The Ukrainian Intelligentsia and Genocide

Malko provides an authoritative account of the roots of the 1932–33 famine in Ukraine as a result of Stalin’s collectivization drive. Known as the Holodomor (death by hunger), the famine, as she argues, was the culmination of a deliberate policy to destroy Ukrainian independence, meeting the legal definition of genocide. Malko traces the evolution of Stalin’s policies in the decade following the Soviet state's formation after 1917…. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice Reviews * The Ukrainian Intelligentsia and Genocide would be chilling reading at the best of times, but as we are witnessing another Russian invasion of Ukraine with President Vladimir Putin denying Ukrainian peoplehood and discussing rebuilding the empire, it is a timely reminder that the ghosts of the near past may not only be anything for the history books. * Ukraine Book Reviews * Malko’s book is highly recommended. It provides the reader with reliable and well-researched information on Ukrainian history that serves as a basis for understanding its current affairs.... This is a book that can truly be described as inter-disciplinary as it deals with a complex topic using an appropriate approach that integrates politics (power), history (Communism), linguistics (terminologies), economics (collectivization), and psychology (trauma). Malko illustrates how and why it is important to take a closer look at a tragic period of history, where the preconditions and aftermath are of equal importance (in terms of analysis) as the genocide itself. Anyone that is interested in the core of any conflict must go back and learn more about its origins and preconditions. For those interested in making sense of the ongoing conflict between Russian and Ukraine and the former’s aggression towards the latter, this means going back nearly a hundred years. Whether an expert or a novice, it is a worthwhile journey and Victoria Malko makes this journey as enjoyable and illuminating as any reader might hope for. * LSE Review of Books * In her book, she successfully deconstructs numerous assumptions about Ukraine and its relations with Russia. Considering the current crisis and the upsurge of reporting on both countries, this is a vital and timely contribution. It provides the reader with reliable and well-researched information on Ukrainian history that serves as a basis for understanding its current affairs. By the end of the book, the reader will be able to understand today’s Russian disinformation campaigns by going back to their origins. Whether an expert or a novice, this is a worthwhile journey, and Victoria Malko makes the book as illuminating as any reader might hope for. * LSE Review of Books * Meticulously researched and documented, Victoria A. Malko’s outstanding study is an indispensable read for those who hope to acquire nuanced understandings about the genocide in Soviet Ukraine known as the Holodomor—a tremendous cultural disruption that occurred in Ukraine from the late 1920s, culminating in the 1930s, when a significant part of the Ukrainian intelligentsia was exterminated by the Soviet regime. This text reveals that the Holodomor-genocide was designed to subdue the crystallization of a new cultural and ethnic identity in Ukraine, and explores the strategies of denial employed by perpetrators of the genocide and their long-lasting effects they have had on the future of the nascent nation. -- Olga Bertelsen, Tiffin University This excellent work is one of the most sustained scholarly books I know that examines Moscow's assault on Ukraine in the early Soviet period. From the beginning to the end, it makes a clear and forceful argument for how consistently violent Moscow's political treatment of Ukraine was. It demolishes Moscow's claims about its policy of promoting Slavic brotherhood and internationalism. It presents a convincing argument on Moscow's use of political terror as a weapon to subjugate Ukraine to its will. This impressive book is indispensable for the study of Ukraine and the Soviet Union and for genocide studies in general. -- Hiroaki Kuromiya, Indiana University Bloomington Malko’s book is highly recommended. It provides the reader with reliable and well-researched information on Ukrainian history that serves as a basis for understanding its current affairs.... This is a book that can truly be described as inter-disciplinary as it deals with a complex topic using an appropriate approach that integrates politics (power), history (Communism), linguistics (terminologies), economics (collectivization), and psychology (trauma). Malko illustrates how and why it is important to take a closer look at a tragic period of history, where the preconditions and aftermath are of equal importance (in terms of analysis) as the genocide itself. Anyone that is interested in the core of any conflict must go back and learn more about its origins and preconditions. For those interested in making sense of the ongoing conflict between Russian and Ukraine and the former’s aggression towards the latter, this means going back nearly a hundred years. Whether an expert or a novice, it is a worthwhile journey and Victoria Malko makes this journey as enjoyable and illuminating as any reader might hope for. -- Sofiya Sapryka, University of Vienna In what may be a foretaste of future trends in scholarship, Victoria A. Malko's excellent monograph unapologetically treats the famine of 1932–1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians as a genocide. Unlike much Holodomor literature, Malko shifts the focus of her analysis from the peasantry to the intelligentsia—and to teachers in particular—a wise move that enables her to broaden the focus of Moscow's genocidal policies as well as to incorporate Stalin's cultural revolution into her narrative. All in all, Malko's is a worthy contribution to the burgeoning literature on the Holodomor. -- Alexander J. Motyl, Rutgers University-Newark Victoria A. Malko's important new study of the Holodomor—the horrific Ukrainian killer famine of 1932–1933—is wide-ranging and deeply researched. Focusing primarily on the tragic fate of the Ukrainian intelligentsia and especially on the role of teachers in the events, Malko skillfully guides the reader through the multiple dimensions of the genocide, from its origins in the Soviet Leninist–Stalinist system to its effects on independent Ukraine today. -- Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University