The House of Representatives recognises the great Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian civilian population. The parliamentarians adopted a resolution to this effect on Tuesday by 123 votes to 58, with seven abstentions.
The “Holodomor” (extermination by starvation) – the famine orchestrated by Stalin’s regime – claimed the lives of around four million Ukrainians, two million Kazakhs and several hundred thousand Russians.
The aim was to break the resistance of farmers who opposed collectivisation. These facts are now undisputed by independent researchers, said Christine Badertscher of the Green Party for the committee. “With this recognition, we are ensuring that the victims are not forgotten,” she added, speaking of a symbolic signal.
The Swiss People’s Party opposed this recognition of genocide. According to party politician Monika Rüegger, the assessment of genocide is a matter for international tribunals, not individual states. Switzerland does not have to decide whether genocide has occurred. It can either side with one side or maintain its neutrality and sovereignty, she added.
Recognition of the Holodomor as genocide was put on the political agenda after the Russian war against Ukraine in 2022. In 2006, Ukraine officially declared the Holodomor a genocide. At the end of 2022, the German parliament recognised the event as genocide. The French National Assembly and the Italian Senate did the same in 2023.
Famine as a weapon
The Holodomor began following two poor harvests in 1931 and 1932. Despite the hunger that tormented the rural population, the Soviet regime’s cadres increased the harvest levies and requisitioned tonnes of grain from Ukraine, most of which was sold on the world market to earn foreign currency.
According to many historians, Joseph Stalin decided in the autumn of 1932 to use famine as a weapon specifically against Ukraine. The Holodomor is a deeply painful chapter in Ukrainian history.
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