Professor relates research to Ukrainian relief aid

By Antonio Miguel Escorzon •

Johnathon Vsetecka, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Politics, is conducting research investigating the Holodomor, a Ukrainian famine between 1932-1933. He shared with his students his research on Ukraine and the impacts of forPEACE, a humanitarian non-profit organization he helped found.

“I first found out about the famine during a lecture as an undergraduate student at the University of Northern Colorado,” Vsetecka said.

This lecture affected him to where he investigated the event further as he earned his master’s degree and doctorate. He continues to research the Holodomor.

Vsetecka’s research focuses on the history of the famine, how Ukrainians dealt with its hardships, and the aftermath of the Holodomor. Vsetecka found the Soviet Union downplayed the existing famine. At the time, Ukrainians quietly resisted through written accounts disguised as poetry. In Vsetecka’s research this aspect of dissent connects to transitional justice.

“During the Cold War, with the fall of the Soviet Union came a transition to a democratic government for Ukraine by 1991,” Vsetecka said.

Also in Vsetecka’s research, transitional justice shows how society undergoes governmental transitions as well as investigating the significant impacts to society, such as genocide and famine. Aside from the dissenting poetry, transitional justice looks at the psychological impacts Ukrainians had in the aftermath of the famine and the formal implications of questioning if the Soviet Union committed genocide, which gave Ukrainians voice to testify, heal from the trauma and to be institutionally recognized by the United States, Canada and Europe.

Vsetecka used his research to aid forPEACE, which he became involved in 2022 during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

“When the war started, I was evacuated to Poland and lived with family and a friend,” Vsetecka said.

Thus, forPEACE decided to help by giving rides out of Ukraine, delivering food, giving medical supplies and bringing warm clothes to Ukrainians in Ukraine. Additionally, forPEACE recently conducted the clean water program, where they shipped portable water filtrations to Ukraine, giving people access to clean water.

“As a scholar and a professor, it is my duty to talk about, spread awareness of and get people informed about history and knowledge of the past,” Vsetecka said.

The Russo-Ukraine War has shown relevancy to Vsetecka’s 1932-1933 research because awareness of a gruesome past now has a global platform where the research and event can be seen internationally. The similarities are mass violence, destruction and famine among the Ukrainians.

Vsetecka shared his research and humanitarian experiences in his class discussions, especially in the course HIST 3140 – The Holocaust. One of his students, Eleni Angelos, senior interdisciplinary studies major, shared her thoughts about Vsetecka’s work.

“It is fascinating work because the professor is looking into the social and emotional effect of a famine and as a nutrition minor, I look into the physical health of malnourished people,” Angelos said. “I learned the physical and emotional effects go hand in hand.”

Another of Vsetecka’s students, Sophia Wehle, senior international studies major, expressed how HIST 3140 brings a new perspective on the Holocaust and the 1932-1933 Ukraine famine.

“There were similar effects between both tragic events,” Wehle said. “Both show that there are mass extinctions, famines, and the departure of many refugees.”

Vsetecka encourages students to be involved in his research and the forPEACE non-profit.

“If they are interested, students will get hands-on experience,” Vsetecka said. “Students will experience immersion in Ukrainian and Russian languages.”

Antonio Miguel Escorzon, junior law major, is a contributing writer for The Current.