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Fraud, Famine and Fascism: The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard
167 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 26, 2022
This was a great, meticulous breakdown of all the propaganda surrounding the "holodomor." Tottle really covered everything surrounding the Soviet Union and Ukraine in the period leading up to 1932-1933 and after to expose, piece by piece, the "planned genocide-famine" campaign as the fascist hoax that it is.
Really incredible stuff here, especially the last two chapters on Ukrainian Nationalists seeking U.S. support for a fascist state (the book was written in 1987, and look where we're at today).
Really incredible stuff here, especially the last two chapters on Ukrainian Nationalists seeking U.S. support for a fascist state (the book was written in 1987, and look where we're at today).
January 25, 2014
Mr. Tottle, you should have told about 'the fraud' to my family and other villagers that dropped dead like birds or ended up in the way I can't even verbalise here. Doesn't it count? Or is ideology more important than having respect for the dead? It's hate literature.
September 19, 2020
Tottle tirelessly goes through the historiography of the famine-genocide claim concerning the Soviet famine of 1932-33 and concludes that the claim's prevalence is driven by Cold War anti-communist sentiment in collaboration with Nazi propaganda rather than a drive for historical truth. Painfully detailing the 1930s scholarship, 1950s revival, and 1980s revival of this narrative, Tottle systematically shows the trail of fraudulent photographs surrounding the event as well as the numerous links to Nazi organs that litter this historical trail.
The book has thoroughly convinced me of the falsity of the famine-genocide claim and from my brief overview of its critics, it appears that none of them have even bothered to read the book or grapple with Tottle's claims in a concrete way, simply handwaving it because Tottle was a communist. If you want to learn more about the claims of "Holodomor," this book is a must-read.
The book has thoroughly convinced me of the falsity of the famine-genocide claim and from my brief overview of its critics, it appears that none of them have even bothered to read the book or grapple with Tottle's claims in a concrete way, simply handwaving it because Tottle was a communist. If you want to learn more about the claims of "Holodomor," this book is a must-read.
June 28, 2023
It's fine, for what it is--plainly a polemic against the notion of a genocide in Ukraine during the early 30s. Though it denies the occurrence of a genocide (understood strictly as requiring the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such), this text does not deny the occurrence of a significant famine, even while further disputing the estimates of five and ten millions dead as nonsensical and unwarranted. Reviews here that grouse about famine denialism are accordingly not based on the text itself but are at best irrational reactions to the title.
I don't know enough about the literature to opine on the value of the argument, except that it is internally consistent, prima facie plausible, and in accord with my understanding of fascism, cold war geopolitics, and Soviet history otherwise. Much of the pamphlet is consumed with showing that the evidence routinely offered in support of the genocide theory is taken from the earlier 1921 famine and offered fraudulently by pathological anti-communists and overt fascists before the second world war, and then again by cold warriors and fascist war criminals afterward, including by Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with the Axis. That's all well known (see e.g. Chris Simpson’s Blowback) and not really subject to reasonable controversion.
His argument (75-90) against Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow--whom we know also from his paranoid delusion about a Soviet invasion of the United States, the completely vapid What To Do When the Russians Come: A Survivor's Guide--is crushing. But that perhaps is no surprise. My two-year-old Catahoula could outwit Conquest.
His most important argument (91-102) concerns his explanation of the famine, which is directly acknowledged, and its causes are explained as "drought, sabotage, Soviet amateurish planning, excesses and mistakes in history's first mass socialization of agriculture in the context of a hostile international environment" (91). We know about the effect of drought on the region from Late Victorian Holocausts.
Tottle emphasizes, perhaps too strongly, peasant sabotage--instead of submitting to collectivization of agriculture, property-owner resistance destroyed millions of livestock of all types, consumed seed stock, failed to harvest, and committed other intentional acts to frustrate the goals of the state. To a certain extent, the famine is self-inflicted, he argues. Wealthier farmers destroyed sufficient product to cause disruptions in the food supply locally, which could not be remedied by the Soviet state immediately because that same resistance engaged in a civil war (or campaign of terrorism, depending on how one looks at it) against the same cadres who could bring relief. I suspect that it might be objected that the Soviets were wrong to collectivize agriculture--maybe so, especially in hindsight. That said, no one asked you to burn your own crops.
