Questionnaries about the famine as a source to a history of the Holodomor studies

Abstract

Research aim: The article has a goal to figure out a connection between questionnaires about the famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine and the state of development of the Holodomor studies. Research methodology: historical-comparative method is used. Scientific novelty: for the first time correlation of five full-text questionnaires about the famine on every of three stages of formation of massive of the Holodomor oral history sources (1933, 1980s and after 1991). The author for the first time makes a reconstruction of research perceptions about the reasons, course and scale of the famine, as well as analyzes their evolution. Conclusions: the article analyzes questionanries created during three periods (from 1933 till mid of 2000s) that allows researching of evolution of the famine studies. The first questionnarie has become a reaction of the people of a free of communist ideology world. Because of the objective reasons (and escape to the West was made under a threat of shooting) they tries to put starvation into a Procrustean bed of collectivization, to find a logical explanation of the famine reasons, particularly in illnesses. The article demonstrates non-comprehension by them realities of everyday life of a Ukrainian countryside. Questionnaires elaborated in Canada and USA in 1980s, demonstrates much more higher level of understanding of the problem. Their authors actively involved theory of oral history, included question about personal data of a respondent, his family, education, social and property condition; a question about a peasant resistance appeared. One can see an attempt to figure out time frames of starvation. Comprehension of such events appeared as searches and confiscation of bread. Questionnaires prepared on a third period cover maximum wide spectrum of starving village problems. Appearance of a set of new questions indicates about development of knowledge about the Holоdomor. These questions fully reflect contemporary approaches to the processes, the whole set of which comprises the Holodomor of 1932–1933. To the contrary, questionnaire by a Russian historian V. Kondrashyn indicates different from Ukrainian famine essence of the Russian famine of 1930s.