Germany seeks to declare Ukraine's Holodomor a genocide

German lawmakers are set to vote on a motion to recognize the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33 as a genocide, German media outlets reported on Friday.

The text of the resolution says the great famine of 1932-33, or Holodomor, ought to "join the list of inhumane crimes committed by totalitarian systems, in the course of which millions of human lives were wiped out in Europe, especially in the first half of the 20th century," the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The resolution says that amid Russia's war on Ukraine, it is imperative to show that there must no longer be room to power-grabbing and oppression in Europe.

The resolution is set to be discussed and passed in the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, next Wednesday, according to German media reports.

What was the great famine of the 20th century?

The Holodomor, which means death by hunger in Ukrainian, was caused by the policies of the Communist Party and Soviet government authorities headed by Josef Stalin. 

The famine killed at least 4 million Ukrainians and was officially denied by the Soviet Union until 1987.

The famine's occurrence and its cover-up were much discussed later in the late 1980s. In 2006, Ukraine recognized the great famine as genocide. 

Ukraine pays its respects to victims of the tragedy by officially marking a Holodomor Memorial Day on the fourth Saturday of November each year.

The resolution brought forth by the parties of the German federal government of Social Democrats, Greens and the neoliberal FDP as well as the opposition (CDU/CSU) on Friday arrives just in time to mark Holodomor Memorial Day.

Links to Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine

The chairman of the German-Ukrainian parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Robin Wagener of the Green party, said "Putin stands in the cruel and criminal tradition of Stalin."

"Today, Ukraine is once again being overrun with Russian terror. Once again, violence and terror are intended to deprive Ukraine of its livelihoods, to subjugate the entire country," he said. To classify Holodomor as genocide was a "signal of warning," he said.

German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that the motion also added that "the whole of Ukraine was affected by hunger and repression, not just its grain-producing regions."

The famine began in the chaos of collectivization in 1929 when millions of people were forced to join state farms since Ukraine was seen as a source of capital that could be used to build a modern industrial Soviet Union. 

The famine is seen as the culmination of an assault by the Communist Party on the Ukrainian peasantry, who resisted Soviet policies. 

The program was accompanied by a campaign of intimidation and arrest of Ukrainian intellectuals, writers and others seen as threats to Soviet ideological and state-building aspirations.

Vatican endorses interpretation, Russia denies allegation

The Vatican said the great famine amounted to genocide, with Pope Francis saying earlier this week that "Saturday begins the anniversary of the terrible genocide of the Holodomor, the extermination by starvation artificially caused by Stalin between 1932-1933."

"Let us pray for the victims of this genocide and let us pray for so many Ukrainians — children, women, elderly, babies — who today are suffering the martyrdom of aggression," the pope said.

The number of deaths from the famine ranges between 4.5 million to 7 million people and was the largest policy of mass killing in Europe in the 20th century until the Holocaust.

Russia categorically rejects genocide, saying it was not only Ukrainians but also Russians, Kazakhs, Volga Germans and others who were victims of great hunger in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. 

Germany criminalizes denial of war crimes

The upper house of German parliament, the Bundesrat, on Friday also passed an amendment to a law to criminalize the denial of war crimes.

Any "gross trivialization" of war crimes and instances of genocide is set to be recognized as a criminal act in a newly created Paragraph 5 of Section 130 of the German criminal code.

Section 130 is often applied to trials related to Holocaust denial, which is already illegal in Germany.

KNA contributed to this report.

Edited by: Sean Sinico