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NAME: ( )

CLASS: MARKS /50

PEI HWA SECONDARY SCHOOL

MID-YEAR EXAMINATION 2015

Secondary Four Normal (Academic)

Combined Humanities 2194/03

Paper 3 History Elective 5 May 2015

1 hour 40 minutes

Additional Materials : Writing Paper

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

1. Write your name, class and index number in the spaces at the top of this page and on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid.

2. Section A Answer all parts of Question 1.

3. Section B Answer one question.

4. Write all answers on the answer paper provided.

5. At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.

6. Submit sections A and B separately.

7. The allocation of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

This question paper consists of 6 printed pages inclusive of the cover page.

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Section A: Source – Based Case Study

Question 1 is compulsory for all students

Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions. You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources you are told to use. In answering the questions, you should use your knowledge of the topic to help you interpret and evaluate the sources. 1(a) Study Source A.

What is the message of the news article? Explain your answer. [5] (b) Study Source B.

Why did the official say this? Explain your answer. [5] (c) Study Source C.

How useful is the source in helping you understand the Great Famine? Explain your answer. [6]

(d) Study Source D.

Do you trust Walter Duranty’s report that the deaths were not caused by famine? Explain your answer. [6]

(e) Study all the sources.

‘The Great Famine was caused by the actions of the Soviet government.’ How far do these sources support this view? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. [8]

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Who should take the blame for the Great Famine of 1932?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. The Great Famine, also known as the Holodomor (Hunger), took place in Soviet Union between

1932 and 1933. Amongst the many states in the Soviet Union, Ukraine was severely affected with

an estimation of 4 to 5 million Ukranians who starved to death. Stalin blamed the bad harvest and

the resistance of the people towards collectivsation as the cause of the famine. Others, however,

argued that the Great Famine was a man-made affair, purposefully constructed by Stalin to attack

people who were against his collectivisation policy.

Who should take the blame for the Great Famine? Read the following sources to find out more.

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Source A: A news article on the famine from an American newspaper. The article was published in 1935.

Source B: An excerpt said by a Communist official who was tasked to supervise collectivisation. He was speaking to another Communist official in 1933.

I'm not sure that you understand what has been happening. A ruthless struggle is going on between

the peasantry and us. It's a struggle to the death. This year was a test of our strength and their

endurance. It took a famine to show them who is master here. It has cost millions of lives, but the

collective farm system is here to stay. We've won the war.

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Source C: A speech titled ‘Genocide* in Ukraine 1933’ by a Canadian senior researcher on the

famine. The speech was delivered during a Canadian memorial event on the Great

Famine in 1998.

* a systematic way to kill a group of people ** unfavourable Source D: An excerpt of an article by Walter Duranty in The New York Times, published in

1933. Duranty referred to Stalin as “the greatest living statesman”.

* death

Source E: An eyewitness account of a Soviet official when he had to deal with the peasants

who refused to give up their grains to the government.

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Copyrights Acknowledgements: Source A: Taken from https://studyingthehumanities.wordpress.com/tag/russia/ Source B: Taken from http://faminegenocide.com/resources/genocide/genocide-speech.html Source C: Taken from http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/gregorovich/ Source D: Taken from http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles/russians_hungry_not_starving.htm Source E: Adapted from http://martincannon.escuelacampoalegre.wikispaces.net/file/view/Collectivisation+-+Corin+reading.pdf

For many decades, excuses have been offered by the Soviet government and pro-Russian

academics. For example, it was suggested that the weather caused a 1933 crop failure. However,

the 1933 weather records actually reveal no adverse** weather conditions. In fact, the crops in 1933

were larger than 1931 or 1934 years when there was no famine. In 1933, the Soviet Union exported

1.7 million tons of grain to the West while Ukrainians starved. Late in 1933, it was discovered that

some of the confiscated Ukrainian grain was stored in storage facilities under armed guard - right in

Ukraine.

The big cities and the army are adequately supplied with food. There is no actual starvation or

deaths from starvation, but there is widespread mortality* from diseases due to malnutrition. In

short, conditions are definitely bad in certain sections. The rest of the nation is on short rations but

nothing worse. These conditions are bad, but there is no famine.

I heard a woman shouting in an unearthly voice… the woman, her hair streaming, held a flaming

sheaf of grain in her hands. Before anyone could reach her, she had tossed the burning sheaf into

the thatched roof of the house, which burst into flames instantaneously. “We worked all our lives for

our house. You won’t have it. The flames will have it!” Her cries turned suddenly into bitter laughter.