BERLIN -- Germany鈥檚 parliament on Wednesday approved a resolution recognizing as genocide Ukraine鈥檚 1930s 鈥淗olodomor,鈥� a famine believed to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians under the repressive rule of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
The resolution was brought to the lower house, or Bundestag, by the three parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz鈥檚 governing coalition and the main opposition bloc. After a debate attended by Ukraine鈥檚 ambassador to Germany, it passed with their support in a show of hands, while the two other opposition parties abstained.
The vote comes days after Ukrainians marked the 90th anniversary of the start of the famine.
The resolution states that 鈥渢he mass deaths from hunger were not a result of failed harvests; the political leadership of the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin was responsible for them.鈥� It adds that all things Ukrainian were 鈥渄eeply suspect鈥� to Stalin and notes that 鈥渢he whole of Ukraine was affected by hunger and repression, not just its grain-producing areas.鈥�
鈥淔rom today鈥檚 perspective, a historical and political classification as genocide is obvious,鈥� the resolution says. 鈥淭he German Bundestag shares such a classification.鈥�
鈥淭his horror had its cause in the Kremlin 鈥� there, the dictator took the cruel decision to push through collectivization by force and cause hunger,鈥� governing Green party lawmaker Robin Wagener told parliament. 鈥淎nd the killing by hunger also had as its aim the political repression of Ukrainian national identity, Ukrainian culture and language.鈥�
He said that 鈥渢he parallels with today are unmissable鈥� 鈥� a point echoed by other speakers nine months into Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.
鈥淩ussia鈥檚 current war of aggression against Ukraine stands in this historical tradition,鈥� Conservative opposition lawmaker Volker Ullrich said.
Academic opinion remains divided about whether the famine constitutes a 鈥済enocide,鈥� with the main question being whether Stalin intentionally wanted to kill Ukrainians as an attempt to quash an independence movement against the Soviet Union, or whether the famine was primarily the result of official incompetence along with natural conditions. Regardless, the 鈥済reat famine鈥� seeded lingering Ukrainian bitterness toward Soviet Russian rule.
According to the Holomodor Museum in Kyiv, 16 states in addition to Ukraine so far have recognized the famine as genocide: Australia, Ecuador, Estonia, Canada, Colombia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, the United States and the Vatican. Some other countries, including Argentina, Chile and Spain, have condemned it as 鈥渁n act of extermination.鈥�
Last week, Pope Francis linked the suffering of Ukrainians now to the 1930s 鈥済enocide artificially caused by Stalin.鈥�
Wednesday鈥檚 resolution calls on the German government among other things to work against 鈥渁ny attempts to spread one-sided Russian historical narratives鈥� and to keep supporting Ukraine as a victim of the current war.
It notes that the famine in Ukraine happened in a period of massive crimes against humanity in Europe, which included the Nazi Holocaust 鈥渋n its historical singularity,鈥� the war crimes of the German military and the systematic murder of millions of civilians as part of the 鈥渢he racist German war of annihilation in the east.鈥�
Lawmakers also stressed that they had no intention of downplaying Germany鈥檚 history, including Nazi crimes in the Soviet Union. 鈥淲e derive from Germany鈥檚 own past a particular responsibility within the international community to mark crimes against human rights and work through them,鈥� said Gabriela Heinrich of the governing Social Democrats.
Such resolutions aren鈥檛 binding and don鈥檛 mandate government action, but Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has thanked lawmakers who championed it.
