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Step 9 of 16 · April–May 1933

Mass repression ends, deaths keep rising

A secret instruction declares the kulaks defeated and ends mass deportations. Deaths in the countryside keep rising toward the June peak.

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  • Losses 1932–34 (circle area)
  • Cordon of 22 January 1933

Circles show each 1932 oblast's total losses for 1932–34 (HURI); no month-by-month split per oblast is published. Borders and the cordon are approximate.

Claims

FamineHigh confidence
1) Time range
1933-05-08
2) Human profile
Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov · Secret instruction of the VKP(b) CC and SNK USSR
3) Decisions
  1. Declared the kulaks defeated and the kolkhoz system consolidated
  2. Ended mass deportations and "mass repression" in the countryside; capped the number of prisoners
Affected
Peasants across the USSR; numbers held in custody reduced
Gap
How quickly it was carried out locally; deaths peaked after it.

HRECEncyclopedia of Ukraine

FamineHigh confidence
1) Time range
1933-03-01 … 1933-08-31
2) Group profile
Rural population of the Ukrainian SSR · Peasants and kolkhozniksSelector: About 25.5 million peasants in 1932; 7 oblasts and the Moldavian ASSR
3) Decisions
  1. No decision of their own: the months that followed the procurement, the seed seizure and the movement ban
Affected
84% of all famine losses fell in March–August 1933; rural losses 3,655,000 (164.5 per 1,000) vs urban about 287,000 (39.3 per 1,000)
Gap
The RU Wikipedia puts the peak in March–May rather than June.

Wolowyna 2020, Shevchenko SocietyIDSS 2015

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