Germany recognises Holodomor as genocide of Ukrainian people

The German Bundestag [parliament] voted in favour of a resolution which recognises the Holodomor as the genocide of Ukrainian people. 

This is reported by European Pravda.

Members of Parliament from the Social Democratic Party, the Greens, the Free Democratic Party and the opposition Christian Democratic Union have prepared a non-partisan resolution in which they call for recognising Holodomor as genocide. 

"The whole of Ukraine suffered from famine and repression, not only its grain-producing regions. From today’s perspective, this suggests the historical-political classification as genocide. The German Bundestag shares this classification," the document states. 

The document points out that the forced famine also had as its aim the "political repression of Ukrainian national identity". The widespread deaths from famine were not a consequence of crop failure but a responsibility of the USSR’s political leadership headed by Joseph Stalin. "Thus, the Holodomor is a crime against humanity," the parliamentarians said. 

"The Holodomor came during the period of the most massive crimes against humanity on the European continent, the brutality of which was unimaginable until then. These were the Holocaust of European Jews in its historic singularity, the war crimes of the Wehrmacht and the planned murder of millions of innocent civilians in the racist German war of annihilation in the East, for which Germany is held historically accountable," the resolution declared.

The members of parliament have called on the federal government to remember the victims of the Holodomor and encourage making it better known internationally - for example, through education programmes. The government should also counteract "any attempts to spread one-sided Russian historical narratives".

Oleksii Makeiev, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany, and Andrii Melnyk, former ambassador and current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, were present at the Bundestag during the vote.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Germany had in the past opposed recognising the Holodomor as genocide.

Background: On 24 November, the Upper House of the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Moldova recognised the Holodomor as a genocide of Ukrainian people; the Parliament of Romania recognised the Holodomor as a crime against humanity and Ukrainian people.

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