Ukraine 1933, Seeds of Hunger

PBS: Wednesday 21 August at 8.35pm

Between 1931 and 1933, four million Ukrainians died of hunger. The famine was an ideological crime, decided by Stalin and approved by the Politburo. Its aim was to punish Ukrainian peasants who refused the collectivisation of the countryside, cultivated strong nationalism, and showed resistance to communist ideology.

All traces of this event were immediately erased. This state secret was particularly well-kept for more than fifty years and only revealed in its full magnitude after the disintegration of the USSR, when the archives were revealed.

Drawing on the journey of Welsh journalist and whistleblower, Gareth Jones, into the heart of darkness in the winter of 1933, this compelling film retraces the story of that famine.