It was both said and written that Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, in 1932—1933 set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine. He did this to destroy the people from seeking independence from his rule. As a result of his actions and policies, an estimated 7,000,000 persons in the area perished from famine.

The land that was known worldwide as the breadbasket of Europe was ravaged by the man-made famine of unprecedented scale, known pointedly as the Holodomor genocide. The people in the area had been deprived of the food that they had grown with their own hands.

The Ukrainian independence movement had actually predated Stalin's era of rule. Ukraine, which measures about the size of France, had been under the domination of the Imperial Czars of Russia for over 200 years. With the collapse of the Czarist rule in March 1917, it seemed the long-awaited opportunity for independence had finally arrived. Optimistic Ukrainians declared their country to be free of rule by the Soviet Union. They re-established their ancient capital city of Kiev as the seat of Ukrainian government.

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