Ukraine was historically known as the "Breadbasket of Europe" and was an important agricultural producer for the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. However, in the 1930s, Joseph Stalin instituted policies of agricultural collectivization and quotas that led the Soviet Union to confiscate land from Ukrainian farmers and blockade cities, starving millions to death in what is known as the Holodomor famine. An estimated 4 million Ukrainian lives were lost during this period as Stalin sought to eliminate resistance from independent farmers.

2. Recent
Events

3. Ukraine’s Importance
• The “Breadbasket of Europe”
Produced 25% of the food for the old Soviet
Union
1 out of every 4 workers today is involved in
farming
• Natural resources – oil, natural
gas, pipeline through the
country
• Access to the Black Sea

6. Introduction Video
Video

7. Facts
1924 - Joseph Stalin comes to power
1928 – Stalin introduces agricultural
collectivization
1928 – Ukrainian farmers refuse
 The Soviet Union calls these
farmers “kurkuls”

8. Facts
1930 – The Soviet Union claims the lands of
the kurkuls by military force
 Farmers are shipped “out”
1932 – 1933 – The Soviet Union:
1. Instills agricultural quotas
2. Blockades cities
3. Begins to “starve out” farmers

9. Death Rate
30,000 people a day
1/3 of those killed were children under age
ten.
A total of 4 million lives

10. Readings
Question #1
In your opinion, which instance
represents the despair of the
Ukrainian people the most?
Question #2
In your opinion, how could events
like this happen without other
countries intervening to stop
them?

11. Discussion