Top Picks

Selected by Valentina Kuryliw.

The listings below are examples of resources in a given category suitable for classroom instruction.

Educational Websites on the Holodomor

Holodomor Research and Education Consortium

A project of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta

www.education.holodomor.ca/ and www.holodomor.ca

This website contains research-based content and curricular materials on the Holodomor for grades
6-12. It includes background information, memoirs of survivors, primary documents, newspaper articles, excerpts from literature, and a variety of suggested lesson plans and assignments. Emphasis is placed on developing historical and critical thinking skills using a variety of strategies that complement curricula expectations in a number of provinces. The site has an excellent list of resources and links.

Nadiya – Hope; Holodomor Supplemental Resource for Teachers

Edmonton Catholic Schools, Alberta

Developed by educators throughout Canada for use in K-12 and for school events, this site draws together dozens of lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, and background materials on the Holodomor and is grouped by grade level.

Manitoba. Diversity Education: Holodomor Education and Awareness

Manitoba Education and Training

www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/multic/holodomor.html , www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/diversity/educators/index.html

The official site of the Manitoba Ministry of Education describes how the Holodomor has been incorporated into the Manitoba curriculum, provides teaching resources and offers links to sites on the Holodomor and genocide.

Classroom Resources for Teachers

Connecticut Holodomor Awareness Committee

www.holodomorct.org and http://holodomorct.org/holodomor-information-links/
This site provides general information and includes an “Information Links” page that offers a categorized and updated list of carefully selected print and media titles and direct links to a wide range of Holodomor resources.

“Exposing the Ukrainian Holodomor – How starvation was used as a political weapon,” 2017.
(Unit 2, Chapter 5).

Free curriculum-based teaching resource from “Voices into Action,” 2017.

https://www.voicesintoaction.ca/lessons/unit2/chapter5/
French version: https://www.voicesintoaction.ca/fr/lecons/unite2/chapitre5/

This is a resource for educators by the Saskatchewan Holodomor Awareness and Education Committee for Voices into Action. Unit 2 provides information on five genocides. Chapter 5 is dedicated to the Holodomor.

Ministry of Education of Quebec

“Studying Genocide Teacher’s Guide” A project of the Quebec Education Ministry and the Foundation for Genocide Education in Quebec.
https://oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/pls/public/gscw031?owa_no_site=1026

A universal guide for teaching genocide in English and in French covering the 9 genocides that are recognized by the Government of Canada. A case study of the Holodomor is included here: https://oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/pls/public/gscw031?owa_no_site=1026&owa_no_fiche=14&owa_bottin=

“How A Grain of Wheat Linked Two Worlds”

Unit of study for elementary level, suitable for Grades 3-6 prepared by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.
https://www.stf.sk.ca/unit-plan/how-grain-wheat-linked-two-worlds

Two Regimes

Two Regimes is a salvaged collection of paintings, sketches and a manuscript almost lost to history – the life’s work of two Ukrainian women: a mother, Teodora Verbitskaya (1900-1994, author) and her daughter, Nadia Werbitzky (1922-2005, artist). Teodora wrote about her family’s life from 1927 to 1945 while living in Mariupol, Soviet Ukraine under the two regimes of Stalin and Hitler. Her daughter Nadia, who painted from memory works created decades apart from her mother’s writings, contributes an intergenerational experience. Mother and daughter were survivors and witnesses of the Holodomor genocide in Ukraine (1932-1933 under Stalin) and the Holocaust genocide (1933-1945 under Hitler).

Website: https://tworegimes.com/
Book: https://he.kendallhunt.com/two_regimes
Film: https://tworegimes.com/school-film/
Teacher Guide for film: https://tworegimes.com/study-guide/

Depicting Genocide: 20^th Century Responses to the Holodomor

A new resource which provides basic information about the Holodomor that serves as good background information for educators. It explores some of the ways in which the Holodomor was represented during the 20th century, particularly though art. Information is provided under 3 main categories: The Holodomor and its Historical Context; Journalism, Activism and Disinformation; and Artistic Responses to the Holodomor, with links to many additional resources and explanations.

https://scalar.ukrhec.org/depicting-genocide/index

Documentaries on the Holodomor

Genocide Revealed

Educational Version, 2013. Directed by Yurij Luhovy. The 26- and 52- minute versions are on a single DVD for classroom use. To purchase the DVD: http://www.yluhovy.com
English, French and Ukrainian versions available: https://www.genociderevealedmovie.com

This internationally acclaimed documentary on the Holodomor features rare historical footage, survivor accounts, commentaries by historians and declassified Soviet archival documents.

Harvest of Despair: The 1932-33 Man-Made Famine in Ukraine.

Directed by Slavko Nowytski and Yurij Luhovy. Toronto, 1984. 55 min.
To purchase the DVD: www.ucrdc.org/Films.html or contact: info@ucrdc.org

Harvest of Despair is a feature-length documentary containing excellent background information on the Famine and its cover-up. Produced in the 1980s, it remains one of the best overall presentations on the history of the Holodomor within the context of world events, with an emphasis on how the world reacted.