If the only evidence in support of the genocide theory is fascist propaganda, the assessment seems fairly obvious.
I don't know enough about the literature to opine on the value of the argument, except that it is internally consistent, prima facie plausible, and in accord with my understanding of fascism, cold war geopolitics, and Soviet history otherwise. Much of the pamphlet is consumed with showing that the evidence routinely offered in support of the genocide theory is taken from the earlier 1921 famine and offered fraudulently by pathological anti-communists and overt fascists before the second world war, and then again by cold warriors and fascist war criminals afterward, including by Ukrainian nationalists who collaborated with the Axis. That's all well known (see e.g. Chris Simpson’s Blowback) and not really subject to reasonable controversion.
His argument (75-90) against Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow--whom we know also from his paranoid delusion about a Soviet invasion of the United States, the completely vapid What To Do When the Russians Come: A Survivor's Guide--is crushing. But that perhaps is no surprise. My two-year-old Catahoula could outwit Conquest.
His most important argument (91-102) concerns his explanation of the famine, which is directly acknowledged, and its causes are explained as "drought, sabotage, Soviet amateurish planning, excesses and mistakes in history's first mass socialization of agriculture in the context of a hostile international environment" (91). We know about the effect of drought on the region from Late Victorian Holocausts.
Tottle emphasizes, perhaps too strongly, peasant sabotage--instead of submitting to collectivization of agriculture, property-owner resistance destroyed millions of livestock of all types, consumed seed stock, failed to harvest, and committed other intentional acts to frustrate the goals of the state. To a certain extent, the famine is self-inflicted, he argues. Wealthier farmers destroyed sufficient product to cause disruptions in the food supply locally, which could not be remedied by the Soviet state immediately because that same resistance engaged in a civil war (or campaign of terrorism, depending on how one looks at it) against the same cadres who could bring relief. I suspect that it might be objected that the Soviets were wrong to collectivize agriculture--maybe so, especially in hindsight. That said, no one asked you to burn your own crops.
If the only evidence in support of the genocide theory is fascist propaganda, the assessment seems fairly obvious.
July 30, 2007
this is hate literature
September 14, 2012
Get some of the inside shit on the demonization of Uncle Joe that continues 60 years after his death.
May 15, 2017
Summary: Ukranian Nationalist campaigns alleging "genocide" in the Holodomor famine are used to deflect examination of Nationalist complicity in the fascist crimes of the Nazis. Furthermore, this narrative was taken up by the United States and ant-communis countries to contribute to psychological conditioning for confrontation and war against the Soviet Union.
August 3, 2017
This was a quick read. Loaded with information and historical context on nearly everything you wanted to know about the simple holodomor. It's also very well sourced and is meticulous about tearing apart others who have been disingenuous and sloppy about their source material.
My only criticism is that the book didn't have much anecdotal and firsthand accounts of people living there at the time. Other than that it's brilliantly sourced and an engaging read. Good for context behind the current situation in Ukraine.
My only criticism is that the book didn't have much anecdotal and firsthand accounts of people living there at the time. Other than that it's brilliantly sourced and an engaging read. Good for context behind the current situation in Ukraine.
May 25, 2020
The myth of the “Holodomor”, or purposeful famine-genocide in Ukraine (1932-33), was swiftly and completely debunked by journalists and experts throughout the 1930s. However, this unfounded assertion then saw a resurgence in the 1950s - in conjunction with McCarthyism - and again in the 1980s. In this (unfortunately now out of print) book, Douglas Tottle chronicles the embarrassing tale of this myth’s historiography - from its origins in the Nazi press, to its subsequent popularity in fascist newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst’s American publications, to its continued proliferation by Nazi-collaborating Ukrainian nationalists, to its mainstream acceptance by the likes of Harvard University. The famine-genocide myth is not only an insidious fabrication, but it also seeks to equate the unspeakable crimes of Nazi Germany with the development of the first successful socialist nation - the USSR. In this sense, the modern purpose of the Holodomor story is to endlessly demonize socialism and, more covertly, to promote reactionary ideologies such as fascism. “Fraud, Famine and Fascism” is both an indispensable exposé and a timeless lesson in refuting right-wing propaganda.
