The Holodomor of 1932–1933 in the Greek Villages of the North Azov Region: Oral Testimonies of Victims

Abstract

This article examines the testimonies of residents from Greek villages in the North Azov region who witnessed the Holodomor of 1932–1933. It highlights the scope of issues addressed by respondents in their recollections and identifies the specificity of these recollections compared to other historical sources on the given problem. Despite their fragmentary nature, the testimonies of residents from Greek villages in North Azov contain multifaceted and highly significant information for reconstructing prevailing attitudes, offering insight into the average person’s experience during this horrific catastrophe with its pain, despair, fear, and thirst for life. The source-critical analysis of the testimonies enables the clarification or elaboration of the famine’s causes, its scale, data on the population’s diet, survival strategies, and instances of self-sacrifice, as well as peasants’ perceptions of the dekulakization executors, disruption of burial rituals, and the composition and number of deceased or repressed individuals.