Lecture The GPU's Mass Operation in Soviet Ukraine, 1932–1933, and Its Role in the Holodomor

This lecture examines a previously unstudied mass operation conducted by the State Political Administration (GPU) of Soviet Ukraine during the winter of 1932-1933 as an integral mechanism in implementing the Holodomor. Drawing on previously unanalyzed archival documents from Ukraine's Sectoral State Archive of the Security Service, the research reveals Soviet secret police repressions reached their first peak during the Holodomor, predating the 1937-1938 Great Terror. An interdisciplinary analysis combining demography, statistics, and historical geography reveals a high correlation between GPU-planned "liquidations" and regional mortality rates, establishing a systematic character of repression. This reconceptualization of "operational pressure" (operativnyy nazhim) as a mass operation deepens understanding of Holodomor mechanisms. The findings contribute to global genocide scholarship by revealing mass state violence as an integral element of genocidal policy, not an accompanying factor, offering new frameworks for comparative genocide and famine studies.