The Soviet Story.

Directed by Edvins Snore, 2008, 85 min. To purchase the DVD: iTunes, Amazon
Ukrainian and French subtitles available

The opening 11 minutes of the film describe the 1932-33 Holodomor and can serve as a powerful introduction to the topic. The film outlines Stalin’s murderous regime from its inception through its early complicity with the Nazis and describes the impact of this legacy today.

Holodomor: Voices of Survivors.

Produced and directed by Ariadna Ochrymovych, Toronto, 2015, 30 min.
To purchase the DVD, contact: http://www.ucrdc.org/About_Us.html

This 30-minute film is appropriate for grades 7-12. It presents the personal stories of 25 Ukrainian-Canadian survivors who were children in the 1930s, many of whom were orphaned and suffered severe illnesses and trauma. The film is interwoven with drawings that illustrate their experiences, rare archival footage, Soviet propaganda posters, and photos.

Stalin’s Secret Genocide.

Written and directed by Andrea Chalupa, Toronto, 2017, 15 min.
Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYG7fKe4JHA
To purchase the DVD, contact: Holodomor National Awareness Tour holodomor.tour@cufoundation.ca

Hunger for Truth: The Rhea Clyman Story

Directed by Andrew Tkach, 2017
Online: https://vimeo.com/294628318
To purchase the DVD, contact: Holodomor National Awareness Tour holodomor.tour@cufoundation.ca or https://holodomortour.ca/product/hunger-for-truth-the-rhea-clyman-story-dvd/

Feature Films on the Holodomor

Bitter Harvest

Produced by Ian Ihnatowycz, directed by George Mendeluk, 2017. 1h 43min.
For more information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3182620/
To purchase the DVD: Amazon and other outlets.

Mr. Jones
Directed by Agnieszka Holland with story and screenplay by Andrea Chalupa, 2019. 2h 21min.

For more information and to view the film: http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/mr-jones/

Video & Podcast Links

Watch videos and listen audio files

Books on the Holodomor

Applebaum, Anne. Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine. Toronto: Doubleday, 2017.

Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror – Famine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986

Klid, Bohdan and Alexander Motyl, eds. The Holodomor Reader: A Sourcebook on the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. Edmonton and Toronto: CIUS Press, 2012

Kuryliw, Valentina. Holodomor in Ukraine, The Genocidal Famine, 1932-1933: Learning Materials for Teachers and Students. Toronto: CIUS Press, 2018

Liber, George O. Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914-1954. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016

Naimark, Norman. Stalin’s Genocides. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010

Pyrih, Ruslan, ed. Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine: Documents and Materials. Translated by Stephen Bandera. Kyiv: Kyiv Mohyla Academy Publishing House, 2008

Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books, 2010

Historical Fiction

Gal, Valentina. Philipovna: Daughter of Sorrow, Toronto: Guernica Editions, Inc. (MiroLand), 2019

Good, Rhea. Bottle of Grain. A Holodomor Story. Saskatchewan: Independently Published, USA. Illustrated by Natalie Warner, 2020. ISBN-13: 979-8555398918

Karpenko, Kat. The Photograph. NJ: BookBaby, 1 July 2020

Litteken, Erin. The Memory Keeper of Kyiv. London: Boldwood Books, 2022

Lysenko, Adrian and Ivanka Theodosia Galadza (illustrator). Five Stalks of Grain. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Press, 2022

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk. Winterkill. Scholastic Press, 2022

Articles on the Holodomor

Kuryliw, Valentina. “Teaching the Ukrainian Genocide – the Holodomor, 1932-1933: A Case Study of Denial, Cover-up and Dismissal” in genocide scholar Samuel Totten’s Teaching about Genocide: Insights and Advice from Secondary Teachers and Professors,
Volume 1. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, September 2018.

Werth, Nicolas. “The Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933: A Case Study” in the Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, published 19 April 2008, modified Feb. 2015.

Lemkin, Raphael. “Soviet Genocide in the Ukraine,” 1953.

Lemkin, who coined the word “genocide” and worked on the UN Convention on Genocide, asserts that events in Ukraine in the early 1930s were “the classic example of Soviet genocide.” He concludes: “This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.” www.education.holodomor.ca/teaching-materials/role-of-lemkin/

Survivor Accounts

Share the Story

Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC). Short video excerpts of 80 Canadian survivors of the Holodomor. http://www.sharethestory.ca http://www.holodomorsurvivors.ca

Children of Holodomor Survivors Speak

Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC). Short video excerpts from 21 Canadian second generation children of survivors. http://ucrdc.org/cohs

Ukraine Famine Memoirs

Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 32 testimonies, transcripts: https://www.concordia.ca/research/migs/resources/ukrainian-famine-memoirs.html

Melnyczuk, Lesa. Holodomor – Silenced Voices of the Starved Children. Perth: Carina Hoang Communications, 2018. A collection of 40 stories in book form told from first-hand experience by survivors who later migrated to Western Australia. https://www.holodomor.com.au