Holodomor means death by starvation, and in Ukraine in the early 1930s, it was an attempt by the USSR to get rid of Ukrainian farmers by seizing all of their food to sell. Millions died as a result of the action, and the Government of Saskatchewan has been working to raise awareness of the genocide and honour those who lost their lives as a result, as well as those who survived.
The events were mostly unknown for many years, because the USSR covered it up, and because the population in Ukraine who were killed was replaced by people from Russia, explains Greg Ottenbreit, Minister of Saskatchewan-Ukrainian Relations.
“There wasn’t a clear indication that the population was dropping as rapidly as it was. When you look at the impact of it, between 1933 and 1934, because of the lack of good records it could be 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians who perished during that time.”
Ottenbreit believes it’s an event that we need to learn from, especially as it was mostly hidden. He notes that in terms of loss of life, it was comparable to the Holocaust in World War II, but was less well known because it was hidden for so long, so it needs to be brought to light
“It’s said that if we don’t learn from history we are bound to repeat it. Even after we learn from history we see the same things happening in the world at different times.”
Canada was one of the first recognize Holodomor, with Saskatchewan becoming one of the first provinces to acknowledge it, which Ottenbreit credits to former Canora-Pelly MLA Ken Krawetz, who was motivated to recognize the tragedy due to his own knowledge of the history and his Ukrainian heritage. Ottenbreit believes it’s especially important to this region because of where the majority of the city comes from and the reason why many people emigrated from Ukraine itself.
“Being in Yorkton, we have the highest population of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine, and Saskatchewan can trace 13-14 per cent of its people living here of Ukrainian heritage.”
For Ottenbreit himself, archival footage showing how people starved during Holodomor is the reason why he is so passionate about recognizing the events. Seeing emaciated people losing their food stuck with Ottenbreit and is a big reason why he wants people to remember and prevent something like it from happening again.
“You don’t want to see things like that happen, those images are burned into my mind.”
