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INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MEMORY - UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE
The Holodomor - "Famine-Terror Death for Millions" 1932-1933
Worldwide "Light-A-Candle" Campaign
Saturday, November 26, 2005
33,000 CANDLES TO LIGHT UP NIGHT SKY IN KYIV IN
REMEMBRANCE OF MILLIONS OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINIAN
GENOCIDE-HOLODOMOR-DEATH BY TERROR-FAMINE
33,000 Ukrainians were dying every day at the height of the
genocidal famine in the Spring of 1933
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 607
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
FROM: KYIV, UKRAINE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2005
--------INDEX OF ARTICLES--------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. 33,000 CANDLES TO LIGHT UP NIGHT SKY IN KYIV IN
REMEMBRANCE OF MILLIONS OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINIAN
GENOCIDE-HOLODOMOR-DEATH BY TERROR-FAMINE
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 26, 2005
2. PRESIDENT OPENS EXHIBITION TO HONOR FAMINE VICTIMS
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
3. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON WORLD
TO RECOGNIZE SOVIET-ERA FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
Associated Press (AP), Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
4. 'PEOPLE WERE EATING PEOPLE'
Survivors recall 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine with horror and tears
By Nick Martin, The Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Monday, November 21, 2005
5. LITHUANIAN SEJM RECOGNIZES FAMINE OF 1932-1933
IN UKRAINE AS GENOCIDE
Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
6. UKRAINIAN DIASPORA IN RUSSIA TO MARK DAY OF
MEMORY OF FAMINE AND POLITICAL REPRESSION VICTIMS
ON NOVEMBER 26
Tatyana Gordiyenko, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 25, 2005
7. DAY OF FAMINE VICTIMS MARKED IN BELARUS
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
8. UKRAINIAN AUSTRALIANS CALL FOR CITIZENS TO LIGHT A
CANDLE ON SUN, NOV 27 TO COMMEMORATE THE MILLIONS
WHO PERISHED IN THE GREAT UKRAINIAN FAMINE
(HOLODOMOR), AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IN 1932-1933.
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Representing 24 Peak Ukrainian Organizations in Australia
Member of Ukrainian World Congress
Australia, Saturday, November 26, 2005
9. RELEASE OF SOVIET-ERA DOCUMENTARY COLLECTION ON
UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR, FAMINE-GENOCIDE OF 1932-1933
Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Monday, November 21, 2005
10. NATIONWIDE CANDLE LIGHTING AND BELL RINGING
PROGRAM FOR USA: UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE
Nick Mischenko, President, Ukrainian Genocide Foundation - USA
Chicago, Illinois, Monday, November 21, 2005
11. UKRAINE'S REP TO UNITED NATIONS SPEAKS AT HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL
Reads statement from Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko
STATEMENT: by H.E. Valeriy Kuchinsky, Ambassador,
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, New York, November 19, 2005
12. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: MESSAGE IN COMMEMORATION
OF THE 72ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE
The White House, Washington, D.C., Saturday, November 19, 2005
13. UKRAINE DEMANDS 'GENOCIDE' MARKED
A quarter of Ukraine's population was wiped out in just two years
BBC NEWS, United Kingdom, Friday, November 25, 2005
14. 'THE FIGHT TO STAY ALIVE'- UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR
EXHIBITION OPENED IN KYIV, UKRAINE
What Ukrainians were forced to eat to defy death by hunger
By E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 26, 2005
15. PART FOUR: WHY DID STALIN EXTERMINATE THE UKRAINIANS?
Comprehending the Holodomor. The position of soviet historians
By Stanislav Kulchytsky, Ph.D. (History), Part Four
The Day Weekly Digest in English # 37
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 22, 2005
=========================================================
1. 33,000 CANDLES TO LIGHT UP NIGHT SKY IN KYIV IN
REMEMBRANCE OF MILLIONS OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINIAN
GENOCIDE-HOLODOMOR-DEATH BY TERROR-FAMINE
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 26, 2005
KYIV - Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, now First Lady of
Ukraine, told me on Holodomor Remembrance Day in November of
2003 that a dream of her husband, Victor Yushchenko, now President
of Ukraine, and herself was to have the anniversary of the death of
millions in Ukraine marked by lighting 33,000 candles, representing the
number of people who died every day at the genocidal famine's height
in the spring of 1933, in the area between St. Sophia and St. Michael's
cathedrals in Ukraine.
Today the long-held dream of Kateryna and Victor Yushchenko will
finally come true. At 4 p.m. the 33,000 candles will be lit in the
squares of two of Kyiv's famous cathedrals and in the space
between.
Several thousand candles were lit in courtyard of St. Michael's
square in November of 2003. It was a very moving, impressive sight
and experience. The lighting of 33,000 candles tonight will be just
an unbelievable, very emotional, unforgettable moment.
There will the planting of a Kalyna (snowball) tree at St. Andrew's
Chapel in Kyiv on Saturday morning. Around 2 p.m. several thousand
persons, representing every oblast in Ukraine, will march from St.
Sophia Cathedral to St. Michael's Cathedral where the Holodomor
Monument is located. At the Monument will be a memorial religious
service headed by the leaders of various faiths.
At 4 p.m. President Yushchenko will declare a National Moment
of Silence and the lighting of the 33,000 candles will begin. The
President will ask all citizens of Ukraine, all the Ukrainians around
the world and friends of Ukraine to also light a candle.
A Requiem will begin at 5 p.m. at the National Shevchenko Opera.
President Yushchenko began the Holodomor remembrance
events on Friday at the opening of the largest Holodomor Memorial
Exhibition every held in Ukraine at the Ukrainian House. The President
spoke and then spent an hour looking at the various exhibits.
The rotunda of the Ukrainian House included six large banners hung
for the fourth floor balcony that included the names of Holodomor
victims, 'infamous' quotes by Stalin, and newspaper and photo
accounts of the genocidal famine in Ukraine. On the walls were over
40 panels of documents related to Soviet oppressions against
Ukraine in the 1930's.
The exhibits included a gallery of 50 Holodomor artworks by
artist Franchuk. The major portion of the exhibition was the display
of 300 paintings, posters, graphics, linocuts by Mykola Bondarenko,
photographs, folk-art, and other historical Ukrainian items from my
private collection and from the collection of the International
Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor Committee.
We gave President Yushchenko a personal tour where he stopped
and gave personal comments on many of the items in the Exhibition.
Several times he stopped to take photographs of several of the
posters on display with his own camera.
The Holodomor Exhibition will be open every day at the
Ukrainian House through Tuesday, November 29th.
The Exhibition of items from the collection of the International
Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor Committee and the private
collection of Morgan Williams is being sponsored by the
Dr. James Mace Holodomor Memorial Fund of the Ukrainian
Federation of America, Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M.
Andryczyk, President; Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania; The Bleyzer
Foundation, Michael and Natasha Bleyzer and the Bleyzer Family,
Houston, Texas and Kyiv, Ukraine; Ukrainian Orthodox Church of
the USA, Archbishop Antony, South Bound Brook, New Jersey;
David Holpert, W J Grain, Kyiv; David and Tamara Sweere,
Kiev-Atlantic, Kyiv; Eugenia Dallas; Helen and Alex Woskob;
and the Bahriany Foundation, Anatol Lysyj, Chairman.
The International Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor Committee
plans to work with Ukrainian Communities in Australia, Great
Britain, Canada and the United States to have additional
cities around the world light 33,000 candles on this special day
of remembrance in the future.
The Committee is also working to prepare an traveling exhibition that
would be presented in major Ukrainian cities and around the world
between 2006 and 2008 when the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor
will occur. The Committee also is working with several organizations
to publish a Holodomor Exhibition Catalog that will tell the story of
the Holodomor through paintings, posters, graphics and other artwork
by Ukrainian artists. -30-
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[return to index] [The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
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2. PRESIDENT OPENS EXHIBITION TO HONOR FAMINE VICTIMS
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
KYIV - Victor Yushchenko took part in a ceremony to open an exhibition
dedicated to genocide famines and political repressions in Ukraine.
