Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of famine in the 1930s and its consequences in the Kazakh steppe. The authors indicate the cause of the hunger which were laid mostly on economic mismanagement and Soviet struggle against the rich peasants. Statistics, concerning food and livestock revealed the wrong data and provided a false favorable situation. The authors considered Stalin’s policy as deliberately implemented. It did not take into account the traditional relations: the existent nomadic and semi-nomadic economy. The Kazakh Steppes produced a small quantity of grain. As a result the fast sedentarization, which managed without the necessary conditions, led to the killing and dekulakization of more skilled and effective peasants who might help their poorer relatives overcome the crisis and survive. The Kazakh society lost around 40 percent of its population. The hunger also led to migration of thousands to the neighbouring regions.