Although the Holodomor figures prominently in contemporary Ukrainian historical research, the lived experiences of the victims have attracted insufficient scholarly attention. In 1932-33, adult females were often left with no means of subsistence while holding full responsibility for the survival of their families. This study explores the efforts of mothers to ensure their children's sustenance and the various methods they employed to procure food in starving villages. A range of strategies deployed by mothers on behalf of their starving children is examined. This article also explores controversial aspects of maternal experiences under genocidal circumstances: some mothers were totally committed to their children's survival, some renounced their maternal duties in the hope of saving their offspring, while other mothers preferred to save their own lives at any cost. The Holodomor proved to be an extraordinary challenge to normative ideas and practices of mothering and ultimately undermined the myth of an unconditional, selfless mothering instinct. Scholarship on Jewish women's experiences of the Holocaust provides important insights and points to significant commonalities (despite obvious differences) of women's survival strategies in the context of a genocidal event.