Opening the exhibition, The Swaying Bells of Memory, the Head of State
stressed that these genocide famines were Ukraine's greatest national
tragedy, killing more people than during World War II. He noted that there
were still many mysteries and unknown facts about those events that should
be meticulously studied.
Yushchenko emphasized that the whole world should remember this tragedy to
never let it happen again. He said we should construct a monument that would
be adequate to the unprecedented scale of this disaster. The President is
convinced it is necessary to conduct a contest to choose the best design of
this monument, and believes we should also establish a national institute of
memory.
"I would like to address the Culture Minister, cabinet members and
parliamentarians: we must pay our tribute to all victims of this tragedy,"
he said. "This is the challenge our generation is faced with."
Yushchenko gratefully recollected all people who had begun to openly speak
about the genocide famine many years ago. He particularly thanked Vasyl
Barka, writer who first used this word combination in his book The Yellow
Knight, and the poet Borys Oliynyk.
He also reiterated that parliaments of the United States, Australia, Canada,
Hungary, Argentina, Lithuania and Ukraine had acknowledged those famines
as genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The Head of State urged the world community to acknowledge it. "I would like
to ask Ukraine's political and public organizations to more actively work in
this field. We should receive the world acknowledgement of this tragedy. The
world must know about it," he said.
Yushchenko added that we should make a documentary to "detail this tragic
page of our history."
In 2003, he said, the UN also acknowledged our famine as genocide in its
declaration, which was signed by 63 countries. The Head of State said he
wanted our diplomats to more actively work with UN members to raise their
awareness of the tragedy.
The President also thanked the Vasyl Stus Memorial Association for their
initiative to construct a memorial complex and a museum commemorating all
victims of those events.
Yushchenko stressed that on November 26 he wanted "the Ukrainian nation to
spare no effort to make this day relevant to this profound tragedy," and
said those events had affected all regions of Ukraine. The President called
on each citizen to honor the millions of famine victims.
Speaking about tomorrow's plans, he reminded all they would plant a snowball
garden. "I want all of you to join us and I would like to see more kids,
young people and students there," he stressed.
Yushchenko noted that it would be sad if only cabinet members and
politicians took part in this ceremony. He also asked all Ukrainian drivers
to stop their cars tomorrow at 4 PM to silently honor the victims and then
urged Ukrainians to light candles at this time.
The President thanked coordinators of the exhibition, which he visited along
with First Deputy Secretariat Chief of Staff Ivan Vasyunyk, Humanitarian
Vice Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk,
and Culture Minister Ihor Likhovy.
Visitors can see photos, documents and books dedicated to the famines and
political repressions. The opening ceremony was accompanied with symphonic
music and choir singing. -30-
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3. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON WORLD
TO RECOGNIZE SOVIET-ERA FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
Associated Press (AP), Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
KYIV, Ukraine - President Viktor Yushchenko called on the international
community Friday to recognize as genocide the forced Soviet-era famine
that killed up to 10 million Ukrainians.
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin provoked the 1932-1933 famine as part of his
campaign to force Ukrainian peasants to give up their land and join
collective farms. During the height of the famine, cases of cannibalism
were widespread as people grew desperate to survive.
"The world must know about this tragedy," said Yushchenko at the
opening of an exhibition dedicated to the famine victims on the eve of its
anniversary. He said the millions of victims should "become a lesson for
our nation as well as for the whole world."
Yushchenko demanded that Ukrainian diplomats strengthen their efforts
to receive recognition from all countries. Already, some countries such
as Canada, the United States, Austria, Hungary and Lithuania have
recognized the famine as genocide.
Ukraine plans to mark the anniversary Saturday by lighting 33,000
candles - representing the number of people who died every day at the
famine's height.
The former Soviet republic also plans to plant an alley of trees and hold a
downtown march in the capital, Kyiv. The National Broadcasting Council
asked television and radio stations to not air any entertainment programs
on Saturday. -30-
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4. 'PEOPLE WERE EATING PEOPLE'
Survivors recall 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine with horror and tears
By Nick Martin, The Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Monday, November 21, 2005
WINNIPEG - VALENTYNA Strazewski quietly sobbed yesterday as she
remembered her starving mother's refusal to eat the sweet-smelling oil for
which she'd traded family heirlooms -- her mother believed she had been
tricked and the oil was really human fat. Strazewski was seven years old.
"People were eating people" during the famine which Ukrainians believe
Soviet leader Josef Stalin deliberately unleashed on the people of Ukraine
in 1932 and 1933 in a planned genocide, Strazewski said.
When her grandfather died, the family left him at the gate of the
churchyard, never knowing what became of him, she said, covering her
eyes with a handkerchief.
Families gather at St. Mary the Protectress Cathedral on Burrows Avenue
every year to remember the seven million victims of that famine, which they
believe was a deliberate attempt to destroy Ukrainian peasantry.
There are about 35 famine survivors in Winnipeg, most preteens at the time,
now in their 80s, said congregation member Val Noseworthy.
The church is campaigning to have the Ukrainian famine included in the
human rights museum now being planned at The Forks.
"I was seven years old," Strazewski said. "My mother died of starvation."
Before she got sick, her mother had hacked away the ice from a nearby river
and found a few mussels. She also sold jewels for small amounts of grain.
Once, her barter included the suspicious oil. When spring came, the family
ate grass boiled like spinach.
"In 1932, they confiscate everything," Strazewski said. "They threw us out
from where we were living.
The system, they were making collective farms. "The young communists
came and confiscated everything and left us with nothing. They took the
beans we have, they took the beets."
Her father was forced to work in a locomotive factory, and only came
home once or twice a week with a portion of his rations. "He was afraid
someone would kill him and eat him" if he left the factory too often, said
Strazewski.
Her grandmother starved to death right in front of her, she recalled with
tears.
Halina Matwijiw said she was only able to survive because her father worked
in a city cafeteria open to people not targeted for famine. "We have seven
children in family. My mama was sick -- 1933, she died."
Her father's sister "came from the village and said, half of the village is
dead because no food. She told us, no cats, no dogs in village, everything
eaten. People started eating grass."
Matwijiw would reach the cafeteria through the huge train station. "Inside
the station, on benches, lay down people. I saw hands and legs so small they
couldn't even move. People can't work, so small are their hands," she said.
"We want it to never happen to anyone else," Noseworthy said.
"For the 70th anniversary, we thought it would be important to record their
living testament," Noseworthy said. "Until that point, they wouldn't talk to
anyone. They were afraid of reprisals" against family still in Ukraine.
"We have video footage, where they've been interviewed." -30-
(nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca)
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[return to index] [The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
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5. LITHUANIAN SEJM RECOGNIZES FAMINE OF 1932-1933
IN UKRAINE AS GENOCIDE
Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
KYIV - The Lithuanian Sejm or parliament has recognized the famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine as an act of genocide, the Liberty Radio reported
on Friday.
Soviet leader Josef Stalin's totalitarian communist regime committed a
deliberate act of genocide against the Ukrainian people, the Sejm declared.
The parliament expressed sympathy with Ukrainians and solidarity with
Ukrainian people.
Stalin unleashed famine on Ukraine, the lower Volga and northern
Caucuses in 1932 to break the will of peasant farmers and force through
the collectivization of farms.
By raising Soviet central government grain procurement quotas, he left
farmers without grain stocks for themselves, while ordering the execution or
deportation of those who attempted to retain any grain, even seed grain, for
themselves.
