Start: Nov 15, '07 7:30p
Location: Ukrainian American Cultural Center Whippany, NJ
If you can make it--even though its last minute----please come.....
Come to the Ukrainian American Cultural Center in Whippany Thursday to see a new exhibit by Dr Margaret Colley of London, England that includes new documentation on the cover up of the Holodomor.
Dr. Colley is the niece of Gareth Jones and the exhibit will include large scale reproductions of the lost diaries including one discovered just last year.
These pages paint a picture far more chilling than any Holodomor pictures you have seen.
Dr Colley last appeared in the U.S. in 2004 at the Columbia University Holodomor Conference with Dr James Mace and Dr Mark Von Hagen. This is a rare opportunity.
The presentation starts at 7:30 PM, Thursday, Nov 15 followed by a "Chance to Meet the Author" Buffet.
Шановні українці, і не тільки.
В 20-х числах листопада, ООН (UN) буде розлядати питання Голодомору 1932-33 років в Україні. Ряд демократичних держав вже визнали голодомор-геноцидом проти українського народу. Тепер черга за Організацією Об’єднаних Націй. Щоб проявити свою громадянську і національну позицію-прошу видрукувати нижчеподану петицію-звернення до ООН, підписати її, і вислати за вказаною адресою в Нью-Йорку. Не пожаліймо 40 центів на поштову марку, бо наша активність може принести перемогу Україні.
Дякую.
Mr.Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General UN
UN Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
I, ___________________________________________________________________________,
residing at ___________________________________________________________________,
call on the UNITED NATIONS to recognize GOLODOMOR, an artificial famine which took place in Ukraine during the years 1932-33. This GENOCIDE against the Ukrainian people was organized by the Communist Totalitarian Regime under Josef Stalin, which was based in Moscow. The Famine resulted in the prolonged deaths of between 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 innocent men, women and children, which accounted for every fourth person in Ukraine. This senseless mass murder, for ethnic reasons, can only be called Genocide. The only intent of this artificial famine was to destroy the national spirit of the Ukrainian people for decades to come. Therefore, I respectfully ask the UN to adopt the following Resolution. Such action would take great strides in preventing future genocides and other crimes against humanity.
RESOLUTION
ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT FAMINE 1932-33
IN UKRAINE
In 2007-2008 the world community will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, when more than 7,000,000 Ukrainian men, women and children lost their lives. This tragedy was not the result of a natural disaster but the consequence of a calculated policy by the Soviet communist regime under Josef Stalin in Moscow to break the will of the Ukrainian people. The United Nations expresses the sense that the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 should serve to honor the memory of the victims, recognize this tragedy as a Genocide against the Ukrainian people, condemn the Soviet communist perpetrators, acknowledge the failure of the world community to react with appropriate opprobrium and urge contemporary and future world communities to be vigilant against any manifestations of repression and inhumanity.
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the United Nations that:
1. The Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 be recognized and acknowledged as a Genocide against the Ukrainian people;
2. The victims of the Ukrainian Famine 1932-33 be solemnly remembered on its 75th anniversary and the month of November be designated in worldwide annually as a particular time to reflect upon the Ukrainian Famine 1932-33;
3. The communist regime of the Soviet Union with its center in Moscow be condemned for its systematic disregard for human life, human rights, human liberty and self-determination that characterized the repressive policies of Joseph Stalin and his henchmen during the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33;
4. Those from the West who were complicit in the cover-up thereby facilitating the crimes of the perpetrators should be rebuked even posthumously and their superiors and/or successors should denounce them publicly; in this regard the United Nations urges the publisher of The New York Times to return the Pulitzer prize awarded to its employee Walter Durant and the Trustees of Columbia University’s Pulitzer Committee to revoke that award, thereby distancing themselves from complicity;
5. On the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33, as Ukraine moves toward a fuller democracy with pervasive respect for human rights and free spiritual and economic opportunity, it is essential that the world continues to assist Ukraine in its endeavors aimed at the betterment of its society and people; and
6. Any supplemental material that may assist in the dissemination of information about the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 and thereby help prevent similar tragedies, should be compiled by historians, academicians and parliamentarians and that these be included within the educational material utilized by educational institutions around the world and be made available worldwide for a more complete study of this great tragedy of mankind.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
книга. "Розсекречена пам"ять"
The Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-33: Documents and Materials
Книга про Голодомр 1932 - 1933 років в Україні в документах ГПУ та НКВД
Розсекречена пам'ять: Голодомор 1932-1933 років в Україні в документах ГПУ-НКВД / Упор.: В. Борисенко, В. Даниленко, С. Кокін та ін. - К.: ВД "Стилос". 2007. - 604 с. ББК 63.3(4УКР)622 Р 65
У виданні представлено документи радянських органів державної безпеки - Державного політичного управління (ДПУ) та Народного комісаріату внутрішніх справ (НКВС), що містять додаткову архівну інформацію про причини, перебіг і наслідки найстрашнішої трагедії в історії українського народу ХХ століття - Голодомору 1932-1933 років. Документи розповідають про здійснення органами держбезпеки масових політичних репресій, у тому числі й з метоюприховування правди про Голодомор. Майже 70 років ці документи зберігались під грифами секретності і були недоступними для дослідників.
18 жовтня ц.р. Посол України y Бразилії Володимир Лакомов зустрівся з членами депутатської групи “Бразилія-Україна”.
В ході зустрічі бразильські парламентарії були поінформовані про останні ініціативи з боку світового товариства стосовно визнання Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. та ознайомлені з додатковими документами, що підтверджують політичну природу цього феномену сталінської машини знищення народів.
Зі свого боку, Голова депутатської групи “Бразилія-Україна“ Клаудіо Кажадо вручив Послу Постанову комісії з прав людини та меншин Палати Депутатів Національного Конгресу Бразилії з ухвалою подання депутата від Парани Едуардо Сіарра від 19 вересня ц.р., яке стосується визнання Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. в Україні геноцидом української нації. Депутат, зокрема, відзначив одностайну підтримку членами Комісії такого рішення.
У Постанові говориться наступне :
“Беручи до уваги:
- загибель близько десяти мільйонів українців під час проведення режимомСталіна політики штучного голоду – відомого як Голодомор, що походить від виразу“морити голодом”, що означає вбивати голодом;
- тривалість зазначеної політики Сталіна протягом двохроків;
- направленість акції проти мирного населення, включно з дітьми, старимилюдьми, хворими і трудящими;
- виключно політичні та ідеологічні мотивиГолодомору;
- висловлений вже осуд акту Голодомору з боку США, Канади, Естонії,Аргентини, Австрії, Італії, Угорщини, Латвії, Грузії таПольщі;
- відношення до цього питання частини бразильського суспільстваукраїнського походження;
- положення статті 1, ІІІ, Конституції Бразилії, який встановлює якоснову демократичної держави людську гідність;
- принципи,які визначають політикуБразиліїуміжнароднихвідносинах, згідно зіст.4 (домінування людських прав) і VIII (осуд тероризму і расизму) у текстіКонституції;
- і, врешті решт, положення Конституції, ст.5, ІІІ, яка встановлює, що“ні проти кого не повинні застосовуватися тортури, як нелюдське ставлення таприниження” – основний гарант наших юридичнихпроваджень;
- одностайне ухвалення Комісією з прав людини та меншин Палати Депутатівна засіданні від 19 вересня 2007 року.
Закликаємо УрядБразилії:
Беручи до уваги непорушність принципівОсновного закону Бразилії,визнати цю трагедію і засудити тяжкіпорушення людських прав, здійснені сталінським режимом”.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Аргентина. Визнання Голодомору парламентом провінції Чако
Регіональний Парламент (La C?mara de Diputados) провінції Чако (Аргентина), визнав український Голодомор 1932 – 33 pp., Геноцидом і бажає приєднатися до відзначення 75-річчя цієї трагедії.
Автори резолюції: Марія Крістіна Барріос (Maria Cristina Barrios) та Оскар Пабло Дудик (Oscar Pablo Dudik).
Україна відкрила почесне Консульство у провінції Чако
Почесним Консулом було призначено Оскара Хуана Коравайчука (Oscar Juan Korovaichuk), який проживатиме у місті Резістенція (Resistencia), маючи у юрисдикції аргентинські провінції Чако (Chaco) та Формоса (Formosa).
Нагадаємо, що у цих двох провінціях проживає близько 40 тисяч українців та аргентинців українського походження. З огляду на це, катедра Факультету Гуманістики Університету Північного Сходу (Universidad del Nordeste), створила курс української мови. Очікується, що відкриття Консульства допоможе зміцненню культурних та економічних зв?язків між Україною та Аргентиною.
2 листопада 2007 року Президент України видав Указ „Про відзначення у 2007 році Дня пам’яті жертв голодоморів”, у якому сказано:
„Оголосити 24 листопада 2007 року о 16 годині на вшанування пам’яті жертв геноциду Українського народу хвилину мовчання, зупинивши на цей час роботу в органах державної влади та органах місцевого самоврядування, на підприємствах, в установах та організаціях (крім підприємств, де не допускається за технологією виробництва), рух громадського та приватного транспорту в населених пунктах з подаванням відповідних звукових сигналів”.
Світовий Конґрес Українців підтримує ініціятиву Президента України та закликає Діяспору приєднатись до запланованої в Україні акції і відповідним чином, незалежно від місця проживання та обставин, у той час, який би співпадав з 16 годиною (4-ою пополудні) в Україні, хвилиною мовчання вшанувати пам’ять 7-10 мільйонів ні в чому не винних наших земляків, у тому числі й дітей, які в 1932-33 рр. загинули страшною голодною смертю.
Тож давайте цим символічним спаянням разом з нашими братами та сестрами на рідних землях як одна велика родина віддамо належну честь і шану мільйонам жертв - крові і плоті українського народу, нашим загиблим побратимам. Тож давайте всі разом відчуємо духовну єдність та трагізм нашого спільного великого горя. Нехай же на устах кожного з нас у цю хвилину голосно чи мовчазно прозвучать слова: „Вічна їм пам’ять”.
Торонто-Ню Йорк-Мельбурн
5 листопада 2007 р.
За Світовий Конґрес Українців
Аскольд Лозинський
Президент
Стефан Романів
Голова Міжнародного
Координаційного Комітету
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 887
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007
1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008 AS
YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2, 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance, National Committee to Commemorate
the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, October 12, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
24. DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR
OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
25. UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF MEMORY
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007
26. HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR
An International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World
UKRAINE REMEMBERS -
THE WORLD ACKNOWLEDGES
75th Commemoration Of The Holodomor 1932-1933
Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide.
November 24, 2007 to November 22, 2008
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 887
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008 AS
YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
13. UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
14. UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
15. 'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD
FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP),
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2, 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance, National Committee to Commemorate
the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, October 12, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
24. DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR
OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
25. UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF MEMORY
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007
26. HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007
27. UKRAINE: COMMUNIST PARTY SAYS RENAMING OF STREETS
& MONUMENTS WITH SOVIET NAMES IS TOTALITARIANISM
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 2, 2007
28. HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WILL REVISIT CAVE IN UKRAINE
THAT HID FAMILY FROM CERTAIN DEATH
More than 60 years after surviving the Holocaust by hiding,
Yetta Katz will return to the caves where she spent 344 days.
Holocaust Survivor's Journey: By Jennifer Lebovich
Miami Herald, Miami, Friday, Sat, Nov. 03, 2007
29. UKRAINE PRESIDENT ORDERS RETURN OF 700 TORAH
SCROLLS CONFISCATED BY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent, Israel, Sun, Oct 28, 2007
30. UKRAINE: UGLY FACE OF EMERGING EXTREMISM
Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine Magazine
Business Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
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1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO unanimously passed on
November 1 a resolution entitled "Remembrance of the Victims of the Great
Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine", the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry reported on Thursday.
The 34th UNESCO General Conference noted that in the former Soviet Union,
millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and
policies of the totalitarian regime.
The documents reads the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor)
took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national
tragedy for the Ukrainian people.
The resolution of the UNESCO General Conference presented sympathy to the
victims of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and victims of famines
that also took place in Russia, Kazakhstan and other regions of the former
USSR, the Ukrainian press service said.
The resolution was drafted by Ukraine in co-authorship with other 45 member
states of UNESCO. According to a number of Ukrainian media, the word
"genocide" was removed from the final text of the resolution.
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2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko welcomes yesterday's resolution by
UNESCO to honor the victims of Ukraine's Great Famine of 1932-1933.
"This resolution shows that the job which has been done by Ukraine, [its]
political forces and diplomats has been recognized in 193 countries of the
world," he said on Friday in an interview with "Dzerkalo Tyzhnya," "Silski
Visti," "Ukrayina Moloda" and "Fakty."
"The international community has for the first time made such a large-scale
consolidated decision regarding the recognition of the Great Famine of
1932-1933."
The president expressed confidence Ukraine's Soviet-era famine would one
day be recognized as genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
Speaking of Ukraine's efforts to persuade parliaments around the world to
pass such resolutions, Yushchenko said: "We deliver dozens of speeches,
the Memory Institute holds dozens of conferences and there is no parliament
in the world which has not received my message regarding the recognition
of the Holodomor as genocide."
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/data/1_20274.html
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3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO has called on the member-
countries of the organization to honor the memories of the victims of the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this
in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
According to the statement, the 34th session of the General Conference of
UNESCO adopted a resolution on honoring the memories of the victims of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine on November 1.
According to the resolution, the tragedy of the famine should be a warning
to the present and future generations to abide by democratic values, human
rights, and the law.
It expresses condolences to the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine
as well as the victims of the famines that occurred in Russia, Kazakhstan,
and other former Soviet republics.
Moreover, the General Conference welcomed the initiative of Ukraine to
organize the commemorations on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine and encouraged UNESCO member-states
to take part in those events.
UNESCO also requests that its director-general promote awareness of
remembrance of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine by incorporating this
knowledge into the educational programs aimed at inculcating the lessons
of this tragic event in future generations.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Foreign Affairs Ministry presented
the draft of the resolution on infirming member-states of UNESCO about the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4.
President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25.
Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates.
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4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933"
International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor
1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held
in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through
Thursday, December 6, 2007.
The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the
exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production
and artistic director.
The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature
four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for
seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.
Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:
[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky,
Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko,
Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko,
Acting Chief, and by the
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan
Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Trustee.
The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created
set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor
in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other
historical information.
The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large
number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and
artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized
by the Ukraine 3000 Fund. People attending the exhibition will be
able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of
over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about
the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government
documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.
The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display
over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Artists." The original artworks will include oil on
canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials.
Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first
years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects
as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will
include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in
2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a
program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition
Art Collection.
High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have
some Holodomor works on display. Movies and documentaries
will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display. The exhibition will
be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is
open to the public.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international
community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in
Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by
the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and
public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC): http://www.usubc.com
========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008
AS YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has proclaimed 2008 as the
year of memory of the Holodomor 1932-33 victims.
The President announced this in Kharkiv when speaking at the second
meeting of the Coordination council for preparation of events on the 75th
anniversary of the Holodomor 1932-33.
"The next year is proclaimed as the year of immortalizing memory of victims
of the Holodomor 1932-33," told the President.
Yuschenko expressed confidence in that 2008 Kyiv and Kharkiv will build
new memorials devoted to the 75th anniversary of the tragedy will, the first
national museum of the Holodomor will be commissioned and many historical
works on this issue will appear.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, when speaking in Kharkiv Yuschenko
criticized representatives of different layers of power for insufficient
work on immortalizing memory of the Holodomor 1932-33.
In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the
genocide of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of
victims of famines and political repressions.
In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7 million people.
Moreover, according to information from different historians, there were
famines in 1921-23 and 1946-1947.
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6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
KYIV - On October 30 the National congress of the Republic of Ecuador
adopted a resolution by which the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was
recognized as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. Chairman of the
subcommittee on interparliamentary relations, bilateral and multilateral
relations of the foreign affairs Committee of the VRU of the fifth
convocation Oksana Bilozir informed.
As it is noted in the statement, the parliament of Ecuador also shows
solidarity with the Ukrainian people, noted that following of principles of
justice, freedom, democracy and mutual respect, which must be the basis in
the relations between the countries in order such phenomena as Holodomor
in Ukraine doesn't repeat again.
Ecuador is the second country after Peru, the parliament of which recognized
Holodomor in Ukraine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. 11
countries have already recognized Holodomor in Ukraine.
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LINK: http://en.for-ua.com/news/2007/10/31/132042.html
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7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
KYIV - Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
urged the world community during the 62nd session of the UN General
Assembly to endorse a resolution introducing an international day
commemorating the victims of genocide, the ministry's press service has
reported.
He raised the issue on the need for international recognition of Ukraine's
famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian people. Khandohiy also
expressed hope that the UN "as a collective and moral voice of the world
community and an effective instrument for observing human rights and
freedoms" would condemn the tragedy the Ukrainian people suffered in
1932-1933.
Furthermore, he stressed the need to step up the international legal
mechanisms and political instruments aimed at preventing the spread of
weapons of mass destruction.
Khandohiy said that frozen conflicts in GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan
and Moldova) countries threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the region's states, and stressed the importance of taking practical
steps, including at the UN, to settle them.
Commenting on the Kosovo problem, he said that in order to resolve the
situation, all parties should refrain from acting unilaterally to resolve
the problem, not involving the UN.
Khandohiy said that hasty actions in resolving the Kosovo issue might
destabilize the situation in the Balkans and have a negative effect on the
whole system of international relations.
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NOTE: Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
========================================================
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
KYIV - Libya intends to consider the issue of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine at a session of the Libyan General People's Congress. The press
service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this in a
statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
According to the statement, the Secretary of the Libyan General People's
Committee for Foreign Liaison & International Cooperation, Suleiman
al-Shehoumi, promised during a meeting with Ukraine's Ambassador to Libya
Hennadii Latyi on Wednesday, October 24, to put the issue to a debate in the
General People's Congress.
The Ukrainian ambassador drew attention to the importance of informing the
international community about the tragedy suffered by the Ukrainian people
as a result of the 1932-1933 famine and expressed the hope that member-
countries of UNESCO will support the relevant resolution that Ukraine
proposed for consideration at a general conference of UNESCO.
Latyi also stressed the importance of the closeness of the two countries'
positions on international politics as well as the constructiveness of
Ukrainian-Libyan cooperation within international organizations.
They also paid significant attention to development of Ukrainian-Libyan
cooperation and the need to quickly sign several important bilateral
agreements.
The Ukrainian ambassador also informed Shehoumi about the problems
that Ukrainian citizens working in Libya are encountering.
Shehoumi assured Latyi that the leadership of the Libyan People's Congress
would facilitate solution of the problems connected with the work of
Ukrainian citizens in Libya.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine has called on UNESCO
member-countries to support its resolution entitled "On Honoring the
Memory of the Victims of the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine."
President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25. [Actually it is Saturday, November 24th]
Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates. Moreover, according to several
historians, there were famines in Ukraine in the 1921-1923 and 1946-1947
periods.
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9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko is expected to ask Israel to recognize
the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 1930s by their communist
government when he visits here in about two weeks, sources said.
Israel is not expected to accede to the request, which has won the support
of Jewish community leaders in Ukraine, so as not to damage its relationship
with Vladimir Putin's government at a sensitive time.
Millions of Ukrainians died of hunger from 1931 to 1932 following the
collectivization of farming in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin. Famine was
particularly severe in Ukraine, which was a regional breadbasket and was
strongly opposed to the move.
At the same time the communist government attempted to wipe out Ukrainian
intelligentsia and nationalists, with estimations of the number of victims
ranging from a million and a half to 10 million. Advertisement
A number of countries, including the United States, have recognized these
acts as genocide, however, Russia vigorously rejects this definition,
preferring to use the term "tragedy."
Members of the Jewish community in Ukraine say Yushchenko also intends
to present a proposal in the parliament in Kiev to recognize the suffering
of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and the suffering of the Ukrainian
people.
The chairman of the General Council of Jewish organizations, Joseph Zisels,
who met with Yushchenko last Monday, said yesterday: "Israelis understand
more than anyone what genocide is and Yushchenko therefore expects that
Israelis will also recognize the Ukrainian genocide. We don't think it is
the same as the Holocaust, but it is also a terrible tragedy with seven or
eight million murdered."
Last week Yushchenko signed a presidential order to return to the Jewish
community 700 Torah scrolls that were confiscated from the community by
the communists.
The move is believed to be an attempt to soften up Jewish and Israeli public
opinion ahead of his visit. He is expected to bring some of the scrolls to
the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem during his visit.
An attempt to organize a visit by Yushchenko to Israel was made about six
months ago by Rabbi Moshe Azman, Ukraine's Chabad rabbi, and Mordechai
Tzivin, an Israeli attorney active in international Jewish causes.
But Israeli government officials postponed the visit, among other reasons
because Yushchenko wanted to be in Israel on Holocaust Day and to
participate in a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
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LINK: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917798.html
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10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international community
to condemn the crimes committed by the Stalin regime. Yuschenko made the
call at a meeting on perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine the major
terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by the international
community. It is the duty of all countries, political and public forces that
accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
He expressed compassion for all the peoples who were part of the former
USSR and suffered losses as a result of the policies of the Stalin regime.
Yuschenko called on all the former republics of the USSR to join forces to
establish the actual scale of the crimes of the Stalin regime.
'We are obliged to clear our land of all totalitarian signs and monuments to
criminals who were involved in the destruction of millions of Ukrainians,'
Yuschenko said in his speech at the meeting.
