Poland Recognizes Famine as Genocide

The Polish Parliament, on December 6, adopted a resolution condemning the Soviet-era famine, or Holodomor, in Ukraine and the totalitarian regime responsible for it. The resolution referred to the famine as “genocide.”

The resolution came a week after the parliament in Kyiv adopted a bill on November 28, recognizing the famine as genocide. The move was seen as a victory for President Victor Yushchenko who had proposed the bill.

Only two members from the Party of Regions voted in support of the Ukrainian bill; no Communist Party members supported it.  The bill was passed with the votes of 118 deputies from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, 70 from the Our Ukraine Party, 30 from the Socialist Party and 4 others.

Yushchenko now reportedly intends to resume efforts to persuade the United Nations to recognize the Holodomor as genocide.

Moscow strongly opposes calling the famine a genocide, contending that it did not specifically target Ukrainians. Genocide, defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group, is a crime under international law.