The first of a series of booklets featuring reprints of important studies of the Great Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, is now available.  

Sources for the Study of the Great Famine in Ukraine provides an overview of source materials for the study of the Great Famine.  It features two articles by noted archivist and historian Hennadii Boriak (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kyiv), reprinted from Harvard Ukrainian Studies: “Sources and Resources on the Famine in Ukraine’s State Archival System,” (Harvard Ukrainian Studies 27 (2004-2005): 117-147) and “The Publication of Sources on the History of the 1932-1933 Famine-Genocide: History, Current State, and Prospects,” (Harvard Ukrainian Studies 25, no. 3-4 (Fall 2001): 167-186). 

In his introduction to the booklet, Mark von Hagen observes: "Hennadii Boriak, former head of the State Committee on Archives of Ukraine …presents here two essays that serve as an indispensable guide to the state of archival holdings, primarily in Ukraine but also abroad, that treat the history of the 1932-33 famine-genocide in Ukraine.”  Von Hagen goes on to stress that the fate of these archives is not irreversibly secure.  When the Ukrainian government replaced Boriak by appointing Olha Ginzburg, a Communist former deputy to the Rada, “one of the most egregious acts of the new head was to shut down the website on the holodomor that had been painstakingly assembled under Boriak’s leadership; Ginzburg did not deem the famine to be an appropriate topic for Ukrainian history.  Such an attitude was characteristic of her views of the Soviet period more broadly, and Stalinism more specifically.  Boriak’s essays are a tribute to the determined work of thousands of Ukrainian archivists who have accomplished the invaluable task of cataloguing tens of thousands of newly available documents, including photo and film footage from the period, nearly all previously unknown because they had been held in restrictive access collections until the late 1980s."

The Holodomor Series will make available out-of-print or hard-to-find literature on the period of the Great Famine.  The booklets will offer a specialized study on a selected topic, reprinted from a recognized journal or publication.  In addition, the booklets will contain a general introduction to each subject.  The series, issued by the Ukrainian Studies Fund (the public charity that has endowed Harvard’s chairs in Ukrainian history, literature, and linguistics as well as many of the Ukrainian Research Institute’s activities), is intended to help increase public awareness and understanding of this twentieth century tragedy. 

Sources for the Study of the Great Famine in Ukraine (ISBN 978-0-940465-06-0) is available for $6.50 (including postage).  To purchase, please send your request along with your mailing address and a check or money order to Ukrainian Studies Fund Holodomor Series, c/o Ukrainian Research Institute, 34 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.  You can also send your request via email to huri@fas.harvard.edu (reference Ukrainian Studies Fund Holodomor Series).  Please inquire about quantity discounts.  Review copies for faculty teaching Soviet or East European history or related subjects are also available upon request.