November 3, 2022
Genocide deniers appreciate a piece of crap written by another genocide denier in the comment section. This makes me sick. Denying Holodomor should be equally as shameful and a sign of total moral bankruptcy as denying the Holocaust. I had the honor to personally know the Holodomor survivor, my own great-grandmother, who suffered from hunger in her childhood in the Donbas region. She would beat y'all asses if she knew the shit you write on the internet.
October 16, 2021
This is an extremely documented and serious work. More than three quarters of the references come from Western and anti-Soviet sources, which strengthens enormously its value, not only bibliographical, but mostly political and historical. It is the most complete guide to debunk this long lasting myth, temporarily discarded by the Allies, but later retaken by the witch hunt of communists and leftists in general, which took place in the US and other Western countries, under the umbrella of McCarthyism, which in turn has become the main ideological source of ideological fascism, in its anti-communist core. By reading this, one not only realizes the huge media and scholar manipulation against the Soviet Union (and against any socialist country and organization) but also receives a strong impulse in the direction of continuing the debunk of this continued ideological war against anything that could actually dismantle capitalism and the dominion of the Western financial elites. Reading this is a MUST.
October 10, 2014
The importance and relevance of this book have historical precedent only in the years before World War 2.
November 4, 2020
It's really a great book who can allow you to wake up from the dogmatic sleep of antisocialism.
Very well researched, and loaded of direct proof of primary sources and witnesses.
You will read a lot of dismissal of this book, on the account of it being negationist (sic).
I say, read the book and judge for yourself if such an astounding historiographic work can be dismissed just so.
Very well researched, and loaded of direct proof of primary sources and witnesses.
You will read a lot of dismissal of this book, on the account of it being negationist (sic).
I say, read the book and judge for yourself if such an astounding historiographic work can be dismissed just so.
April 6, 2022
Finally! I found the book I was longing for, there are many articles about the man-made character of the famine, but they stick to the arguments of Ukrainian kulaks sabotaging machinery, there's nothing as researched as this. For a Communist (a real one) the "Ukrainian genocide" will be one of the most common arguments you'll have to handle in your daily life. Well, after this read you will not only have arguments to uncover the lie of the "Soviet-made famine" but you'll also be able to grin about it knowing that the entire history written about this is pure nazi propaganda.
Incredible piece of work Mr.Tottle, I wish there's something out there at least close to this.
Incredible piece of work Mr.Tottle, I wish there's something out there at least close to this.
November 24, 2022
This book deserves 0 stars. This is completely false. This author is on the same level as a Holocaust denier. There is no place for this book. My entire family lived through The Famine (Holodomor). Please do not give this book a second thought. It is pure lies and should be taken off any shelf.
November 24, 2022
Fraudulent book, belongs in a dumpster fire. This is based on lies.
November 24, 2022
Prejudiced, inaccurate and outdated.
April 26, 2022
A meticulous, well researched takedown of the anti communist myth that the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine was a "terror-famine". Fascists, including the actual Nazis, and their anti-communist liberal enablers have been trying to push this myth for in a few waves over the past 90 years, all derived from the same sources, as Tottle describes here and dismantles. The actual causes of the tragic events of 1932-33, mainly a historic drought and the damage to local agriculture as part of what Domenico Losurdo has called essentially the second phase of the civil war, resistance to collectivization, have been minimized by these accounts in favor of a completely baseless narrative that the famine was "engineered.". Tottle exposes that the original source for most of this narrative is Nazi propaganda. No fat, just a simple walkthrough of the facts. An excellent book.
June 6, 2022
This was quite convincing for what it was: a takedown of the foundational "factual" reports of the Holodomor. Tottle does a good job showing how these texts were always rooted in anti-communism if not Nazism, and how fast and loose they habitually played with the facts.
What gives me misgivings about taking this as 100% confirmation that the Holodomor never happened are two things, one of them out of Tottle's control and the other within it.
