Foundation for the History of Totalitarianism

Essay competition:
The Holodomor 

The subject of the 2025–26 Essay Prize is the Holodomor.

The Holodomor — literally “death by hunger” — was one of the most appalling yet least-known atrocities of the 20th century. Nearly four million Ukrainians starved to death in a famine deliberately engineered by Stalin’s Soviet regime. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union forcibly removed grain from Ukraine and sold it abroad to obtain foreign currency.

After the famine, it was dangerous for anyone in the Soviet Union even to talk about it until after the communist regime fell in 1991. The Holodomor has been little known in the West but gradually that is changing. It is vital background for understanding the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This essay competition is suitable for pupils who seek to widen their knowledge of 20th century history and enhance their university applications. Entries will be welcome from pupils in the sixth form in the academic year 2025-26.

AT DAWN THEY CAME

by Giles Udy

Repression and Terror in the Soviet Union 1917-1953

Concise, fully illustrated with full timeline

Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution

Winning essay in the 2024-25 essay competition.

Learning about Holodomor

Resources for teachers and students

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact:

its significance and Stalin’s real plan

Roger Moorhouse is the author of “The Devils’ Alliance”.

What Nazism and communism have in common

Daniel Finkelstein

Warsaw Ghetto handstamp

The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the German occupying forces in November 1940.

Ten books about totalitarianism

Ten books on totalitarianism: masterpieces, best-sellers or both.

A T55 tank purchased for exhibition

The kind of tank used to suppress the Prague Spring in 1968.