Survivor Stories

Explore testimonials from survivors of the Holodomor. Our project partner, the Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre, has preserved recorded interviews with survivors: www.sharethestory.ca

Image of survivor Nadia Shulha.

“Just before they could go buy tickets, the police came, lined the people up, and took everything away. They could only keep one loaf of bread each. And you couldn’t say a word because they could kill you.”

Image of survivor Vasyl Dudka.

“The train cars stood there, and they loaded them day and night. Day and night they loaded it and shipped it out. The grain there, you can't understand, I was there inside, it was in heaps, 7-8 meters high, like 2 stories.”

Image of survivor Evdokhia (Dusia) Marych.

“My mother was left alone, without any [food] to give us, or anything to trade for [food]. She took off her ring and earrings and went to trade them. We waited for her, and my mother never came back.”

Image of survivor Raisa Macevko.

“People hid [food]. They buried it, but if it was found, they ended up in Siberia. The entire neighboring family died in Siberia.”

Image of survivor Paul Morenec.

“When we were coming from the bazaar, we saw a small boy, swollen from hunger. He was sitting by the road, and somebody told my mother that he was one of the dekulakized. His family probably died, and he was swollen and also dying.”

Image of survivor Mykola Zabolotny.

“By 1933, they went around with rods, searching for grain. They took everything – even if something was baking in the oven, they would take it or throw it away.”