Creepy, heartbreaking and powerful all at the same time

Kkathyl · January 31, 2018 5:03PM

I was drawn to this coin and just had to add it to my silver commemorative collection.

Insider2 · January 31, 2018 5:05PM

Agree, what does it commemorate?

carabonnair · January 31, 2018 5:17PM

@Insider2 said:
Agree, what does it commemorate?

The Great Famine, Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-33
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

JeffMTampa · January 31, 2018 5:19PM

Wow- it is nice- powerful as you say.... It's telling a story without words,

Paradisefound · January 31, 2018 5:23PM

oh too depressing....femine & animal cruelty

Mitchell · January 31, 2018 5:23PM

The Ukrainian national anthem also is similarly morbid. "Yay, we're not dead yet":

Nay, thou art not dead, Ukraine, see, thy glory's born again,
And the skies, O brethren, upon us smile once more!
As in Springtime melts the snow, so shall melt away the foe,
And we shall be masters in our own home.

Refrain ×2
Soul and body, yea, our all, offer we at freedom's call
We, whose forebears, and ourselves, proud Cossacks are!

Jimnight · January 31, 2018 6:14PM

It is Different

Kkathyl · January 31, 2018 7:11PM

Apologize it is to bring awareness to the starvation of the Ukraine people during that time. Most of the world had no clue of this.

Gluggo · January 31, 2018 8:58PM

It must of been a real bad time because they are one of the most self reliant peoples on their land. I don't exactly know why or what happened but was the Russian's somehow involved?

OldIndianNutKase · January 31, 2018 9:08PM

Reminds me of the messages on Civil War Tokens, but sadder as it relates to human suffering instead of political malfeasance.

Probably not minted by the Ukrainian government, and maybe not minted in Ukraine.

OINK

lkeigwin · January 31, 2018 9:51PM

My friend from Ukraine says it is NOT "the Ukraine"...it is just "Ukraine"...I am from Ukraine, not the America.
Lance.

RogerB · January 31, 2018 10:06PM

The 5 hryvnia coin was issued in 2007 by the National Bank of Ukraine. These were made in several denominations including a 20 hyyvnia in 0.925 silver, 50mm.

OldIndianNutKase · January 31, 2018 10:07PM

@lkeigwin said:
My friend from Ukraine says it is NOT "the Ukraine"...it is just "Ukraine"...I am from Ukraine, not the America.
Lance.

Corrected just to make you happy, Lance. Not sure it adds much to the original meaning, though........

Reference was to "the" Ukrainian government and in this context "Ukrainian" is just an adjective, FWIW.

OINK

lkeigwin · January 31, 2018 10:10PM

@OldIndianNutKase said:

@lkeigwin said:
My friend from Ukraine says it is NOT "the Ukraine"...it is just "Ukraine"...I am from Ukraine, not the America.
Lance.

Corrected just to make you happy, Lance. Not sure it adds much to the original meaning, though........

Reference was to "the" Ukrainian government and in this context "Ukrainian" is just an adjective, FWIW.

OINK

No hidden message there, OINK. It's all good. I just thought it was funny my friend got worked up. I was thinking "the United States" when I said "the Ukraine".

I'm trying to be more sensitive.
Lance.

RogerB · January 31, 2018 10:12PM

The Soviet Union's famine during the 1930s - a result of Lysenko's agricultural policies, forced collectivization and abandonment of the NEP - devastated Ukraine and other parts of the country. Seven to 10 million died and several million more Zeks vanished into the Gulag.

The great unpinning of all this was the prohibition of a free press, suppression of open objective scientific inquiry, and ideology over practical results and democracy. [Remind anyone of contemporary efforts...?]

Hydrant · January 31, 2018 10:45PM

Lance, I too have a good friend from Ukraine. He's a great young kid. I tell him that he is a Commie secret KGB agent. We laugh. We go round and round on if it is "Ukraine" or "The Ukraine." I tell him that saying "The Ukraine" would be like saying "The Texas." Together, we can't figure out what is correct.....Ukraine or The Ukraine. Anyway it's not important.

But....... that coin makes me sad. Sick to my stomach. That little girl on the coin is real. Heartbreaking. She could be your daughter, or your grand daughter, or even you. Stalin was pure EVIL. That little girl on the coin is...is...real. We should all be thankful everyday for the wonderful country we live in. If you don't know what that coin is depicting, it is this... communist government planned FAMINE. STARVATION. Men, women, and little children. Starved to death. For what? The "Party." GOD, I'm thankful I'm an American.

ColonelJessup · February 1, 2018 5:36AM

Devastating imagery.
Remember Stalin's observation that, while one death can be a tragedy, a million deaths is just a statistic. .

And Mark Twain's observation that, while history doesn't always repeat itself, it often rhymes.

