The Holodomor is a massive and important event in modern Ukrainian cultural memory. Partly a result of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's agricultural collectivization policies introduced in the late 1920s it started as widespread famine among Ukraine's peasant population. As peasant resistance to collectivization and Soviet authority grew Stalin feared a revolution in Ukraine that could overthrow Soviet rule. As a consequence, the Soviet government passed specific measures to purposely worsen the famine in Ukraine in order to exterminate ethnic Ukrainians. Stalin repressed all mention of the genocide, and it remained a taboo subject to openly discuss until the late 1980s. Since regaining its independence in 1991 Ukrainians have placed much emphasis on the horrors of the Holodomor and the brutality of Soviet rule. This has likely only fueled their resolve to defend their nation from the ongoing Russian invasion that began in 2022.