He welcomed the Kyiv municipal council's decision to name one of the streets
in Kyiv after Lesia Kurbas, who was a victim of a totalitarian regime.
Yuschenko believes that perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression is sacred. 'Stalinism destroyed Ukraine with special thoroughness
and in special dimensions. These losses are definitely irreparable.
Systematic destruction of Ukraine-hood was perpetrated on our land,'
Yuschenko said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko welcomed the General
Conference of UNESCO's resolution that calls on the member-countries of the
organization to honor the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine.
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11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko is calling on Romania's parliamentary
authorities to assist in the recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as
genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
The Presidential press service announced this in a statement, a copy of
which Ukrainian News has obtained. According to the statement, Tuesday
Yuschenko met Nicolae Vacaroiu President of the Senate of Romania, the upper
house of the Romanian Parliament, and Bogdan Olteanu president of the
Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Romanian Parliament.
At the meeting the sides discussed Ukraine's domestic political situation,
interparliamentary cooperation, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of
Ukraine. Besides, the talkers discussed collaboration in the national
minorities issues.
Yuschenko expressed hope that the Romanian Parliament will be assisting,
within the scope of its competence, improvement of condition of the
Ukrainian national minority in Romania.
The President also called on the Romanian side to adjoin recognition of the
Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide against the Ukrainian nation. Yuschenko
invited heads of the Romanian Parliament to pay a visit to Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko left for Romania to attend a
meeting of the Yuschenko-Basescu Ukrainian-Romanian commission.
In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the genocide
of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of victims of famines
and political repressions. In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7
million people. Moreover, according to information from different historians,
there were famines in 1921-23 and 1946-47 in Ukraine.
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12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
MOSCOW - The famine in Ukraine in the 1930s was not genocide directed
exclusively against Ukrainians but was part of the then Soviet state's tough
policy towards all nationalities of the former Soviet Union, ombudsman in
Russia Vladimir Lukin said at a press conference at Interfax' main office
[Moscow] on Thursday.
"Attempts are being made to portray the great famine in Ukraine in the 1930s
as an exclusive action directed against Ukrainians, which is, of course,
absolutely untrue," he said.
"This [famine] was the toughest action against all Soviet people, Ukrainians
were not alone in suffering from it," Lukin added.
Earlier, UN coordinator in Kyiv Francis O'Donnell announced that the issue
of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, known as Holodomor, was a very
important problem for the entire international community.
More and more countries officially recognize Holodomor as genocide,
he told reporters in Kyiv.
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13. UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KYIV - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is critical of the opinion statements
made by Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin about the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers and the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine.
Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the ministry.
According to the report, the ministry said that provision of expert
summarization about the country's past and its inside political life does
not correspond to the established diplomatic practice.
'We would like to note that Ukrainian politicians and academic elite, as
well as the public community, are able to make judgments about the
historical and social phenomena of their nation without additional comments
which are based on ideological and stereotypical principles,' the report
reads.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requests Chernomyrdin to refrain
from statements and actions that can have a negative influence on the
development of good neighbor relations between Ukraine and Russia.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Chernomyrdin said that official
recognition of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers as WWII veterans
would negatively influence Ukraine-Russia relations.
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14. UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KIEV - Ukraine's Foreign Ministry dismissed statements by the Russian
ambassador about a Ukrainian WWII army and Soviet-era famine as being
against diplomacy.
In an interview with Russia's Vremya Novostei popular daily Friday, Viktor
Chernomyrdin spoke critically of the attempts to romanticize the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army (UPA), which has been said to cooperate with the Nazis in
WWII.
He also slammed President Viktor Yushchenko's initiative to prosecute those
who deny the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine known as Holodomor.
"Ukrainian political and scientific elite and the public can well qualify
historical events of their nation without any additional commentaries based
on ideological and stereotyped principles," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
said.
The UPA was formed in 1942 on the initiative of the Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). UPA operated mostly in western Ukraine,
historically opposed to Russian domination, and fought against the Soviet
Army.
UPA is known to have cooperated with the Nazis, even though at the end of
the war, it fought against them and the Soviet Army altogether.
In 2007, President Yushchenko signed a decree to celebrate the date of UPA
formation as a state holiday. He also awarded a title of the Hero of Ukraine
posthumously to UPA leader Roman Shukhevich.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071103/86547995.html
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Ukraine Monthly Macroeconomic Report From SigmaBleyzer: http://www.sigmableyzer.com/index.php?action=publications
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15. 'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD
FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
MOSCOW - Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is back in fashion in
Russia as the Kremlin condones history textbooks that honour the
Soviet leader (1878-1953) as renovator of the country. "Children, learn
to value Stalin," the Gazeta newspaper recently summed up the message
by the textbook's authors. Stalin, the synonym for state-ordered terror
and torture, still has his followers, especially among the communists.
However, even non-communists seem to long for someone like Stalin,
public opinion polls suggest. Historians and human rights activists
complain about an unprecedented misrepresentation of history and
accuse President Vladimir Putin of ignoring it.
"Many now present Stalin as an efficient manager, who did a good thing
with his collectivization, industrialization and the Second World War
victory," the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Human Rights,
80-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said.
This "dangerously flattering picture" ridiculed millions of innocent
victims of the regime, she said.
Russian human rights official Vladimir Lukin is deeply concerned that
one of the "country's most terrible and ruthless criminals is put on a
pedestal."
The Academic Education Society for the Arts recently approved two
books which were intended to turn pupils into "real patriots," Russian
media reported.
The historian Aleksandr Filippov in his book "A Modern History of
Russia: 1945-2006," has called Stalin "one of the USSR's most
successful leaders," whose repression helped to get the country out of
a crisis.
"The modernization of the country needed a responsible power system,"
the book says. "This is a scandal," individual scholars and teachers said.
The authors' collective around Filippov is trying to justify the mass
terror with hindsight and rehabilitate its perpetrators, they claim.
During a meeting with representatives of the Kremlin, the Education
Ministry and authors, historian Andrei Sakharov criticized the book as
a "serious methodical mistake."
"History follows the state's motto: everything that secures power must
also be good for the people," the director of the Institute for Russian
History said.
Stalin, who also determined the history of Germany before, during and
after Hitler's period in power, continues to be well regarded by many
Russians, according to a survey by polling firm WZIOM, which is close
to the government.
Almost half the Communists - second-largest power in the Russian
parliament - dream of a "new Stalin."
In the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of populist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky 23 per cent feel the same way, and 14 per cent of the
Kremlin's United Russia do so too. Only 40 per cent of those
questioned categorically rejected a return of Stalinism.
With the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution coming up on
November 7, which will be celebrated by thousands of communists,
leading members of the opposition have compared the situation in
Russia with that of 1917.
"Our present-day parliament has no rights, just like back then under
the tsar," Kremlin critic and former chess world champion Garry
Kasparov said.
In addition, there was corruption, bureaucracy, a lack of internal
mechanisms for a modernization of the country, and political solitude,
Jablonko opposition party leader Grigori Yavlinski said.
Human rights organizations such as Memorial will this year hold a
number of commemorative events for the millions of victims of the so-
called Great Terror under Stalin 70 years ago.
Putin has also distanced himself from the cruelties. However, critics
have accused the former civil service head of not fighting hard enough
for a public condemnation of the crimes.
The Russian president has so far not reacted to calls for a state- run
commemorative and research centre for the victims of Stalin's terror
regime.
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LINK: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/135533.html
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16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
KYIV - The Kyiv city planning council has approved design of the memorial
complex to the victims of 1932-1933 Famine on 15A Sichnevoho Povstannia
Street in Pecherskyi district of the capital. Kyiv chief architect Vasyl
Prysiazhniuk disclosed this at a meeting of the council.
The project was worked out by Project Systems Company. Prysiazhniuk
marked it is necessary to specify proportions of a campanile, condition of
elements of the complex and elements of art features.
The concept of the memorial complex foresees construction of 26-meter-high
campanile, roads of four granite slabs with two angels on the sides, which
would lead to a small round lake, where it is planned to locate museum to
Famine victims.
The campanile and the museum will be made in the style of left Dnipro River
architecture. There will be a circle of 24 stones around the campanile with
internal paintings dedicated to bible and four mosaics.
Each of the stones will bear 1,000 spikelets, which symbolize the number of
Ukrainian victims. The campanile will be opened letting each person to light
candle in memory of the tragedy.
According to representative of the customer, the approximate cost of the
project will amount to over UAH 80 million [approx. $16 million.]
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the city council of Kyiv had approved
architectural feasibility study regarding placement of the monument to
American historian, analyst of Famine 1932-1933 in Ukraine James Mace in the
Sichnevoho Povstannia Street, Pecherskyi District of Kyiv. According to
various estimates, about 3-7 million people died during the 1932-1933 famine
in Ukraine.
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17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
To ensure adequate organization and conduct of events related to the Day
of Memory for the victims of Holodomor on November 24, 2007, I hereby
decree:
1. To set up an Organizing committee to prepare and mark in 2007 the Day
of Memory for the Holodomors victims. To appoint Ivan Vasiunyk, first
deputy head of presidential secretariat, and Dmytro Tabachnyk, Vice-Premier
of Ukraine, co-heads of the Organizing committee.
Within three days, the Organizing committee co-heads are to agree with the
prime minister their proposals on the Organizing committee line-up.
2. The Organizing committee must approve within one week a plan of
events to be held to prepare for and commemorate in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the victims of Holodomors.
3. A one-minute silence shall be observed at 16.00 on November 24, 2007
to remember the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, by stopping
the work of central and local executive bodies, industrial companies,
institutions and organizations (except the organizations where stoppages of
work are technologically excluded). All public and private vehicles in
cities and towns shall stop and blow their horns for one minute.
The Ukrainian state flags on the territory of the country shall be lowered
to half mast on November 24, 2007. Entertainment events in concert halls,
on radio and TV must be restricted.
4. The Council of Ministers of the Crimean Autonomous Republic, the state
administrations of the Kyiv oblast and cities Kyiv and Sevastopol are to lay
mourning wreaths made from rye and wheat ears at the graves of Holodomor
victims and remember them by observing a minute of silence, candle lighting,
holding remembrance events and other mourning events.
5. The Cabinet of Ministers shall:
- jointly with the Kyiv city administration accelerate designing and
erecting in Kyin the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors in Ukraine;
- allot funding in the finalized 2008 budget for the Memorial construction
and research on the history of Holodomors by the Ukrainian Institute of the
National Memory;
- accelerate designing and erecting a monument to the 1932-1933 Holodomor
victims in Washington, DC as well as similar monuments and remembrance
plaques in other countries.
6. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall:
- oblige its foreign missions to hold the events to mark in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the Holodomor victims, inviting foreign diplomats stationed in
Ukraine to participate in commemoration events inside the country;
- render any assistance to the International Coordinating Committee of the
World Ukrainian Congress in preparing and conducting by public diaspora
organizations the events to commemorate the Holodomor victims.
7. The State Committee on television and radio broadcasting shall provide
wide coverage of events held in preparation and remembrance in Ukraine
and worldwide of the Day of Memory for the Holodomors victims.
8. The decree comes into force on publication.
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
November 2, 2007
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/6934.html
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18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all Australian capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
PERTH ---------
Nov 17 - opening of "Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was
Then and This is Now" - Holodomor Exhibition at the Perth Town Hall.
Nov 24 - Combined Panachyda at the UOAC (followed by a showing of the
"Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was Then and This is Now"
Holodomor Exhibition in the UOAC church hall...
VICTORIA ----------
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide - Famine 1932-1933
Ukraine Remembers the World Acknowledges
Association of Ukrainians in Victoria appeals to all to commemorate
and acknowledge the 75th Anniversary of the Great Famine - Genocide
1932-1933.
Mourning Service & Requiem Concert of Religious Songs
Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.; Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
of Sts. Peter & Paul, 35 Canning Street, North Melbourne
NEW SOUTH WALES -----
WE MUST NOT FORGET THE HOLODOMOR OF 1932-1933
Programme of the NSW/Sydney/ Observance on Saturday December 1st,
10.00am Solemn Panachyda - Requiem Ecumenical Service St. Mary's
Cathedral (45 min)
Encompassing Ecumenical Prayer service with Homily, and Declaration
of Commencement of the Year of Holodomor 32-by the Chair of the
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, AFUO / SUOA.
10.50 am March through Hyde Park ( a distance of less than 200 m)
11.00 am Public Rally in Hyde Park at Archibald Fountain
Addresses by public figures, reminiscences of Holodomor survivors,
expressions of solidarity
12.00 pm Conclusion of Rally , viewing of Exhibition
4.00 pm All Exhibition stands and platforms to be removed
SOUTH AUSTRALIA ----------
November 24, 2007, Program to be available soon.
Full National program will shortly be available on www.ozeukes.com.
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19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance
National Committee to Commemorate the
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, November 2, 2007
NEW YORK - One of the darkest pages in Ukraine's history is the
Genocide of 1932-33, during which up to 10 million innocent victims
were starved to death through a deliberate Soviet policy to crush the
nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry.
The Ukrainian Genocide ranks among the worst cases of man's
inhumanity towards man, and is perhaps the most extreme example
of the use of food as a weapon.
Starting Point: St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church
(7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
March begins at 11:45AM, Friday, November 17, 2007
Final Destination: St. Patrick's Cathedral
Solemn Requiem Service at 2PM
To commence the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor!
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th 2007, NEW YORK CITY
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NOTE: For further information contact Tamara Olexy at ucca@ucca.org.
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20. UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
ROME, Italy - An international conference entitled, "The Ukrainian
Holodomor and the Denial of Genocides, is being held in Rome, Italy
on Friday, November 9, 2007.
PROGRAM:
9:30: Welcoming and opening addresses
10:00: First session (Chair: prof. Eric Terzuolo, JCU)
-- Prof. Taner Akçam (University of Minnesota)
Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
-- Prof. Federigo Argentieri (John Cabot University)
Hiding, Denying, Minimizing – The Slow and Difficult
Truth About the Ukrainian Famine
-- Dr Frediano Sessi (independent author)
La negazione della Shoah (in Italian)
Discussant: Dr Dario Fertilio, („Corriere della Sera”), Milan
13:15 Lunch break
15:00: Second session (Chair: Prof. F.Argentieri)
-- Prof. Roman Serbyn, (Université du Québec a Montréal)
Is there a "Smoking Gun” for the Holodomor?
-- Prof. Georgiy Kasianov (Kyïv-Mohyla Academy),
The Great Famine of 1932-33: Academia and Politics
-- Dr. Mykola Ryabchuk, (co-editor of Krytyka, Kyïv)
Holodomor, Politics of Memory and Political Infighting
in Contemporary Ukraine
Discussant: Prof. Olena Ponomareva, La Sapienza (in Italian)
17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 Concluding Round Table Discussion, chaired by Ambassador
Luigi Vittorio Ferraris, President of AISSECO
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21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
President Yushchenko announced last week his intention to push for laws
criminalising the denial of the Ukrainian Holodomor terror famine of the
1930s. This would be the latest step initiated by Yushchenko in addressing
the crimes of the Soviet era, but it also threatens to infringe on freedom
of speech
Since becoming Ukraine's third president in 2005, Viktor Yushchenko has
made a fresh appraisal of the country's history and the crimes of the
Communist regime one of his broad policy objectives.
This has seen previously muted remembrance services enter the national
consciousness and led to the benchmark November 2006 parliamentary vote
which saw lawmakers overwhelmingly support a bill to recognise the famine
as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The next step, it seems, is to be the introduction of legislation making it
a criminal offense to cast doubt on this version of events.
During an official visit to Kharkiv last week, President Yushchenko declared
his intention, as soon as the new parliament convenes, to call for the
introduction of laws making it a crime to deny the 1932-33 famine.
A EUROPEAN TREAD
Such legislation would be very much in line with the general trend towards
genocide denial laws already in place in many European Union member states.
These existing laws currently focus on denial of the Holocaust, or genocide
of European Jewry during WWII. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have all made
denying the Holocaust a criminal offense punishable by anything from fines
to serious prison time.
Other forgotten or unrecognised genocides of the 20th century are also
coming up for reappraisal, not least the murder of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War.
A preliminary vote by the American House of Representatives earlier this
month branding the deaths an act of genocide provoked international
political repercussions that are now threatening to impact on the precarious
peace of northern Iraq. A similar vote in France in 2006 led to a major
diplomatic row between the two countries.
FEARS OVER ALIENATING RUSSIA
Given the sensitivity to charges of crimes against humanity in today's
Russia, the self-appointed successor state of the Soviet Union, many
Western nations are cautious about offering any official acknowledgement
of the Holodomor.
Numerous resolutions have been passed sympathetic to the claims of
genocide, but international legislation recognising the Holodomor remains
largely elusive.
President Yushchenko has called on foreign governments to recognise it as
genocide in time for the beginning this November of a year of memorial
events to mark the 75th anniversary of the tragedy, but few appear ready to
do so.
Denial laws similar to those in place across the EU governing denial of the
Jewish Holocaust could only be introduced once official recognition for
Ukraine's Holodomor has been granted.
However, with recognition within Ukraine already achieved in November
2006, there are no legal constraints which could act as barriers to the
introduction of denial laws domestically.
REOPENING THE DEBATE?
In light of the highly charged political debate surrounding the Ukrainian
Holodomor, it will not be long before any new denial legislation is put to
the test.
Apologists for the Soviet regime have repeatedly claimed that the famine,
while acknowledged as a real historical event, was in fact a product of a
number of factors and was not a systematic genocide perpetrated specifically
against the Ukrainian people.
With support in Ukraine relatively high for pro-Russian politicians and
resistance to attacks on the Soviet past still robust, there will likely be
no shortage of activists and academics prepared to test any new denial laws
by contradicting the official government line over the Holodomor publicly.
Whereas Holocaust denial is largely the preserve of minority extremist
groups in most Western countries, millions of Ukrainians still refuse to
adopt the official government position that the Soviet authorities willfully
ordered the destruction of the Ukrainian population. The size of this
constituency would appear to pave the way for large scale opposition to the
plan.
The irony is that any new laws will doubtless be attacked as infringements
on Ukraine's new-found freedoms of speech by the same political forces
which previously fought to curtail press and public freedoms.
Advocacy groups throughout the Muslim world have successfully attacked
Western perceptions regarding freedom of speech by pointing out the
contradictions inherent in Europe's widespread Holocaust denial laws, and
there is every reason to believe that Kremlin loyalists in Ukraine and
across the former Soviet Union would use any new Holodomor denial
legislation to undermine the moral stance of the pro-democracy camp.
Sergiy Ilyin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Communist Party in Donetsk,
slammed the idea of Holodomor denial laws, commenting, "Yushchenko has
no right to impose his way of thinking on entire nations. There was famine
but to see the hand of Moscow in engineering it is wrong.
"Genocide cannot be recognised in this way. If governments can do this, then
the policy of the United States towards the indigenous American Indian
population can equally be labeled an act of genocide."
LEGAL COMMUNITY HESITANT
Lawyers are also unsure over the plans to introduce anti-denial legislation.
Sergei Konnov, the Senior Partner at Kyiv's Konnov & Sozanovsky law firm,
comments, "If the President wants everyone in Ukraine to have the same
opinion about the Holodomor then he should try to educate people about the
historic facts, but not punish those who do not agree that it was the result
of Moscow policy against Ukraine.
"By all means explain the facts to anyone in doubt but don't send them to
court. Criminalising denial of the Holodomor would demonstrate that Ukraine
is still not ready to be a truly civilised country. Or at least its leaders
are not."
Konnov's colleague Ronald G. Marks adds, "In a democracy, the people
'hold the stick', and in some countries they have used it to 'beat' the
politicians into passing anti-holocaust denial laws.
"I can't imagine a democracy in which the president would force the
population into living under such a law, where there is no demonstrable
evidence that a compelling majority have demanded such a restriction on
civil liberty."
Beyond the argument about the need for Holodomor denial legislation is the
issue of priorities, and there is a further debate about how urgent the
issue is given the very real practical problems facing the country.
Alex Frishberg of Frishberg & Partners attorneys summed up this sentiment,
commenting, "Ukraine's President should be focusing on economic and
corruption issues (particularly in the judicial sphere) rather than seeking
to appease the nationalists with a populist measure like this.
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LINK: http://www.businessukraine.com.ua/yushchenko-s-push-for-a-denial
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22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
KYIV - In February 2008 the residents of Kherson oblast will become widely
acquainted with the latest materials on the Holodomor tragedy of 1932-33.
This announcement was made by the governor of Kherson oblast Borys
Sylienkov, as he commented on the Oct. 24 session of the Coordinating
Council, which has been tasked with preparing measures dedicated to the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Liga reports.
Sylienkov said that the work of the Coordinating Council, created by
presidential decree on March 14, 2007, has enabled researchers to reveal the
whole truth about the Holodomor of 1932-33, which "raged in Kherson region
too.
Ukrainian society must consolidate around its own history," said the
governor, who added that "for 75 years the Communist Party concealed the
tragic truth and spread propaganda that there was no Holodomor in our
region.
Thanks to the president's position, confirmation of tens of thousands of
deaths as a result of the genocide of 1932-33 was found in the archives.
Many unmarked graves were discovered.
We have published information about the Holodomor in the Kherson lands
based on evidence provided by eyewitnesses and disseminated it among
local communities," the governor of Kherson oblast emphasized.