So, 100 years later, here in our newly-great America, when will the funding for the 7 million kids held hostage in the CHIP program be approved?

1630Boston · February 1, 2018 7:37AM

Very powerful depictions on that piece

ricko · February 1, 2018 9:12AM

@Kkathyl ...yes, that is a very moving and sorrowful image... Thank you for showing us. Cheers, RickO

grip · February 1, 2018 9:31AM

Depressing,:(

carabonnair · February 1, 2018 9:42AM

I was going to show a 1933 Soviet coin picturing a worker, but this medal is a more uplifting response:

https://catalog.usmint.gov/dr-norman-borlaug-bronze-medal-3-inch-907.html

BigMoose · February 1, 2018 9:48AM

For anyone to equate that sociopath butcher Stalin with Donald Trump is deeply disturbing and slanderous.

Kkathyl · February 1, 2018 11:22AM

We have to keep telling the truths of the past because so many of them are so hard for this new generation to get ahold of. This simple coin in my collection will have my children some day looking it up and it will tell of that event. Lets face it, our kids understand terror like 9/11 because they can remember everyone glued to the TV, and for my children, we seen it in the skyline. But when you go back now a hundred years and tell of these thing, you get those who say it was all fake. Imagine that out history gets cleansed and these horrific this repeat. That is somewhat in the back of my mind when we see socialist ideas coming out in current time. I know I know this time it will work right?

asheland · February 1, 2018 12:03PM

Very interesting piece.

crazyhounddog · February 1, 2018 12:42PM

Far too depressing for me to own.

Kkathyl · February 1, 2018 12:58PM

what is interesting about the coin is it was struck in 2007 around the time Russia was Annexing Crimea. Perhaps those opposed looking to remind folks how it is to be with the Russian Federation. I did purchase this from Overseas and was very please with it when it arrived. Not magnetic either

Swampboy · February 1, 2018 12:59PM

1920s German medal bemoaning the cost of food and depicting a mother's plight

BillDugan1959 · February 1, 2018 2:15PM

I also had the 1923-era German inflation medals in mind - they evoke pathos and tragedy that is easy for the modern American mind to understand:

The plight of families;

The special tragedy of the elderly & those on fixed incomes;

Her child says 'I want bread!".

Note - while I own some of these, these photos are all rips.

grip · February 1, 2018 2:29PM

J Stalin d
ies.......Bodies piled up.:(

JBK · February 1, 2018 2:47PM

@lkeigwin said:
My friend from Ukraine says it is NOT "the Ukraine"...it is just "Ukraine"...I am from Ukraine, not the America.
Lance.

I take your friend at their word, but it is not always so cut and dried. I am from THE United States, not United States. My friend is from THE Netherlands, not Netherlands.

I believe that the part of Ukraine that has been annexed by Russia is called THE Crimea (but that could also just be a common mistake).

In any case, it could be worse, at least we know there is such a thing as Ukraine....

carabonnair · February 1, 2018 2:53PM

Obligatory Seinfeld

JBK · February 1, 2018 3:32PM

Whoaoa. If "Seinfeld" says it is "The Ukraine" then I need to reassess. When has Seinfeld ever been wrong?

carabonnair · February 1, 2018 4:16PM

@JBK said:
Whoaoa. If "Seinfeld" says it is "The Ukraine" then I need to reassess. When has Seinfeld ever been wrong?

RogerB · February 1, 2018 4:20PM

@BigMoose said:
For anyone to equate that sociopath butcher Stalin with Donald Trump is deeply disturbing and slanderous.

Wow. Comparing Stalin to Trump you are? hmmmmm...

JBK · February 1, 2018 4:54PM

@carabonnair said:

@JBK said:
Whoaoa. If "Seinfeld" says it is "The Ukraine" then I need to reassess. When has Seinfeld ever been wrong?

Well that actor playing the Ukrainian guy is speaking broken English so who know what is right.

Stork · February 1, 2018 5:43PM

I think there's a grammar rule at play here. Entities formed from plurals like THE United States , THE USSR, THE Netherlands (the low countries) or THE United Kingdom vs. the individual components Texas, Russia, Holland, England. I have no idea what the rule is, but it seems to imply that Ukraine is just that.

Here's a bit different version (and comparing two):

and

BillDugan1959 · February 1, 2018 6:17PM

I gotta recommend this - Germany, covers the hyperinflation - it is a great anecdotal history, enjoyable, easy to read. It misses some major points, but it will shed a great deal of light on the subject for English speaking readers. 270 pages. Originally appearing in 1975, this edition published 2010 by Old Street Publishing Ltd., London. You should be able to find a paperback copy at $20 or less:

TwoSides2aCoin · February 1, 2018 6:30PM

I like turtles.

Hydrant · February 1, 2018 10:41PM

@TwoSides2aCoin said:
I like turtles.

