
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ment had collected so much grain and exported it to England and Italy’’, while Joseph Stalin simultaneously denied food aid to the people of Ukraine; 

Whereas nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s rural population perished or were forced into exile due to the induced starvation, and the entire country suffered from the consequences of the prolonged famine; 

Whereas noted correspondents of the time were refuted for 

their courage in depicting and reporting on the forced 

famine in Ukraine, including Gareth Jones, William 

Henry Chamberlin, and Malcolm Muggeridge, who wrote, 

‘‘They (the peasants) will tell you that many have already 

died of famine and that many are dying every day; that 

thousands have been shot by the government and hundreds of thousands exiled . . .’’; 

Whereas title V of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, 

and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1986 (Public Law 99–180; 99 Stat. 1157), 

signed into law on December 13, 1985, established the 

Commission on the Ukraine Famine to ‘‘conduct a study 

of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932–1933 in order to expand the world’s knowledge of the famine and provide the 

American public with a better understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet role’’ in it; 

Whereas with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, archival 

documents became available that confirmed the deliberate 

and premeditated deadly nature of the famine, and that 

exposed the atrocities committed by the Soviet Government against the Ukrainian people; 

Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who devoted his life to the development of legal concepts and norms for containing mass 
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atrocities and whose tireless advocacy swayed the United 

Nations in 1948 to adopt the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, authored 

an essay in 1953 entitled ‘‘Soviet Genocide in [the] 

Ukraine’’, which highlighted the ‘‘classic example of Soviet genocide’’, characterizing it ‘‘not simply a case of 

mass murder[, but as] a case of genocide, of destruction, 

not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation’’; 

Whereas the Government of Ukraine passed on November 28, 

2006, a law numbered No: N 376–V, and entitled ‘‘About 

the 1932–1933 Holodomor in Ukraine’’, giving official 

recognition to the Ukraine Famine as an act of genocide 

against the Ukrainian people; 

Whereas President George W. Bush signed into law Public 

Law 109–340 on October 13, 2006, authorizing the Government of Ukraine ‘‘to establish a memorial on Federal 

land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of 

the Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932–1933’’, which 

was officially dedicated in November 2015; 

Whereas the Government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian communities in the United States and worldwide continue 

their efforts to secure greater international awareness 

and understanding of the 1932–1933 tragedy; and 

Whereas victims of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 will be commemorated by Ukrainian communities around the globe, 

and in Ukraine, through November 2018: Now, therefore, 

be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) extends its deepest sympathies to the victims 

and survivors of the Holodomor of 1932–1933, and their 

families; 
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(2) condemns the systematic violations of human 

rights, including the freedom of self-determination and 

freedom of speech, of the Ukrainian people by the Soviet 

Government; 

(3) recognizes the findings of the Commission on 

the Ukraine Famine as submitted to Congress on April 

22, 1988, including that ‘‘Joseph Stalin and those 

around him committed genocide against the Ukrainians 

in 1932–1933’’; 

(4) encourages dissemination of information regarding the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in order to expand the 

world’s knowledge of this manmade tragedy; and 

(5) supports the continuing efforts of the people of 

Ukraine to work toward ensuring democratic principles, 

a free-market economy, and full respect for human 

rights, in order to enable Ukraine to achieve its potential 

as an important strategic partner of the United States 

in that region of the world, and to reflect the will of its 

people. 

Attest: 

Clerk.