First, it was written 35 years ago, so I have no idea how its arguments would fare in the last few decades of literature on the events. It's possible that all the scholarship in the last few decades has used these texts as their basis, in which case Tottle's argument would still be solid. It's also possible that new information has arisen that could objectively confirm many of the details of the Holodomor. That makes merely reading this book not enough to make a determination for one's self.
Secondly, while Tottle thoroughly dismantles the texts he mentions, he does not do enough to convince me that those are the only texts/accounts supporting the Holodomor. If he had catalogued all of the texts supporting the Holodomor, or even stated that "These are literally the only texts supporting the Holodomor," it would have gone a long way to reassure me. Along these lines the omission of any discussion of British journalist Gareth Jones strikes me as conspicuous and leaves me wondering a) why and b) what else might he be omitting. I'm not saying Jones is an unimpeachable source, but in the name of completion I think Tottle should have mentioned him.
None of that was enough to negate the merits of the book, which are considerable. At the very least Tottle shows without a doubt that a significant portion of the Holodomor discussion is based on openly Nazi or at least irrationally anti-communist sources, all of whom argued with little to no scruples. Until adherents to the Holodomor history genuinely grapple with those facts, their assertions on the severity of the event will be seriously compromised.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
What gives me misgivings about taking this as 100% confirmation that the Holodomor never happened are two things, one of them out of Tottle's control and the other within it.
First, it was written 35 years ago, so I have no idea how its arguments would fare in the last few decades of literature on the events. It's possible that all the scholarship in the last few decades has used these texts as their basis, in which case Tottle's argument would still be solid. It's also possible that new information has arisen that could objectively confirm many of the details of the Holodomor. That makes merely reading this book not enough to make a determination for one's self.
Secondly, while Tottle thoroughly dismantles the texts he mentions, he does not do enough to convince me that those are the only texts/accounts supporting the Holodomor. If he had catalogued all of the texts supporting the Holodomor, or even stated that "These are literally the only texts supporting the Holodomor," it would have gone a long way to reassure me. Along these lines the omission of any discussion of British journalist Gareth Jones strikes me as conspicuous and leaves me wondering a) why and b) what else might he be omitting. I'm not saying Jones is an unimpeachable source, but in the name of completion I think Tottle should have mentioned him.
None of that was enough to negate the merits of the book, which are considerable. At the very least Tottle shows without a doubt that a significant portion of the Holodomor discussion is based on openly Nazi or at least irrationally anti-communist sources, all of whom argued with little to no scruples. Until adherents to the Holodomor history genuinely grapple with those facts, their assertions on the severity of the event will be seriously compromised.
Not Bad Reviews
@pointblaek
January 8, 2023
chances of becoming a fat tankie after reading this pile of crap increase by 100%. Do not buy it!
Read
November 16, 2010For those looking for Soviet history (like I was) this book is not primarily about the Ukrainian famine. It is about the sociology of knowledge. Of the ten chapters within, nine chapters are about what Tottle sees as waves of disinformation and misinformation that have grown around the famine.
Only one chapter (Chapter Eight) is devoted to a discussion of what the real causes were, according to the author (class resistance, severe drought, policy mistakes). This is also the least polemic chapter of the book.
Only one chapter (Chapter Eight) is devoted to a discussion of what the real causes were, according to the author (class resistance, severe drought, policy mistakes). This is also the least polemic chapter of the book.
July 5, 2024
Read this in response to an exhibition put on by Monash University entitled 'Hoping against Hope'. The website states that 'Hoping Against Hope is a contemporary and immersive exhibition developed by Monash University Library that invites visitors to consider the power of storytelling to foster hope amidst adversity and conflict in Ukraine.' The exhibition, however, rather than fostering hope, quite obviously sought to foster hate towards Russia and the Soviet Union. I sadly learned very little about Ukrainian literature and instead was quite unceremoniously presented with anti-Russian, anti-communist Ukrainian nationalist propaganda. All of the literature on display was held inside glass cases, preventing any personal investigation, and instead the viewer was expected to rely on the commentary plaques provided for information about the books. I have attached some examples of the 'information' provided on these plaques:
Douglas Tottle's Fraud Famine and Fascism is obviously relevant here as he dismantles the genocide myth perpetuated by Ukrainian nationalists and various anti-communist entities. On page 36 and 37, he provides some interesting information about DOBRUS, the organisation behind the first example cited above:
Ultimately, I found Fraud Famine and Fascism to be a dense and informative little book that helped me to confirm many of the suspicions I had about the information provided to me at this exhibition and the kinds of works that were on display. It is frustrating that the genuinely interesting history and literature of Ukraine is being presented in such a way that, in my opinion, represents only the extreme views of a vocal minority.