According to Sylienkov, the truth about the events connected to the
Holodomor must be conveyed first and foremost to the communities of
southern and eastern Ukraine.
"Following in the footsteps of historians and researchers in Kharkiv oblast,
the residents of Kherson oblast will be widely familiarized with materials
on the study of the Holodomor of 1932-33," he summarized.
On Oct. 23 President Yushchenko arrived on a working visit to Kharkiv
oblast, where he chaired a session of the Coordinating Council to prepare
measures dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor.
The main goal of the council is to draft proposals for coordinating tributes
to the Holodomor victims, which will be organized by the Ukrainian
government, and academic and social institutions.
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/190507/
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23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
BRUSSELS - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he was going to
propose a bill criminalising the denial of the Holodomor and Holocaust,
instructing Ukraine's central and local authorities to hold events on
November 24, 2007 to honour the victims of the Soviet-era famine and mark
its 75th anniversary, according to a press statement from the Mission of
Ukraine to the EU, release
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Ще одна підбірка з Action Ukraine
22. INTERNATIONAL 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION,
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933, TO BE HELD IN KYIV, AT UKRAINIAN
HOUSE FROM TUESDAY, NOV 20 TO THURSDAY, DEC 6
KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933"
International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor
1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held
in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through
Thursday, December 6, 2007.
The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the
exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production
and artistic director.
The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature
four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for
seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.
Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:
[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky,
Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko,
Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko,
Acting Chief, and by the
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan
Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Founder and Trustee.
The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created
set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor
in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other
historical information.
The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large
number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and
artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized
by the Ukraine 3000 Fund. People attending the exhibition will be
able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of
over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about
the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government
documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.
The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display
over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Artists." The original artworks will include oil on
canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials.
Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first
years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects
as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will
include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in
2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a
program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition
Art Collection.
High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have
some Holodomor works on display. Movies and documentaries
will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display. The exhibition will
be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is
open to the public.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international
community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in
Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by
the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and
public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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23. NOT TOO LATE: THREE MESSAGES IN UNESCO
RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING HOLODOMOR VICTIMS
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest #33
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 6, 2007
On Nov. 1, 2007, the 34th General Conference of UNESCO, consisting of
193 countries, unanimously adopted the resolution "Remembrance of
Victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine."
Recalling the 1932-33 Holodomor, which claimed millions of innocent
Ukrainian lives, the UNESCO General Conference stated that the Holodomor
tragedy, caused by the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian
Stalinist regime, should be a warning to the present and future generations
with the goal of upholding democratic values, human rights, and rule of law.
The Ukrainian media instantly noted that the word "genocide" is missing from
the text of the resolution. It is common knowledge that Ukraine insists that
the 1932-33 Holodomor be recognized worldwide as genocide of the Ukrainian
people.
During a press conference held by President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine,
attended by journalists from five Ukrainian print publications, The Day's
correspondent asked the Ukrainian head of state to comment on the UNESCO
resolution and say whether he thinks it is in line with the Ukrainian vision
of the tragic events that occurred 75 years ago.
PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
"It is not too late. We must understand that informing the entire world
about the tragedy - the great famine of 1932-33 - is not a matter of one
calendar year. We should understand clearly that this issue entails very
many challenges that the Ukrainian nation is facing.
What happened yesterday (Nov. 1. - Ed.) in fact proves that the work that
Ukraine and its political forces and diplomacy have done in the past two
years has been duly recognized by 193 countries that passed a unanimous
decision yesterday. \
"It is very important for me that for the first time the world community has
passed such a high- level joint decision on recognizing the Great Famine of
1932-33.
This is the most important victory of yesterday. Other, more specific,
details of this tragedy are our future work. Excuse me, but if it took our
society 73 years to have a parliament that recognizes this as the Holodomor,
can we reproach the world?
"For 73 years we were afraid to say clearly that this is so, but now are
demanding that 193 countries do what the nation itself, Ukrainians
themselves, the leaders themselves did not have enough courage to do.
"I think we have received three messages.
[1] First, we have proved to the world that this is not an exclusive tragedy
of the Ukrainian nation: this is a tragic page that should be known and
commemorated throughout the world.
[2] Second, it is significant that the UNESCO General Conference is also
marking the 75th anniversary of this tragedy.
[3] Third, it is important that with this resolution UNESCO has recommended
that the signatory countries make sure that this course of history, this
truth, will be part of curricula and educational programs in every country
of the world so that they will better understand the tragic nature of this
event in Ukraine.
"I think these are the three strongest messages of which we can be proud.
For, above all, this is about our tragic history and the ideas that we would
like the world to accept."
PROFESSOR STANISLAV KULCHYTSKY
We requested a comment from our regular contributor Stanislav Kulchytsky,
whose book "Why Did He Exterminate Us? Stalin and the Ukrainian \
Holodomor" was published this year in The Day's Library Series.
"Online publications reacted to this event on the day it took place. Ukraine's
Internet space is almost entirely filled with Russian mass media, so the
headlines typically said, 'UNESCO fails to recognize the 1932-33 famine as
genocide.' So The Day's expert should comment on both the event and the
first reactions to it.
"This event was predictable. The international community expressed sympathy
with the Ukrainian people because this tragedy is now known to a certain
number of people who are shaping public opinion in every country.
"This is a major achievement for our diplomats, journalists, statesmen, and
academics. This is another step in understanding the tragic history of our
people by those who until very recently could not even find Ukraine on a
map.
"Following standard procedure, our diplomats drew up a draft UNESCO
resolution. The actual resolution included the most important provision of
the draft: an appeal to UNESCO member states to disseminate information
about the Holodomor by including it in educational and research programs so
that the generations to come will learn the lessons of this tragedy.
"It is also important that the recommended appeal was in the form of a
UNESCO resolution.
"In 2003 the UN marked the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor by adopting a
lower-status document - a joint statement by a group of countries. The
Ukrainian delegation's attempts to grant the document resolution status were
thwarted at the time.
"Very soon, on the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Ukrainian diplomats
will again be urging the UN to recognize it as an act of genocide.
"We have a year during which the president of Ukraine intends to proclaim a
year in honor of the memory of Holodomor victims. I think we will do a lot
during that year to convey the magnitude of this tragedy to the Ukrainian
public and people in other countries.
Will these efforts be enough to convince Russian politicians and ordinary
people that the 1932-33 famine in the Soviet Union had a qualitatively
different form - the Holodomor - in Ukraine? I doubt it, and not because we
will be insufficiently convincing.
So far Russia and a large number of Ukrainians who support the Party of
Regions do not want to enter into a dialogue on this issue. This
unwillingness is linked with today's circumstances, not with a different
viewpoint on the events of the 1930s. This is the main obstacle.
"What should be done in this situation? That which the UNESCO conference
unanimously advised us in the Holodomor resolution: to disseminate
information on the Holodomor by making it part of educational and research
programs.
"If the UN fails to recognize the Holodomor as genocide in 2008, which is
quite possible because of Russia's negative position, we will go on working.
"All of us, in both Ukraine and Russia, must learn from the lessons of the
past. The past must not ruin our future, the lives of our children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren."
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/190928/
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24. GERMANY READY TO ASSIST IN DELIVERING TO
ITS CITIZENS INFORMATION ABOUT 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 6, 2007
KYIV - Germany is ready to assist in delivering information about the
1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine to its citizens.
Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, which referred to a meeting between First Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko and Minister of State
of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany Gernot Erler in
Germany.
According to the report, the officials agreed on the German ministry's
assistance in the conduct of joint measures at parliamentary, academic
and non-governmental institutions with the aim of delivering objective
information about the 1932-1933 Famine to the public.
Additionally, the officials discussed the process of building a
parliamentary majority and the new government in Ukraine, Ukraine's
entry to the European Union and NATO, bilateral relations.
Erler indicated hope for the soonest appointment of the Ukrainian
government and continuation of active cooperation in the areas
prioritized by both sides.
He further emphasized on Germany's readiness to deepen bilateral
dialogue in implementation of Ukraine's key foreign policy priorities.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on November 1, the 34th session
of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution on
commentating the victims of the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry presented the draft of the resolution on
infirming member-states of UNESCO about the Holodomor of 1932-33
in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4.
President Viktor Yuschenko declared 2008 as the year of commemoration
of the Holodomor victims. The Ukrainian parliament declared the
Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 24. Between 3 million and 7 million people died
during the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine, according to various estimates.
Moreover, some historians are saying there were famines in Ukraine in
1921-1923 and 1946-1947.
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LINK: http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/78297.html
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25. HOLODOMOR: WAS IT ETHNOCIDE?
OPINION & ANALYSIS: By Andrei Marchukov, PhD (History),
Staff Researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Russian History.
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, October 16, 2007
MOSCOW - The Soviet famine of 1932-33 was an act of genocide against
Ukrainians. Kiev has been forcing this point on the world, the United
Nations and Moscow for several years now, in a vast and aggressive
campaign.
The Famine (Holodomor, in Ukrainian) is an all-pervading ideological
concept, a tool of public indoctrination. It is not only a tribute to the
victims' memory but also a pressing political demonstration by present-day
Ukrainian leaders, spearheaded against Russia as much as against the
communist past.
The matter returned to the United Nations on October 15, when Ukraine
submitted to a UNESCO conference a resolution demanding the greatest
possible information about the Great Famine. In fact, this information is
not withheld, even though the world does not regard the Famine as a
deliberate genocidal act.
While fully recognizing the Ukrainian tragedy, there is no explicit proof
that the famine was provoked by the Kremlin and intended to exterminate the
Ukrainian nation.
The holodomor concept first arose amongst the Ukrainian Diaspora. Many
books and press publications appeared in the West in the 1940s-70s
describing the Famine as a Kremlin plot to kill off Ukrainians and undermine
the survivors' spirit. Public attention to the holodomor skyrocketed in the
1980s.
This was the time when President Ronald Reagan was referring to the U.S.S.R.
as the Evil Empire. Ukrainian emigres added fuel to the fire with their
reminiscences and analyses of the holodomor.
In 1984, the U.S. Congress established an ad hoc commission to investigate
the causes of the Great Famine in Ukraine in 1932-33. Its 1988 Report to
Congress described the famine as "man-made" and denied any causal
connection with drought.
"Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians
in 1932-1933," the report says. Perestroika, with its outspoken spirit,
brought the concept to Ukraine. Mourning the millions starved to death went
hand-in-hand with wrathful denunciations of genocide.
Today's propaganda aims to make the holodomor part of the Ukrainian
world-view. President Viktor Yushchenko called on politicians of his
generation to "preserve historical memory and spare no efforts to make the
world qualify the Famine of 1932-33 as genocidal".
Why is such sensation whipped up over bygones? On the one hand, Ukrainian
propaganda has found a satanic enemy, the epitome of Absolute Evil, and is
now out to develop a guilt complex in Russians to make them feel morally and
materially responsible for the tragedy.
On the other hand, it seeks to make Ukrainians feel like innocent victims,
and spread this assumption worldwide. Tellingly, Ukrainian leaders are ever
more frequently referring to the Famine as the "Ukrainian Holocaust" - thus
putting the U.S.S.R. on a par with Nazi Germany.
Cardinal Lubomir Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church,
concisely described the goal of the campaign: "Memory of the holodomor is
what our nation shall stand on." Words of equal aptitude belong to former
President Leonid Kuchma: "Ukrainian national consolidation has a long way
to travel yet. We have made Ukraine. Now is the time to make Ukrainians."
"Making Ukrainians" implies a new national ethic and mentality, with the
idea of Ukrainians and Russians as two nations apart. What several Ukrainian
generations firmly believed in has been turned on its head.
The young regard their country's recent past as a time of colonialism, when
Ukrainians were ruthlessly exterminated. It is hard to find a more graphic
example than the Famine.
Was it really genocide or ethnocide against Ukrainians? The U.S.S.R. owed
the terrible famine of 1932-33 to agricultural collectivization.
The rapid creation of a thoroughly new type of farming went together with
the cruel dispossession of well-to-do farmers, so-called "kulaks". Peasant
resistance inevitably followed.
Bloated grain procurement quotas envisaged total confiscations-seed, food
and fodder grain. The 1932 quota for Ukraine was 400 million poods, or 6.4
million metric tons, but even the severest possible confiscations brought
only 261 million poods, so extra procurements were launched, with searches,
ruinous fines-and firing squads. Peasants were dying of starvation as early
as October 1932, and the famine went on up to the next year's end.
Those two years saw 2.9-3.5 million deaths from starvation in Ukraine alone,
according to various estimates. Yet it was not ethnocide proper.
Registry office statistics for 1933 show death rates in urban localities no
higher than average, in contrast to an exorbitant death toll in the
countryside not only in Ukraine but all over the Soviet Union. People were
doomed not on the grounds of ethnicity, but merely because they lived in
rural areas.
Grain shortages were exacerbated by a rapid increase of the urban
population. It swelled by 12.4 million nationwide in the four years 1929-32,
and by 4.1 million in Ukraine within 1931, mainly because persecuted
peasants fled their villages.
Nothing could have been easier for the regime than to starve townspeople,
who depended on food supplies from elsewhere for their survival. Yet, it
was not done. The regime made do with harsh food rationing.
Peasantry as a social class was the victim of the cruel policy. This point
clearly follows from the geography of the Great Famine.
It spread throughout the Soviet breadbasket areas-Ukraine, the middle and
lower reaches of the Volga, the North Caucasus, the central part of the
Black Earth Zone, the Urals, part of Siberia, and Kazakhstan - with a total
population of 50 million. The Famine killed 6-7 million people nationwide.
All Soviet peoples were victims.
Arguments cited to prove that the famine was a deliberate act of genocide do
not hold water. Still, many Ukrainians do not want to turn the tragic page
of history. This is understandable. If they did, public attention would turn
to their own, present-day, policy and its dire fruit.
The Ukrainian population shrank by 4.3 million in 1991-2003-3.6 million
died, and over 1.2 million emigrated, while only 500,000 former emigres
returned.
If we extrapolate the figures to the end of 2006, the population decline
exceeds 5.4 million-this without wars, famine, or the Kremlin's imperialism.
Don't these statistics give food for uneasy thought?
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NOTE: Andrei Marchukov, PhD (History), is staff researcher of the Russian
Academy of Sciences' Institute of Russian History. The opinions expressed
in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of
RIA Novosti.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071016/84171679.html
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[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
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26. DISTINCTIONS AMONG GENOCIDES
COMMENTARY: By David A. Mittell, Jr.
Providence Journal, Providence, RI, Thu, November 1, 2007
THE EFFORT by some in the U.S. House to answer the historical dispute
about whether the death of at least a million Christian Armenians in
the predominantly Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1915 “rates” as a
genocide is an unfortunate chapter in a deeply unfortunate contemporary
phenomenon: treating mass murders like competitions, and ranking them
as if they were U.S. News & World Report’s annual rating of colleges.
In Greek, holocaust means “burnt whole.” The Holocaust — capitalized —
denotes Hitler’s attempt to exterminate European Jewry during World War
II. Genocide, from Greek (genos, “race”) and Latin (cidium, “murder”),
means the attempt to kill an entire race or people. The point can be made
(I will deal with it below) that a million acts of murder do not constitute
a genocide if they are not directed against a race, ethnic group, religious
population or social class.
In sheer numbers of those killed, the greatest mass murder of the 20th
Century was Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, from 1956 to 1959,
when an estimated 30 million rural Chinese died in agricultural
collectivization and from the removal of the able-bodied from villages.
Yet today, most Westerners are willing to philosophically accept Robert
Frost’s observation that “the longest peace in China ends in strife.”
The worst most historians will say of Mao is that he was a butcher, and
some still accept him as one of the great men of his age. Benignity on
the part of intellectuals may reflect their racism: In part, they
excuse Mao because the Great Leap Forward was just Chinese killing
Chinese.
Mass murders that directly compete with the Jewish Holocaust for
remembrance are the Armenian catastrophe of 1915 and the Ukrainian
Holodomor of 1932-33. (Ukrainian, holod: “hunger” and mor: “plague.”).
The best account of 1915 probably remains "The Murder of a Nation,"
written on the spot by the American ambassador to Turkey, Henry
Morgenthau Sr. (father of Franklin Roosevelt’s Treasury secretary).
In World War I, the “Central Powers” - of Austria, Germany and Turkey -
were opposed by the “Triple Entente” of Britain, France and Russia. By
1915, Turkish Armenians were suspected of being pro-Russian, and
were accused of committing atrocities in Turkish villages whose young
men had been drafted.
The decision was taken to disarm Armenians and remove them to “safe”
areas. Some Armenians were actually given train tickets. But, as
Morgenthau writes, Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army were disarmed
and put into “labor battalions,” where many perished from cold and
hunger. The civilian population was put on a death march to the Syrian
Desert.
The atrocities en route were committed by fanatic Muslim Kurds
and Turks, but were planned by “Young Turk” atheists, who would
organize the post-Ottoman government. The present-day Turkish wish to
ascribe all things to the Ottoman regime is based on false assertions.
Before the war, the Ottoman government had visited similar privations
on Greeks, of whom more than 100,000 were removed from their ancestral
homes on the Mediterranean coast. Morgenthau wrote: “It was probably
for the reason that the civilized world did not protest . . . that the
Turks decided to apply the same methods on a larger scale . . . to the
Armenians, Syrians, Nestorians, and others.” Hitler would use the
civilized world’s lack of protest about the destruction of the
Armenians to ridicule the idea that anyone would care what he did to
the Jews.
The most compelling survivor’s account of the Ukrainian Holodomor is
Miron Dolot’s 1985 "Execution by Hunger." Under Lenin, the USSR had
attacked kulaks - unacceptably rich peasants - by confiscating all
grain, then partly redistributing it.
The policy had the effect of making the rural population compliant in
surrendering its food and complicit in reporting hoarders. Stalin revived
the policy, and when Ukrainians resisted agricultural collectivization, he
withheld the government’s meager return-of-rations - leading to an
estimated 7 million deaths from starvation.
Stalin later purged the Ukrainian Communist Party and destroyed most
of the republic’s cultural elite. But he did have a purpose beyond killing
Ukrainians: subservience. Kazakhstan, southern Russia and the Volga
German Republic experienced many of the same horrors.
Today, the legitimacy of the Armenian and Ukrainian agonies as
genocides is opposed by defenders of the uniqueness of the Jewish
Holocaust on both principled and unprincipled grounds. The principled
ground is (it is argued) that however evil the purposes and methods of
the Turks and Soviets, they did not set out to kill Armenians and
Ukrainians only because of their birth.
Hitler, by contrast, contrived for Germans to despise and ultimately murder
Jews simply because of who they were, and without any political purpose
other than using innocents to unify Germany in a frenzy of hatred. I agree
with that distinction.
The illegitimate grounds are: As to Armenians, 1) denial of the facts
and, 2) (worse) an unwillingness by some Jewish organizations to offend
modern Turkey, which has a pro-Israeli foreign policy.
As to Ukrainians, the Holodomor was always categorically denied by the
Soviets and by Western apologists, such as Walter Duranty, of The New
York Times, who received an unrescinded Pulitzer Prize for his lies.
The Soviets also perpetrated the myth that Ukrainians - not they - were
anti-Semites and had been Nazi collaborators.
There were, of course, collaborators in Ukraine, as in every occupied
country. Prof. Omer Bartov, of Brown University, has researched this in
"Erased, Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-day Ukraine." It
is not a pretty picture. But it is beside the point of 7 million dead.
Ordinarily I think words are important. But the descendants of the dead
should not be quarreling about semantics. Let us say that Armenians,
Chinese, Jews and Ukrainians were all victims of genocides. Then let us
admit that among genocides there are distinctions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: David A. Mittell is a member of the editorial board of
The Providence Journal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/CL_mitt1_11-01-07_ON7LGPC_v30.3595d3f.html
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) honors Golodomor victims in Ukraine.
KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax) - The 34th session of UNESCO's General
Conference has unanimously passed a resolution commemorating the
millions of Ukrainians who died of starvation during the 1932-1933
famine (Golodomor) in Ukraine.
The Golodomor tragedy that took away an estimated 7-10 million
lives (almost half of the then population of Ukraine) was "caused by the
deplorable actions and policy of the totalitarian Stalinist regime and
should be a warning to present and future generations to abide by
democratic values, human rights and the rule of law," the resolution
says.
The resolution honors Golodomor victims and expresses sorrow for
the famine that hit Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and other parts of the
former Soviet Union in the early 1930s, the Russian Foreign Ministry
says on its website.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been seeking
international recognition of the Golodomor as genocide against
Ukrainians ever since he took office in 2005.
Start: Nov 17, '07 11:00a
Location: St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
TO HONOR the INNOCENT VICTIMS Of the UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE of 1932-1933
One of the darkest pages in Ukraine’s history is the Genocide of 1932-1933, during which 10 million innocent victims were starved to death through a deliberate Soviet policy to crush the nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry. The Ukrainian Genocide ranks among the worst cases of man’s inhumanity towards man, and is perhaps the most extreme example of the use of food as a weapon.
Starting Point:
St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
March begins Promptly at 11:45AM
Final Destination:
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Solemn Requiem Service at 2PM
THIS IS A NATIONAL EVENT TO commence the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor!
TAKING PART IN THE MARCH?
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW …
When to Assemble
Saturday, November 17th at 11am (no later than 11:30am)
Where to Assemble
On 7th Street in front of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (between Second and Third Avenues) in New York City. The street will be closed to traffic.
