Turning the pages back... November 5, 1932 (11/03/02)

Turning the pages back...

November 5, 1932

To mark the 50th anniversary of one of history's most horrifying cases of genocide - the Great Famine of 1932-1933, in which some 7 million Ukrainians perished, this newspaper ran a column devoted to a chronology of reports about the man-made Famine. The column relied on news from Svoboda and, later, The Ukrainian Weekly (which began publication in October 1933). Following is an excerpt dealing with events of 70 years ago.

On November 5, 1932, Svoboda reported on a new book on Soviet agriculture that had appeared in Germany. Consisting of essays by 16 specialists, including journalists who had spent time in the USSR, it attempted to explain the agricultural situation in the USSR.

On November 10, 1932, Svoboda headlines read "The Famine in Ukraine Intensifies." Datelined Kiev, the story read: "From all parts of Ukraine, the richest breadbasket of Europe, comes news of the growing famine. From all parts of Ukraine, cries of 'Bread, bread, bread' are heard, but there is none to be found."

Forced collectivization, reported Svoboda, resulted in the peasantry planting only enough grain for its own needs. However, the government collected grain from the people and continued to export the same amount of grain, if not more, than ever before. The population had eaten up its livestock during the previous winter, reported the newspaper. The government, reported Svoboda, had issued food cards to the peasants. Bread prices continued to be very high, and bread was scarce.

European newspapers also speculated as to the situation in the Soviet Union. On November 15, 1932, Svoboda also carried a commentary published in a Vienna daily, which described the Soviet Union as a country "covered by a veil of haze" from the rest of Europe. The paper reported that samples of bread had been smuggled out of the USSR and analyzed in a Munich lab. The bread was composed of ingredients that did not justify it being called bread. The lab report read: "It is not rich, it is of a dark gray-green color, looks unappetizing, does not taste like any other bread and leaves a bitter aftertaste." Another European newspaper reported that: "To obtain bread ... one must stand in long lines for long hours, both day and night, and even then one is not guaranteed the bread rations on food cards. There is no need to mention butter, eggs, meat, fat, sugar - none of this is available."

Source: "The Great Famine (Part XI, November 1932)," The Ukrainian Weekly, May 1, 1983, Vol. LI, No. 18.

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