The resulting famine cost the lives of between six and seven million
Ukrainians, according to some estimates. -30-
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6. UKRAINIAN DIASPORA IN RUSSIA TO MARK DAY OF
MEMORY OF FAMINE AND POLITICAL REPRESSION VICTIMS
ON NOVEMBER 26
Tatyana Gordiyenko, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 25, 2005
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - On the day of memory of famine and political
repression victims, which is marked since 1998, representatives of the
Ukrainian Diaspora of Russia will meet in Moscow and in regions on
November 26.
The Ukrainians who reside beyond Ukraine will commemorate the victims
with lighting candles in Russian temples. The commemoration events will
include documentary video presentation, monography presentation and
other events.
Day of memory of famine and political repression victims is annually
marked on November's fourth Saturday.
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7. DAY OF FAMINE VICTIMS MARKED IN BELARUS
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 25, 2005
MINSK, BELARUS - Under the presidential decree the Ukrainian
Embassy in Belarus are holding a series of events on the occasion
of Day of memory of famine and political repression victims in
Ukraine.
To this end the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus has disseminated a
press release "Genocide - Termless Crime". The diplomats held
meetings with different public figures.
On November 26 public prayers will be held with participation of the
Ukrainian Diaspora representatives and diplomats, other mourning
events will be staged, too. -30-
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8. UKRAINIAN AUSTRALIANS CALL FOR CITIZENS TO LIGHT A
CANDLE ON SUN, NOV 27 TO COMMEMORATE THE MILLIONS
WHO PERISHED IN THE GREAT UKRAINIAN FAMINE
(HOLODOMOR), AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IN 1932-1933.
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Representing 24 Peak Ukrainian Organizations in Australia
Member of Ukrainian World Congress
Australia, Saturday, November 26, 2005
Australia - ALENTYNA Strazewski quietly sobbed as she remembered
her starving mother's refusal to eat the sweet-smelling oil for which she'd
traded family heirlooms -- her mother believed she had been tricked and
the oil was really human fat. Strazewski was seven years old.
"People were eating people" during the famine which Ukrainians believe
Soviet leader Josef Stalin deliberately unleashed on the people of Ukraine
in 1932 and 1933 in a planned genocide, Strazewski said The Winnipeg
Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Monday, November 21, 2005
Like Strazewski, there are survivors living in Australia with similar
horrific memories.
Australians are encouraged to light a candle tomorrow Sunday November 27,
2005 to commemorate the many millions of people who perished in the Great
Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) in 1932/33.
The victims will be remembered in memorial services throughout the world as
Ukrainians commemorate this atrocity against the Ukrainian nation. Ukrainian
churches throughout Australia will hold requiem services and candle lighting
ceremonies.
In Melbourne services will be held at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
Canning St North Melbourne (10.30am) and Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Buckley St Essendon (11.00am) and the candle lighting vigil at 1.30pm at the
Ukrainian Community Centre in Russell St. Essendon.
“This act of Genocide must never be forgotten.” Mr. Stefan Romaniw OAM
Chairman of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations (AFUO)
said today
“To this day the international courts have not investigated nor tried one of
the greatest atrocities against mankind.” Mr. Romaniw said. “Children,
women and men perished from a planned program of killing off a nation.”
Mr. Romaniw said.
The AFUO as part of an international campaign and the International
Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor Committee has called on President
Victor Yushchenko to pursue this matter through international channels.
“This is not just another issue for Ukrainians. This is an international
issue .Stalin and his Communist regime set out to eradicate a nation – and
no one seems to really care and want to ask the hard questions “Mr.
Romaniw said
“Who will stand up for those who were forcibly starved to death? Who
will speak for them?” These issues must be pursued to ensure they are
never allowed to happen again” Mr. Romaniw said
In Ukraine, President Yuschenko is examining proposals for the building of
a national memorial centre, including international study centre and museum.
The AFUO is part of an international group pressing for this to be realized.
Light a candle, recall this terrible part of history and act against mankind
and pray that it is never repeated. -30-
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For further information contact: Stefan Romaniw 0419531255;
sromaniw@bigpond.net.au.
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9. RELEASE OF SOVIET-ERA DOCUMENTARY COLLECTION ON
UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR, FAMINE-GENOCIDE OF 1932-1933
Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Monday, November 21, 2005
CALGARY, Canada - To mark Ukraine's annual day of remembrance for
the many millions of victims of the genocidal Great Famine in Soviet
Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, which this year falls on 26 November,
the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has published The famine-
genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Kashtan Press, 2005, 336 pp, ISBN#
1-896354-38-6, $35) prepared by a Kyiv historian, Professor Yuri Shapoval.
Consisting of 81 Soviet-era documents, in Russian and Ukrainian, dealing
with the causes and consequences of this famine, the book also contains
English-language annotations of each document, a list of acronyms, and an
introduction in English and Ukrainian by Dr Shapoval.
Funding for this project was made available by the Ukrainian Canadian
Professional and Business Association in Calgary, with the assistance of
UCCLA, the Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association, the Australian
Federation of Ukrainian Organizations, and the Association of Ukrainians in
Great Britain.
Commenting on the release of this collection, UCCLA's director of special
projects, Borys Sydoruk, said: " One of the most important mandates of
UCCLA is to ensure that educational materials about issues in Ukrainian
history are readily available to scholars, the media, and students.
With this publication we are providing primary source material about the
Holodomor to a very large audience by distributing complementary copies
to university and public libraries across Canada and worldwide.
Anyone interested in knowing more about this Soviet crime against humanity
can already find the book in repositories from Washington to Jerusalem to
London to Moscow. We are grateful to those of our partner organizations in
the Diaspora who saw the need for this book which will further focus
attention on what was arguably the greatest episode of mass murder in 20th
century European history."
While most copies of the book are being distributed to libraries and
research institutes, a limited number are available for sale to the general
public (The Kashtan Press, 22 Gretna Green, Kingston, Ontario, Canada,
K7M 3J2, for $35, which includes postage and handling). For more on
UCCLA go to www.uccla.ca.
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10. NATIONWIDE CANDLE LIGHTING AND BELL RINGING
PROGRAM FOR USA: UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE
Nick Mischenko, President, Ukrainian Genocide Foundation - USA
Chicago, Illinois, Monday, November 21, 2005
To: Reverend Clergy of all Ukrainian Churches in the USA
Dear Pastors,
The Ukrainian Genocide Foundation-USA is coordinating a nationwide
candle lighting and church bell ringing program in the United States in
conjunction with the Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance in Ukraine and
the International Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor Committee.
We encourage the participation of your parish in this effort to keep the
memory of the victims of the genocide, which took place in 1932-1933 in
Ukraine alive.
In Ukraine, this event is scheduled for Saturday, November 26, 2005 starting
with memorial services and lighting of 33,000 candles at St. Sophia's square
in Kyiv with a simultaneous ringing of the bells in all churches across
Ukraine. At the height of the Ukrainian Genocide 33,000 people starved to
death each day.
Here in the United States, we ask that your church light 33 symbolic candles
and perform memorial service on Sunday, November 27, 2005. We ask that
you take a few moments to ring your church bells at 12:00 noon local time as
a sign of mourning.
As Ukrainian-Americans we will unite on November 27th and proclaim to the
world that: "We will never forget the over 10,000,000 victims of the
Ukrainian Genocide" -30-
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11. UKRAINE'S REP TO UNITED NATIONS SPEAKS AT HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL
Reads statement from Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko
STATEMENT: by H.E. Valeriy Kuchinsky, Ambassador,
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations
St. Patrick's Cathedral
New York, New York, November 19, 2005
Your eminencies,
Reverend fathers,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honour and a privilege for me to address this distinguished
audience.
It has become a valuable tradition that every November the St. Patrick's
Cathedral welcomes those who feel deep sorrow for the tragedy of Holodomor,
generations have come and gone, but the horrors of 1932-1933 remain in the
hearts of the survivors and their descendants.
The whole truth about Holodomor is not yet fully known to the world. We
strongly believe that the international community must give that crime its
proper name - genocide, which was planned and executed to destroy Ukrainian
people.
