Few people noticed when, earlier this month, city authorities in the Kazakh capital of Astana quietly replaced a memorial plaque honoring victims of the deadly famine that ravaged the country in the 1930s.
The original inscription called the tragedy the Holodomor, a term that implies man-made famine and genocide.
The new plaque in Astana, however, uses the Russian word "golod," meaning "hunger," a more neutral term that strips away the connotation of responsibility.
Although the move caused little surprise at the time, it began to attract the attention of many and brought back into focus a long-standing debate about the famine that killed at least 1,5 million people – roughly a third of Kazakhstan's population – and is one of the darkest chapters in the Central Asian country's history.
Over the years, many Kazakh historians, politicians and activists have called on the government to recognize the famine as a genocide orchestrated by the regime of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
However, wanting to avoid upsetting Russia – a close ally and major trading partner – Kazakhstan has so far resisted such calls.
The word Holodomor itself comes from the Ukrainian language – a combination of the words holod (hunger) and mor (death or plague) – and is usually understood as "death by starvation" or "deliberate starvation".
Ukrainians interpret it as a policy of extermination carried out during the famine of 1932–33 in Soviet Ukraine, now known internationally as the Holodomor.
Unlike Ukraine, which in 2006 officially called its Holodomor a deliberate act of extermination initiated in Moscow, Kazakh leaders have consistently described the famine in their country as the tragic result of flawed Soviet policies, not as a deliberate crime against the Kazakh nation.
Now, however, the politics of memory embedded in that one word is finding resonance in Kazakhstan.
Officials in Astana have not offered much explanation for their decision to replace the original memorial plaque. In a written response to RFE/RL's questions about the matter, the city administration said the wording was changed "to ensure bilingual consistency." Kazakh is the country's "state language," while Russian has the status of an "official language."
The change in wording has sparked negative reactions on social media, with much outcry.
One Facebook user, Dastan Abdirahmanuli, called it "a distortion of Kazakh history and an attempt to conceal the political nature of the tragedy inflicted on the people."
Abdirahmanuli and many other Kazakhs took to social media to demand that the word Holodomor be brought back.
Taboo topic in Soviet times
In the late 1920s, the Soviet government began to forcibly implement a policy of collectivization of the agricultural sector throughout the Soviet Union.
In Kazakhstan, the campaign aimed to permanently settle the Kazakhs, a nomadic nation, and force them to work on collective farms (kolkhozes). It also included the mass confiscation of livestock, which was the nomads' main source of income.
By the end of 1930, drought, disease, and famine had spread across the Kazakh steppe, killing more than a million people and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.
Historians estimate that between 1,5 million and more than two million people died in Kazakhstan during the mass famine, which also affected Ukraine and several regions of Russia, by 1933. However, the subject was taboo during the Soviet era.
It was only after Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991 that it began to openly discuss the Stalin-era famine, known locally as Asharshilik. It was first mentioned in Kazakh history textbooks.
A national famine study commission was established in 1992 and studied newly opened archives. The commission called the famine of the 1930s "ethnocide," a deliberate crime aimed at eradicating an ethnic group.
This was an initial attempt in Kazakhstan to politically and legally define the famine as genocide. However, out of sensitivity towards Moscow, the newly independent country decided to postpone a formal political assessment.
As the legal successor to the Soviet Union, Russia strongly opposes such interpretations and refuses to accept accusations of genocide.
"No need to politicize"
The Kazakh government continues to avoid attributing political motives to the famine.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in 2021 that "these dark pages of our history have not been studied enough."
"We should approach this complex issue with restraint and responsibility. The research should be conducted scientifically, without slogans or sensationalism," he said.
Tokayev's statements are reminiscent of those of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who told the nation in 2012 that "one must be careful when discussing hunger. It should not be politicized."
Kazakh scientist Berikbol Dukeyev, who published research on the famine, claims that Nazarbayev was aware of the potential damage to Astana's close ties with Moscow, as well as the possible discontent of the large Russian ethnic minority, which makes up about 15 percent of Kazakhstan's population.
Yet over the years, historians and politicians have continued to call for a fair political assessment. Among them is MP Berik Dzyusembinov, who in 2020 publicly called on the government to follow Ukraine's example and recognize the famine as an act of genocide.
"The Foreign Ministry should begin the process of obtaining international recognition of the famine in Kazakhstan as genocide through the United Nations, the US Congress, the European Parliament and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe," he told the Kazakh parliament, saying the country owed justice to the famine victims.
Five years later, there is still no concrete response or action from the authorities, Djusembinov told RFE/RL earlier this month.
Kazakhstan marks the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression and Famine on May 31st.
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