As the campaigns of repression against intellectual leaders were intensifying, the Soviet state purposefully engineered the famine genocide of 1932-1933. The famine impacted many of the former Soviet states, but Ukraine suffered the most with the death of at least 4 million people, mainly Ukrainian peasants. The Kremlin's Greatest Crime: The Planned Artificial Famine in Ukraine, 1932-1933 was put together by members of DOBRUS from stories of London-based Ukrainians who were in Ukraine in 1933. Their stated intent is to educate émigré Ukrainians about what happened, lest they forget in the face of softening attitudes towards the Soviet Union.
Today, both the Executed Renaissance - the writers and intellectuals who were killed in the Stalinist terror - and the Holodomor serve as examples of the price paid by Ukrainians for defying imposed ideologies and resisting colonialism.
Douglas Tottle's Fraud Famine and Fascism is obviously relevant here as he dismantles the genocide myth perpetuated by Ukrainian nationalists and various anti-communist entities. On page 36 and 37, he provides some interesting information about DOBRUS, the organisation behind the first example cited above:
DOBRUS stands for the equally wordy Democratic Organization of Ukrainians Formerly Persecuted by the Soviet Regime in USA. Both groups are affiliated to the World Federation of Ukrainian Former Political Prisoners and Victims of the Soviet Regime. Of some relevance here may be the observations noted in the U.S. Congressional Record of the 1948 debate on the Displaced Persons Bill: "No doubt every one of them [former East European collaborators of Nazi occupation during the war] now bears a new name, passes [himself] off as a martyr of Soviet oppression, and answers to all the specifications of a political refugee.
Ultimately, I found Fraud Famine and Fascism to be a dense and informative little book that helped me to confirm many of the suspicions I had about the information provided to me at this exhibition and the kinds of works that were on display. It is frustrating that the genuinely interesting history and literature of Ukraine is being presented in such a way that, in my opinion, represents only the extreme views of a vocal minority.
August 6, 2022
Great case study in overall media literacy. Read it alongside the wikipedia article on the topic, word searching the texts and academics cited in Tottle's work. The weakest section is eyewitness accounts. Tottle selectively chooses a nazi eyewitness as a case study to excuse eyewitness as a whole, but does not include any Ukrainian eyewitnesses in his analysis. Much of the content throws shade on all the coverage and narrative of the 1930's as being used to diminish the authority of the USSR, such as the fact that the coverage of the crisis does not include other countries such as Kazakhstan that were impacted by the famine or that literally every single one of the sources used to support this narrative defer to pictures and information on the Russian famine in the 20's (a decade prior).
January 16, 2023
Tottle thoroughly breaks down the lies and propaganda of the Holodomor Famine-as-genocide myth, and meticulously traces its fascist origins and history as it is repeatedly revived and used as an anti-Russian propaganda tool. If you've seen this myth brought up recently, that's because it's been dredged up and dusted off and used as further "evidence" of Russian colonial aggression in the context of the current war in Ukraine. Also, given the transparency of the lie, one wonders how much anti-communist history in the West is as unreliable as this. Really an eye-opening book.
November 24, 2022
The only fraud here is the fact a piece of trash like this was even published. From millions of Ukrainian families who lost loved ones in this tragedy a giant get bent! What's the next book? The holocaust was fake? This book truly belongs in a dumpster fire.
July 25, 2023
I was completely unaware of the western side of the Holodomor awareness campaign, but in hindsight, it just makes sense that the certain kind of people was behind it throughout the cold war.
November 16, 2022
I am wavering between four stars and five for reasons I will explain, but I pushed it up to five stars because this book is so important.
