Kazakh famine of 1930–1933

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The Kazakh famine of 1930–1933, also known as the Asharshylyq, was a man-made famine in the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, then part of the Soviet Union, during which an estimated 1.3 to 2.3 million people died, the majority of them ethnic Kazakhs. Between 38 and 42 percent of all Kazakhs perished, the highest proportion of any ethnic group killed in the Soviet famines of the early 1930s. Other estimates put the number of deaths at about 1.75 million, while some research suggests the toll may have exceeded 2 million. The famine was a direct result of Soviet collectivization policies, implemented in Kazakhstan under the authority of First Secretary Filipp Goloshchyokin. Traditionally a nomadic people, Kazakhs relied heavily on livestock herding. Collectivization destroyed this system: herds were seized by the state, traditional migrations were disrupted, and communities were forced into collective farms ill-suited for the steppe environment. Hunger was intensified by harsh...

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