Remembrance Day of the Victims of Political Repressions and Famine in Kazakhstan Date in the current year: May 31, 2024

Famine in Kazakhstan of 1932-1933 was a part of the Soviet famine. Although every republic of the Soviet Union suffered it, the Kazakhs were most severely affected. May 31 was chosen as the day of the beginning of the famine. This day also marks the beginning of the Great Purge of 1937.

Philip Goloshekin, the second secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, was in charge of provision increase and livestock confiscation from the Kazakhs. These actions were a part of Little October political campaign aimed to suppress local national elites and strengthen administrative and economic control over the life of the republic.

The famine, that was provoked by Goloshekin's policy, resulted in death of about 1-2 million Kazakhs. Stalin's political repressions in Kazakhstan, reaching its peak in 1937, were equally massive to the famine.