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 per-
ished at the will of the totalitarian Stalinist government 
of the former Soviet Union, which perpetrated a premedi-
tated 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 man-
made starvation and to prevent the delivery of any inter-
national food aid that would provide relief to the starv-
ing; 
Whereas numerous scholars worldwide have worked to un-
cover 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 Eng-
land and Italy’’, while Joseph Stalin simultaneously de-
nied food aid to the people of Ukraine; 
Whereas nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s rural population per-
ished or were forced into exile due to the induced starva-
tion, and the entire country suffered from the con-
sequences 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 hun-
dreds of thousands exiled . . .’’; 
Whereas title V of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, 
and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appro-
priations 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 ex-
pand the world’s knowledge of the famine and provide the 
American public with a better understanding of the So-
viet 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 Govern-
ment against the Ukrainian people; 
Whereas Raphael Lemkin, who devoted his life to the devel-
opment 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 Preven-
tion and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, authored 
an essay in 1953 entitled ‘‘Soviet Genocide in [the] 
Ukraine’’, which highlighted the ‘‘classic example of So-
viet 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 Gov-
ernment 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 com-
munities 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 com-
memorated 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 regard-
ing 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.