The Ukrainian authorities take every opportunity to remind the international
community of Holodomor.
Addressing the 2005 World Summit in September here in New York, the
President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko told the leaders of over 150
countries: and I quote "I am appealing to you on behalf of the nation that
has lost ten million of human lives because of the famine - genocide
arranged against our nation. At that time the governments of all counties
turned their back to our grief. We insist that the world should come to know
the truth about all the crimes against humanity. That is how we can be sure
that the indifference will never encourage the criminals." end of quote.
In his address to the 60th session of the UN General Assembly a few of days
later the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Borys Tarasyuk once again
drew attention to the tragedy of our nation.
Seizing the opportunity of the Holocaust remembrance at the UN General
Assembly earlier this month, I underlined in my statement that Holodomor as
well as the Holocaust continues to belong to those national tragedies, which
still await wider international recognition, I called on the representatives
of States to recognize this crime against humanity as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian nation.
Two years ago a Joint Statement on the 70th anniversary of Holodomor,
supported by over 60 delegations - one third of UN membership - was issued
as an official document of the General Assembly.
In this declaration, for the first time in the history of the United
Nations, Holodomor has been officially recognized as the national tragedy of
Ukrainian people caused by the cruel actions and policies of the
totalitarian regime. Representatives from different parts of the world
expressed their sympathy to the victims of Holodomor and deplored the acts
and policies that brought about mass starvation and death of millions of
people.
The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress has adopted a resolution
that allows Ukrainian officials to establish a memorial in Washington to
honor the victims of the Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-1933.
Ukraine will continue to do its utmost to bring the truth about Holodomor to
the world at large.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, let me read out the message from the
President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko on the occasion of the holding of
today's Memorial Service.
THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE
To the participants of the ceremony
to honor the victims of Holodomor, 1932-33
New York, 19 November, 2005
I am wholeheartedly grateful to the participants of the ceremony to honor
the victims of Holodomor of 1932-33 for their concern and sympathy that
unite us in this time of sorrow.
Today we are bowing our heads before the deep tragedy of a loss of loved
ones, remembering both the tyranny of the totalitarian system and the
historic lie of concealing the crimes against humankind and humanity.
The Ukrainian people survived this ordeal by the too high price of millions
of lives.
I would like to express my special words of gratitude to the American
nation, which was the first to recognize the terrible consequences of
Holodomor of 1932-33. I hope that this tragedy of a European scale will be
recognized also by the whole international community. Truth and remembrance
are needed to make sure that the horrors of the past will not be repeated in
the future.
In Ukraine, honoring the fallen and supporting those affected by Holodomors,
as well as study of hidden for decades pages of the Ukrainian history, are
matters of high priority for the state policy. We are in the process of
establishing the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, building new
memorials and restoring burial sites.
Soon, there will be a Guelder rose park on the hilly banks of Dnipro - river
to pay tribute to every village that had suffered the effects of Holodomor.
I believe that the words of common prayer in memory of the victims of
Holodomor that will resound in many places around the world will bring peace
and solace to the souls of the innocently perished will unite us in the
common strive to build a just world with its highest value of a human life.
Victor Yushchenko -30-
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220 East 51 Street New York, N.Y. 10022
Tel: (212) 759 70 03 · Fax: (212) 355 94 55 ·
E-mail: uno_us@mfa.gov.ua · http://www.un.int/ukraine
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12. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: MESSAGE IN COMMEMORATION
OF THE 72ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE
The White House
Washington, D.C., Saturday, November 19, 2005
I send greetings to those gathered to commemorate the 72nd anniversary
of the Ukrainian Famine. I join my fellow Americans in expressing deepest
condolences on this solemn occasion.
Millions in Ukraine were oppressed by Joseph Stalin's totalitarian regime
and suffered through devastating famine from 1932 to 1933. They showed
great courage and strength throughout this atrocity, and the world will
always remember those who gave their lives to resist evil. We must strive
to prevent similar acts of cruelty from ever happening again.
The desire for justice, freedom, human rights, and accountable,
representative government is universal. Since Ukraine's independence in
1991, the Ukrainian people have demonstrated a firm commitment to
freedom for all people, and last year's Orange Revolution was a powerful
example of democracy in action.
In President Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian people have a courageous
leader, and America is proud to call Ukraine a friend.
Laura and I send our best wishes on this solemn occasion.
George W. Bush -30-
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13. UKRAINE DEMANDS 'GENOCIDE' MARKED
A quarter of Ukraine's population was wiped out in just two years
BBC NEWS, UK, Friday, November 25, 2005
KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has called on the
international community to recognise the 1930s Great Famine as Soviet-
enforced genocide.
"The world must know about this tragedy," he said, at the opening of an
exhibition dedicated to famine victims.
Millions of Ukrainians starved to death in 1932-33 as USSR leader Joseph
Stalin stripped them of their produce in a forced farm collectivisation
campaign.
A small number of nations have already recognised the famine as genocide.
Ukraine has designated 26 November as an official day of remembrance for
victims of "Holodomor" - meaning murder by hunger - and other political
crackdowns.
There are plans to mark the anniversary this Saturday by lighting 33,000
candles - representing the number of people thought to have been dying
every day at the height of the famine.
The true scale of the disaster was concealed by the Soviet Union, and only
came to light after Ukrainian independence in 1991. Cannibalism is reported
to have become rife as a whole nation starved.
The tragedy should "become a lesson for our nation as well as for the
whole world", Mr Yushchenko said on Friday.
In 2003, marking the 70th anniversary of the famine, UN Under Secretary
General for Communications and Publication Shashi Tharoor said it "ranks
with the worst atrocities of our time".
Nevertheless, a UN declaration - while recognising the famine as Ukraine's
national tragedy - did not include the word "genocide" - to the great dismay
of Ukraine which lobbied hard for the inclusion of the term.
RUSSIA OPPOSED
Roman Serbyn, professor of history and a Ukrainian expert at the University
of Quebec in Montreal, says: "Ukraine did not make a technically clear
case."
He believes the "genocide" designation has proved elusive because the famine
is often considered to have been aimed at a social group (peasants) rather
than a national or ethnic group.
However, a strong case can be put showing that by closing the borders so
Ukrainians could not escape to Russia, Stalin was targeting Ukrainian
nationals, he says.
Russia opposes designation as genocide, he says, and "the biggest reason is
national pride. But also the political and economic consequences... if you
recognise a crime you might have to pay compensation".
In 2003 Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, was quoted by
Interfax news agency dismissing talk of an apology or compensation, saying:
"We're not going to apologise... there is nobody to apologise to."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4471256.stm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES FROM BBC: GREAT FAMINE
Called Holodomor in Ukrainian - meaning murder by hunger
About a quarter of Ukraine's population wiped out
Seven to 10 million people thought to have died
Children disappeared; cannibalism became widespread
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14. 'THE FIGHT TO STAY ALIVE'- UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR
EXHIBITION OPENED IN KYIV, UKRAINE
What Ukrainians were forced to eat to defy death by hunger
By E. Morgan Williams, Publisher & Editor
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 26, 2005
KYIV - On Friday, November 25, the President of Ukraine opened an
exhibition at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv about the Ukrainian Genocide -
the Holodomor- Famine-Terror Death for Millions, of 1932-1933 imposed
on the Ukrainian nation by the Soviet government of Josef Stalin.
Part of the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine featured a
series of 65 graphics, linocuts, by Mykola Mykhaylovych Bondarenko,
Ukrainian graphic artist from the village of Dmytrivka in the Sumy Oblast.
The President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, was shown this
Exhibition personally by Ukrainian artist Myhkola Bondarenko.
The artworks answer the question as to what people, when their entire
normal supply of food was stolen away by the Soviets were forced to
eat in their frantic attempt to defy death by hunger. This will be the
first exhibition of these artworks in Ukraine. Mr. Bondarenko, born in
1949, will be present at the Holodomor Exhibition.
