H. Res. 356
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
October 20, 2003.
Whereas 2003 marks the 70th anniversary of the height of
the famine in Ukraine that was deliberately initiated and
enforced by the Soviet regime through the seizure of
grain and the blockade of food shipments into the af-
fected areas, as well as by forcibly preventing the starv-
ing population from leaving the region, for the purposes
of eliminating resistance to the forced collectivization of
agriculture and destroying Ukraine’s national identity;
Whereas this man-made famine resulted in the deaths of at
least 5,000,000 men, women, and children in Ukraine
and an estimated 1–2 million people in other regions;
Whereas the famine took place in the most productive agri-
cultural area of the former Soviet Union while foodstocks
throughout the country remained sufficient to prevent the
famine and while the Soviet regime continued to export
large quantities of grain;
Whereas many Western observers with first-hand knowledge
of the famine, including The New York Times cor-
respondent Walter Duranty, who was awarded a Pulitzer
Prize in 1932 for his reporting from the Soviet Union,
knowingly and deliberately falsified their reports to cover
up and refute evidence of the famine in order to suppress
criticism of the Soviet regime;
•HRES 356 EH
Whereas Western observers and scholars who reported accu-
rately on the existence of the famine were subjected to
disparagement and criticism in the West for their report-
ing of the famine;
Whereas the Soviet regime and many scholars in the West
continued to deny the existence of the famine until the
collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991 resulted in many
of its archives being made accessible, thereby making
possible the documentation of the premeditated nature of
the famine and its harsh enforcement;
Whereas the final report of the United States Government’s
Commission on the Ukraine Famine, established on De-
cember 13, 1985, concluded that the victims were
‘‘starved to death in a man-made famine’’ and that ‘‘Jo-
seph Stalin and those around him committed genocide
against Ukrainians in 1932–1933’’; and
Whereas, although the Ukraine famine was one of the great-
est losses of human life in the 20th century, it remains
insufficiently known in the United States and in the
world: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Represent-
atives that—
(1) the millions of victims of the man-made famine
that occurred in Ukraine in 1932–1933 should be sol-
emnly remembered and honored in the 70th year mark-
ing the height of the famine;
(2) this man-made famine was designed and imple-
mented by the Soviet regime as a deliberate act of terror
and mass murder against the Ukrainian people;
•HRES 356 EH
(3) the decision of the Government of Ukraine and
the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) to give
official recognition to the famine and its victims, as well
as their efforts to secure greater international awareness
and understanding of the famine, should be supported;
and
(4) the official recognition of the famine by the
Government of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada rep-
resents a significant step in the reestablishment of
Ukraine’s national identity, the elimination of the legacy
of the Soviet dictatorship, and the advancement of ef-
forts to establish a democratic and free Ukraine that is
fully integrated into the Western community of nations.
Attest:
Clerk.