Olivia: Could you imagine being executed for hiding a handful of grain to feed your starving family? Welcome to When It Happened. I'm Olivia, diving into the moments that define lives and nations. Olivia: Today, we're exploring Anne Applebaum's devastating "Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine." It chronicles the Holodomor, the horrific man-made famine engineered by Joseph Stalin in the early 1930s. Picture Ukraine, Europe's breadbasket, caught in the grip of Soviet collectivization. Stalin, determined to crush Ukrainian identity and resistance, imposed impossible grain quotas on peasants. Applebaum shows how policy became a weapon, leading us to a moment of chilling clarity. Olivia: That moment crystallizes in the brutal winter of 1932-33. Starvation grips entire villages. Then comes Stalin's directive: relentlessly enforce the law against "theft of state property." Suddenly, desperate peasants hiding food aren't just hungry; they're criminals, saboteurs. Imagine armed brigades raiding homes, confiscating every last scrap, while grain sits in state warehouses. Saving your child's life becomes treason, punishable by deportation or death. Olivia: Why is this the defining moment? Because it reveals the calculated cruelty Applebaum exposes. This wasn't just policy; it was weaponized hunger designed to break the Ukrainian peasantry and their national spirit. The law criminalized the basic instinct to survive, justifying the escalating terror—blacklisted villages, closed borders—detailed throughout the book. It was the bureaucratic signature on a death warrant for millions. Olivia: So, what can we take from this? First, recognize how easily language and law can be twisted to dehumanize and justify atrocities. Second, understand that controlling basic needs like food is a terrifying form of power. Question narratives, especially when human survival is reframed as a crime. Olivia: That’s our time on a moment revealing the heart of the Holodomor. Join me next time on When It Happened.