If you're being dropped off, do so on the adjacent avenues. Buses should have this sign posted in the window: UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE MARCH. After drop-off, buses may park near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 50th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
If you're using public transportation (recommended), take the #6 train to Astor Place or the R or W to 8th Street/Broadway. Bus routes: M15 (closest), M101, M102, M103, M1, M2, M3, M8.
When to Be There
No later than 11:30 a.m., as the March begins promptly at 11:45 a.m.
What to Wear
Traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts and blouses may be worn with clothing that is appropriate for this somber occasion. Members of Ukrainian youth organizations (Plast and CYM) are asked to wear Ukrainian embroidered shirts and blouses as well.
What to Expect
The March will proceed north along Third Avenue to 51st Street, then turn west to Fifth Avenue, the location of St. Patrick's Cathedral. A solemn Requiem Service will take place in the Cathedral from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
What If I Can't Walk That Far?
You can still take part in the March! Assemble at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza (885 Second Avenue at 47th Street) by 1:00 p.m., and you'll be able to join in from that point onward.
PLEASE NOTE …
The NYPD has banned the use of wood or metal in signage and flags. Placards will therefore be provided, although you are welcome to bring small flags with plastic or similar supports.
JOIN THE NOV. 17 MARCH IN NEW YORK CITY – SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE 10 MILLION INNOCENT VICTIMS OF THE HOLODOMOR
if you have any photos/videos of Saturday's Nat'l March of Remembrance, I found a few sites where people can submit photos and videos.
Entirely frustrating that our story does not seem to be important enough, to get coverage. but I was SO PROUD of us on Saturday. If we were able to reach just one person who didn't know about the Holodomor, then I feel like we have succeeded. and I know we reached so many on Saturday during the march.
I happened to find ONE thing - in the New York Times in their upcoming events section from last Friday. and GEEZ.
"UKRAINIAN DAY PARADE, Saturday at noon, on Third Avenue, from Seventh Street to 51st Street, Manhattan."
Ukrainian Day Parade?
so... LET US BE HEARD and OUR STORY SHARED!
email your photos to the ny times: nytnews@nytimes.com, executive-editor@nytimes.com,
managing-editor@nytimes.com, metro@nytimes.com, news-tips@nytimes.com
Оголошено про напад на виставку присвячену Голоду 32-33. Члени ЄСМ (Євразійського Союза Молодьожі) вдерлися на виставку в українському культурному центрі м. Москва, де пошкодили стенди. Інформації небагато, хто знає щось - напишіть.
Сайт українського культурного центру станом на 17 листопада не працює. http://www.ukrcentr.com
404 File (site) not found
This page was generated by 1Gb.ru hosting server s15.in-solve.ru (IIS).
If you have any questions, please contact support@1gb.ru
Поляки та українці запалили музичну "Свічу" в пам'ять Голодомору
В польському місті Кракові розпочалися зйомки відеокліпу на пісню "Свіча", присвячену трагедії Українського народу - Голодомору 1932-33 рр.
Слова пісні "Свіча" написав Богдан Стельмах на відому "Мелодію" Мирослава Скорика, виконує пісню Народна артистка України Оксана Білозір.
Як зазначила у своєму коментарі народний депутат України IV-V скликань Оксана Білозір, спільна робота над відеокліпом дала полякам можливість глибше осягнути цю трагічну сторінку історії нашого народу. Польська сторона проявила дуже великий інтерес до цього проекту. Можна сказати, що члени знімальної групи переживали цю біду разом з українцями.
Оксана Білозір також відзначила, що "Польша - це країна, яка ментально близька Україні (навіть мови наші схожі: поляки кажуть "my rozumiemy", а українці "ми розуміємо"), яка також пережила трагічні сторінки під час Радянської доби. І поляки вже починають сприймати українську націю як постгеноцидну націю, а це для України дуже важливо, оскільки нація, яка пережила геноцид, розвивається по¬-іншому, ніж інші нації".
І складні процеси, які відбуваються в Україні частково є наслідком того, що українці - постгеноцидна нація. Геноцид - це нищення генетичного кореня, роз'єднання нації. І необхідно розуміти, що саме після таких тяжких для народу наслідків ми сьогодні будуємо демократію.
Але важливо, що Україна на цьому шляху вже не одна, півтора десятка країн світу визнали Голодомор геноцидом Українського народу, і сьогодні багато хто хоче долучитися до того, щоб відкрити ці сторінки історії України, підтримати Україну.
Як зазначила екс-депутат, метою зйомки відеокліпу є донесення до людей правди про Голодомор. Адже пісня проникає у душу людини, люди звертаються до неї у часи і радості, і смутку.
"Хоча перша частина кліпу є дуже сумною, але пісня закінчується на оптимістичній ноті: Україна, незважаючи на страшний укіс Голодомору, продовжує жити. Головне для нас сьогодні - пронести цю Свічу пам'яті, щоб ми, Український народ, щоб інші народи світу, більше ніколи не зазнали такої страшної біди", - зазначила Оксана Білозір.
Зйомки відеокліпу відбудуться також і в Україні, в частині сцен будуть використані архівні фотографії.
Довідка: Зйомки відбувалися у Кракові, в найбільшій у Польщі телестудії. У складі групи працювали оператор, що має досвід роботи з американською мега-продукцією, провідний польський монтажер та група пост-опрацювання 3D: Войцех Капела (керівник групи), Марек Клімашевський та Пьотр Треля.
Продюсують кліп - Юліан Кутшеба та "Ультрамедіо",
режисура та сценарій - Юліан Кутшеба та Войцех Капеля.
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
21 листопада, Київ. Ющенко відкриє виставку присвячену Голоду
Ющенко візьме участь у відкритті виставки про Голодомор
21 листопада о 13.00 Президент України Віктор ЮЩЕНКО в «Українському домі» візьме участь у церемонії відкриття документально-художньої виставки «Україна пам`ятає! Голодомор 1932-1933 рр. – геноцид українського народу».
Як повідомляє прес-служба глави держави, акредитація представників ЗМІ за телефонами: 255-74-02, 255-78-44, 255-63-18.
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
Звернення голови Меджлісу
Обращение
Председателя Меджлиса крымскотатарского народа
«Об уважении памяти миллионов жертв Голодомора 1932-1933 годов»
Уважаемые соотечественники!
В эти дни в Украине чтится память о миллионах жертвах Голодомора 1932-1933 года.
75 лет назад, по распоряжению высших руководителей СССР, во всех селах Украины силами специально созданных «продовольственных отрядов» стали насильственно изымать хлеб и имущество крестьян. Тех, кто сопротивлялся, вместе с семьями подвергли выселению в Сибирь. За разными данными, в годы коллективизации из Украины насильственно вывезли более 350 000 крестьян, в 1932-1933 годах от голода погибло до 10 миллионов людей, среди которых большинство составляли дети.
Наше поколение помнит многочисленные рассказы своих отцов и дедов о том, как в Крыму стали появляться неимоверно обессиленные и изможденные от голода жители украинских сел и городов, чудом прорвавшиеся через оцепления и кордоны НКВД. Многие из них нашли спасение в семьях крымских татар.
Правда о Голодоморе украинского народа, как и все преступления, совершенные коммунистическим режимом СССР против других народов, тщательно замалчивались во все годы существования СССР. В ряду таких преступлений и голод 1921-1923 годов в Крыму, унесший более 70 тысяч жизней крымских татар, и насильственная депортация крымскотатарского народа 18 мая 1944 года.
Меджлис крымскотатарского народа, последовательно претворяя решение Курултая крымскотатарского народа « О признании актом геноцида депортацию крымскотатарского народа 18 мая 1944 года, десятилетий насильственного удержания крымских татар в местах изгнания и связанных с этими преступлениями последствий» и исходя из того, что Голодомор 1932-1933 годов также должен быть признан международным сообществом как акт геноцида, совершенный советским режимом против украинского народа, призывает всех соотечественников и жителей Крыма других национальностей к солидарности и выражению чувства уважения памяти миллионов жертв Голодомора.
Председатель Меджлиса
крымскотатарского народа
Мустафа Джемилев
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
22 листопада, Київ. Мітинг: скасувати премію Дюранті
Відбудеться мітинг-протест “Ніяких призів для Дюренті”
22 листопада о 12:00 на Європейській площі (перед Українським домом) відбудеться мітинг-протест “Ніяких призів для Дюренті”.
Мета заходу – позбавити кореспондента газети “Нью Йорк Таймс” Уолтера Дюренті престижної Пулітцерівської премії , яку він отримав у Москві 1932р.
Мітинг-протест закликатиме відповідні установи позбавити Дюренті Пулітцерівської премії .
Під час мітингу будуть прийняті звернення до Колумбійського університету, який відповідає за призначення Пулітцерівської премії , відкликати премію, надану Дюренті, а також до власників газети Нью-Йорк Таймс.
Координатор акції: Іван Лозовий, випускник Колумбійського університету 1983 р.
За додатковою інформацією звертатися за телефоном: (8-066) 544-1548.
Hans-Gert Pottering,
President of the European Parliament:
Remembering the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine 75 years ago
To mark the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor famine in Ukraine, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, made the following statement:
"Today we know that the famine which has come to be known as the 'Holodomor' was in reality an appalling crime against humanity.
This famine, which killed between 4 and 6 million people in Ukraine in the winter of 1932-1933, was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin's regime in order to force through the Soviet Union's policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine.
It was only in 1991, when Ukraine regained its independence, that it became possible for people there to discover the background to this tragic period of their history.
All of us should be prompted by this day of remembrance to engrave the 'Holodomor' in our memories."
* * *
The fourth Saturday in November has been chosen as the day on which the victims of the Holodomor are commemorated.
Leaders of European Parliament expressed solidarity with Ukrainian people on occasion of 75th anniversary of Holodomor of 1932 - 1933
Speaking during a ceremony in Brussels to commemorate the Holodomor victims, Vice President of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec said that people must know their history in order to live on into future.
The Holodomor, in which millions of people died and which was attributed to natural circumstances for many years, was in fact masterminded by the Soviet Communist deathly regime, Mr Siwiec said. On behalf of the European Parliament he urged the nations across the globe to recognize the Holodomor as genocide. President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering also made a statement on the occasion of the 1932 - 1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
збірка Action Ukraine Report №890 (початок)
From: "UKRAINE REPORT (AUR)"
Subject: AUR#890 Nov 23
Tragic Pages of History; Light A Candle; Harvest of Sorrow; Executed By Famine; Letters from Kharkiv; Politics of Genocide;
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 04:00:19 +0200
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR
An International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World
Ukraine Remembers -The World Acknowledges
75th Commemoration Of The Holodomor 1932-1933
"Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide"
Light A Candle of Memory, Saturday, November 24, 2007
"With due respect, I call on all Ukrainians and all people of goodwill
regardless of their backgrounds to light on November 24 the candles of
memory of the Holodomor victims on all our planet.
Bring the flames of truth to every nation and every country. All your
candles will help form a single candle which we will light in November
2008.
This candle will become an eternal and ever burning symbol of our grief
for the millions of starved brother and sisters, of our unity and our faith
in the unconquerable strength of the Ukrainian people.
Our duty is to unite the efforts and make everything possible to ensure
that these tragic pages of history will be never forgotten.
Ukraine to Remember! The World to Recognize!"
Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine [Article Two]
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 890
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
KYIV, UKRAINE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2007
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
1. COMMEMORATION EVENTS FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 TO BE HELD IN KYIV, UKRAINE, ON THE
OFFICIAL DAY OF MEMORY, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 1
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
2. ADDRESS TO ALL UKRAINIANS ON 75TH COMMEMORATION
OF THE 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
Presidential Administration, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 2007
3. UKRAINE: WE REMEMBER
Editorial: Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
4. CANADA: UKRAINE FAMINE REMEMBERED
By Julie Horbal, Sun Media
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, November 22, 2007
5. PRES YUSHCHENKO BELIEVES POWER STRUCTURE PAYING
INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
6. PRESIDENT INSISTS ON CREATING NATIONAL MUSEUM OF
MEMORY OF 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR VICTIMS ASAP
UKRINFORM, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 21, 2007
7. LEADERS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EXPRESS SOLIDARITY
WITH UKRAINIANS ON OCCASION OF 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
8. ROBERT CONQUEST'S BOOK "THE HARVEST OF SORROW"
REPUBLISHED IN THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE
U.S. Ambassador Taylor says U.S. Congress has still not approved
a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian people.
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
9. DECLARATION: “UKRAINE TO REMEMBER - THE WORLD
TO RECOGNIZE!"
Upcoming International Events to Commemorate 75th Anniversary
of 1932-1933 Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation
World Ukrainian Congress (WUC) and the
International Holodomor Committee (IHC) (in Ukrainian)
Toronto, New York, Melbourne, Saturday, November 17, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #890, Article 9 (in English)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
10. "EXECUTED BY FAMINE: THE UNKNOWN GENOCIDE OF
THE UKRAINIANS" EXHIBITION UNVEILED AT THE GENEVA,
SWITZERLAND MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
International Charitable Fund 3000, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 9, 2007
11. LETTERS FROM KHARKIV
The truth about the Holodomor through the eyes of Italian diplomats
By Yurii Shapoval, Professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
12. AN APPEAL TO THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
By Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, "Maidan" Alliance
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
13. THE POLITICS OF GENOCIDE
Will Moscow ever recognize the Stalin-led forced famine
in Ukraine 75 years ago as an act of genocide?
Analysis & Commentary: By Lisa Shymko
The American Spectator, Arlington, Virginia, Wed, Nov 14, 2007
14. UKRAINIAN MASS FAMINE OF 1932-1933: RUSSIA IGNORES
TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce
itself from the 1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, republished by RIA Novosti
Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
15. TOO MUCH EMOTION OVER HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE,
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
16. DECLARING FAMINE A GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIANS INSULTS
NON-UKRAINIAN VICTIMS SAYS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
17. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SHOULD READ MORE BOOKS
ABOUT HISTORY SAYS UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY
UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
18. FORMER MIN OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BORYS TARASIUK
CRITICIZED RUSSIAN AUTHORIES FOR OBSTRUCTION OF
HONORING MEMORY OF 1932-1933 FAMINE VICTIMS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
19. PRES YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S POLICY ON DECLARATION
ON 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
NOT DIRECTED AGAINST OTHER NATIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, November 20, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE IN
LIGHT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF 1948
By Roman Serbyn, Professor of History, University of Quebec
The Ukrainian Quarterly, Volume LXII, Number 2, Taras Hunczak, Editor
A Journal of Ukrainian & International Affairs - Since 1944
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, Summer 2006
Journal article re-published with permission by the
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 20
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
========================================================
1. COMMEMORATION EVENTS FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 TO BE HELD IN KYIV, UKRAINE, ON THE
OFFICIAL DAY OF MEMORY, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007
KYIV - The following commemoration events for the 75th anniversary
of the Holodomor 1932-1933 [induced starvation, death for millions,
genocide] will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 24,
2007 led by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and the
First Lady Mrs. Kateryna Yushchenko.
9.00 - 9.35 a.m. Service at Saint Sophia Cathedral (Volodymyrska St.,
Saint Sophia Cathedral).
10.00 -10.30 a.m. Guelder-rose trees planting (Dniprovskyi uzviz).
15.15 - 16.10 p.m. Memorial events on Sofiyvska Square and
Mykhaylivska Square:
Thousands will march in a mournful procession to The Monument
"To Victims of Holodomor 1932-1933 " from Sofiyvska Square to
Mykhaylivska Square
Lighting of thousands of candles near The Monument "To Victims
of Holodomor 1932-1933" in Mykhaylivska Square
Address of The President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
National and International Moment of Silence
All Ukrainian and International Act: "Light A Candle"
18.00 - 19.05 p.m. Requiem-Concert "Black Tillage Is Ploughed Up"
(Shevchenko National Opera Theater)
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2. ADDRESS TO ALL UKRAINIANS ON 75TH COMMEMORATION
OF THE 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
Presidential Administration, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 2007
Dear Ukrainians!
Brothers and sisters!
These days Ukraine begins to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the
1932-1933 Holodomor.
The Holodomor is one of the most horrendous humanitarian catastrophes in
human history. Millions of Ukrainians were destroyed as a result of a
well-planned and deliberate policy of the totalitarian communist regime.
The appalling death rate of the Holodomor even exceeded the casualties the
Ukrainians suffered in WWII. We are still exposed to the consequences of
this merciless terror targeted to destroy the Ukrainian nation.
The crimes of the totalitarian regime demand condemnation by the world.
Ukrainian diplomats and diaspora Ukrainians have taken great efforts to
convince the world community and international institutions to recognize the
Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people. Such work must be
continued steadfastly and unwaveringly in order to bring the truth about the
past tragedy to the world.
In all lands where Ukrainians live the memory of Holodomor must be properly
preserved and its innocent victims commemorated. I call on you to actively
cooperate in the creation of information centers, educational programs and
exhibitions about the tragic events of 1932-1933.
My special call goes to young Ukrainians worldwide. I ask you to actively
respond to my appeal and back the efforts, sincerely and ardently, to open
the truth about the Holodomor to the world community.
With due respect, I call on all Ukrainians and all people of goodwill
regardless of their backgrounds to light on November 24 the candles of
memory of the Holodomor victims on all our planet.
Bring the flames of truth to every nation and every country. All your
candles will help form a single candle which we will light in November 2008.
This candle will become an eternal and ever burning symbol of our grief for
the millions of starved brother and sisters, of our unity and our faith in
the unconquerable strength of the Ukrainian people.
Our duty is to unite the efforts and make everything possible to ensure that
these tragic pages of history will be never forgotten.
Ukraine to Remember! The World to Recognize!
Viktor Yushchenko
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3. UKRAINE: WE REMEMBER
EDITORIAL: Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
At 4 p.m. this Saturday, Ukrainians will honor the memories of millions of
victims of three Soviet-engineered terror-famines, the most devastating of
which began 75 years ago with the Great Famine of 1932-33.
The government is urging Ukrainians to light a candle in honor of the
victims of Soviet repressions and place it on their windowsills as a sign of
solidarity. Memorial services will be held nationwide and around the world.
Ukraine's political and religious elites have largely recognized the
Holodomor as genocide. Even the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -
Moscow Patriarchate, Volodymyr Sabodan, did not mince words when he
wrote in an encyclical last year that "this genocide was an attempt to
destroy the very soul of the people, to spiritually enslave the people."
He used words like "hell, diabolic, anti-Christ" to describe Soviet rule.
Thus, all four major Ukrainian Christian prelates agree that the Holodomor
was genocide - a rare instance of ecumenical consensus among church leaders.
All three of Ukraine's presidents since independence agree that the
Holodomor was genocide. President Leonid Kravchuk drove the final nail into
the coffin of the Kremlin-sponsored "bad weather and harvest" disinformation
campaign regarding the Holodomor in his autobiography. Kravchuk, who as a
Communist ideologue was responsible for denying the Holodomor in the 1980s,
proved that rainfall levels were normal in 1932-33.
President Leonid Kuchma was the first to ask the world to recognize the
Holodomor as genocide in 2003. The declassification of State Security
Service archives began in the last years of Kuchma's rule, a process that is
continuing by leaps and bounds under President Viktor Yushchenko today.
Since 2003, Ukraine's parliament has twice voted on condemning the
Holodomor as genocide. Both times the votes passed with slim majorities
with the support of the Socialist Party, which was hesitant, but whose ties
to the countryside made it impossible to deny the truth.
The Communists aside, the only hold-out on the genocide issue is the Party
of Regions, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. If Ukraine's efforts to
secure international recognition are to be successful, then this political
force must add its voice to the condemnation. We hope to see this party's
leaders standing with the president and other national leaders on St.
Michael's Square Saturday to honor the victims.
As for Moscow's recognition of the genocide, while Ukraine has made
significant progress in dealing with its Soviet past, Russian leaders are
still in a state of denial, or defensive paranoia. No one is blaming
Russia's current leadership or the Russian people for the Holodomor.
Rather, it is the Kremlin's former rapacious leaders who are to blame. Yet,
the Kremlin's current leadership has stubbornly opposed recognizing the
genocide, labeling it as fear-mongering with Kyiv roots.
Last week's attack on a Holodomor exhibit in Moscow and the Russian
Foreign Ministry's subsequent accusations that political forces are
"speculating" on the famine, are signs that the Kremlin still prefers to
look at its record through rose-colored glasses. In fact, the Kremlin's
record is blood-colored, and the sooner Russian society recognizes that
fact, the better.
The Kremlin's claim that Ukraine is somehow trying to monopolize the Soviet
terror-famine is essentially recognizing that Ukraine has done a far better
job in shedding light on the darkest episodes of Soviet rule.
Instead of criticizing Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin should open
up Russian Federation archives on the terror years.
There is no denying that the Soviets forced famines in other regions of
Eurasia in the 1930s, including areas of modern-day Russia and Kazakhstan.
But the campaign within the closed borders of Ukraine was ruthless in its
efficiency and organization and targeted the rural population that was
primarily Ukrainian.
The histories of all Soviet forced famines need to be addressed the same
way the Holodomor has been handled in Ukraine. From Russia, Kuban to
Kazakhstan, the bitter truth deserves to be known.
Ultimately, promoting awareness of the crimes of Communism is in the
national interests of Ukraine and Russia. Given Russia's current denial,
Yushchenko has rightfully appealed to other countries to recognize the
famine as genocide, one that Kremlin spin doctors and powerbrokers can't
deny.