Oleksander Kapitonenko, Simferopol, in a preface to a book about
the Bondarenko graphics, published by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
of the USA wrote: "From early childhood, Mykola Mykhaylovych
(Bondarenko) loved to listed to the old people reminiscing about village
life in the olden days.
Having learned about the famine, he attempted to reproduce it graphically,
but was not satisfied with the few sketches he made. The artist wished to
tell about this tragedy in his own, different way.
He considered the fact, that although entire families and entire villages
were annihilated by the famine, some individuals managed to survive.
What was it that helped them defy death by hunger?
He went around [for five years from 1988-1993] questioning the old-
timers [famine survivors in his district] who told him about their
unbelievable "menu".
Thus he found the answer to his question; he decided to portray not
the emaciated [dying] peasants, but rather the "food" which they were
forced to ingest in order to [attempt] to survive.
At first he tried to paint several of the more common weeds which
were consumed by the starving people, raw or prepared. Then he
turned to producing a series of graphical depictions of other
vegetation.
His sketchbooks contain drawings from nature of coughgrass, clover,
hemp, sweet-flag, burdock, rush (cane), nettle, thistles, lime tree and
acacia buds, from which engravings have been made.
Almost each engraving depicts a window, the cross-like frame of which
symbolizes the heavy cross, carried by those condemned to death.
Every windowpane symbolized the hope to survive the famine.
On such a background are depicted weeds and some other plants
consumed by the starving people during those horrible times. On
the right windowpane is the "recipe" for preparing this ersatz food.
Several of the engravings show the self-made tools, which helped
the peasants to chop, grind, sieve, squeeze, and other prepare the
weeds [most of them not really digestible in natural form]. To own
such tools meant risking one's life.
The most touching and alarming for the viewer are the depictions
of domestic animals - a cat, or a dog, fleeing to who knows where,
so that they would not be caught and eaten; carcasses of dead cows
or horses, which the starved populace did not hesitate to eat, and the
panicked eyes of fledgling birds in a nest, which is about to be robbed
by the hand of a starving person.
Noticeable is these engravings is the absense of any accusations of
those who wrote the scenario of the famine, and of those who only
too eagerly helped in this criminal action.
Only the sickles and hammers on the iron rods with which the
village activists [many sent to Ukraine by Stalin for this purpose]
probed everywhere in, looking for hidden food of the peasants,
point to the cause of the famine. [There are also two very small
red stars near the bottom of each side of every graphic which gives
another clue as to the perpetrators of the genocide against the
Ukrainian people.]
And, also, the blood on the knife blade [found in one of the graphics]
reminds the viewer that we are dealing with a horrible crime." [by
Oleksander Kapitonenko, Simferopol in 2003]
The Exhibition of the artworks by Bondarenko is being sponsored by
the Dr. James Mace Holodomor Memorial Fund of the Ukrainian
Federation of America, Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M.
Andryczyk, President; Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania; The Bleyzer
Foundation, Michael and Natasha Bleyzer and the Bleyzer Family,
Houston, Texas and Kyiv, Ukraine; Ukrainian Orthodox Church of
the USA, Archbishop Antony, South Bound Brook, New Jersey;
David Holpert, W J Grain, Kyiv; David and Tamara Sweere,
Kiev-Atlantic, Kyiv; Eugenia Dallas; Helen and Alex Woskob;
and the Bahriany Foundation, Anatol Lysyj, Chairman.
The Bondarenko Exhibition was arranged by Morgan Williams,
SigmaBleyzer, on behalf of the International Ukrainian Genocide-
Holodomor Committee and designed by Volodymyr and Irina
Veshtak, expert graphic artists, Kyiv, Ukraine.
The exhibition at the Ukrainian House features several hundred
other works about the Holodomor including paintings, posters,
photos, documents, and other graphic material. The Exhibition
will be open through Tuesday, November 30. -30-
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FOOTNOTE: A book showing the Bondarenko artworks, "Ukraine
1933; A Cookbook, Linocuts by Myklola Bondarenko" published by
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, South Bound Brook,
New Jersey in 2003, in remembrance of the millions of Ukrainians
who perished during the Great Famine of Ukraine in 1932-1933 is
still available. For information about how to purchase the book please
send an e-mail to ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net.
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15. PART FOUR: WHY DID STALIN EXTERMINATE THE UKRAINIANS?
Comprehending the Holodomor. The position of soviet historians
By Stanislav Kulchytsky, Ph.D. (History), Part Four
The Day Weekly Digest in English # 37
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 22, 2005
PART FOUR:
A CONFLICT WITHIN A GENERATION
I have already mentioned that both right- and left-leaning unscrupulous
politicians tend to politicize the subject of the Holodomor. In doing so,
they aim to please their voters, which is quite natural for politicians. Why
has it become possible to capitalize on the subject of the famine?
Why do our fellow countrymen have differing opinions of the Holodomor?
Finding the answer requires the use of a more or less abstract notion - a
generation.
In the past I used to think that another abstract notion, territory, was
more suitable for such analysis. So much has been said about the division
of Ukraine into eastern and western halves, as well as about the special
mentality of the population in the western oblasts, which came under Russia
in the form of the Soviet Union (or reunited with the Ukrainian SSR, which
is also true) only in 1939-1940.
Now I consider that the decisive role in shaping the difference between the
eastern and western oblasts of present-day sovereign Ukraine was played by
the presence or absence of mass repressions when a particular generation
was forming.
The Kremlin used mass repressions while building the "commune state" in
1918-1938, and during the Stalinist Sovietization of Ukraine's western
oblasts in 1939-1952. Notably in the latter case, the repressions affected a
different generation. This means that the representatives of Ukraine's
oldest living generation in the western and eastern oblasts have had
different life experiences, which is why they feel differently about
history.
The residents of the western oblasts hate communism with a passion and
despise the Communist Party and Soviet nomenklatura that carried out
repressions during the "first Soviets," i.e., from 1939, and during the
"second Soviets," i.e., from 1944.
Meanwhile, the residents of the eastern oblasts were raised under the Soviet
system. Unlike their parents, they were loyal to the government and were
therefore spared Stalinist repressions. Even though mass repressions in the
USSR continued until Stalin's death, they became selective, targeting
individual territories (the Baltic republics, the western Ukrainian oblasts)
or nationalities (e.g., the campaign to combat cosmopolitanism, "the
Doctors' Case").
Manipulating the enslaved population, Stalin used the human and material
resources of Ukraine's eastern oblasts to combat the anti-Soviet
underground movement in western Ukraine.
The anticommunism of the population in the western oblasts is manifested
always and in everything. The West and the Ukrainian Diaspora, whose
representatives mostly have Galician roots, proved very responsive to the
tragedy of the Holodomor, even though they were not directly affected by it.
The well-organized North American Diaspora made a decisive contribution
to exposing the Kremlin's most horrible crime.
For the anticommunist-minded representatives of the older generation in the
western oblasts, the 1932-1933 famine was a priori a crime committed by
the Kremlin. They needed no documents and accepted the testimonies of
Holodomor witnesses as true. It turned out that they were right to do so.
On the contrary, this generation's representatives in the east have embarked
(at least one would hope so) on a long and painful road of de-Stalinization,
consciously giving up the stereotypes of thinking and behavior, which the
Soviet system had inculcated in them since childhood.
World War II veterans and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) veterans find it
very hard to come to terms not because they fought on opposing sides. Other
wartime enemies in Europe have long since made peace. Our veterans have
had different life experiences, and it is hard for them to give up the
beliefs of their youth.
Perhaps the real picture of the Holodomor will facilitate this painful
reassessment of values. I must admit that the realization that you have
become what you are as a result of government manipulations is an unpleasant
thing. Yet it is much more unpleasant to remain that way until your final
hour. How can one be Stalin's puppet half a century after his death?
