The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 2 (188), 305—312
UDK 94(477.52)”1932/1933″
- Received: 01.03.2026
- Accepted: 10.03.2026
- Published:
SOURCES OF MEMORY: THE HOLODOMOR OF 1932—1933 IN THE SUMY REGION IN ARCHIVAL AND PUBLISHED MATERIALS
SUKHENKO Viktoriia
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8775-6999
- PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department
- of Ukrainian Philology and History,
- Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics,
- 9-A, Nauky avenue, 61166, Kharkiv, Ukraine,
- Contacts: e-mail: viktoriya.suhenko@hneu.net
KHARCHUK Liliia
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0063-1956
- PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at the Department
- of Ukrainian Language,
- Lviv Polytechnic National University,
- 12, Stepan Bandera Str., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
- Contacts: e-mail: liliia.v.kharchuk@lpnu.ua
Abstract. The article examines the issue of the Holodomor in the Sumy region through the analysis of published sources and archival materials. This approach makes it possible to highlight the regional features of this all-Ukrainian tragedy in a comprehensive context. The main aim of the study is to analyze documentary sources, both those published in scholarly collections and reference editions and those preserved in state archives, in order to reconstruct the socio-economic, administrative, and demographic situation during the Holodomor of 1932—1933 in the Sumy region.
The main objectives of the research are to determine the scholarly value of printed materials and archival documents, as well as to assess their role in shaping a modern historiographical approach to the events of the Holodomor at the regional level. A source-critical approach was applied in the analysis, along with thematic and comparative methods. This made it possible to trace the specific features of interpreting the causes, course, and consequences of the Holodomor in sources of various types.
The article analyzes publications containing materials from resolutions of party and state authorities, reports of local administrations, documents related to grain procurement campaigns, statistical data, official correspondence, as well as eyewitness accounts.
In conclusion, it is noted that the combination of published sources and archival materials contributes to a better understanding of the course of the Holodomor in a regional context and confirms it as part of a deliberate policy of the Soviet authorities. The article emphasizes the importance of regional studies for creating a comprehensive historiography of the Holodomor and outlines prospects for further research, in particular the introduction of new archival materials into scholarly circulation and the implementation of interregional comparisons.
Keywords: Holodomor of 1932—1933, Sumy region, archival materials, regional studies, eyewitness accounts.
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