Holodomor: a view from Kazakhstan

An action group of Kazakhstan public figures – B. Koyshybayev, historian; Zh. Ashiev, chairman of the Republican Society of the Politically Repressed; B. Tolenbergenov, deputy editor of the Shalkar TV channel; and G. Zhunisova, chairperson of the Echo of Zheltoksan republican movement – suggested the other day that the Remembrance Day of the Victims of Political Repression, observed in Kazakhstan on May 31, be combined with Holodomor Day. In his turn, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has unveiled Kazakhstan’s first Famine Victims Memorial. Earlier, in March, he said at a meeting with students that he had “instructed that the 80th anniversary of the famine be marked in our country.”

Unlike Ukraine, Kazakhstan does not recognize the 1932-33 famine as genocide. Nor do they have a special day to honor the memory of those who died at that period. We requested Zhanna KYDYRALINA, Doctor of Sciences (History), deputy director of the History of State Institute, to comment on the attitude of Kazakhs to the Holodomor and on how successfully Kazakhstan is managing to overcome the Soviet past.

“The 1930s famine in Kazakhstan claimed the lives of one-third of the population. The assessments of different academics vary between 1.5 million and 2 million people. Some of them even suggest 2.5 millions.

“This figure also comprises 200,000 people of other ethnicities, such as the Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc. That was the greatest ever national tragedy. The memory of those events is still living.”

The 1932-33 Holodomor is also a sore point for the Ukrainians. Ukraine proposed some time ago that the world recognize this tragedy as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

“Every nation that went through this in its history perceives it in its own way. Indeed, these facts were very particular in their own way. In the former USSR, the famine mostly affected Ukraine and Kazakhstan as well as such territories of Russia as the Volga region and Siberia. However, the way the famine problem is being interpreted today sometimes causes controversy.

“The very fact of recognizing the history of the Ukraine Holodomor and interpreting this event as genocide against the Ukrainian people is very important. There is a lot of diverse and fact-based evidence of how a deliberate policy of wiping out the Ukrainian people was pursued. For example, during a roundtable debate that we hosted, a representative of the Ukrainian Embassy in Kazakhstan said that some archival documents had been found, which contain instructions of Stalin and other statesmen to deliberately pursue a policy that will result in the extermination of the Ukrainian population.

“Academics and representatives of various public circles are saying that this problem should not be politicized. The famine will remain in the memory of generations. We should draw historical lessons from this tragedy in order to avoid the repetition of a policy aimed at the extermination of a nation. We are pleased that foreign researchers are also taking part in studying the history of Kazakhstan, including the famine.

“Many believe that the famine was caused by a number of factors, such as mistakes of the leadership, difficulties in agricultural management, and the vagaries of nature. But all share the opinion that what played a major role in this were inefficient policies of the Soviet state: the pace of the collectivization, the forced settlement of Kazakh nomadic households, etc. Those who dared to oppose the collectivization were subjected to repressions.”

What is the Kazakhs’ attitude to de-Stalinization?

“We do not use the term ‘de-Stalinization.’ Instead, we use another one, ‘decolonization,’ i.e., getting rid of the totalitarian legacy and the previous colonial ideology. Kazakhstan is making great efforts to instill historical awareness in people and is doing extensive explanatory and research work. The mass media are broaching more and more subjects connected with the ‘blank spots,’ i.e., the unknown pages of history. They especially focus on political repressions and the famine. Everybody is aware of the necessity to get rid of a slave mentality – the Stalinist mentality of all times, which helped mass awareness to be ‘colonized.’”

To what extent are the Kazakhs successful in overcoming the Soviet regime’s legacy?

“I think the most difficult thing is to change the consciousness, mentality, of people. Therefore, we cannot say how long this will last. Anyway, it will take a long time to eradicate the legacy and ideology of the past. Kazakhstan’s historians are striving to study this problem more deeply, for it is connected with the present day. In the context of today, we must draw right lessons from the tragic events of the period of repressions and Stalinism.”