My own reassessment of values took place under the influence of my study of
Holodomor history. In 1981 I published a book entitled Partiia Lenina - Sila
Narodnaia [Lenin's Party - the People's Strength], which was designed for
Soviet schoolchildren. I was being honest with them because I believed in
what I was writing. I believed not only because I was raised in this faith.
Built by forceful means, the Leninist "commune state" became harmonious
in its own peculiar way, when there was no longer any need to use force.
Then the eternal values propagated by the Soviet government came to the
fore. Of course, I saw the double standards, but played them down as
imperfections of human nature. I felt the lack of freedom, but justified it
by the need to survive while being "surrounded by capitalists." Indeed, what
can a bird born in a cage tell you about the sky?
After several years of exploring the Holodomor, I realized that the Soviet
government was capable of exterminating people - millions of people. What
could one's attitude be to such a government and its ideals after realizing
what the Holodomor really was?
In 1991 two younger colleagues and I published the book Stalinism in
Ukraine. The title itself is proof that I was clinging to the term
"Stalinism," which is still popular in the West, and did so in an attempt to
save the idea of social equality by blaming everything on Stalin.
Later I realized that the millions of lost lives were the result of the
implementation of Lenin's idea of the "commune state". If personalized, the
communist idea should be called Leninism. In its party dimension it should
be called Bolshevism.
Tsina Velykoho Perelomu [The Price of the Great Turning Point] is the title
of my second book that was published in 1991. The title is derived from
Nikita Khrushchev's thoughts on the cost of collectivization in the lives of
Soviet citizens. At the time these thoughts astonished me because they came
from a CPSU leader.
The book's 432 pages contain hundreds of documents that paint a vivid
picture of the Holodomor. Did this book influence the people of my
generation, who need to reassess their values?
I doubt it. The state plays a key role in society's comprehension of the
real nature of the Holodomor. Through its specialized agencies the state
must bring to citizens' attention knowledge about the not so distant past,
knowledge accumulated by scholars.
In doing so, the state can prevent interpersonal conflicts stemming from
differing life experiences. The Ukrainian president's calls for
reconciliation are futile without daily educational efforts by the
government.
After 1987 the Ukrainian Communist Party and Soviet nomenklatura
approached the research and educational work on the subject of the famine
with affected enthusiasm. In September 1990 I was made a member of the
ideological commission of the CC CPU, even though I never held any posts
in the state machinery.
After the Ukrainian parliament proclaimed Ukraine's independence,
information on the Holodomor was used by the "sovereign communists"
headed by Leonid Kravchuk to convince voters that this [independence]
was the right decision.
James Mace recalled that Oles Yanchuk's film Holod-33 [Famine '33] on
which he was a consultant, did not receive a single kopeck in state
funding during the filming, but it was still aired on television before the
Dec. 1, 1991 referendum.
The first presidents of Ukraine mostly went no further than symbolic
gestures (a memorial plaque on Kyiv's St. Michael's Square and the Day to
Commemorate Holodomor Victims on the fourth Saturday of November).
Most of the books on the Holodomor have been published with donations
from sponsors, not with government funds.
In a decade and a half the leaders of Ukraine have not shown the will or
desire to republish the three volumes of witness testimonies that speak of
the tragic events in the Ukrainian countryside after 1928, which were
compiled by the Mace commission.
These three volumes contain the voices of the generation born before 1920.
What makes it unique is the fact that representatives of the first
generation of Soviet people are no longer among us.
Whereas government bodies had no pressing desire to become involved in
the subject of the Holodomor, opposition forces took over this function.
We must recognize that they did a great deal of good. At the same time this
subject became politicized. After the Orange Revolution, which removed the
old nomenklatura from power, individual former oppositionists decided that
now they could do as they pleased.
They started with a "small thing" - an attempt to move the Day to
Commemorate the Holodomor Victims, which Leonid Kuchma introduced
in 1998, from fall to springtime, so that it would not conflict with the
anniversary of the Orange Revolution. The moral myopia of such people is
astounding.
DISCUSSIONS WITH RUSSIAN SCHOLARS
The attitude of the Russian public and government to the events of 1932-1933
is another important issue. Even if we substantiate with facts that the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine was an act of genocide, we will have to face a
different interpretation of our common past at the international level.
Discussions with Russian scholars should be conducted as openly as possible
so that we can prove the validity of our position to both the opposing side
and our own public. This is necessary in view of how Ukrainian citizens
presently understand the Holodomor.
Many our fellow countrymen believe that the causes of the 1932-1933 famine
are unclear. Others think that the famine was caused by droughts and/or
grain procurements. These were precisely the causes of the 1946- 1947
famine, which people still remember.
Most of those who think that the Holodomor was an act of genocide have a
shallow understanding of the political and legal essence of "genocide." They
are certain that if the government's actions cause mass deaths among the
population, they are always an act of genocide. The Kazakh tragedy refutes
this supposition.
Communist Party officials' ignorant attempts to force the Kazakh nomads to
settle down resulted in famine, the scale of which exceeded the Ukrainian
Holodomor if you compare the percentage of the affected population in the
two ethnic groups. However, the Kazakh tragedy was not a result of terror
by famine.
The 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine should be analyzed within the context of
the political and legal substance of the term "genocide." During a
relatively short period Stalin purposefully exterminated the village
population in two Soviet political- administrative divisions in which
Ukrainians were the dominant population (the Ukrainian SSR and the Kuban
province of the Northern Caucasus Territory of the Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic).
From the very outset I would like to dissociate myself from those of my
colleagues who define the purpose of this act of genocide differently:
Stalin exterminated the Ukrainians! Of course, the end result was just that:
Stalin exterminated the Ukrainians. Yet we will not be able to prove the
validity of a claim about it being an act of genocide if we use this
simplified and purely emotional formulation.
For many years I have been conferring with a small community of scholars in
Russia and the West, who are studying the Ukrainian Holodomor, and I know
their way of thinking. For this reason I have to offer a thought-out and
clear position on the subject of genocide.
I understood the socioeconomic causes of the 1932-1933 famine already in
the early 1990s. Later, at the Department of Interwar History at the
Institute of Ukrainian History we studied the totalitarianism of the
Communist
Party and the Soviets as a holistic political and economic system, which
included a study of the Kremlin's nationality policy. Now we have arguments
relating to the national component of the Kremlin's policy.
All of the comments provided here are necessary so that my account of
discussions with Russian scholars on the nature of the 1932-1933 famine in
the Soviet Union will strike the appropriate tone.
These discussions were touched off by the May 1993 informational and
analytical conference organized by the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow, which
was entitled "The Holodomor of 1932-1933: Tragedy and Warning." Both
sides were represented by scholars, politicians, and journalists.
We spoke about terror by famine, which the Kremlin used against Ukraine,
while they claimed that the Stalinist repressions had no national component.
Only Sergey Kovalev, a former dissident, who in 1993 chaired the Human
Rights Commission in the Russian parliament, summoned the courage to say
"Forgive us!" while addressing the Ukrainian side.
Then a Moscow newspaper carried an article by the journalist Leonid
Kapeliushny, who wrote it after reading the book by Volodymyr Maniak and
Lidiia Kovalenko, Holod 33: Narodna Knyha-Memorial [Famine '33. The
People's Memorial Book]. In the book the journalist saw "eyewitness
testimonies that have legal force, testimonies of genocide witnesses"
(Izvestiia, 1993, July 3).
Kovaliov's "Forgive us" and Kapeliushny's conclusion were reinforced by
papers presented at the international scholarly conference "The Holodomor of
1932-1933 in Ukraine: Causes and Consequences," which took place in Kyiv
on Sept. 9-10, 1993 and was attended by the president of Ukraine. While
President Kravchuk blamed the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation on the
Stalinist government, Ivan Drach, who took the floor after him, placed this
problem in a different dimension.
