Witnesses to Researchers: The Holodomor in Ukrainian Exile Sovietology, 1945–1991

• In Event: From Biographical Memory to Professional Expertise: Personal Experience and the Study of Communism

Abstract

The study of the Great Famine (Holodomor) began in the late 1940s and 1950s, driven by Ukrainian exile scholars from leftist and liberal circles rather than radical nationalists. Their personal experiences of Stalinist repression and collectivization shaped early Soviet Studies, influencing both the scholarly understanding and memorialization of the famine. This paper examines how the memories of Cold War exiles shaped Holodomor studies and questions the dominant scholarly narrative that historical research within the Ukrainian diaspora was primarily subordinated to right-wing mythologization.

Author

• Oleksandr Avramchuk, Inst of Central Europe (Poland)