Holodomor Classroom Reflection and Activity Grade Four

Vocabulary: 1. Holodomor: what happened in the Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 when the people had all their

food taken away and many of them died because they didn’t have anything to eat. 2. Remember: to keep something in your memory so it is not forgotten – ever 3. Fairness: treating people the way you would like to be treated; following the rules; being

just and correct when you are deciding something 4. Ukraine: A country in Eastern Europe that was part of the Soviet Union in 1932-33 when

the Holodomor happened – map is attached More info on teaching Holodomor:

http://www.ucc.ca/programs/committees/national-holodomor-education/ Visual/Text Anchor: the story of Tatiana, a survivor of Holodomor Activity 1) No PowerPoint used

a) Vocabulary: • The teacher will begin by reviewing the Vocabulary – perhaps putting it on the

board b) The teacher should now read and discuss Facts about Holodomor – attached.

• The teacher will deal with questions and comments as they come up. If the teacher does not have the information for the students, either the teacher or the students could look it up on the Ukrainian Canadian Congress site on Holodomor: http://www.ucc.ca/programs/committees/national-holodomor-education/

c) The teacher will read the story of Tatiana, a survivor of Holodomor – attached. • The teacher should reinforce that this is a true story • Tatiana was is a real person who was just a little girl when Holodomor happened. • Tatiana told her story to people working to preserve the stories of Holodomor so

no one would ever forget all the people who died • Tatiana was already as old as a grandma when she told her story but she

remembered everything just like it happened yesterday d) After reading the story of the survivor Tatiana, the teacher should ask the students what

details they remember from the story. • This should be a class discussion with the students perhaps putting their answers

on the board e) At the conclusion of the discussion the class should read aloud the prayer. Either the

teacher will have printed it out for everyone or it will be on the board. If neither of these

is possible then students will be asked to bow their heads while the teacher reads the prayer and all students will finish with Amen.

Activity 2) PowerPoint is used a), b), c) and d) of Activity 1 are the same for Activity 2 • The vocabulary does not need to be put on the board or printed it is on the

PowerPoint • The Facts about Holodomor are on the PowerPoint • Tatiana’s story is on the PowerPoint • The prayer is on the PowerPoint for all students to read.

Extension: with or without the PowerPoint 1. The teacher may choose to make copies of each of Tatiana’s story and have the students read

and discuss it in small groups. 2. Each group should make a short list of the one or two details they feel are important 3. One spokesperson from each group will share the details with the class 4. One student (or the teacher) will record the details on the board and once all groups have

shared, the students will be asked as a whole group to look for similarities in what groups thought was important

5. Students can write a prayer for the victims of Holodomor and all people in the world suffering from hunger and thirst. Each group will write one line for the prayer. Start with everyone reading the first two lines of the prayer provided and then ask each group to share their prayer line and then everyone reads the last two lines of the prayer provided followed by Amen.

Prayer:

Holy and most merciful Father in Heaven, We thank you for the food we receive every day.

We thank you for remembering us and nurturing us both in body and spirit. Lord we ask you to supply us with our daily bread every day

We ask You to care for the souls of those who perished during the Holodomor in Ukraine. We ask you to care for everyone who goes without food or water.

We humbly ask you to fill their bodies with water and food so that they neither thirst nor hunger this day.

Most of all, my Lord, we ask you to fill their souls and spirits with the Holy Spirit. Lord fill them this day and every other day with your Spirit

so that they may rejoice in feeling the hand of God in their lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord Who lives and reigns with you

For ever and ever, Amen

Facts about Holodomor

1. By the summer of 1932, 69% of all Ukrainian farm families and 80% of all farmland had been forcibly collectivized.

2. During collectivization Ukrainian peasants resisted and therefore, many were killed and others deported to Siberian camps.

3. The leadership of the resistance was composed of “kulaks” and “subkulaks”. Once these

had been killed or deported, people were forced into collective farms.

4. In July 1932, Moscow ordered 6.6 million tons of grain to be delivered from the lands of Ukraine. This quota was 2.3 times the amount marked prior to collectivization.

5. Any person who was caught storing food during the fall of 1932 was subject to

immediate execution or imprisonment for not less than 10 years.

6. Grain taken from the Ukrainian peasants was sold in London and New York.

7. The border between Russia and Ukraine was blocked and no food supplies allowed to be brought in.

8. Peasants were barred from cities and if some should arrive in the cities it was forbidden

to help them, feed them or give them medical help.

9. Packages of food shipped from Canada and the U.S.A. were stopped at the border to Ukraine and sent back.

10. The International Red Cross and other relief agencies were forbidden to enter Ukraine.

11. The Soviet officials were aware of the magnitude of the famine, but chose to ignore it and

deny its existence to the Western World.

12. No fewer than 10 million people died of starvation during the Holodomor.

The story of Tatiana, a survivor of Holodomor From: The Black Deeds of the Kremlin: A White Book (Vol. 1), Toronto, 1953

The following is part of the testimony presented by Tatiana Pawlichka before the United States

Ukraine Famine Commission in Washington D.C. on October 8, 1986.

In 1932, I was ten years old, and I remember well what happened in my native village in the

Kyiv region. In the spring of that year, we had virtually no seed. The communists had taken all

the grain, and although they saw that we were weak and hungry, they came and searched for

more grain. My mother had stashed away some corn that had already sprouted, but they found

that, too, and took it. What we did manage to sow the starving people pulled up out of the ground

and ate.

In the villages and on the collective farms (our village had two collectives), a lot of land lay

fallow, because people had nothing to sow, and there wasn’t enough manpower to do the sowing.

Most people couldn’t walk and those few who could, had not strength. When, at harvest time,

there weren’t enough local people to harvest the grain, others were sent in to help on the

collectives. These people spoke Russian, and they were given provisions.

After the harvest, the villagers tried to go out in the field to look for gleanings, and the

communists would arrest them and shoot at them, and send them to Siberia. My aunt, Tatiana

Rudenko, was taken away. They said she had stolen the property of the collective farm.

That summer, the vegetables couldn’t even ripen – people pulled them out of the ground – still

green – and ate them People ate leaves, nettles, milkweed, sedges. By autumn, no one had any

chickens or cattle. Here and there, someone had a few potatoes or beets. People coming in from

other villages told the very same story. They would travel all over trying to get food. They would

fall by the roadside, and none of us could do anything to help. Before the ground froze, they

were just left lying there dead, in the snow; or, if they died in the house, they were dragged out to

the cattle-shed, and they would like there frozen until spring. There was no one to dig graves.