"It is time to fully understand once and for all that this was only one of
the closest to us - surviving and now living Ukrainians - stages in the
planned eradication of the Ukrainian nation. Intolerance of this nation is
deeply rooted in the descendants of the northern tribes, to whom our people
gave its own faith, culture, civilization, and even its name," Drach said.
The Russian experts on the problems of collectivization and famine- Ilya
Zelenin, Nikolai Ivnytsky, Viktor Kondrashyn, and Yevgeniy Oskolkov -
wrote a collective letter to the editors of a historical journal of the
Russian
Academy of Sciences, expressing their concern over the fact that most
conference participants insisted on "a certain exceptionality of Ukraine, a
special nature and substance of these events in the republic as opposed to
other republics and regions in the country."
They claimed that the famine in Ukraine was no different from famines in
other regions, whereas the anti-peasant policy of the Stalinist leadership
had no clearly defined national direction (Otechestvennaia istoriia
[National History], 1994, no. 6, p. 256).
In an attempt to substantiate their position, the Russian colleagues
emphasized the socioeconomic aspects of the 1932-1933 famine, quoting
my paper presented at that conference. Without a doubt, the Kremlin's
economic policy did not distinguish among the national republican borders,
and in this respect their arguments were flawless.
However, the rejection of the Ukrainian specifics of the famine, led the
Russian colleagues, whether they wanted to or not, to state that the
Kremlin had no nationality policy or repressive element of such a policy.
I heard a similar statement to the effect that "Stalin's victims have no
nationality" from a different Russian delegation at an international
symposium in Toronto, entitled "The Population of the USSR in the
1920s-1930s in the Light of New Documentary Evidence" (February 1995).
However, Soviet history knows many cases of ethnically motivated
repressions. Is it worthwhile recounting them all?
In recent years the Institute of Ukrainian History has established
cooperation with the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, and through it with experts at other Russian institutions as part
of the Russian-Ukrainian Commission of Historians (co-chaired by the
Ukrainian academician Valeriy Smoliy and Russian academician Aleksandr
Chubarian).
On March 29, 2004, Moscow hosted the commission's meeting, attended by
numerous prominent Russian experts on agrarian history. They discussed the
book Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini: prychyny ta naslidky [The Famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine: Causes and Consequences], published in 2003 by the
Institute of Ukrainian History to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the
Holodomor.
Thirty authors collaborated on this large-format volume of 888 pages
supplemented with a 48-page section of illustrations.
Several copies of the book were sent to Moscow long before the
commission's meeting. Yet it failed to convince the Russian historians.
Soon after that meeting Viktor Danilov and Ilya Zelenin publicized their
views of the problem discussed in an article that appeared in
Otechestvennaia istoriia (no. 5, 2004). The gist of their position is
reflected in the title of their article: "Organized Famine. Dedicated to the
70th Anniversary of the Peasants' Common Tragedy."
The journal printed a black band around the authors' names; our opponents
died soon after the meeting. It is a great loss for Russian historical
scholarship and all of us, since aspiring Russian scholars are not all that
keen to explore these "complex problems."
New archival documents on Soviet agrarian history are now circulating among
scholars. This has become possible primarily thanks to the tremendous
efforts of Viktor Petrovich Danilov. The new additions to the source base
have significantly reinforced the position of the Ukrainian side in its
attempts to convince the world that the Holodomor was indeed an act of
genocide.
Summing up the results of our meeting on March 29, 2004, Danilov and
Zelenin came to the following conclusion: "If one is to characterize the
Holodomor of 1932-1933 as 'a purposeful genocide of Ukrainian peasants,'
as individual historians from Ukraine insist, then we must bear in mind that
it was in equal measure a genocide of Russian peasants." The Ukrainian side
can accept such a conclusion.
After all, we are not saying that only Ukrainians were Stalin's victims.
Moreover, because of the specifics of "socialist construction" and the
nature of the political system, between 1918 and 1938 the hardest hit
(percentage of the total) by repressions were the immediate perpetrators of
Stalin's crimes - Chekist secret police agents, followed by state party
members, especially the Communist Party and the Soviet nomenklatura,
followed by citizens of the national republics, and finally Russians.
How can one explain the Russian scholars' restraint when it comes to the
question of genocide? It may perhaps be explained by the fact that the
international community is using the Dec. 9, 1948, Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide more and more actively.
In January 2004 Stockholm hosted the international forum "Preventing
Genocide: Threats and Responsibility," which was attended by many heads
of state.
The forum focused on the following questions: the political, ideological,
economic, and social roots of violence connected with genocide; mechanisms
for preventing and responding to the threat of genocide at the international
level; the use of diplomatic, humanitarian, economic, and forceful means to
prevent genocide.
In Ukrainian society only marginal right-leaning politicians insist that
present-day Russia is responsible for the Ukrainian Holodomor and demand
moral or even financial compensation. However, the fact that Russia has been
recognized as the legal successor of the USSR does not burden it with
responsibility for the crimes of the Bolsheviks, White Guards, or any other
regimes that controlled Russian territory in the past.
Even the attempts of the Kremlin leadership to associate itself with certain
attributes of the former Soviet Union, as evidenced by the melody of
Russia's
state anthem, are not reason enough to put forward such claims. After all,
nostalgia for the Soviet past is equally present in Ukrainian and Russian
societies, mainly in the older generations.
Russia is freely publishing documentary collections that reflect the state
crimes of the Stalinist period. In fact, it has become possible to build the
concept of the Ukrainian Holodomor as an act of genocide only on the
basis of documents publicized in Moscow.
At the same time, Russia's attempts to inherit the achievements of the
Soviet epoch, especially the victory in World War II, are forcing Russian
officials to throw a veil over Stalin's crimes as much as this can be done
in the new conditions of freedom from dictatorship. This applies
particularly to the crime of genocide, even though the Dec. 9, 1948,
Convention does not place responsibility on the legal successors of
criminal regimes.
Naturally, if Russia wants to inherit the accomplishments of the Soviet
epoch, it must also inherit its negative aspects, i.e., the obligation to
utter Kovalev's "Forgive us." The European Parliament hinted at this
"liability" in 2004, when it found the deportation of the Chechens to be an
act of genocide. However, few would like to inherit moral responsibility for
the crimes of previous regimes, unless absolutely necessary.
This is why Russia is a decisive opponent of recognizing the Ukrainian
Holodomor as an act of genocide. In August 2003 Russian Ambassador to
Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin said in an interview with BBC's Ukrainian
Service: "The Holodomor affected the entire Soviet state. There were no
fewer tragedies and no less pain in the Kuban, Ural, and Volga regions, and
Kazakhstan.
Such expropriations did not just happen in Chukotka and the northern regions
because there was nothing to expropriate." Russia's official representatives
at the UN did everything possible to have the definition of the Holodomor as
an act of genocide excluded from the Joint Statement of 36 nations on the
70th anniversary of the Ukrainian Holodomor.
It remains for us to convince the Russians that the Ukrainian famine was a
result of not only repressive grain procurements, but also a perfectly
organized campaign to seize all food stocks from peasants. There is a body
of evidence to this effect, and if the voices of Ukrainian scholars are
reinforced by the voices of Western historians, this goal will become
practicable.
POSITION OF WESTERN RESEARCHERS
A closely interconnected network of research institutions specializing in
so-called Sovietology formed in the West during the Cold War. However, no
Sovietologists were interested in what happened in Ukraine in 1932-1933.
After moving to the US, Robert Conquest, an English literary scholar and
contemporary of the Russian revolution, started to work at Columbia
University's Institute for the Study of the USSR. He is the author of the
first book of non-Ukrainian historiography on the Great Famine in the
USSR, which was published in 1986.
The author of this famous work, The Great Terror, was right to define
Stalin's policy in Ukraine as a special kind of terror - terror by famine.
