A Hidden Soviet Crime: Nazi Visual Propaganda and the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933

• In Event: Layers of (Audio)Visual Memory and the Second World War in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This presentation addresses the role of Nazi propaganda in shaping the perception and representations of the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933 before, during, and after the Second World War. By analyzing the visual propaganda materials produced by the Nazis, this presentation points to the “epistemic vacuum,” a form of erasure created by the Nazis that opened up the famine for political contestation, obscured awareness of the catastrophe, and opened up the event to contradictory interpretations. It was largely through the Nazis' mobilization of famine imagery, this presentation argues, that the event became entangled with conflicting ideologies and images for decades to come.

Author

• Karolina Koziura, The University of Toronto