We call upon the world's leaders to recognize the genocidal nature of the
famine and, in doing so, help break the information blockade isolating the
Russian people.
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LINK: http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/editorial/27842/
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4. CANADA: UKRAINE FAMINE REMEMBERED
By Julie Horbal, Sun Media
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, November 22, 2007
Anna Shewel was four years old when her family was pushed out of its home
in Ukraine onto impoverished streets and into social exile as a result of
government-forced famine.
When the Holodomor famine ended, having killed an estimated eight million
people, she was seven. But the atrocity of Stalin's politically driven
starvation plan will live forever in her mind.
"I still remember how it was punishment for the people," Shewel, now 81,
said yesterday. "We were looking for whatever was possible to eat. Whatever
we could swallow."
Today through Sunday, Shewel's memories will be showcased as part of the
75th anniversary of the 1932-33 Holodomor tragedy.
DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SURVIVORS
Winnipeg's events include information sessions and church services at
various locations across the city, and also the premiere of Vichny Iy
Pamyat -- a Canad Inns-produced documentary about the 40-or-so survivors
living in the city.
Organizer Eugene Hyworon of St. Mary the Protectress Church said the
survivor experiences epitomize why people should care about the often
forgotten genocide. "The agony and the sorrow, when you watch that, it
really brings tears to your eyes," he said.
RAISE AWARENESS
Shewel said she hopes telling her heart-wrenching story to filmmakers will
help raise awareness.
"We don't want this to happen to no other people, to no other nations, to no
other countries," she said. "There's not anybody who should go through what
we went through."
Growing up, Shewel and her family ate whatever they could scrape together,
including pancakes made from tree bark, leaves and handfuls of borrowed
flour. The "most delicious thing," she said, was Scotch pine.
"The needles were very soft and the shoots were very sweet," she said. "It's
hard to believe that was our dessert."
Shewel said one of her most horrific memories is when her grandmother
severely burned her chest trying to hide a loaf of bread for the children to
eat.
Her sister Nadia Dowhayko, 79, said she'll never forget having to beg for
food. "I asked my grandma all the time about something to eat," said Dowhayko,
who was too young at the time to recall much else. "She told me we don't
have nothing. Then I asked my mom, she said 'We don't have nothing.'"
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LINK: http://winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2007/11/22/4675964-sun.html
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U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC): http://www.usubc.com
========================================================
5. YUSHCHENKO BELIEVES POWER STRUCTURE PAYING
INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko considers that the power does not pay
enough attention to Great Famine of 1932-1933.
He disclosed this in a statement opening documental-art exhibition entitled
"Ukraine Remembers 1932-1933 Famine, Genocide of Ukrainian People"
in Kyiv.
"1932-1933 events are forgotten in Ukraine... The nation has not yet got
enough skills to be adequate to 1932-1933 tragedy. That is the reproach for
the power and the reproach for itself," Yuschenko said. He marked that the
Holocaust of 1932-1933 is the problem of nowadays.
The Great Famine is not the problem of 1932-1933, that is the problem of
nowadays. It touches upon our morality, spirituality and patriotism,"
Yuschenko said. Besides, the President said that the Holocaust is the
tragedy of the humankind and the crime against humanity.
"The Holocaust is for sure the tragedy of my nation. That is the tragedy of
the mankind and crime against humanity," Yuschenko said. Yuschenko said
Ukraine had yet to build a monument appropriate for the scale of the tragedy
of the Holodomor famine.
"Why is this country not having a worthy monument to the victims of the
Holodomor? Why is there no worthy film? Why are we not having a national
museum? Why are we having the Institute of National Memory, which is
financed by 50%? Is it a question of money? No! This is somebody's policy
to get us to live without memory," Yuschenko said.
The President called on every Ukrainian citizen to study the history of
Ukraine.
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6. PRESIDENT INSISTS ON CREATING NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF MEMORY OF 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR VICTIMS ASAP
UKRINFORM, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 21, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko, who took part in "Ukraine remembers!
Holodomor 1932-1933 - Genocide of the Ukrainian nation" exhibition opening,
urged on Ukrainians to visit such expositions which opened around Ukraine
and honor the memory of Holodomor and repression victims.
President is reassured that today's Ukraine, its authorities and people are
obliged to make everything possible to bring up to light tragedy's scale.
However V. Yushchenko is distressed by a fact that researchers speak often
of the victims' numbers rather than of the importance of the tragedy itself.
"For me it is a tragedy regardless of the deceased numbers whether it is one
million, hundred thousands or ten million", he added.
V. Yushchenko thinks it is very important that present generation gives
deserving honor to those who died during the Great Famine. "Why don't we
have a worthy monument dedicated to victims of Holodomor or worthy film
in this country? Why there's no national museum?", he said.
V. Yushchenko thanked the exhibition's [four main] organizers - the Ukrainian
Institute of National Heritage [Memory], Security Service of Ukraine,
International Charitable Foundation "Ukraine 3000", [the Holodomor: Through
the Eyes of Ukrainian Artists Collection] and other governmental and public
organizations as well as researchers of Holodomor and activists, who were
helping to arrange the exhibition.
According to Director of the Institute of National Memory Ihor Yukhnovsky,
the main task of the exhibition is to show the consecution of deliberate
action by the Bolshevist regime, which had been stepping up since 1928 and
resulted in the tragedy of Holodomor of 1932-1933.
The exhibition consists of several expositions presenting documents of GPU,
NKVD and archives of the Security Service of Ukraine dubbed "Declassified
Memory", paintings and posters from the "Holodomor: Through The Eyes of
Ukrainian Artists Collection," Morgan Williams, Trustee.
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FOOTNOTE: The Holodomor exhibition that opened in Kyiv, Ukraine
this week at the Ukrainian House is the largest and more historically
comprehensive Holodomor exhibition ever held. There are over 300
panels/posters (with documents, testimonies, information, historical data,
maps, photographs, etc.) and Holodomor artworks by Ukrainian artists
on display. The exhibition will be open through Thursday, December 6th.
Most of the items on display in Kyiv will soon be available on disks that can
be used to provide information and to print out materials for Holodomor
exhibitions worldwide. Some displays will be available in multiple languages
in early 2008.
If you would like information about such items as they become available
please write to Morgan Williams, Chairman, Exhibition Subcommittee,
International Holodomor Committee (IHC); morganw@patriot.net.
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7. LEADERS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EXPRESS SOLIDARITY
WITH UKRAINIANS ON OCCASION OF 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - The leaders of the European Parliament have expressed solidarity with
the Ukrainian people on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the
Holodomor Famine of 1932-1933.
Speaking during a ceremony in Brussels to commemorate the Holodomor victims,
Vice President of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec said that people must
know their history in order to live on into future.
The Holodomor, in which millions of people died and which was attributed to
natural circumstances for many years, was in fact masterminded by the Soviet
Communist deathly regime, Mr. Siwiec said. On behalf of the European
Parliament he urged the nations across the globe to recognize the Holodomor
as genocide.
"We are here to honor the victims and well as to prevent similar things from
happening in the future," the Vice President of the European Parliament
said.
President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering also made a
statement on the occasion of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
"Today we know that the famine which has come to be known as the
'Holodomor' was in reality an appalling crime against humanity. The famine
was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin's regime in order to force
through the Soviet Unions policy of collectivization of agriculture against
the will of the rural population of Ukraine.
"It was only in 1991, when Ukraine regained its independence, that it became
possible for people there to discover the background to this tragic period
of their history. All of us should be prompted by this day of remembrance to
engrave the 'Holodomor' in our memories", Mr. Hans-Gert Poettering's
statement reads.
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8. ROBERT CONQUEST'S BOOK "THE HARVEST OF
SORROW" REPUBLISHED IN THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE
U.S. Ambassador Taylor says U.S. Congress has still not approved
a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian people.
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The book by the well-known Western historian Robert Conquest, "The Harvest
of Sorrow," was recently republished in the Ukrainian language. This key
book on the Holodomor was published in English in 1986 but was translated
into Ukrainian only in 1993.
The launch of the second Ukrainian edition took place at the US ambassador's
residence in Kyiv, a move explained by the fact that with the assistance of
the Department of Press, Education and Culture of the US Embassy to Ukraine.
"The Harvest of Sorrow" was published by the Volyn-based Teren Art Agency
within the framework of the program "Lessons of History: the Holodomor of
1932-33," which is part of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund.
"Thanks to this book many people throughout the world became aware of the
Holodomor. The author showed and described the horror of the Holodomor.
Some people who visited Ukraine in 1932-33 could not even write about the
things they had seen.
"As Robert Conquest admits in the foreword to his book, Boris Pasternak
visited Ukraine during that period and said afterwards: 'It is impossible to
recount what I saw there.
"There was such inhumane, incredible distress and sorrow that everything
began to look unreal and my mind could not grasp all the horror. I became
ill. I could not write for a year,'" US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor
quoted the writer as saying.
Ambassador Taylor also noted that unlike Pasternak, Conquest succeeded in
describing all this horror and did this in such a way - through painstaking
effort - that both the personal sufferings of a single person and the
suffering of the entire society were shown.
According to the ambassador, the historian reached the conclusion that the
ascertained facts and Stalin's motives prove his involvement in this
catastrophe. Thus, there can only be one verdict of history: this was a
crime for which responsibility must be taken.
On her part, Kateryna Yushchenko, the head of the Supervisory Board of
the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund, stressed that 75 years after
these tragic events Ukrainians have a great responsibility to let the world
know about the Holodomor.
According to the Ukrainian president's wife, people both in Ukraine and
abroad are now coming to the real understanding of the scale of this crime:
how many people were dying and how the regime did this in a systemic,
cynical, and massive way.
According to Ukraine's First Lady, the main program of the Ukraine 3000
International Charitable Fund is to elucidate the question of the Holodomor.
"We are gathering evidence, making films, and helping to organize the Light
a Candle Action.
(This action was the brainchild of the late James Mace, who first broached
this subject in his column "A candle in the window" in The Day on Feb. 18,
2003. Together with Conquest, he also spoke at the US Congressional
Hearings on the Holodomor - Author).
This action has to be expanded throughout Ukraine, so that everyone in every
house will remember their ancestors, their grandfathers and grandmothers,
who perished during the Holodomor. Many countries have recognized the
Holodomor. UNESCO did so two weeks ago, and the United Nations
recognizes the Holodomor. They will not immediately say that this was
genocide.
"But we must prove this to them. Everyone used to say that there was no
famine. Today it has been acknowledged that there was a Holodomor, but not
genocide. But with the help of facts, research, orders, and decrees we will
prove that the Holodomor was an act of genocide," she stressed.
The initiator of the second edition of the book, the writer and former
dissident Yevhen Sverstiuk considers "The Harvest of Sorrow" the best
book on the history of 20th-century Ukraine.
"This book was written by a person of great talent and intelligence, whom I
would place alongside Orwell. Our history books did not take into account
inaccessible materials. Information written abroad about life in Ukraine and
the USSR was broader, more objective, and more analytical.
This is a book that was written by a free man, who thinks in a free way and
has a huge amount of material to work with. Yesterday's slaves cannot
contemplate the facts about their life deeply," he noted.
In Sverstiuk's opinion, the genocide in Ukraine and the Nazi genocide are
linked. "If one could engineer the Holodomor genocide in a large country in
peacetime and conceal this from the world, why can one not secretly execute
a numerically small nation in wartime? It is known that the Fuhrer learned
from the Leader," Sverstiuk emphasized.
"After directing attention to the importance of the nature of the assessment
given to this historical phenomenon, he noted that we often err in the
everyday assessment, whereas the sense of this phenomenon is defined by
the word "genocide."
INTERVIEW WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR TAYLOR
William TAYLOR: "A judiciary analysis is crucial to recognizing that the
Holodomor was an act of genocide" What is being done in the US in order to
recognize the Holodomor of 1932-33, and does the United States recognize
that the Holodomor was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation?
These and other questions are raised in The Day's blitz interview with US
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine William TAYLOR.
The American Senate and the House of Representatives have approved a law
that has been signed by the president. This law provides for the
construction of a memorial dedicated to the Holodomor in Washington, the
US capital. The Ukrainian government is financing its construction.
[The Day] When will this memorial be built?
[Ambassador Taylor] I don't know. I hope very soon. There is a large and
well-known monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington. A monument to
enslaved nations was built in the US in the 1950s. And this new memorial
will be another great Ukrainian monument.
[The Day] What about the resolution on recognizing the Holodomor as an act
of genocide against the Ukrainian people? Will such a decision be made by
the two chambers of the American Congress?
[Ambassador Taylor] The resolution in this form was not approved by the two
chambers. What was actually approved was the decision to build a memorial.
We have to carry out a judiciary analysis in order to recognize the
Holodomor as genocide. But the American government has not done this yet.
[The Day] But there is a book by Robert Conquest, about which you spoken
today and whose author addressed Congress at one time and gave evidence.
[Ambassador Taylor] True, there is much evidence. And Conquest's books
are an indisputable part of it. Congress also considered this issue, but it
has still not approved a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
[The Day] But this is a contradiction. The House Committee on Foreign
Affairs had recommended the resolution on recognizing the Armenian
genocide.
[Ambassador Taylor] And you see what kind of problem it has caused.
[The Day] But in the Ukrainian case there should not be any problems because
the totalitarian regime that existed at that time is blamed for the genocide
against the Ukrainian people, not another nation.
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes, that's true. I don't think that there will be any
problem with Ukraine. But a problem linked to other tragedies can arise.
Again, a judiciary analysis must be completed in order to approve such a
resolution, and this has not been done yet. If this is done for Ukraine, a
similar analysis will have to be conducted with respect to other tragedies,
and this will be quite complicated.
[The Day] Does this mean that in approving the draft resolution on
recognizing the Armenian genocide the Democrats in the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs did not think it through?
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes. It's true. But the draft law approved by the
committee has not been submitted to the House of Representatives.
[The Day] I'd like to return to the topic of the judiciary analysis. Is the
American government afraid of conducting this analysis and recognizing that
the Holodomor was genocide? After all, many countries, including those
located on the American continent, have recognized that the Holodomor
was an act of genocide that was perpetrated by a totalitarian regime?
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes, that's true. One can say the same thing about
Turkey in 1915. The current government did not exist at that time, and there
was no current Constitution of Turkey; the Ottoman Empire existed then.
Thus, it was a completely different regime.
In general, the issue is quite complicated. We are very glad that the US has
approved a law that has come into force and according to which a monument
to the Holodomor will be constructed in Washington.
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/191766/
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9. DECLARATION: “UKRAINE TO REMEMBER - THE
WORLD TO RECOGNIZE"
Upcoming International Events to Commemorate 75th Anniversary
of 1932-1933 Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation
World Ukrainian Congress (WUC)
International Holodomor Committee (IHC) (in Ukrainian)
Toronto, New York, Melbourne, Saturday, November 17, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #890, Article 9 (in English)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
The International Holodomor Committee (IHC) at the World Ukrainian Congress
(WUC) in close cooperation with the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
and the Ukrainian Institute of the National Memory has scheduled major
events for 75th Commemoration of the Ukrainian Genocide 1932-1933 to be held
under the dynamic slogan “Ukraine To Remember – The World To Recognize!”
Ahead of commemorative events in Ukraine and the countries where Ukrainians
live we would like to offer several proposals for consideration.
The 1932-1933 Holodomor is one of those horrendous acts which Moscow
perpetrated in a bid to conquer the Ukrainians, notably, the linguocide
(attempts to wipe out the Ukrainian language); distortion of the historical
truth about the Kievan Rus’; the denial of the distinctive status of the
Ukrainian nation that in fact brought European culture and science to the
early Russian state; and, finally, the terrible crime of a deliberate famine
that was a true genocide of the unsubdued Ukrainian nation.
Ukraine’s tragic experience is a unique episode in the world’s history. The
world must be informed about it to ward off similar perils ever emerging
from totalitarian and imperial regimes.
A lot of new light must be thrown on the Holodomor by studying the archives
of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other sources, notably, the
archives of NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB) in Moscow.
It is not too late to record eye-witness accounts of the Holodomor. We must
establish the true motives for the Holodomor and name those who unleashed
the genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
It would be good to borrow an Irish tradition (The Irish people also
suffered from a catastrophic famine and had to scatter all over the world):
the Irish carve on the monuments the names of all their dead with the dates
of their deaths and location of their graves. In so doing, they preserve the
memory about their ancestors.
All information about the 1932-1933 Holodomor in various forms – brochures,
exhibitions of photographs, fiction books and documents, requiem masses and
remembrance services for the innocent victims – must serve two ends.
[1] On the one hand, the slogan calls to establish the truth about and
remember millions of Ukrainians deliberately starved to death.
[2] On the other, we must get the governments of all countries and reputable
international organizations to denounce the Holodomor as a genocide directed
against the Ukrainian nation that stood up against brutal domination of
Ukraine by Moscow bolsheviks.
Versatile events have been planned, information, artistic and political, to
help recognize the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people by the
world governments as well as such influential international organizations as
PACE, EU Parliament, and UN General Assembly. Information booklets,
research reports and other printed matter will be published.
We realize that the recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide of Ukrainians
has met with strong resistance and that it will take many years of joint
information and diplomatic efforts of Ukrainians living in Ukraine and in
the diaspora as well as our numerous friends worldwide.
The key role in this campaign should be played by Ukraine statesmen. After
75 years, we can no longer tolerate simplification or distortion of history,
or any compromises hatched by those who acted against Ukraine and its
national and state interests.
The President and Government of Ukraine must accept historical and political
responsibility for informing the Ukrainian people and the world about this
tragic page of our history.
The first part of the slogan is “Ukraine to Remember.” Therefore, how much
Ukraine and its people will remember about the Holodomor will serve as a
yardstick of Ukraine’s leaders dedication and commitment to spreading the
truth about the Famine.
Simultaneously, Ukrainian diplomats abroad bear responsibility,
predominantly as spokespersons for the state, for the second part of the
slogan “The World To Recognize!”
The Ukrainian diaspora as a civil and lobbying factor has long proved its
complete readiness and commitment to cooperate with the state for the sake
of the common Homeland.
The role of ambassadors and other members of the Ukrainian diplomatic
service in the Ukrainian diaspora countries is rather to initiate public
campaigns and not merely to join them.
Ukrainian diplomats should not only be the link between public organizations
and world parliaments – they should head the campaign, initiate actions and
lobby them most effectively.
Such are the instructions given by the President of Ukraine in his decrees.
The enforcement of these instructions should be checked by the public: are
they enforced at all and at which level?
The 1932-1933 Holodomor is a crime against the Ukrainian people, engineered
and perpetrated by representatives of the Stalin communist regime that
continued Moscow’s imperialistic policy in a different form.
Although the goal of the White and Red Moscow was the same, the means of
attaining it were different, much more horrendous and murderous this time.
No one can hide from the truth or deny it or hush it up.
The truth is confirmed by the documents found in recently declassified SBU
archives and published in the “Declassified Memory” collection.
We are aware of our responsibility to tell the world the truth on behalf of
millions of children, women and men killed by the famine that struck a
deadly blow to the genetic and spiritual foundations of Ukrainians. Only by
exposing and denouncing the crime can we ensure that it will never be
repeated.
It is now important that the Ukrainian youth realize its role in spreading
the truth and prepare itself for the roles of the “ambassadors of truth”!
The first stage of our campaign has started. However, we must realize that
the campaign for the recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide cannot be
limited to the annual event.
It must be our steady and consistent effort until the world recognizes the
great truth about this grave crime, until every person in Ukraine knows
about this tragic page in the history of Ukraine.
The International Committee at the World Ukrainian Congress wishes the
Ukrainian state leaders, public organizations in Ukraine and the Diaspora a
lot of endurance, commitment and success in their efforts.
Eternal memory to the victims of the dreadful Holodomor!
Let the memory about them pass from generation to generation!
Toronto - New York - Melbourne, November 17, 2007
For the World Ukrainian Congress
Askold Lozynsky, President
Stephan Romaniw, Head, IHC WUC
Viktor Pedenko, General Secretary
Irena Mytsak, Secretary, IHC WUC
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10. "EXECUTED BY FAMINE: THE UNKNOWN GENOCIDE
OF THE UKRAINIANS" EXHIBITION UNVEILED AT THE
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
International Charitable Fund 3000, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 9, 2007
KYIV - On November 7, 2007, the "Executed by Famine: Unknown
Genocide of the Ukrainians" exhibition was unveiled at the Geneva
Municipal Library [in Switzerland].
The exhibition was prepared by the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable
Fund as part of its History Lessons: Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 program.
The co-organizers of the exhibition are the Ukraine 3000 Fund, Geneva City
Council, and Ukraine's Permanent Representation at the UN and other
international organizations in Geneva.
Among the participants of the unveiling ceremony were Head of the
Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund Kateryna
Yushchenko, Mayor of Geneva Mr. Patrice Mugny, Permanent Representative of
Ukraine at the UN and other international organizations in Geneva Mr. Yevhen
Bersheda, members of the Government of Geneva, members of public
organizations and the media.
Addressing the audience, Mrs. Yushchenko tendered her thanks to all the
exhibition organizers. "By creating this exhibition we wanted to familiarize
the European audience with this tragic page of Ukraine's history," she said.
"Today, the issue of the Manmade Famine has evoked a wide response from
the global community."
