WW: When a person is hungry, all their thoughts are centered on finding something, anything, to eat. Those who have never lived through famine cannot understand this.

INTERVIEWER – Would you say that living through the famine was worse than being a prisoner in Dachau?

WW: Much worse. In Dachau, we didn′t get much, but every day we got a bit [of food]. And most people survived Dachau. It was much worse in Ukraine in 1933 than in Dachau. This was planned by the criminal government. The borders of Ukraine were closed, and you couldn′t leave. In Russia proper, there was no famine. There was famine in the Kuban and in Kazakhstan. Kuban is not Russia; these are Ukrainian, Cossack, lands. All the crops were taken away from the people. There was a huge mill [in our village]. Trains brought wheat and rye to the mill and continued onto Moscow or Leningrad. About eight years ago, I received $19 500 from Germany as compensation for my imprisonment in Dachau. Meanwhile all those who were exiled to Siberia and so forth haven′t received, and won′t receive, a single kopeck (penny).

Wasyl Wasko

Date of birth: 15 February 1923

Place of birth: Peryatyn village, Poltava oblast

Witnessed Famine in: Peryatyn village, Poltava oblast

Arrived in Canada: 1948

Current residence: London, Ontario

Date and place of interview:  16 December 2008, London, Ontario

Excerpt From Full Interview