Tetiana Voropaieva delivered a lecture "Holodomor as a colonial practice of the Soviet empire: sociall and psychological aspects" in the museum

How do social and pychological characteristics of people who survived the Holodomor and their contemporaries differ? In 1932-1933, did people suffer only physically? Does the terrible experience change personality?

On April 14, 2018, a lecture “Holodomor as a colonial practice of the Soviet empire: social and psychological aspects” was held at the National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial”. The author was Tetiana Voropaieva, the Candidate of Psychological Sciences, associate professor, researcher at the Center of Ukrainian Studies at the Philosophical Faculty of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University. She noted, that, in addition to millions of deaths from starvation and unborn children, which significantly influenced the gene pool and the development of the Ukrainian people itself, the Holodomor hurtfully hit those who remained alive. It lowered their social and political activity, sowed the fear of authorities. The historical memory and psychology of those, who survived the Holodomor, was crippled by memories of cannibalism and plutocracy, beatings, and so on. These tragic events are still reflected in the psychology of people who survived genocide.

Holodomor and the destruction of the Ukrainian intellectual elite, which were forbidden to mention until the late 80’s of the twentieth century, led to the destruction of heredity in the intellectual development of the Ukrainian people, the loss of identity and common values. The tragedy of the Holodomor also resulted in the non-conscious complex of inferiority in a large number of Ukrainians.

Post-genocidal Ukrainian society needs the calm conscience, liberation from psychological complexes, and freedom from fear.

Tetiana Voropaieva, among other things, told about her participation in the project, held in 2008, within which the researchers of the Center of Ukrainian Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University conducted a survey of 100 students (political scientists, historians, philologists) of two universities of Moscow and two universities of St. Petersburg. The survey was conducted in Russian.

Answers to the question: “Does the Russian Federation (RF) do the right thing in honoring the memory of the people who died of starvation in the blockade of Leningrad?” Were as follows: “Yes” – 91%, “No” – 0%, “It’s difficult to say”- 9%.

To the question: “Does Ukraine do right, honoring the memory of the people who dead from the Holodomor of 1932-1933?” The students replied as follows: “Yes” – 34% of St. Petersburg students and 4% of Moscow students, “No” – 18 % of St. Petersburg students and 84% of Moscow students, “It`s difficult to say” – 48% of St. Petersburg students and 12% of Moscow students.

Answers to the question: “Should Russia also honor the memory of people who died from artificially created famine during the Soviet totalitarian era?” were as follows: “Yes” – 78% of St. Petersburg students and 46% of Moscow students, “No” – 6% St. Petersburg students and 52% of Moscow students, “It’s difficult to say” – 16% of St. Petersburg students and 2% of Moscow students.

The answers “Yes”on the question “Is it right to call an artificially organized starvation death of 6-10 million people as genocide?”gave 32% of St. Petersburg students and 2% of Moscow students, “No” – 20% of St. Petersburg students, and 82% of Moscow students answered, “It’s difficult to say” – 48% of St. Petersburg students and 16% of Moscow students.

Answers to the question “Do you know that the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate recognized the Ukrainian Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a genocide?” Were as follows: “Yes” – 4% of St. Petersburg students and 0% of Moscow students, “No” – 86% of St. Petersburg students and 92% of Moscow students, “It`s difficult to say” – 10% of St. Petersburg students and 8% of Moscow students.

Answers to the question “Do you know that Ukraine does not blame Russians for the Holodomor?” were distributed as follows: “Yes” – 46%, “No” – 10%, “It`s difficult to say” – 44%.

Answers to the question “Do you support the activities of Ukrainian students aimed at the careful collecting of information about their dead relatives and fellow countrymen during the Holodomor?” were as follows: “Yes” – 42% of St. Petersburg students and 28% of Moscow students, “No” – 14% of St. Petersburg students and 34% of Moscow students, “Hard to say” – 44% of St. Petersburg students and 38% of Moscow students.

To the question “Can Russia and Ukraine jointly commemorate the victims of the totalitarian regime in order to prevent the repetition of such tragedies in the future?” The students replied as follows: “Yes” – 64% of St. Petersburg students and 46% of Moscow students, “No “- 12% of St. Petersburg students and 26% of Moscow students,” It’s hard to say “- 24% of St. Petersburg students and 28% of Moscow students.

Thus, the survey showed that St. Petersburg students are more democratic and sympathetic to the Holodomor problem than Moscow students. This can be explained by the deeper democratic traditions of St. Petersburg and the close communication of St. Petersburg students with their relatives and acquaintances, who know from their own experience, what is the death from starvation in the blockaded city.