Hero of the Week 116

 Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Gareth Jones

Gareth Richard Vaughn Jones was born on August 13, 1905, in Barry, Wales. As a kid, Jones found a strong desire to travel around Europe and write stories. He realized that he wanted to be a journalist and travel around Europe. Little did he know that his journeys would cause him to witness some of the worst atrocities that were committed in the 20th Century. 

After learning to speak French, German, and Russian, Jones departed for Mainland Europe. In 1933, he traveled through France and Germany. While visiting the city of Frankfurt, he was able to secure an interview with the new Chancellor of Germany. A man named, Adolf Hitler. However, his biggest and most memorable story would not come from his visit to Germany. Instead, it would come from the mouths of peasant farmers in the East European country of Ukraine. 

In the Spring of 1933, Gareth Jones decided to journey into the Soviet Union in order to investigate allegations of human rights abuses committed against the people of Ukraine. He hopped from a train into the rural area of the country and made his way to nearby villages. What he found was beyond horrifying. 

Due to the Soviet Union's policy of collectivization (exporting nearly all of Ukraine's grain to cities in Russia), the Ukrainian farmers had been left with nearly no food (grain was their main diet). This had caused a severe famine across the country. With nothing to eat, millions of people began starving to death. Many people were driven insane by hunger and resorted to eating the dead. Some even resorted to killing and devouring their own children. This terrible famine would claim the lives of more than 10 million people across Eastern Europe. It would eventually be referred to as, "the Holodomor".

Jones was horrified by what he saw. When he returned home, he published a highly graphic account of what was happening in the Soviet Union. To his astonishment, most of the Western world reacted with disdain and disbelief. His accounts were dismissed as either, "lies or hasty conclusions". Many simply refused to believe that such a horrific famine was being deliberately caused. Furious over the denial of his story, Jones vowed to return to the Soviet Union and follow up on his story. In 1935, he traveled to the country of Mongolia with the intention of entering Russia from the south. While attempting to do so, he was arrested by the Soviet secret police (the NKVD). He is believed to have been executed on August 12, 1935.

Gareth Jones was the very first journalist that attempted alert the world to the horrors caused by the Holodomor. His incredible dedication on investigating human rights violations would eventually inspire thousands of other famous journalists, reporters, and even authors (like George Orwell). He truly is someone to be held in high regard.

https://www.garethjones.org

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-18691109

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/mr-jones-film-exposes-the-fake-news-campaign-behind-stalins-ukrainian-genocide/