The trauma that destroyed traditional culture: museum researcher Kateryna Lukyanets in the podcast ‘’Porobleno’

What do we mean by the term Holodomor, and how did it become clear that it was genocide? How did the tragedy affect family relationships, and why are its consequences still felt today? Why is it necessary to rethink victimhood, and why is it essential to support institutions such as the Holodomor Museum? Host Anna Nikolaeva discussed these questions with historian Kateryna Lukyanets, deputy head of the Holodomor and Mass Man-Made Famines Research Department at the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, on the podcast Porobleno.

The Holodomor continues to affect us to this day, says Ms Kateryna: “According to social and psychological research, survival-oriented behaviour patterns begin to dominate in the descendants of those who survived the Holodomor genocide. Accordingly, psychologists say that the level of conformity in communication increases, the level of ‘flattery’ towards leadership increases, people become more loyal, and they are easier to manipulate. In everyday life, this manifests itself in an exaggerated attitude towards food supplies. Saving bread, eating everything to the last crumb… We may not even understand that this is a consequence of a crime against our people in the past.”

“When it comes to the Holodomor Museum, it explains Russia’s current genocidal war against Ukraine: the same unpunished evil that has returned, the same genocidal mechanism of destroying the national consciousness of an independent European state… It is our Museum that actively disseminates and discusses all this at its public events,” says Kateryna Lukyanets. For more information, please refer to the video titled “Porobleno” (Made).