Gareth Jones - Eyewitness to the Holodomor

<p>Gareth Jones (1905-1934) the young Welsh investigative journalist is revered in Ukraine as a national hero and is now rightly recognised as the first reporter to reveal the horror of the Holodomor the Soviet Government-induced famine of the early 1930s which killed millions of Ukrainians.</p><p> </p><p><em>Gareth Jones - Eyewitness to the Holodomor </em>is a meticulous study of the efforts made by the the Aberystwyth and Cambridge-educated journalist a fluent Russian-speaker to investigate the Soviet Government's denials that its Five Year Plan had led to mass starvation by visiting Ukraine in 1933 and reporting what he saw and witnessed: 'I walked along through villages and twelve collective farms. Everywhere was the cry There is no bread. We are dying'.</p><p> </p><p>Determined to alert the world to the suffering in Ukraine and to expose Stalin's policies and prejudices towards the Ukrainian people Jones published numerous articles in the UK (<em>The Times</em> <em>Daily Express </em>and <em>Western Mail</em>) and the USA (<em>New York Evening News </em>and <em>Chicago Daily News</em>) with headlines such as 'Famine Grips Russia. Millions Dying' but soon saw his credibility and integrity attacked and denigrated by Soviet sympathizers most famously by Moscow-based Walter Duranty of the <em>New York Times</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Gareth Jones was killed by bandits the following year on the eve of his 30th birthday whilst travelling in Japanese-controlled China. There remain strong suspicions that Jones' murder was arranged by the Soviets in revenge for his eyewitness reporting which brought global attention to the Holodomor.</p>