Robert Conquest's book The Harvest of Sorrow was based on literary
sources, most of them collected by James Mace.
The international community found the book sensational. On the contrary,
Sovietologists disapproved of it and accused the author of political bias,
because the book was commissioned by the Ukrainian Diaspora.
In the late 1980s a "revisionist" trend emerged in the ranks of
Sovietologists. Its representatives believed that Cold War historiography
had to be revised because it was ideologically opposed to communism, i.e.,
it went beyond the bounds of scholarly knowledge.
The "revisionists" unleashed a torrent of criticism against the publications
of the US Congressional Commission on the Ukraine Famine. Mace himself
recalled that he was accused of falsifying history. With no prospects for
steady employment in the US, Mace moved to Kyiv and found a job at the
institute, which had been organized by Ivan Kuras on the foundations of the
former Institute of Party History at the CC CPU.
Much like during the Soviet period, in the early post-Soviet years Ukrainian
historical studies did not have an independent international status. In
contrast, Russian historians only had to strengthen their long-standing
ties. The international status of Russian scholarship rose sharply with the
opening of archives from the Stalinist period.
In 1992 Viktor Danilov launched a theoretical seminar entitled "Modern
Concepts of Agrarian Development" at the Interdisciplinary Academic Center
of Social Sciences (Intercenter). During its meeting on June 24, 1997, the
participants discussed the work of Stephen Wheatcroft (Australia) and Robert
Davies (UK) entitled The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933. The
journal Otechestvennaia istoriia (no. 6, 1998) devoted dozens of pages to a
report on this seminar. It is hard to describe it in several paragraphs, but
I will try.
In his introduction Wheatcroft condemns the thesis that it was an "organized
famine" and that Stalin purposefully seized grain to cause the peasants to
starve. The report focuses much attention on Ukraine.
It states that the Kremlin did not know anything, and when information about
the famine started to come in, "the Politburo of the Central Committee of
the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) was addressing the increasingly
pressing problem of dispensing additional grain [to the peasants - Auth.]."
Between February and July 1933 the CC AUCP(b) and the Council of People's
Commissars of the USSR issued 35 resolutions and decrees to dispense food
grain.
That was the report. Interestingly enough, the cited facts were true. The
only thing that is not known is why millions of people died of hunger. Only
one document struck the researchers with its cynicism: a CC CP(b)U
resolution on dividing peasants hospitalized and diagnosed with dystrophy
into ailing and recovering patients. The resolution ordered improving the
nutrition of the latter within the limits of available resources so that
they could be sent out into the fields to sow the new crop as soon as
possible.
Of course, Stalin did not use terror by famine for the indiscriminate
extermination of all peasants for whatever reason. Those lucky enough to
survive were sent to perform agricultural labor and received food in the
fields while they worked. They received food dispensed according to special
resolutions from supreme government bodies. This was meant to show how
much the government cared about keeping its citizens alive. In this way the
peasants learned to work as part of state- owned collective farms.
Based on the authors' estimates, Roberta Manning of Harvard University
pointed out that before the 1933 harvest government stockpiles contained
between 1.4 and 2 million tons of grain. This was enough to prevent mass
hunger. "What forced the Soviet government to seize and export such a large
percentage of a very low harvest and stockpile more grain than it did during
the previous grain crises? These questions demand answers," she said in a
polite rebuttal of the basic points of the report.
On the contrary, Lynn Viola of the University of Toronto supported the view
of the 1932-1933 tragedy as outlined in the report primarily because it was
"revisionist," i.e., it differed from previous opinions about the famine
organized by the government or even an act of genocide committed by the
Stalinist leadership.
Yu. Moshkov agreed that peasants received food relief in the first half of
1933, but added to this obvious fact that "in my view, it is impossible to
deny Stalin's clear intent in the fall of 1932 to punish disobedient
peasants who refused to surrender everything including grain."
M. Viltsan used the points in the report to launch an attack against the
authors of the "concept of manmade famine" Nikolai Ivnytsky, Viktor
Kondrashyn, and Yevgeniy Oskolkov. Armed with facts, these three
repelled the attack.
This was the gist of the theoretical seminar at the Intercenter, with praise
for "revisionists" and attacks against Russian scholars who called the
famine of 1932-1933 "manmade" in the face of irrefutable facts. It is not
surprising that they did not dare go one step further and call the Ukrainian
famine an act of genocide.
This seminar reflected the way the Holodomor was comprehended in the West
in the late 1990s. The situation has improved significantly. It appears that
the turning point came during the international conference organized by the
Institute for Historical and Religious Studies in Vicenza, Italy, in October
2003. I will not dwell on its work, because James Mace wrote about it in one
of The Day's October 2003 issues.
Its result was a resolution supported by scholars from Italy, Germany,
Poland, Ukraine, the US, and Canada (Ivnytsky and Kondrashyn abstained),
urging the prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, who was then holding
the EU's rotating presidency, and European Commission chairman Romano
Prodi to apply efforts to have the Ukrainian famine 1932-1933 recognized
internationally as an act of genocide.
The Vicenza conference had a sequel. On Sept. 5, 2005, Kyiv-Mohyla
Academy launched a book entitled Death of the Land. The Holodomor in
Ukraine of 1932-1933. This event was attended by Italy's Ambassador to
Ukraine Fabio Fabbri and the director of the Italian Institute in Ukraine,
Nicola Balloni.
The book is based on the materials presented at the Vicenza conference.
Nadia Tysiachna's article (Sept. 13, 2005) on this presentation bore the
same title that James Mace used for the newspaper column that he sent from
Vicenza: "Intellectual Europe on the Ukrainian Genocide."
University of Koln professor Gerhard Simon, who participated in the Vicenza
conference, organized a discussion panel entitled "Was the 1932-1933 Famine
in Ukraine an Act of Genocide?" at the 7th International Congress of
Historians in Berlin, held in July 2005. This question touched off a heated
debate. I am grateful to Dr. Simon for sacrificing the presentation of his
own report to give me additional time to substantiate my position.
I am also grateful to him for his assistance in having my article translated
into German and published in the reputable magazine Ost Europa. The
entire staff of the Institute of Ukrainian History is thankful to this
authoritative expert on the history of Central and Eastern Europe for his
interest in the problem of the Holodomor and his article published in
Ukrainskyi istorychnyi Zhurnal [Ukrainian Historical Journal], which is a
fresh contribution to the German historiography on this problem.
PEERING INTO THE ABYSS
It is obvious that comprehending the Holodomor is no simple task for
Ukrainian and foreign scholars, Ukrainian society, and the international
community. Do we know everything that happened in our Ukraine seven or
eight decades ago? Have we broken free of the stereotypes that were
inculcated into the consciousness of several generations?
Sometimes in the face of new or reconsidered facts one has to give up one's
established views of certain aspects of the past. This is a normal thing for
a professional historian. This is the meaning of scholarly quest. At the
start of Gorbachev's de-Stalinization one impulsive woman could no longer
endure it and screamed out loud for all of the Soviet Union to hear: "I
cannot give up my principles!" She could not find the courage to peer into
the abyss and see how much Leninist ideology differs from Leninist and
Stalinist practice.
We have to squeeze the hypocrisy of the Soviet period out of ourselves one
drop at a time. The sooner our society liberates itself from the stereotypes
of the previous epoch, the easier its life will be. The truth about the
Holodomor can become a powerful lever in this process.
What is this truth? In the coming issues I will propose my version of the
1932-1933 events in Ukraine. Readers who have read this historiographic
introduction in the form of these four articles should make their own
judgments based on the facts currently in possession of historians.
The upcoming articles will address the essence of the communist "revolution
from the top," the Kremlin's nationality policy, mechanisms of genocide, and
other subjects that together can provide the answer to the question of why
Stalin exterminated the Ukrainians. -30- (To be continued)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/153028/; Part V to be published soon.
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