Mrs. Yushchenko mentioned that the US, Canada, Australia, Estonia, Italy,
Lithuania, Georgia, Poland, Hungary, Argentina, Spain, Peru, and Ecuador had
recognized the Manmade Famine in Ukraine as genocide on the state level.
A few days before, a resolution on recognizing the manmade famine in
Ukraine was passed by the UNESCO General Assembly. "We hope that the
next step will be recognition of the Ukrainian national tragedy by other
countries and most influential international bodies, like the United Nations
Organization," Mrs. Yushchenko said.
"I am certain that if the global community had displayed an adequate
reaction to the Holodomor famine 75 years back, the humanity would have
been able to prevent later genocides and massacres taking a heavy toll of
many a million human lives in all continents," Mrs. Kateryna said.
This event is continuing a series of educational exhibitions at the capitals
of the leading countries, carried out as part of a joint program by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Ukraine 3000 Fund.
The program's goal is revealing the truth about Holodomor to the global
community, seeking its recognition as genocide against the Ukrainian
people on the international level.
The Executed by Famine: Unknown Genocide of the Ukrainians exhibition
is based upon documentary archive sources corroborated by eyewitness
accounts of the famine survivors.
The exhibition has already been displayed in Brussels and Berlin and
demonstrated to the diplomatic corps in Kyiv. In the near future it will
travel to New York, Vienna, Copenhagen, Strasbourg, Paris, Bratislava,
Budapest, etc.
During one year, electronic versions of the display will be given to all
Ukraine's diplomatic representations abroad and also to the Ukrainian
Diaspora organizations and Ukrainian communities.
The exhibition will stay in Geneva till November 21, 2007. A public
discussion on the Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 will be held November
22, 2007, at the Geneva Ethnographic Museum.
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LINK: http://ukraine3000.org.ua/eng/yesterday/yesnews/6154.html
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11. LETTERS FROM KHARKIV
The truth about the Holodomor through the eyes of Italian diplomats
By Yurii Shapoval, Professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
In a few days, the Kharkiv-based Folio Publishers is expected to issue an
extremely interesting and important book called "Letters from Kharkiv."
These letters are in fact reports from Italian diplomats who were posted in
the USSR in 1930-34, in which they describe the famine situation.
The book is being published through the efforts of the Institute of Italian
Culture in Kyiv. This academic institution invited me to take part in this
interesting project as a scholarly editor and the author of a brief
afterword.
I agreed with pleasure, not in the least because it was Prof. Andrea
Graziosi, a colleague and a good friend of mine, who discovered the Italian
diplomats' letters, which he found in 1987 at Italy's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
"These documents lead one to reckon with one of the 20th-century's biggest
European tragedies," Prof. Graziosi writes in the foreword to the book.
"They radically changed my idea of Soviet history and my overall vision of
the last century. This is why their publication in Ukraine fills me with
joy."
What is also important is that these documents were found even earlier by
Basilian monks, who handed them over to the US Commission that researched
the famine in the mid-1980s. The Italian diplomats' accounts were attached
to the commission's Report to Congress.
So this evidence is of paramount importance for understanding the causes and
consequences of the Holodomor. Published in Italy, France, and the US, these
documents are finally appearing in print in the very place where these
tragic events took place, fortunately long ago.
As Prof. Nicola Franco Balloni, director of the Institute of Italian Culture
in Kyiv, rightly states in his foreword to Letters from Kharkiv, the
Ukrainian-language edition is the most complete documentary evidence of the
1930s famine in the USSR, gathered by members of Italy's diplomatic mission.
"The evidence of Italian diplomats," Prof. Balloni emphasizes, "who were
forced to work in the difficult conditions of the Stalin and Mussolini
regimes, but were able to remain impartial witnesses of these infernal
events, was in fact of no use to Il Duce. For certain reasons, he wanted to
maintain good relations with the USSR.
However, the times of dictators are ending, but documents remain and, aimed
at the descendants of the victims of tyranny, they teach them to remember
the tragic past for the sake of the future."
In the early 1930s, Italy had an embassy in Moscow, as well as a
well-ramified network of consular agencies, including consulates in
Leningrad, Odesa, and Tbilisi, and vice-consulates in Kharkiv, Batumi, and
Novorossiisk.
It is the reports from the three latter consular offices and the Moscow-
based embassy that were included in Letters from Kharkiv. The people who
headed the consular agencies in Kharkiv, Batumi, and Novorossiisk were not
professional diplomats but former army officers, who had served well during
World War One.
Most of the documents cited in the book were prepared by Sergio Gradenigo
(1886- 1966), who had worked in Ukraine in 1931-34. He headed the Kharkiv
vice-consulate (later elevated to a Royal Consulate) and, at the end of his
mission, the newly-formed Consulate General in Kyiv, where the capital of
Soviet Ukraine moved in 1934, and, later, a consular representation in
Italy.
After finishing his term in Ukraine, he served as a volunteer in the Tevere
Division in the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935-36. In 1948 Gradenigo
immigrated to Argentina, where he taught and wrote until his death.
What were these reports by the Italian diplomats? They contain very specific
information as well as reflections - sometimes merciless, sometimes
sympathetic - of foreigners, which were by and large correct assessments
and analyses of governmental actions and human behavior.
But let me make a general remark before going into greater detail. Ukraine
and the Northern Caucasus had been supplying more than half of all the grain
produced in the USSR.
Speaking of Ukraine, Stalin noted in 1931that "a number of granaries are in
a state of devastation and famine." Yet the Kremlin believed that Ukraine
had enormous reserves of grain that the collective farms and independent
farmers were allegedly hiding.
This is why the government resorted to brutal measures to procure grain.
More than 150,000 people died in 1931 alone. In March and April 1932 there
were large numbers of starving people in Ukrainian villages, and cities were
full of children who had been abandoned by their parents.
This was a distress signal that did not, however, stop the authorities. On
July 7, 1932, the Central Committee of the All- Union Communist Party
(Bolsheviks) passed a resolution on the state grain deliveries. The main
idea of the resolution was to fulfill the plan at any cost.
The Stalinist leadership clearly saw two genuine enemies:
[1] firstly, the peasants, who were unwilling to work on collective farms
and die in the name of industrialization (seeking to avoid the famine caused
by meeting the compulsory grain procurement targets, peasants began
withdrawing en masse from collective farms); and
[2] secondly, the not-so-reliable political-state leadership of Ukraine,
which to a certain degree was pursuing a "flexible" line in its dealings
with the Kremlin's demands and tragic local realities.
This is why Stalin sent his trusted lieutenants to Ukraine and applied tough
sanctions against the peasants, which turned into genocide.
In late October 1932, in pursuance of the CC AUCP(b) Politburo resolution
of Oct. 22, 1932, an extraordinary commission headed by Viacheslav
Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR,
began to work in Ukraine.
As early as Oct. 29 Molotov cabled to Stalin, "We had to severely criticize
the Ukrainian organization, especially the party's Central Committee, for
failure to launch full- scale requisitioning." Sharing Stalin's mistrust of
the local authorities, Molotov also demanded that Moscow officials be sent
to the Ukrainian SSR to achieve the desirable effect.
Molotov gave a powerful impetus to the repressions. The Politburo of the CC
AUCP(b) resolved on Nov. 5, 1932, to increase coercion in the state grain
delivery campaign, in particular to boost the role of law-enforcement
bodies.
A number of measures were drafted, such as immediate trials of cases
connected to the state grain deliveries, the organization of circuit court
proceedings and the creation of additional courts in every region, and
meting out severe punishments. All cases were to be spotlighted in the
national and local press.
"The famine continues to take a heavy toll of human lives on such an
enormous scale that it is absolutely unclear how the world can remain
indifferent to this catastrophe. Through merciless requisitions (which I
have repeatedly reported), the Moscow government allowed not just a famine,
for this is not quite the precise word, but the complete absence of any
means of existence," a stunned Gradenigo pointed out in his communication
dated May 31, 1933.
A little earlier, in February 1932, Gradenigo sent a piece of bread, the
kind that was being consumed in Kharkiv at the time, to Italy's ambassador
Bernardo Attolico in Moscow.
In one of his messages to Rome the ambassador wrote about the shortage
of bread: "It is difficult to imagine that the quality of the food item, so
important to the dietary regime in the USSR, should be so bad, as this
little piece of bread shows. The truth...is hidden in the real conditions of
the decline into which collectivization has thrown Russian agriculture,
which is too patriarchal to endure without disastrous consequences an
injection of modernization in the shape of collectivization."
Peasants were fleeing Ukraine to save themselves from the famine. The
authorities blocked their departure, captured them, and sent them back.
The report of the Italian consulate in Batumi, dated Jan. 20, 1933, provides
a detailed description of the way the authorities pushed out the Ukrainian
peasants who were fleeing from the famine to Transcaucasia: "The expellees
are herded into customs warehouses, where they wait for a steamship.
Those who can pay for the passage are separated from those who cannot.
The latter are gathered a few hours before departure and escorted by police
to a free market, where they can sell what they have with them in order to
raise money for a ticket. The police keep curious onlookers away from them
and only let in those who are really going to buy something - a coat, a pair
of boots, etc.
Clearly, lack of time robs these wretched people of the opportunity to
bargain, which is advantageous to buyers. All this occurs in complete
orderliness and silence, which does not diminish the sad impression of this
scene, which turns a marketplace into something like a slave market for a
few hours."
The organs of repression and punishment vested with the exclusive right to
record deaths, block information on the famine, and carry out punitive
actions were a mighty force. The diplomats' letters cite some influential
secret police officers describing the tragic situation in quite a realistic
way.
For example, Gradenigo writes in May 1933, "Comrade Frenkel, a member
of the OGPU Collegium, admitted to an acquaintance of ours that about 250
corpses of those who starved to death are picked up on the streets of
Kharkiv every night. On my part, I can confirm that I saw trucks carrying
10- 15 corpses past the consulate at midnight.
"Since there are three large neighborhoods under construction next to the
consulate, one of the trucks halted by the fence, and two operatives
wielding pitchforks got off to search for corpses. I saw 7 people, i.e., two
men, one woman, and four children, being picked up with these pitchforks.
Other people woke up and vanished as if they were shadows. One of the
operatives doing this job said to me, 'You don't have this in your country,
do you?'"
Incidentally, when I was writing the commentaries, I kept in mind the
aforesaid "Comrade Frenkel," about whom I will write more in detail some
other time.
This Mikhail Frenkel (1888-1938) held top administrative positions in the
GPU of the Ukrainian SSR and was later the chief billeting official at the
Administrative and Economic Directorate of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1924 he had been prosecuted for smuggling, but the case was dismissed.
In February 1938 he was arrested and accused of spying for Poland and
"wrecking" (creating "poor" living conditions for the highest-ranking NKVD
officers). He died on March 8, 1938, as a result of savage beatings that
were administered to him in the inner prison of the Directorate of State
Security of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR.
On March 20, 1933, Italy's Ambassador Attolico, wrote to Rome: "The
impression is that the only strong link, the real backbone of the entire
Soviet system, is the GPU, which is usually able to achieve, through its
typically fast and violent methods, what even the best propaganda cannot."
Meanwhile, we find in these diplomatic documents evidence of what communist
propaganda was doing. Leone Sircana, the vice- consul in Novorossiisk,
reported the following to the Italian Embassy in Moscow on April 8, 1933:
"It is like mocking the beastly condition to which millions of people have
been reduced to claim that the Soviets have launched the world's most
powerful radio transmitter, which is supposed to overwhelm perhaps all the
other voices on the airways and beam to the oppressed peoples of Europe
and Asia Moscow's revelations about 'the incredible achievements of the
Bolshevik miracle'.
"Or we read that the workers of Novorossiisk are donating one percent of
their starvation wages (in paper rubles) to the cause of combating fascist
terror, and so on. This typical revolutionary fervor catches your eye in
banner slogans, newspaper headlines, the hidebound and mindless phrases
of articles and speeches, but it never finds any response.
"Countering these purely bureaucratic onslaughts on capitalism, fascism, and
kulaks and the no less bureaucratic glorification of Bolshevik successes is
the huge, patient, callous, and indifferent mass (or herd?) of these hapless
people, who listen without hearing and look without seeing and whose mind,
now even more stupefied than ever, has only one vision: a small piece of
brown bread, underbaked and mixed with the most incredible and most varied
ingredients, to which they are still entitled and which they must share with
their large family, old and infirm relatives, not to mention those who do
not have even this right, or the painful and bitter despair from the fact
that Moscow requisitions everything that the earth offers and, as the
peasant deceives himself, is supposed to belong to him."
The famine in Ukraine turned into an instrument not only of terror but also
of the "nationalities policy." This radically distinguished the situation in
Ukraine from that in, say, Russia or Kazakhstan, where famine-related losses
were also very high.
On Dec. 14, 1932, Stalin and Molotov signed a resolution of the CC AUCP(b)
and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which demanded
"correct Ukrainization" in Ukraine and other regions densely populated by
ethnic Ukrainians. The document also demanded a struggle against Petliurites
and other 'counterrevolutionary" elements, who this time were accused of
organizing the famine.
This not only meant the end of the policy of "Ukrainization." This was the
decisive phase of the liquidation of the "Ukraine-centered" potential that
was never supposed to revive, and the brutally and carefully organized
punishment turned into genocide.
"Since famine always begets a revolution (in this case, it would be a
counterrevolution)," one of the documents says, "the greatest burden of the
famine was placed on the Ukrainian peasants, who were politically the most
dangerous and resisted the issue of collectivization as much as they could.
No matter what kind of famine he is suffering from, the peasant cannot
launch an offensive on the city and become dangerous to the regime, above
all, for purely organizational reasons."
The Stalinist regime used the Holodomor and false stories about those who
were responsible for it as a concrete pretext for mass-scale repressive
campaigns, purges, and the like.
On May 22, 1933, Gradenigo wrote in his regular message to the Italian
Embassy in Moscow, "The current disaster will lead to the colonization of
Ukraine, mostly by the Russian population. This will change its ethnographic
nature.
In all probability, we will not have to speak about Ukraine and the
Ukrainian people in the very near future and, consequently, there will be no
Ukrainian problem because Ukraine will in fact become part of Russia."
Contrary to this sad forecast, Letters from Kharkiv is being published in
independent Ukraine, which remembers its history and - I do believe! - is
ready to learn its lessons.
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NOTE: Yurii Shapoval is a professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
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12. AN APPEAL TO THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
By Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, "Maidan" Alliance
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KHARKIV - On 24 November, people throughout the world will be joining
Ukrainians in lighting candles. They are candles in memory of the millions
who died in an artificially caused famine - Holodomor 1932-1933. The
Holodomor was not caused by blundering incompetence.
A murderous regime took the grain away, surrounded villages with armed units
and closed the borders. Given the lies and denial for decades, the figures
range, however most believe at least 5 to 7 million people died.
There have been arguments for decades now over whether this constitutes
genocide as understood in the 1948 Convention. There is no opportunity
here to discuss this, nor would I wish to.
There was food, but it was taken away by force and people were prevented
from saving themselves and their children from starvation.
While there were famines throughout the USSR, it was in Ukraine and in an
area predominantly populated by Ukrainians that starvation was used as a
deliberate weapon.
If this does not constitute genocide as defined in the UN Convention, I
would respectfully suggest that perhaps the latter is not fulfilling its
role as a human rights document aimed at acknowledging human rights crimes
and ensuring they never happen again.
We have begun collecting signatures for an appeal to the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. We are asking for their cooperation in opening up all the
documents which they presently hold but which pertain to our common fate
under the old totalitarian regime.
We ask also for Russia to implement the recommendations in the recent
UNESCO Resolution which Russia signed.
We also call in our appeal for Russia to join Ukraine and many other
countries in recognizing the actions of the totalitarian regime of that time
to have been genocide.
We wish to wrench this subject from the area of geopolitical considerations
which make us cogs in some abstract machine on which we can have no impact.
We are adamant that the subject of Holodomor must be viewed in the context
of ethics and law.
Most of all we wish to separate this vital question of justice, memory and
of safeguards for the future from all extraneous issues and grievances.
In the last four days, our petition has been signed by many people in
Ukraine, Russia and other counties of the world. It is intended as a
uniting force, aimed at removing artificially created obstacles and
geopolitical arguments.
We are remembering the victims of a crime against the Ukrainian nation and
against all humanity both with our candles and with our petition. We would
ask you to join us.
You can read (and sign!) our covering letter and appeal (in three languages)
at: http://maidanua.org/static/viol/1195265429.html.
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13. THE POLITICS OF GENOCIDE
Will Moscow ever recognize the Stalin-led forced famine
in Ukraine 75 years ago as an act of genocide?
ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY: By Lisa Shymko
The American Spectator, Arlington, Virginia, Wed, Nov 14, 2007
TORONTO - This week, Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, will travel
to Israel - a nation for whom the term "genocide" has become an indelible
part
of its collective memory - where he is expected to ask Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert to endorse a UN resolution put forth by Ukraine recognizing the
Soviet-era forced famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide.
For Prime Minister Olmert and members of the Knesset, it will not be an easy
decision to make, since Jewish leaders have long maintained that the
Holocaust was unique and should not be equated with other genocides.
Complicating the matter is the new political reality in the Middle East.
Israelis have hesitated to endorse the Ukrainian position, for fear of
straining Israel's delicate relations with Russia.
Olmert is hoping to convince Russia to use its geopolitical influence in the
Caspian basin to stave off a military confrontation with Tehran over its
nuclear program. Yet so far, as Moscow undertakes a series of cozy deals
with Iran and Syria, Vladimir Putin has done little to appease Israeli
concerns.
Will Prime Minister Olmert hold off on backing Ukraine's UN resolution in an
attempt to woo the Kremlin? Only time will tell. One thing is clear, the
Russians do not want to see improved relations between Israel and Ukraine.
Historically, Moscow has benefited from the painful rifts of the past, and
the Kremlin is not happy to see Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko
proposing a more dynamic Ukraine-Israel relationship.
Recently, Ukraine's President announced the return of 1,000 Torah scrolls
previously confiscated from Ukraine's Jewish communities during the
communist regime.
Historic synagogues in Ukraine have been returned to Jewish communities and
President Yushchenko has ordered Ukraine's Security Service to establish a
special department to combat hate crimes. Yushchenko has also proposed
legislation to criminalize the denial of the Holocaust.
So why is the Kremlin irritated over Ukraine's pursuit of the genocide
issue? Because the current government in Moscow is still unwilling to deal
with the ugly side of its Stalinist past.
THIS YEAR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY will begin
commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 1932-33 state-sponsored famine
in Ukraine, masterminded by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The premeditated
policy of forced grain seizures targeted Ukraine's anti-Soviet rural
population and resulted in mass murder by starvation.
The artificially induced famine, known as the Holodomor, claimed the lives
of millions of victims. The genocide was the precursor to the bloody Red
Terror that later swept the entire USSR.
Having resisted Stalin's forced collectivization, Ukraine's
independent-minded rural population faced sweeping food confiscations
enforced by the notorious OGPU-NKVD secret police.
Starving Ukrainian peasants initially tried surviving on hay, weeds, and
leaves, even stripping trees of their bark. As conditions worsened, some, on
the verge of insanity, resorted to cannibalism, feeding on the remains of
the recently deceased.
But few in the West were aware of the genocide. While Ukrainians starved to
death, Moscow dumped millions of tons of cheap grain on Western markets.
When Western journalists like the Welsh reporter Gareth Jones, stationed in
the USSR in the 1930s, secretly traveled to Ukraine, uncovering information
about the decimation of entire rural towns and villages, pro-Soviet
apologists like Walter Duranty of the New York Times published fabricated
stories of well-fed peasants in an attempt to suppress the truth.
Those in Ukraine's Communist Party who dared to speak out, were meticulously
purged by Stalin. Ukraine's aspirations for independence were to be squashed
at all costs. Mass executions of Ukraine's intellectual elite followed.
The result was a campaign of ethnic cleansing on a vast scale. By 1933, as a
result of Stalin's State Decree, all territories previously populated by
Ukrainians, now de-populated by the forced famine, were systematically
settled by ethnic Russians.
In 2006, after decades of denials and cover-ups, the Parliament of Ukraine
shed its Soviet legacy and passed legislation recognizing the 1932-33
Ukrainian Forced Famine as an act of genocide.
In recent years, an ever-growing number of countries, including the USA,
Australia, Italy, Poland, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, to name just a few, have
officially acknowledged this heinous crime to be genocide.
This year, Canada's Parliament is expected to adopt a similar resolution in
the House of Commons, mirroring a unanimous motion passed in the Senate in
2003.
Ironically, as the international community prepares to vote on a UN General
Assembly resolution introduced by Ukraine that would condemn Stalin's
actions in Ukraine as nothing less than genocide, Russia -- the
self-appointed successor state of the Soviet Union -- has vowed to oppose
the passage of such a resolution.
THE KREMLIN HAS YET TO COME to terms with its genocidal past. In a
recent article published by Russia's Novosti news service, the Russian
author, Andrei Marchukov, referred to the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine as
"propaganda" and called recent efforts to uncover previously censored
information on the tragedy "sensation whipped up over bygones."
Bygones indeed!
It is estimated that at least 7 million perished as a result of Stalin's
induced famine in Ukraine. According to research presented at a 2001
Population Conference in Brazil, historian Mark Tolts, of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, stated that, up until recently, it had been
difficult for historians to reach an exact figure on the number of victims,
since Stalin personally falsified the Soviet Union's demographic data after
the 1932-33 famine.
