Stanisław Kosior: Top Soviet Official Behind Ukraine’s Man-Made Famine Executed in Stalin’s Purge

Stanisław Kosior, Soviet leader in Ukraine and one of the key figures behind the Holodomor, was later executed during Stalin’s Great Purge. Stanisław Kosior rose from a poor factory family to become one of the most powerful men in Stalin’s Soviet Union — and one of the central architects of one of the greatest human catastrophes of the 20th century. As First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Kosior helped drive forward forced collectivization, the brutal campaign that stripped farmers of land, food, and freedom. What followed was the Holodomor: a man-made famine that killed millions. Under Moscow’s orders, Kosior enforced impossible grain quotas, authorized mass searches, and approved decrees that cut hungry villages off from all food and escape. Entire communities died behind these “black boards” of starvation. Families collapsed in their homes, on fields, and on the roads. Eyewitnesses recalled corpses lying unburied, parents unable even to bury their own children. Even as Ukraine starved, the Soviet state continued to export grain to maintain its image abroad — proof of the deliberate cruelty behind the famine. Yet in the twisted world of Stalinist politics, the man responsible for such devastation was rewarded. In 1935, Kosior received the Order of Lenin for his “successes in agriculture.” But Stalin trusted no one for long. As the Great Purge consumed the Soviet Union, Kosior found himself the next target. Arrested in 1938, he was tortured by NKVD interrogator Boris Rodos until he confessed to being a “Polish spy.” He broke only after his teenage daughter was brutalized before his eyes. On 26 February 1939, Kosior was executed with a single shot by Vasily Blokhin — the regime’s most prolific executioner. His family met tragic ends, and even those who once defended him later acknowledged his crimes. This is the story of a man who helped starve a nation — and who was finally destroyed by the system he served.This episode is part of the series The Fate of the Top Soviet Officials.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv