Extermination by Starvation and Genocide in Ukraine, 1932–1933

Abstract The present work examines whether the Holodomor, the famine imposed by the Stalinist regime in Ukraine in 1932–1933, can be interpreted as genocide in accordance with the provisions of international law. Although the Ukrainian people suffered widespread repression by the Soviet authorities, there is some doubt that the famine was planned or used by the central government with the purpose of destroying, at least partially, the Ukrainians as a national or ethnic group. This study highlights that, despite the fact that Holodomor fulfilled the objective criteria of the crime of genocide (actus reus), it does not fully meet the subjective criteria (mens rea) and is, thus, outside the scope of the application of international law for this crime. The main object of Stalinist repression was not the Ukrainians, but the peasantry as a social class, and hence the Holodomor can be placed within broader frameworks of mass repression and state violence that are often associated with crimes against humanity.