In fact, according to Tolts, three successive heads of the Soviet Central
Statistical Administration were executed by Stalin, while others were
arrested, in a deliberate attempt to cover-up the shocking human losses.
Recently, Ukraine declassified over 100 documents pertaining to the 1932-33
Ukrainian Famine and repressions of the 1930s from its Security Service
Archives.
The documents are eye-opening because they show that international
humanitarian aid was systematically denied to Ukraine's starving population.
But countless more Soviet-era documents remain locked in Russian archives,
inaccessible to Western historians.
The Kremlin's image is in need of a major makeover. Allegations of
state-complicity in the assassinations of Alexander Litvinenko in Great
Britain and investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow have done
little to enhance Russia's international image as a democratic, peace-loving
nation.
More recently, the Kremlin has failed to crack down on home-grown racist
youth gangs, responsible for a series of cross-border attacks on Jews and
visible minorities in Russia and Ukraine.
Last week, Russian politician Grigory Yavlinsky called on the Russian
government to undertake "a de-Stalinization program" to remember the
millions of victims of Soviet repression.
Russia's Memorial Human Rights Society issued a statement asking the
Russian government "to acknowledge past crimes and offer apologies to
the victims," including the former Soviet Union's repressed ethnic groups.
It's time for Russia to make peace with its past, by showing a willingness
to make peace with its neighbors. Acknowledging Stalin's genocidal
complicity in the 1932-33 state-sponsored Famine in Ukraine would be an
important first step.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lisa Shymko is a Canadian political scientist and director of the
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Center in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine. The center
was established in 2000 by Canadian Friends of Ukraine and the Government
of Canada to enhance legislative reform and open access to information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.Spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12306
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14. UKRAINIAN MASS FAMINE OF 1932-1933: RUSSIA
IGNORES TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce
itself from the 1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, republished by RIA Novosti
Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
On Saturday, November 24, all Ukraine will observe the 75th anniversary of
the Ukrainian famine or Holodomor of 1932-33. The scale of mourning was
made public both to Ukrainians and the world.
Nothing, however, is known about the famine, which also affected Russia,
and how the date will be marked in Russia. There is no information available
about any official events on either the Internet or from news agencies.
This oversight in the official response to the tragic date in Russia and
Ukraine is unlikely to be due to the difference in the number of victims:
between 3.5-4 million Ukrainians perished in the famine, while Russia lost
hundreds of thousands.
Kiev believes that the extent of the losses from the famine surpasses even
World War II.
But even if the number of Russian victims does not run into the millions
this does not mean that Russia is incapable of honoring the memory of those
hundreds of thousands on a nationwide scale.
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce itself from the
1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
The Russian authorities fear losing the information war against Ukraine,
which is demanding that other countries recognize the Holodomor as
genocide of Ukrainians.
Although the regime guilty of the crime no longer exists, Moscow is
concerned that if there was an admission it would have to bear the moral
and maybe material responsibility for the millions of deaths 75 years ago.
Moscow is making every effort to block Kiev's plans to turn the Holodomor
into an international issue like the Jewish Holocaust of World War II.
The authorities are also trying to wipe out all memory of the event that is
now extremely unsafe politically. There are, however, no documents
testifying that the famine was deliberately engineered for ethnic reasons.
Moscow had to repay German industrial loans, and was forced to clear
out barns in grain-producing areas.
At the same time, the geographical range of the famine shows that it hit
mostly the Soviet Union's outlying ethnic regions. Aside from Ukraine the
famine raged in the Kuban, Stavropol, Don, and the lower and middle
Volga areas, which were part of the Russian Federation.
A year earlier, in Kazakhstan, which was also part of the Russian Federation
at that time, one in three Kazakhs died from starvation. In the Volga area
the worst hit was the German autonomy, which was wiped out in 1941.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071121/89001893.html
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15. TOO MUCH EMOTION OVER HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE,
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin believes that the
topic of the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933 is being treated too emotionally.
"There was Soviet Union, there was famine, a great famine. It is true that
Ukrainians suffered, as did Russians and other nationalities, including all
who lived in Ukraine," Chernomyrdin told the press in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said the famine had no mercy on anybody and regret could be expressed on
that occasion. "But here we see so much sentiment. We don't understand it,"
he said. "I don't see any benefit from this storm of emotions," he added.
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16. DECLARING FAMINE A GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIANS INSULTS
NON-UKRAINIAN VICTIMS SAYS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
MOSCOW - The subject of 1930s famine is increasingly becoming a field for
political speculation in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.
"We would like to say that the famine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s to
which members of numerous ethnic groups, including Ukrainians, Russians,
Kazakhs and others fell victim is increasingly becoming a subject of various
speculations on the part of certain political circles in Ukraine," a Foreign
Ministry commentary says.
"The declaration of the tragic developments of those years as an act of
genocide with specific regard to the Ukrainian people is a biased distortion
of history for the benefit of present-day political and ideological
concepts.
Not only that, it is an insult to the memory of victims of the famine of
1932-1933 in the Soviet Union who belonged to other ethnic groups," the
commentary says.
At the same time the Foreign Ministry condemned the vandalism at the
Ukrainian cultural center in Moscow during the November 17 opening of an
exhibition on the famine in Ukraine.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry denounces such hooliganism. We would like to
draw your attention to the fact that the individuals were immediately
detained and handed over to law enforcers for investigation which cannot be
said about the attitude of Ukrainian law enforcement in regard numerous
provocations against the Russian cultural center in Lviv," the commentary
says.
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17. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SHOULD READ MORE BOOKS
ABOUT HISTORY SAYS UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY
UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
KYIV - The statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for
Information and Press about Holodomor is contrary to historical facts.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, top deputy Foreign Minister of
Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko said this to journalists today.
He turned attention to the fact that the "statements, made today by the RF
Information Department, are not true, and are contrary to the elementary
historical knowledge".
V.Ohryzko pointed out that he has intent to summon the councilor at the
Russian Embassy to Ukraine in order to give him a clear view of the
situation concerning smashing up the exhibition, devoted to the Ukrainian
Holodomor of 1932-33, in Moscow on 17 November.
In his turn, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Andriy Deshchytsia
emphasized that "to exchange statements about that-time events is absolutely
tactless, because we humiliate ourselves by doing so".
He stressed that Ukraine has determined its position concerning the
recognition of Holodomor of 1932-33 as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainian nation. "Solely within the frameworks of a friendly and partner
advice, I would like to advise our Russian colleagues, including that of the
RF Foreign Ministry's Information Department, to read books about history",
he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 17, 7 representatives of the Eurasian
Union of Youth (EUY) smashed up the exhibition in memory of Holodomor
[Ukrainian Great Famine of 1932-33] exhibition in the Ukrainian cultural
center in Moscow. EUY believes that the exhibition stirred up hatred between
Russia and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assessed these actions as illegal,
provocative, and anti-Ukrainian.
On 19 November the Department for Information and Press of the Russian
Foreign Ministry disseminated a commentary, reading that the announcement
of the famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide "is a one-sided
distortion of history in favor of modern market's political-ideological
guidelines".
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that "the theme of hunger of 30ies
in the Soviet Union, the victims of which were people of many nationalities,
in particular, Ukrainians, Russians, Kazakhs, and other nations, more and
more becomes a topic of different speculations by certain political circles
in Ukraine".
The Russian MFA is confident that should the Ukrainian great famine be
recognized as an act of genocide, it "will insult the memory of victims of
other nationalities, who died because of hunger in the former USSR", reads
the commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information Department.
By different estimates, from 7 to 10 millions of Ukrainians died during the
Great Famine of 1932-33, which was a result of Stalin's policy against those
who resisted his plans (Ukrainian farmers).
Stalin decided to sacrifice a considerable part of this group in order to
eliminate the opposition to his projects and to frighten the rest of the
Ukrainian nation into accepting the role of cogs (as he liked to call them)
of the great socialist mechanism.
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18. FORMER MIN OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BORYS TARASIUK
CRITICIZED RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES FOR OBSTRUCTION OF
HONORING MEMORY OF 1932-1933 FAMINE VICTIMS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
KYIV - The chairman of the Narodnyi Rukh party and parliamentary deputy
of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc, former Minister of Foreign
Affairs Borys Tarasiuk is criticizing the Russian authorities for
obstruction of honoring the memory of the 1932-1933 Great Famine victims
in Ukraine.
This follows from the bloc's press service, a copy of which was made
available to Ukrainian News.
According to the message, Tarasiuk views as unfriendly the statement by the
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the 1932-1933 Great Famine issue
has become a subject of speculations by certain political circles in
Ukraine.
'Russian mass media whip up hysteria within their own country every time
when another anniversary of the Famine is approaching. The Foreign Ministry
of Russia is not falling behind,' the press service cited Tarasiuk as
saying.
The bloc representative also believes that the Russian officials,
particularly the Foreign Ministry, workers of foreign establishments, are
attempting to obstruct honoring the memory of the Famine victims in Ukraine.
'...attempting to obstruct honoring the memory of the Famine victims in
Ukraine by refusing to support the corresponding resolutions of the UN
General Assembly, UNESCO,' Tarasiuk said.
The ex-foreign minister is viewing these actions as an outbreak of
anti-Ukrainian campaign from Russia due to the forthcoming elections to the
State Duma (parliament).
'Unfortunately, Russian politicians are trying to play the Ukrainian card.
These are dirty methods. It's manifestation of a dangerous tendency, as well
as the recent attack of young people from the Eurasian movement on the
Ukrainian exhibition in Moscow,' Tarasiuk said.
At the same time, the bloc representative believes that the attempts to deny
the famine are ungrounded, saying Russia may also raise the issue of
starvation of Russian people.
'One should respect not only his own history, but also the history of his
neighbors. If the Russian side wants to build relations with Ukraine based
on equality and law, it should behave correspondingly,' Tarasiuk noted.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs believes it is not correct to dispute with the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs on the Great Famine of 1932-33.
On November 19, Ukraine demanded that Russia bring to justice the members
of the Eurasian Youth Union that destroyed an exhibition honoring the
memories of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine at the
Ukrainian Cultural Center in Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its turn called declaration of
the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainians as one-sided garbling of history.
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19. PRES YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S POLICY ON DECLARATION
ON 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
NOT DIRECTED AGAINST OTHER NATIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine Tue, November 20, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko marks that Ukraine's policy on declaration
of 1932-1933 Famine as genocide of the Ukrainian people is not directed
against other nations. Presidential press service disclosed this in a
statement.
'Retuning of our memory is not the work against anyone. We do not want to
humiliate any nation or state, for we know well that evil, which took place
in Ukraine in 1932-1933, was not the idea of any strange nation, but the
idea of Stalin totalitarian regime,' Yuschenko said. The president also
said that studying of the Famine has to consolidate the nation.
'The nation is eliminated via humiliation, especially spiritual one. The
nation is destroyed this way. In this, when we are made forget 1932-1933,
we are deprived of our history and future,' Yuschenko said.
Besides, he reminded about efforts, which are undertaken by Ukraine to
inform local and international community about the Famine as a national
tragedy.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry is
calling the declaration of the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine the act of
genocide of the Ukrainian nation as one-sided garbling of history.
The Russian foreign ministry says such initiatives by Ukraine abuse the
memory of other nationality victims of the 1932 - 1933 famine in the Soviet Union.
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
стаття Р. Сербина (геноцид чи ні)
20. THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE
IN LIGHT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF 1948
By Roman Serbyn, Professor of History, University of Quebec
The Ukrainian Quarterly, Volume LXII, Number 2, Taras Hunczak, Editor
A Journal of Ukrainian & International Affairs - Since 1944
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, Summer 2006
Journal article re-published with permission by the
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 20
Washington, D.C., Friday, November 23, 2007
THE STATE OF THE QUESTION
Serious scholars and respectable politicians no longer challenge the
historicity of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933. What is still disputed is
the cause of death and the number of victims. Some influential Western
historians blame climatic conditions, administrative mismanagement and
peasant attitudes for bringing about the famine, and deny or minimize the
moral responsibility of Stalin and his régime for voluntarily starving
millions of innocent people - or at least knowingly pursuing policies which
they knew would result in such human losses. [1]
Proponents of the view that the cause of the monstrous loss of life was the
criminal activity of the Soviet régime continue to disagree on the nature of
the crime and the identity of the victims. In other words, there is no
agreement on whether the famine in Ukraine should be classified as genocide,
and if so, if its victims were targeted as peasants or as Ukrainians. The
issue has both a theoretical and a political dimension. It still elicits the
most partisan feelings among both politicians and academics.
The Ukrainian famine is not recognized as genocide by the United Nations. In
November 2003, the UN General Assembly commemorated the 70th anniversary
of the event with a declaration signed by some 60 countries. The document
declared that "the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine" took seven to 10
million of innocent lives, and explained that they were victims of "the
cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime."
What had happened was called "a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people,"
but there was no allusion to genocide. The declaration erroneously
attributed the cause of the famine to "civil war and forced
collectivization" and misleadingly merged the Ukrainian catastrophe with
the "millions of Russians, Kazaks and representatives of other nationalities
who died of starvation in the Volga river region, North Caucasus, Kazakhstan
and in other parts of the former Soviet Union."
The Ukrainian delegation agreed to this watered-down version out of fear
that the Russians would block a more strongly worded declaration. [2]
Ambassador Valeriy Kuchinsky of the Ukrainian Mission to the UN later stated
that it was, nevertheless, "an official document of the General Assembly,"
whose importance resided in the fact that "for the first time in the history
of the UN, Holodomor was officially recognized as a national tragedy of the
Ukrainian people, caused by the cruel actions and policies of a totalitarian
regime." [3]
The precedent allowed the Ukrainian Ambassador to return to the famine two
years later, during the General Assembly discussion of the resolution on the
International Holocaust day. Kuchynsky reiterated: "We believe that it is
high time that the international community recognized that crime as an act
of genocide against the Ukrainian nation." [4]
There is no unanimity on the famine among Ukrainian historians. Some, like
Valeriy Soldatenko of the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies,
continue to reject the notion of a man-made famine in Ukraine. Others, like
Yuri Shapoval of the same institution, blame the communists for the crime
and consider it genocide in accordance with the 1948 UN Convention.
Stanislav Kulchytsky of the Institute of History of the National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine maintains that the famine was genocide and that
Ukrainians must ensure that the international community officially
recognizes it as "an act that falls under the UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." At the same time, he
claims that, "in reality, this famine cannot be classified as genocide as
defined in the Convention." [5]
Kulchytsky draws a sharp distinction between the Ukrainian famine, on the
one hand, and the Jewish Holocaust and Armenian massacres, on the other.
"We will never prove to the grandchildren of those Ukrainian citizens who
starved to death, let alone to the international community, that people died
in 1933 in the USSR as a result of their national affiliation, i.e., in the
same way that Armenians died in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, or Jews in the
European countries that were occupied by Hitler's Reich."
Convinced that the Ukrainian famine cannot satisfy the criteria set by the
UN Genocide Convention, he comes to a rather surprising conclusion: "And
there is no need to prove this, because the mechanism of the Soviet genocide
was different. The terror by famine that Stalin unleashed on Ukraine and the
Kuban was an act of genocide against Ukrainian citizens, not Ukrainians."
[6]
Further on, I shall return to Kulchytsky's "terror by famine"
interpretation; for now, I wish to point out that his approach cannot be
used in arguing the Ukrainian case before the UN, nor is it of much help
when debating the issue with scholars who base their rejection of the
Ukrainian genocide on the UN Convention.
Kulchytsky quotes the UN Convention and then dismisses it without bothering
to analyze it, point by point, to see if it really covers the Ukrainian
famine or not. Absence of such analysis is a common characteristic of
Ukrainian scholarship, which often contents itself with simple assertions
that the Ukrainian famine falls within the UN criteria for genocide.
Deniers of the Ukrainian genocide often rely on the UN Convention for their
main argument against the recognition of the Ukrainian famine as genocide.
This approach can be illustrated by the discussion that took place at the
VII World Congress of the International Committee for Central and East
European Studies held in Berlin in the summer of 2005. A special session was
organized under the title "Was the Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 Genocide?"
Otto Luchterhadt, Professor of Law at the University of Hamburg in Germany
entitled his presentation "Famine in Ukraine and the Provisions of
International Law on Genocide." Luchterhand's own summary of his argument,
printed in the Congress Abstracts, reads as follows:
"The question whether the Ukrainian Golodomor [sic!] was a
genocide, can only be answered along with the Anti-Genocide Convention
(9.12.1948), because it exclusively offers the relevant criteria, i.e. the
definition of genocide as a crime under international law. While the
objective elements of the offense were completed without any doubt by state
terrorist measures against a substantial part of the Ukrainian population
during the so-called Dekulakization, the subjective element was not
fulfilled, because killings, deportations, and mistreatments were not
committed with the required specific 'intent' to destroy, in whole or in
part, the Ukrainians as a national group as such. The victims of the
Dekulakization policy were defined by a social approach, not by a national
one. So, the Golodomor-case touches on a crucial problem of genocide
definition: due to the Soviet UN-policy it doesn't protect social and
political groups." [7]
Let us disregard, for the moment, the author's erroneous reading of history
("dekulakization" was mostly over when the great famine began, and people
died from induced famine, which was not a function of "dekulakization") and
his misdirection in subject identification (victims of "dekulakization"
instead of the famine). What is important is that Luchterhandt's denial of
the Ukrainian genocide is based on the UN document, as is the case with most
of the other scholars who reject the notion of a Ukrainian famine-genocide.
Andrea Graziosi, a recognized expert on the Ukrainian famine, has come to
the conclusion that the Ukrainian famine will be recognized as genocide
because recently revealed documentation points to such a crime. [8] What the
Italian historian does not say is whether he believes that this claim can be
made on the basis of the UN Convention. I think it can. In this paper I
shall argue the following three points:
1. The Ukrainian famine was genocide.
2. It was a genocide directed against Ukrainians.
3. The evidence meets the criteria set by the 1948 United Nations
Convention on Genocide.
THE UN CONVENTION ON GENOCIDE OF 9 DECEMBER 1948
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was
adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and came into force on
12 January 1951. Soviet Ukraine became a signatory of the Convention on 16
June 1949 and ratified it on 15 November 1954. Independent Ukraine continues
to respect the international Convention and has inscribed "Article 442.
Genocide" into its own Code of Criminal Law.
The term "genocide" was coined in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) "from
the ancient Greek word 'genos' (race, tribe) and the Latin 'cide' (killing),
thus corresponding in its formation to such words as tyrannycide, homicide,
infanticide, etc." [9] A Polish Jew, born in what today is Lithuania, Lemkin
studied law at the University of Lviv, where he became interested in crimes
against groups and, in particular, the Armenian massacres during the First
World War.
In October 1933, as lecturer on comparative law at the Institute of
Criminology of the Free University of Poland and Deputy Prosecutor of the
District Court of Warsaw, he was invited to give a special report at the 5th
Conference for the Unification of Penal Law in Madrid. [10] In his report,
Lemkin proposed the creation of a multilateral convention making the
extermination of human groups, which he called "acts of barbarity," an
international crime.
Ten years later, Lemkin wrote a seminal book on the notion of genocide. A
short excerpt will show that the author's approach was much broader than the
one later adopted by the UN:
"Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the
immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings
of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated
plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations
of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups
themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the
political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings,
religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction
of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of
the individuals belonging to such groups. Genocide is directed against the
national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against
individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the
national group." [11]
Lemkin's book became a guiding light for the framers of the UN Convention
on Genocide.
The Convention voted by the UN General Assembly contains 19 articles,
dealing mainly with the problems of the prevention and punishment of
genocidal activity. Most relevant to our discussion is the preamble and the
first two articles. The preamble acknowledges that "at all periods of
history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity," while the first
article declares that genocide is a crime under international law "whether
committed in time of peace or in time of war." The all-important definition
of genocide is contained in Article II:
"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in 'part' a 'national,'
'ethnical,' racial or religious 'group, as such.'" [12]
This definition was a compromise after much discussion by the delegates of
various countries who sat on the drafting committees. It satisfied few
people and continues to be criticized by legal experts, politicians and
academics. However, it remains the only legal definition sanctioned by the
UN and operative international courts.
A major objection to the definition is the restricted number of recognized
genocide target groups. Coming in the wake of the Second World War and
informed by Lemkin's work and the evidence of the Nazi concentration camps,
the definition would necessarily be tailored to the Jewish Holocaust. Jews
could fall into any one of the four categories: national, ethnic, racial and
religious. They did not form a political or a social group, but this was not
the reason for the exclusion of the two categories, which, after all, were
part of Lemkin's concern.
The exclusion of social and political groups from the Convention, to which
Luchterhandt alluded, was the result of the Soviet delegation's
intervention. The implication of the definition's limitation to the four
categories of victims is that one cannot argue for the recognition of a
Ukrainian genocide if its victims are identified only as peasants. Of the
four human groups listed by the Convention, it is quite clear that
Ukrainians did not become victims of the famine because of their religious
or racial traits. This leaves two categories: "national" and "ethnic(al)."
There has always been a certain ambiguity about the distinction between the
two groups labeled as "nation" and "ethnic(al)" by the Convention. William
Schabas, internationally recognized legal expert on genocide, believes that
all four categories overlap, since originally they were meant to protect
minorities. He argues that "national minorities" is the more common
expression in Central and Eastern Europe, while "ethnic minorities" prevails
in the West. [13] But if both terms designate the same group then there is
redundancy, which Schabas fails to note.