So do I. I stop along the road and pick them up when when they are in danger of getting run over. I bring them home to crawl around the Orange grove. Our curio cabinet is filled with Navajo Nation turtles that my second oldest son collected when he was a pre-schooler. They're cute. I had one for a pet when I was a kid. Found him out on the Mojave Desert. Named him Indiana. Who knows why. But....hey, I don't get it. With all due respect, What does your liking of turtles have to due with anything? I love you brother, but..... Oh!.....HELP!!!!!

LanceNewmanOCC · February 2, 2018 7:39AM

.
just picked up "the indy star" the other day with an article on child trafficking in regards to the majority of customers/patrons that go often unprosecuted. read another article in our local paper a few weeks back from the same perspective.

then to see a reminder of something like this and it represents just one area on a big world.

NEVER a shortage of people/causes/reasons to pray for.

heartbreaking and powerful indeed. +1
.

WinLoseWin · February 2, 2018 7:59AM

@Kkathyl said:
We have to keep telling the truths of the past because so many of them are so hard for this new generation to get ahold of. This simple coin in my collection will have my children some day looking it up and it will tell of that event. Lets face it, our kids understand terror like 9/11 because they can remember everyone glued to the TV, and for my children, we seen it in the skyline. But when you go back now a hundred years and tell of these thing, you get those who say it was all fake. Imagine that out history gets cleansed and these horrific this repeat. That is somewhat in the back of my mind when we see socialist ideas coming out in current time. I know I know this time it will work right?

Might be worth printing this thread out, or some parts of it, and keeping with the coin.

TwoSides2aCoin · February 2, 2018 10:20AM

I like world history too, Hydrant.

... and coins from around the world. Silver is down today. Ships were lost at sea, years ago.
The plight of the people remains , but in a different sort of way.

With respect to the original post , I was merely playing along . It’s a modern coin. It’s creepy. What can be added ? More coins. More history. More global warming brought on by crypto currency ? Did you want to discuss Ukraine or Stalin ? I’m game for any kind of discussion. Genocide anyone ? How about a war on moderns ?

cladking · February 2, 2018 11:40AM

@RogerB said:
The Soviet Union's famine during the 1930s - a result of Lysenko's agricultural policies, forced collectivization and abandonment of the NEP - devastated Ukraine and other parts of the country. Seven to 10 million died and several million more Zeks vanished into the Gulag.

The great unpinning of all this was the prohibition of a free press, suppression of open objective scientific inquiry, and ideology over practical results and democracy. [Remind anyone of contemporary efforts...?]

Stalin simply murdered these people by not allowing them to have the food they themselves grew. It was exported to the rest of the country to punish the Ukraine with mass starvation.

Before people feel too superior the same thing happened during the Irish potato famine. Ireland maintained their food exports to England. But the total exports weren't sufficient to keep many from starving.

BillDugan1959 · February 2, 2018 12:05PM

If you like history, why fiddle-fart around?

Admiral Nelson commanded a major naval ship called the 'Foudroyant' for a year or so in the 1790s. The ship lasted many more years, being finally wrecked just off the shoreline at Blackpool in 1897. Many souvenirs were made from the wood and the metal in this ship. These included the following medal, which is not too difficult to find (the bottom of the ship was clad in copper sheeting):

My apologies, these photos are rips, not mine. I have four or five of these pieces, all obtained from eBay. They are fifty to eighty dollar items, each, but they certainly are more historic than anything put out by the Cook Islands!

N.B. I fully believe that Spellchecker will eventually take over the military computers of some world nuclear power and set off a widespread nuclear war while attempting to change a correctly-spelled word to some incorrect spelling.

SaorAlba · February 2, 2018 6:36PM

I lived in the part of Ukraine that is now under Russian "occupation" in Donets'k on and off from 2008 to early 2010. Every few months I would travel on business into Kyiv and took pictures of this memorial:

And a plaque with an English translation:

That has an overview of the events there. I purchased a ca. 1999 movie in Ukrainian called Holod 33 that details the events.

Frankly you could not get a break in Ukraine, still can't.

I have several of these coins, including the silver 20 Hryven coins.

BillDugan1959 · February 3, 2018 10:17AM

Should one not be aware of them, Czechoslovakia produced a coin honoring Stalin, in two denominations, in 50% silver, dated 1949:

SaorAlba · February 3, 2018 10:48AM

@BillDugan1959 said:
Should one not be aware of them, Czechoslovakia produced a coin honoring Stalin, in two denominations, in 50% silver, dated 1949:

A curious aspect is that it is in .500 silver, which Stalin would have not been too impressed with since the ultimate goal of Soviet socialism was the elimination of money.

BillDugan1959 · February 3, 2018 11:09AM

@SaorAlba One doubts that Stalin was much of a student of Marxist ideology.

Creepy, heartbreaking and powerful all at the same time

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