(Forgive me if this isn't the right community for this.)
So, yeah, my gf and I are presently having strained conversations with each other because we have differences of opinion over the Holodomor. I'm not denying the Ukrainian famine happened nor the number of deaths involved. We can set aside the historiography and the Kulak memes, but at the end of the day, I'm a monster because I'm somehow denying justice to the survivors because they call their experience a genocide and I'm more hesitant to do so. It's less about "who's right" or "what really happened" but more about the larger implications that come from genocide denial: she says if survivors say they experienced a genocide, it's important to acknowledge that. She's very uncomfortable that my sympathy to their suffering isn't enough. I'm somehow suggesting the survivors are bad faith actors or dupes (I don't think that's what I'm doing), and because the waters are so muddy on this issue (her words), I ought to consider the other side of the debate instead of reading the preface to Davies and Wheatcroft's The Years of Hunger (which she doesn't want to read).
I feel like even if I were to say "I admit there's a possibility the Holodomor was a genocide," I'd still find myself in the doghouse. This is an impasse we're going to have to navigate before our relationship can return to normal. While we're not big on labels, I'd say I lean more toward ML and she's more anarchist. Maybe that's part of our disagreement? No idea. I'm completely vexed and don't know how to move forward.
I can't imagine anyone's been in this exact position before, but maybe something similar? I wish I could compartmentalize it and move on, but I don't think she can. Any advice, comrades? How can I do justice to the famine survivors while not calling said famine a genocide?
Okay I don't think anyone has asked what I think would be the obvious question here so I'll bite.
Does she have any kind of genuine connection to people who would claim to be survivors or "personally affected" by this?
If so, we may be grossly underestimating the level of propaganda or maybe just outright lies have been told to her as a generations long anti-communist push could be taking place.
So just to double check, shes not like. From Ukraine, none of her family is from there, and she has no real personal connection to this place right?
Because sometimes unfortunately arguments can largely stem from places from emotion rather than rationality so she may just be upset that you aren't considering her feelings in this situation (even though clearly you are to a point or you wouldn't have asked a message board about it)
She is not Ukrainian and has no connections to Ukraine. (I'm also not Ukrainian nor do I have ties to Ukraine (or Russia).)
It's additionally vexing as we'll dunk on the Victims of Communism propaganda all the time but this is a shade too far, it seems.
All I can think of would be potential parallels to the Canadian residential school system. There are survivors who call their experience a genocide, and rightly so, but the famine and the schools are apples and oranges.