Washington, D.C. – Representatives Don Bacon (R-NE-02), Victoria Spartz (R-IN-05), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07) introduced H.Res. 1109, to recognize the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, as a genocide and to remind and educate the public of the repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine. 

In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians perished from a famine engineered by the former Soviet Union, designed to break the Ukrainian’s resistance to communist occupation and to provide a cover for a campaign of repression and persecution carried out by the Soviet Union against the citizens and the culture of Ukraine. Farmland, crops, housing, and personal property was relinquished and confiscated, starving the many men, women, and children of Ukraine. Borders were also sealed to stop the delivery of humanitarian aid and to prevent Ukrainians from escaping. Nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s population died because of the famine.

“At a time where Ukraine is facing similar repression and terroristic attacks against its people, it is within our interest to stand with the people of Ukraine,” said Rep. Bacon. “Russia continues to follow in the footsteps of its Soviet predecessors, terrorizing the citizens of Ukraine. The United States condemns all genocides, past, present, and future. I thank my colleagues for their partnership and determination to help educate the American people of Ukraine’s history and to makes sure this never happens again.”

“Holodomor, a genocide and deliberate starvation of the Ukrainian people by communists killed millions,” said Rep. Spartz. “My family was one of these families, which made my grandfather never join the communist party, regardless of the personal cost.”

"The U.S. Congress must honor the memories of the millions of Ukrainians who died in the Holodomor -- "death by hunger." The intentional and mass starvation of the Ukrainian people at the hands of Joseph Stalin stands as a singular horror in world history. Honoring the victims -- and rightly calling their suffering a genocide -- requires our unwavering support for Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the face of Russian tyranny," said Rep. Schneider.

“One of the first things you see when you step outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C. is the Holodomor Memorial. It serves as an ever-present reminder of the devastation and death caused by the totalitarianism of Stalin’s regime and the dark cynicism of Soviet policies. Above all, it reminds us of how the innocents of Ukraine were starved to death — intentionally by an authoritarian state. Generations later, we are once again seeing Moscow demonstrate its brutality and imperialist disregard for Ukrainian independence,” said Spanberger. “Today, I am proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize the Holodomor as a genocide. We cannot forget the past, as our ability to remember and condemn historical genocides ensures that we can better prevent them from occurring in the future.”

A copy of the bill’s text can be found here.

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