The famine during the Great Leap Forward claimed millions of lives in China between 1958 and 1961. The author analyzes how the Chinese state, the province of Henan, and villagers have processed this catastrophe today. Survivors of the famine share their experiences through Oral History. Based on theories of collective memory, the memories of villagers are compared with the official historiography of the Communist Party of China. It becomes evident that in the villages, the memories of mass death and terror remain vivid to this day. The book contributes to understanding the functioning of memories and dealing with the past under state socialism and draws a comparison to the processing of the Ukrainian famine during the Stalin era.