Webcast- The Holodomor Genocide– Starvation of Ukraine

The NJSBA has presented several programs about genocide, the lessons that the legal community can learn and what lawyers can do to present atrocities in the future. We are proud to bring you another important seminar on a little-known but devastating mass murder that occurred in the early 1900’s.

Ukraine has been on the minds of most Americans for the past year. It is difficult to see the destruction of that beautiful country and the suffering of the Ukrainian people as they fight to remain free from Russia.

Despite the wide news coverage, there has been little mention that one of the largest genocides of the 20th century was against the Ukrainian people. The Holodomor (which means “death by starvation” in Ukrainian) remains relatively unknown in the world. George Orwell wrote that the Holodomor, “involving the deaths of millions of people, actually escaped the attention of the majority of English Russophiles.” Estimates of the number of victims range from 4 million to – more recently – 10.5 million.

The genocide targeted Ukraine’s rural population concurrently with the extermination of Ukraine’s political, religious and cultural leadership. Anything edible, cooking utensils and farming tools were destroyed or confiscated; Ukrainian borders were sealed, as were Ukrainian populated regions elsewhere in the USSR. No people out, no food in.

A pioneer in the field, Dr. James E. Mace, wrote that the Holodomor “has disappeared from the public consciousness so completely that it represents the most successful example of the denial of genocide by its perpetrators.” Ninety years after the fact, these measures have finally been recognized as “genocide” by 25 countries, including by the European Parliament. It was Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer, who coined the term “genocide” and initiated the Genocide Convention, an interest spurred on after learning about the Armenian Genocide and finding out that no international laws existed to prosecute the Ottoman leaders who had perpetrated these crimes.

The geopolitical consequences have been enormous and long-lasting. At the time, the U.S. extended diplomatic recognition to the USSR, legitimizing a genocidal regime. Solidification of Moscow’s control over Ukraine ensured the viability of the USSR for generations, with near cataclysmic consequences for the world.

Join our expert panel for a discussion of the history of the Holodomor, critical lessons to be learned as it informs us about Russia’s openly declared genocidal war against Ukraine today, the global security consequences of it all, and the legal framework that provides the opportunity for lawyers to make a difference.