Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
Soviet policies of forced famine, deportation, and violence against ethnic and national groups devastated entire populations. Events such as the Holodomor and the deportation of Crimean Tatars and Chechens are central to understanding how the state sought to manage identity and territory through coercion. Russia continues to reject characterizations of these actions as genocide or ethnic cleansing and often presents them as justified responses to wartime threats or internal instability. This refusal to acknowledge harm in reflected in the marginalization of these histories within public discourse and education. Oral histories sustain the memory of these communities, preserving voices that would otherwise be excluded from state-sanctioned accounts.
Natalia Avramenko (Ilchenko)
This interview preserves a firsthand account of the Holodomor, focusing on the victim’s memories of survival during the state-imposed famine in Soviet Ukraine. They describe the challenges faced in accessing food, the prevalence of death in the community, and the impact of political repression.
View Item →Aleksandra Brazhnyk (nee Skrypnyk)
This interview preserves a victim’s account of the Holodomor, focusing on their memories of forced collectivization, food confiscation, and survival during the famine in Soviet Ukraine. The victim reflects on the dire circumstances they faced, the loss of loved ones, and the suppression of any dissent within their community.
View Item →Edem Abdulaewitsch Orazly
This interview preserves a victim’s account of their experiences as a Crimean Tatar deported to Uzbekistan in 1944. The victim recounts their life in Crimea during the German occupation of World War II, the sudden deportation order by Stalin, and the harsh conditions enduring during transport to Central Asia. The account details the severe deprivation faced in exile, including starvation, disease, and the loss of many fellow deportees.
View Item →References
Conquest, Robert. “Part III: The Terror-Famine.” In The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1987. Dalrymple, Dana G. “The Soviet Famine of 1932–1934: ‘Food Is a Weapon’ — Maxim Litvinov, 19211.” Soviet Studies 15, no. 3 (January 1964): 250–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136408410364. Martin, Terry. “The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing.” The Journal of Modern History 70, no. 4 (December 1998): 813–61. https://doi.org/10.1086/235168.