It is not, however, perfect.
Mr. Tottle writes cleanly and with energy; the book was a quick read. He also researches quite thoroughly. There are extensive quotations and endnotes. What he shows is that right-wingers with an animus against communist Russia were the first and loudest promoters of the Holodomor. These people tended to echo each others' arguments and cite each others' sources, such that one foundational source was an "eyewitness" report by a certain Mr. Walker, who had provably never visited Ukraine. And many of the pictures of the 1932 famine actually came from the severe famine in 1921; and some of the pictures that were supposedly taken in Ukraine actually came from Russia.
Chillingly, Mr. Tottle shows that some of the most ardent proponents of the Holodomor myth* were Nazis (I do not mean only Banderites, but actual German Nazis). Their goal was to denigrate the Soviet Union and show Russians as horrifically cruel.
Mr. Tottle also details the facts of the famine--because the Holodomor was real, even if it was not the deliberate genocide the right-wingers claim. The major contributing factors were severe drought, accompanied by the Soviet push for collectivization of farming. This led to deliberate sabotage on the part of the dispossessed Kulaks. Some of them killed their animals and destroyed seed stores rather than let them be used on collective farms. There was also disease, which greatly increased the death toll. As a result of all of these things, close to two million Ukrainians died. But so did close to a million Russians.
I think Mr. Tuttle would have strengthened his book had he gone into greater detail about the "mistakes" of collectivization. Certainly, it is very cruel to throw peasants off their land and appropriate their crops and animals. It was natural for the people to resist. There might have been a more humane way to carry out the collective farming plan, especially when it came to the middle peasantry.
But what is quite clear in this is that the Soviets did not attack the Ukrainian people as Ukrainians. Rather, they carried out a war against a class--land-owning peasants. And this war took place throughout the Soviet Union, including in Russia.
It is interesting that Mr. Tuttle's evidence shows that, once this cruel period was over, the people made great strides economically. There was no crop failure in late 1933. And, significantly, when WWII came, the majority of Ukrainians were loyal to the Soviet Union and fought the Nazis. It seems unlikely that millions would fight so bravely for people who had been trying to kill them just a few years before.
So, a fascinating and disturbing book that holds up very well. In addition to giving a bit more detail about what, exactly, the middle peasantry suffered and who the Kulaks were, I think it would have helped his argument had Tuttle been slightly less sarcastic. I understand his fury at the lies he is debunking, but it weakens his case.
I do think this book should be better known, especially given current events in the world today.
*Note: As I say, the famine was real, and the suffering from it, and from the earlier famine of the 1920s, was clearly immense. The myth is that the Holodomor was deliberate genocide aimed at the Ukrainians. Tuttle shows pretty clearly that it wasn't.
It is not, however, perfect.
Mr. Tottle writes cleanly and with energy; the book was a quick read. He also researches quite thoroughly. There are extensive quotations and endnotes. What he shows is that right-wingers with an animus against communist Russia were the first and loudest promoters of the Holodomor. These people tended to echo each others' arguments and cite each others' sources, such that one foundational source was an "eyewitness" report by a certain Mr. Walker, who had provably never visited Ukraine. And many of the pictures of the 1932 famine actually came from the severe famine in 1921; and some of the pictures that were supposedly taken in Ukraine actually came from Russia.
Chillingly, Mr. Tottle shows that some of the most ardent proponents of the Holodomor myth* were Nazis (I do not mean only Banderites, but actual German Nazis). Their goal was to denigrate the Soviet Union and show Russians as horrifically cruel.
Mr. Tottle also details the facts of the famine--because the Holodomor was real, even if it was not the deliberate genocide the right-wingers claim. The major contributing factors were severe drought, accompanied by the Soviet push for collectivization of farming. This led to deliberate sabotage on the part of the dispossessed Kulaks. Some of them killed their animals and destroyed seed stores rather than let them be used on collective farms. There was also disease, which greatly increased the death toll. As a result of all of these things, close to two million Ukrainians died. But so did close to a million Russians.
