Germany's Parliament set to pass resolution declaring Holodomor a genocide

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues, Germany's Parliament i.e. the Bundestag has decided to pass a resolution that will declare Holodomor a genocide.

German parliamentarians hope this will act as a "warning" to Russia, as per a report from Guardian. However, it is unclear why Bundestag's decision to recognise the Holodomor as genocide will be a "warning" to Russia, as the Holodomor occurred during the days of the Soviet Union. 

It is worth mentioning that in recent years, Josef Stalin has become quite popular again in Russia. In the period leading up to the collapse of the Soviet Union, after that, Stalin was remembered for all the atrocities he committed against his own people. But some polls have shown that, over the years, Stalin's popularity has been rising in Russia. He is not remembered for the atrocities he committed but for his role in the great patriotic war, which is a term Russians use to refer to World War II. 

The human cost of Holodomor

Holodomor was the result of Stalin's policies which aimed to collectivise farms in Ukraine. Eastern Ukraine was an industrial area but western Ukraine was much more agrarian and it is this area of Ukraine that was considered a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalism. As many as 4 million to 7.5 million people died due to the Holodomor because Stalin wanted to undermine Ukrainian nationalism. 30 per cent of those who died were under the age of 10 and they died out of hunger. 

Death due to hunger is considered one of the most painful forms of death. Robin Wagener is a German Green party MP and he initiated the resolution. It is expected that all parties of Germany, including the opposition, will vote in favour of the resolution. Holodomor will be included in a "list of inhuman crimes by totalitarian systems that extinguished millions of human lives in Europe in the first half of the 20th century," as per the report from The Guardian. 

“This recognition is even more important because Ukraine has once again become the target of Russian aggression," said Knut Abraham, who serves as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) ombudsman of the parliament’s committee on legal affairs and human rights.