From 1932-1933, a mass genocide took place in Ukraine. Millions of people, including children, were deliberately starved to death by the USSR during the Holodomor event. A state-organized famine was deployed when the Ukrainian people continued to thrive and keep their cultural identity separate from the USSR, despite being controlled by Communist forces.

Here's a quick history lesson before we get into how this relates to prepping and the current events surrounding us.

How do you destroy an entire culture?

According to the Holodomor Research and Education Center, dictator Joseph Stalin tried first to erase their culture in other ways.

His rule was characterized by the ruthless elimination of anyone and anything he perceived as a threat to his power. For Stalin, the independent-minded farmers and cultural freedoms in Ukraine constituted such threats. Starting in 1929, Ukraine's writers, artists, educators, intellectuals and cultural elites were liquidated for being "too Ukrainian" and not "Soviet" enough. In 1930 Stalin wiped out Ukraine's independent church, the Ukrainian Autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Church, and its clergy. Following the destruction of the intellectuals and the church, the Ukrainian farmers, who made up 80 percent of Ukraine's population and thus were carriers of the language and culture, were next to be dealt a mortal blow.

When those efforts were not sufficient to assimilate the independent Ukrainians, the next step was breathtakingly ruthless.