I think Mr. Tuttle would have strengthened his book had he gone into greater detail about the "mistakes" of collectivization. Certainly, it is very cruel to throw peasants off their land and appropriate their crops and animals. It was natural for the people to resist. There might have been a more humane way to carry out the collective farming plan, especially when it came to the middle peasantry.
But what is quite clear in this is that the Soviets did not attack the Ukrainian people as Ukrainians. Rather, they carried out a war against a class--land-owning peasants. And this war took place throughout the Soviet Union, including in Russia.
It is interesting that Mr. Tuttle's evidence shows that, once this cruel period was over, the people made great strides economically. There was no crop failure in late 1933. And, significantly, when WWII came, the majority of Ukrainians were loyal to the Soviet Union and fought the Nazis. It seems unlikely that millions would fight so bravely for people who had been trying to kill them just a few years before.
So, a fascinating and disturbing book that holds up very well. In addition to giving a bit more detail about what, exactly, the middle peasantry suffered and who the Kulaks were, I think it would have helped his argument had Tuttle been slightly less sarcastic. I understand his fury at the lies he is debunking, but it weakens his case.
I do think this book should be better known, especially given current events in the world today.
*Note: As I say, the famine was real, and the suffering from it, and from the earlier famine of the 1920s, was clearly immense. The myth is that the Holodomor was deliberate genocide aimed at the Ukrainians. Tuttle shows pretty clearly that it wasn't.
January 2, 2025
Absolutely important read and thoroughly researched piece on politically motivated weaponizing of naturally occurring famines compounded by the complexity of agrarian reform which has led to one of the most serious red scare charges against communism. What a brilliant CIA checkmate: either you agree communism causes genocides to not sound insane or you’re a genocide denier. Douglas tottle provides much rebuttal to help defend and denounce the latter position.
March 21, 2023
An excellent concise read dismantling the myth of the 1932-33 genocide tracing its origins to Nazi propaganda, then its popular perpetration by Ukrainian fascist nationalists who collaborated with Nazis, to to its use by the USA as anti-communist propaganda
The author discusses the use of photos from 1921-22 famine to falsely illustrate this "genocide", creation of nonsensical death and casualty guesstimates, as well as fictional witnesses created by the USA state, and the anti-semitic playing up of the fabrication of the famine-genocide to downplay the holocaust committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people
Rather than a planned act of genocide, the author convincingly highlights the kulaks sabotage and terrorism including slaughtering their livestock in preference to collectivisation as well as waterborne diseases such as typhus as causes contributing to the 1932-33 famine
The author discusses the use of photos from 1921-22 famine to falsely illustrate this "genocide", creation of nonsensical death and casualty guesstimates, as well as fictional witnesses created by the USA state, and the anti-semitic playing up of the fabrication of the famine-genocide to downplay the holocaust committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people
Rather than a planned act of genocide, the author convincingly highlights the kulaks sabotage and terrorism including slaughtering their livestock in preference to collectivisation as well as waterborne diseases such as typhus as causes contributing to the 1932-33 famine
September 25, 2023
this book blows the holodomor myth out of the water, even considering the time period it was written in it holds up well and the soviet archives being somewhat opened vindicate tottle even more.
tottle essentially smashes the myth of holodomor being a manufactured genocide by the soviet government in this book and he gives a great chronology of the manufacturing of the myth- from nazi germany in the 30s and hearst supporting the nazis claim of a Ukrainian genocide to essentially modern times during the 80s'.
this book is an essential read if you wanna get a better understanding of the holodomor, my only gripe is that near the end it kinda drags on with just names of ukrainian nazis that fled to canada but it makes sense considering the context of the book being written in the 80s' you couldn't just google "ukrainian nazis who fled to canada".
tottle essentially smashes the myth of holodomor being a manufactured genocide by the soviet government in this book and he gives a great chronology of the manufacturing of the myth- from nazi germany in the 30s and hearst supporting the nazis claim of a Ukrainian genocide to essentially modern times during the 80s'.
this book is an essential read if you wanna get a better understanding of the holodomor, my only gripe is that near the end it kinda drags on with just names of ukrainian nazis that fled to canada but it makes sense considering the context of the book being written in the 80s' you couldn't just google "ukrainian nazis who fled to canada".
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