A more meaningful interpretation of "national group" was given in a recent
case cited by the author. "According to the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda, the term 'national group' refers to 'a collection of people who
are perceived to share a legal bond based on common citizenship, coupled
with reciprocity of rights and duties'."[14]
What we have here is a "civic nation" formed by all the citizens of a given
state, regardless of their ethnic, racial or other differentiation, as
opposed to "ethnic nation," or members of an ethnic community often divided
by state borders. Such a clarification of the terms "national" and
"ethnical" in reference to "groups" used would remove any ambiguity or
redundancy in the Convention. It would also help the understanding of the
Ukrainian famine-genocide.
Relevant to this discussion is a statement made in 1992 by a Commission of
Experts, applying the Genocide Convention to Yugoslavia: "a given group can
be defined on the basis of its regional existence ... all Bosnians in
Sarajevo, irrespective of ethnicity or religion, could constitute a
protected group." [15] The "regional" group is thus analogous to the civic
national group.
The decisive element in the crime of genocide is the perpetrator's intent to
destroy a human group identified by one of the four traits mentioned above.
When applying this notion to the Ukrainian case, certain aspects of the
question of intent as used by the Convention should be taken into
consideration. First, it is not an easy task to document intent, for as Leo
Kuper pointedly remarked, "governments hardly declare and document genocidal
plans in the manner of the Nazis." [16] However, documents which directly
reveal Stalin's intent do exist, and there is also circumstantial evidence
which can be used. [17]
Secondly, contrary to frequently erroneous claims, the Convention does not
limit the notion of genocide to an intention to destroy the whole group; it
is sufficient that the desire to eliminate concern only a part of the group.
This implies that there is the possibility of selection on the part of the
perpetrator from among the victims within the targeted group, and this
aspect must not be neglected when analyzing the Ukrainian genocide.
Thirdly, the Convention (Article II) lists five ways in which the crime is
executed:
1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the
group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole
or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
All of these acts, to a greater or lesser extent, can be documented in the
Ukrainian experience.
Fourthly, the Convention places no obligation on establishing the motive
behind the crime, even though the reason behind a criminal's activity can
help to establish his intent. Two Canadian scholars with long experience in
genocidal studies have classified genocides in four groups according to
their motives.[18] It should be clear from examining the list that the
Ukrainian genocide fits all four categories:
1. To eliminate a real or potential threat;
2. To spread terror among real or potential enemies;
3. To acquire economic wealth; or
4. To implement a belief, a theory or an ideology.
Schabas approaches the problem somewhat differently: "There is no explicit
reference to motive in article II of the Genocide Convention, and the casual
reader will be excused for failing to guess that the words 'as such' are
meant to express the concept." [19]
Yes, to a certain extent. With the help of a criminal ideology, perpetrators
of genocide can transform a targeted group into an object of blind hate,
which then in itself becomes a motive for the destruction of members of that
group. In other words, members of a group "X" are singled out for
destruction because they are members of that group. But the underlying
motives which brought about the hatred do not disappear - they are only
pushed into the background.
STALIN'S DIRECTIVE OF 22 JANUARY 1933:
'HABENT SUA FATA DOCUMENTI'
All serious scholars, not only in Ukraine, [20] but also in Russia [21] and
the West, [22] now generally accept the fact that Stalin and his cronies
willfully starved millions of peasants to death in 1932-1933. Ellman, who
rejects the idea of a specifically Ukrainian famine and a Ukrainian
genocide, admits that "Stalin also used starvation in his war against the
peasants" and that "an unknown fraction of mortality in the 1931-34 Soviet
famine resulted from a conscious policy of starvation." [23]
One can only speculate as to why the Amsterdam historian disregarded in his
tightly reasoned and well-argued discussion of intent in the Soviet famine a
document which of all the known testimonies best illustrates this intent.
For almost two decades now, historians have known about Stalin's secret
directive of 22 January 1933. Danilov and Zelenin, whose knowledge of Soviet
archives was second to none, considered it one of the few documents "to bear
witness to Stalin's direct personal participation in the organization of
mass famine of 1932-1933."[24]
The document is of particular significance for the study of the Ukrainian
genocide, and we cannot exclude the possibility that its checkered fate in
the hands of Soviet, post-Soviet and Western historians had something to do
with this connection.
The document was made known to the academic world at a conference on
collectivization, held in Moscow, on 24 October 1988. Iu. A. Moshkov of
Moscow State University informed the meeting that Stalin had complained of a
massive flight of peasants from Kuban and Ukraine in search of food in
various regions of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR)
and Belarus.
The General Secretary called the peasants SR agitators and Polish agents who
were going to RSFSR with the intention of stirring up the peasants against
the Soviet power. "Instead of ordering aid for the fugitives," commented
Moshkov, "the telegram demanded that these people be apprehended at the
railway stations and sent back."[25]
To my knowledge, this was the first public presentation of the important
document. A participant at the conference, E. N. Oskolkov from the Rostov
University, later used the document in his study of famine in the Northern
Caucasus, in which the Ukrainian Kozak "stanytsyi" figured prominently.[26]
There were no scholars from Ukraine at the Moscow conference, but they must
have read about it in "Istoriya SSSR."[27]
In 1990, the Institute of Party History of Ukraine published documents of
the famine held in its own Archive. The Stalin document was probably not
found, for it was not published. However, the collection contained a
follow-up directive from Kharkiv, the then-capital of Soviet Ukraine,
relaying the Kremlin directive to the Ukrainian oblasts.[28]
In 1993, Ukrainians organized an international conference on the occasion of
the 60th anniversary of the tragedy. Ukrainian scholars made no reference to
the 22 January 1933 document, but N. Ivnitsky from the Institute of Russian
History, Russian Academy of Sciences, gave a detailed analysis of it.
This historian stated that as a result of the directive 219,460 individuals
were arrested; 186,588 of them were sent back to their starving villages,
and the others were punished in other ways.[29] Oskolkov spoke about a real
"people hunt" in the Northern Caucasus and, in particular, the Kuban region,
as a result of Stalin's directive.[30]. Significantly, no Ukrainian
participant referred to the document.
The Russian participants were unhappy with the conference and, once in
Moscow, wrote a scathing report.[31] They objected to Ukrainian historians'
"groundless insistence" on Ukraine's exclusiveness during the famine, on
imagining "a separate character and content of the events in that republic,
distinct from other republics and regions."
They liked Kulchytsky's linking the famine with grain procurement and
collectivization; they ignored James Mace's comments on the national motives
in Stalin's starvation policy; and they condemned Ivan Drach for his demand
that Russia recognize its liability for the famine. The statement discussed
at length the famine in the Kuban and Northern Caucasus, but only as proof
of Russian famine and without a single reference to its ethnic Ukrainian
population.
In 1994, N. A. Ivnitsky published a seminal study on collectivization from a
post-Soviet perspective, explaining in some detail Stalin's secret directive
on closing the borders around Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus. This
measure was to prevent a peasant exodus from Ukraine and Kuban to the
Russian regions of Central-Black Earth, the Volga, Moscow and Western
oblasts, as well as to Belarus. The scholar reiterated the fact that, as a
result of that order, the OGPU arrested 219,460 persons in the first six
weeks of the order. [32]
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik overthrow of the
Provisional Government, a group of French historians, many of them former
Marxists, published a book of communist crimes around the world. [33] The
book hit the French public like a bombshell, was translated into a dozen of
languages and had a great impact on intellectuals of leftist leanings.
Nicolas Werth, a known expert on Soviet history, authored the part on the
Soviet Union.
In the chapter on "the Great Famine," he presents Ivnitsky's findings on
Stalin's directive but changes the direction of the peasants' migration. The
peasants from Ukraine and Kuban no longer go to the four Russian regions,
but to unspecified "towns" - towns that were not even mentioned in Stalin's
decree or Ivnitsky's rendering of it. [34]
Werth made Stalin's directive a follow-up to the new law on passports,
decreed on 27 December 1932. Peasants were not entitled to the passports,
and this was one way of preventing them from leaving the village. The two
measures were quite different. The passport law concerned the whole Soviet
Union, and it was of a social nature - to prevent peasants from moving
freely into urban centers. Stalin's directive on the border concerned only
Ukraine and the heavily Ukrainian Northern Caucasus (especially the
predominantly Ukrainian Kuban), and was thus of a national character.
The immediate consequence of this misrepresentation of the important
document in Werth's work was to allow the author to preclude its use as
evidence of Ukrainian genocide. Tackling a problem that was then hotly
debated in the academic world, Werth asks: "Should one see this famine as 'a
genocide of the Ukrainian people', as a number of Ukrainian historians and
researchers do today?" To which he gives a somewhat evasive answer, which
is worth a direct quotation:
"It is undeniable that the Ukrainian peasantry were the principal
victims in the famine of 1932-33, and that this 'assault' was preceded in
1929 by several offensives against the Ukrainian intelligentsia, who were
accused of 'nationalist deviations', and then against some of the Ukrainian
Communists after 1932. It is equally undeniable that, as Andrei Sakharov
noted, Stalin suffered from 'Ukrainophobia'. But proportionally the famine
was just as severe in the Cossack territories of the Kuban and the Don and
in Kazakhstan." [35]
The national character of the document is thus lost on two counts: the
flight from Ukraine to Russia was replaced by migration from village to
town, and the Ukrainian ethnicity of the Kuban Kozak population was ignored.
In fairness to Werth, it should be noted that in a later publication he has
corrected the first, although not the second, point in his presentation of
Stalin's infamous directive. [36] There is also merit in Werth's situating
the famine in a broader national context.
But the fact that there was a famine in Kuban, the Don and Kazakhstan in no
way affects the genocidal nature of the famine in Ukraine, as the author
seems to imply. Werth's unfortunate mistaken interpretation of the Stalin
border directive was reproduced in all the translated versions of the "Black
Book" and, paradoxically, Ivnistky's correct comments on Stalin's directive
returned to his homeland in a twisted and deceptive form. [37]
Stéphane Courtois, the editor of the "Black Book," gave the famine another
spin. In his "Introduction" to the publication, he begins by quoting the
whole Article II of the UN Convention on Genocide but then reminds the
reader of the addition to the definition of genocide made by the French
criminal code: "or a 'group that has been determined on the basis of any
other arbitrary criterion' " [emphasis added by Courtois].
This allows Courtois to add "social group" to the list of targeted
populations. Inspired by Vasily Grossman's "magnificent novel" Forever
Flowing, Courtois compares "the great famine in Ukraine in 1932-33, which
resulted from the rural population's resistance to forced collectivization"
and in which "6 million died" to the Jewish Holocaust.
"Here, the genocide of a 'class' may well be tantamount to the genocide of a
'race' - the deliberate starvation of a child of a Ukrainian kulak as a
result of the famine caused by Stalin's regime 'is equal to' the starvation
of a Jewish child in the Warsaw ghetto as a result of the famine caused by
the Nazi regime." [38] Courtois's analysis of the 1932-1933 famine as "class
genocide" is shared today by many scholars in the West, Ukraine and Russia.
Terry Martin was the first Western scholar to draw particular attention to
Stalin's border decree of 1933, which he also published in "toto." [39] The
American historian examined the Ukrainian famine in connection with the
national aspect, not only in Ukraine but also in the Northern Caucasus.
Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich and Molotov reveals his distrust of
the Ukrainian party leaders, such as Chubar and Petrovsky, and the whole
Communist party in Ukraine, which he accused of being infiltrated by
Petlyurites and agents of Pilsudski.
The general opposition in Ukraine to grain procurement was seen as directly
connected to the national question, as was the similar sabotage mentality in
the Northern Caucasus. This part of the RSFSR had a high proportion of
ethnic Ukrainians, especially the Kuban region, with its clear Ukrainian
majority. It is in this context that the historian introduces Stalin's
directive of 22 January 1933.
However, in spite of the revealing evidence about the national factor in the
1932-1933 events, and even though he called the chapter dealing with the
famine "The National Interpretation of the 1933 Famine," the author remains
far from recognizing the famine as a Ukrainian genocide.
In a lecture delivered at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in
February 2001, Martin stated his interpretation is "derived primarily from a
close analysis of Soviet nationalities policy," but that this did not mean
that he thought it "the decisive factor in explaining the famine."
"On the contrary," declared the speaker, "I fully accept the standard
peasantist interpretation of the famine." The historian was convinced by the
"forceful restatement of that argument" by his colleague, D'Ann Penner, who
argued "that the famine was the culminating act in a five-year assault on
the peasantry."[40]
Martin's reliance on Penner's work is surprising, because the latter
analyzed the famine in the Don and North Caucasus regions, and in her
otherwise excellent essay shows a curious understanding of the Ukrainian
population of the RSFSR. Penner writes: "The Kuban Cossacks who spoke
Ukrainian did not consider themselves Ukrainians nor did they exhibit a
desire to join a Ukrainian national movement.
They treated the 'khokhly,' one of the less derisive terms used by Cossacks
when referring to Ukrainian-speaking peasants, with as much disdain as did
the Russian-speaking Cossacks of Veshensk. [Penner's emphasis]" [41] As the
title of her essay indicates, Penner sees the famine primarily as a result
of the struggle between the peasants and the Soviet state. Comparing the
Chinese and "the Soviet" (her words) famines, the American author writes:
"In both cases, the famines were immediately preceded by decisions
to change and, the decision-makers believed, to rapidly upgrade agricultural
production on a grand scale irrespective of the farming people's expressed
will. At the most basic level, each famine was caused by the government's
handling of a serious grain crisis, which itself was the result of a
predominantly unnatural disaster caused by failed innovations, short-sighted
policies and effective peasant resistance." [42]
Penner mentions the Stalin border decree, not in connection with the
national question, but as a follow-up to the law on passports and a way to
control popular mobility, unproductive to the state.[43] For Martin, there
was also no Ukrainian famine as such, and his perception of the event was
reflected in the title of his Harvard paper: "The 1932-33 Ukrainian Terror."
The evidentiary potential of the Stalin directive was not exploited to its
fullest.
Stalin's directive to close the border has been slow in attracting interest
among Ukrainian scholars, even those who uphold the thesis of Ukrainian
genocide and need evidential material to support their claim. On the 65th
anniversary of the famine, Ivnitsky once more spoke of the Moscow document
of 22 January 1933, and Volodymyr Serhiychuk quoted from the follow-up
Kharkiv directive to the Ukrainian regions.
Regrettably, neither historian approached the blockade of the Ukrainian
peasants from the perspective of the UN Convention on genocide. Nor was it
the approach adopted by Levko Lukyanenko and Olena Zdiochuk, who were
supposed to provide the conference with a legal analysis of the famine. [44]
When, at the end of the millennium, Vasyl Marochko wrote a long essay titled
"Genocide of the Ukrainian People," he quoted the definition in Article II
of the Convention without analyzing it, made no reference to the Stalin
directive and waffled between a national and a "peasantist" interpretation
of the tragedy. Marochko begins his section on "Terror by famine" with this:
"The most pronounced indication of genocide in Ukraine is the conscious
creation of life conditions, calculated for the physical destruction of
'peasants.'" [45]
Only in the beginning of our century did Stalin's directive receive adequate
attention in Valeriy Vasilev's thorough analysis of the Soviet authorities'
starvation policies. Surprisingly, the author took at face value Stalin's
demagogic claim that the reason for the closing of borders was to "prevent
the spreading of information about the famine." [46]
The 70th anniversary of the famine was marked by scholarly conferences, a
special hearing at the Ukrainian Parliament, and a representation to the UN
General Assembly. A central aim of these events was to ascertain the
genocidal character of the famine.
By then, Stalin's directive should have been well known in academic circle
and among interested politicians, for in 2001 the Russian Academy of
Sciences published the whole text of Stalin directive. [47] That same year,
Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich came out, which helped put the
document in a more meaningful historical context. [48]
Assistant Prime-Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk presented the main report at the
Parliamentary hearing in February 2003. The historian- turned-politician
argued in the spirit of the UN Convention on genocide, showing how the
conditions in Ukraine in 1932-1933 corresponded to the criteria of the UN
Convention on Genocide. As one of the repressive measures, Tabachnyk
mentioned the introduction of the passport system, which tied the peasants
to the starving villages.
However, with one exception, no politician or academic at the hearing evoked
Stalin's border decree. Only one Member of Parliament, the head of the
Poltava "Prosvita" organization, Mykola Kulchytsky, quoted Stalin's
directive and recounted an incident from the period to illustrate its
effect.[49] I was not able to obtain the dossier presented by the Ukrainian
delegation to the 5th Committee of the General Assembly of the United
Nations, but I suspect that there was no particular attention drawn to the
border-closing decree.
Of the numerous conferences held that fall in Europe and North America, let
us look at just two, one held in May at the Lviv Polytechnic University, and
the other in November at Kyiv University. Not one paper at the Lviv
conference mentions Stalin's border decree. Rudolf Myrsky's paper, however,
is relevant to our discussion for another reason. The author draws a
parallel between two genocides executed on Ukrainian soil: Stalin's "class
genocide" against Ukrainian peasants and Hitler's "race genocide" against
the Jews of Ukraine.
Echoing Courtois's quotation from Grossman's "Forever Flowing" Myrsky
asserts: "We can say that in Holodomor and Holocaust a class genocide joins
up with a racial genocide in a fatal calculation: the death from hunger of a
Ukrainian child has the same value as death from hunger in a Warsaw ghetto."
[50] Courtois's Ukrainian child thus lost its "kulak" label, but was
subjected to the same "peasantist" interpretation, which enjoys much
support among Ukrainian scholars.
Only Shapoval discussed Stalin's borders directive at the Kyiv conference.
He made it clear that the decree was to counter the flight of peasants
"beyond the limits of Ukraine." Shapoval also quoted a Ukrainian translation
of the whole follow-up order sent the next day from Kharkiv to the oblasts.
But the Ukrainian specificity of the two documents are diminished by the
historian's discussion of the matter in a section, which he aptly calls "the
second serfdom," namely the tying down of all Soviet peasants to the land,
which began with the passport decree. [51]
To complete this brief overview of the fate of Stalin's border decree, three
more publications should be mentioned. For the 70th anniversary of the 1933
famine, the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of
Ukraine published a voluminous collective study under the title "Famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine: Causes and Consequences."
Significantly, neither "Holodomor" nor "Genocide" appear in the book's
title, and of the 68 titles of sections and subsections in the book, the
term "genocide" is used only once in a subtitle, and in reference to
peasants, not Ukrainians: "The policy of total grain confiscation in the
Ukrainian village: genocide against the peasants." [52]
Neither in that section, nor anywhere else in the almost 900-page opus, is
there any mention of the UN Convention on Genocide or an analysis of the
concept of genocide. As for Stalin's border decree, there is only discussion
of its application and its effect in the sections on how peasants tried to
save themselves from the famine and in connection with the passport system.
[53] The more popular terms used in the book are "holodomor" and "terror by
famine."
Mention should be made of the 80 documents on the famine, recently published
by Lubomyr Luciuk (Royal Military College in Kingston, Canada) and Shapoval
(Political and Ethnic Studies Institute, Kyiv). As the collection is
intended primarily for the academic public outside Ukraine, Shapoval
included a succinct introduction, in English, showing the most important
stages in the realization of Stalin's famine-genocide.
The author briefly explains the border closing document and adds:
"appropriate instructions were issued to the transport departments of the
OGPU USSR" (the precursor of the better-known NKVD).[54] Notwithstanding
the sloppy appearance of the book, it is a worthwhile addition to the
material on the Ukrainian genocide.
Since many of the documents have already appeared in the original language
(Russian), it would have been more useful to give an English translation of
these documents. What is also baffling is the editor's failure to include
the crucial Stalin-Molotov directive of 22 January 1933. Instead, the
editors published the follow-up directive, sent the next day by Kharkiv to
the Ukrainian regions, which does not have the same evidentiary value in
proving Stalin's genocidal intent. [55]
Ukraine's most prolific academic writer on the famine is Stanislav
Kulchytsky. His last major essay on the subject was first serialized in the
Ukrainian, Russian and English versions of the newspaper "Den," under the
title "Why was Stalin Destroying Us."[56] Then the Ukrainian and Russian
versions were adapted for a bilingual book published by the Institute of
History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the title
"Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as Genocide." [57]
Kulchytsky's conceptual paradigm is the notion of "terror by famine,"
borrowed from Robert Conquest [58] and also popular with many Western
and Ukrainian historians. Yet, as Egbert Jahn so cogently argued, a terror
policy seeks to alarm and intimidate people, and to be effective makes
available as much information as possible. This was not characteristic of
the famine and so "one cannot characterize the core of the Holodomor as
the use of hunger terror." [59] "Terror by famine" is a misnomer.
Terror was employed to force the peasants into collective farms and to
confiscate their harvest. It was effective and achieved its goal. It also
caused some loss of life but did not result in mass extermination. Famine
came after most of the collectivization was already accomplished and the
peasants' foodstuffs confiscated. Terror was employed throughout the whole
period towards party and state cadres to intimidate them into carrying out
Stalin's genocidal policies toward the Ukrainian peasants, but these
functionaries did not die from the terror.
Terry Martin provides a good analysis of the measures taken to terrorize the
local communists in the Kuban.[60] Ukrainian peasants succumbed to
starvation when there was no need to scare them into the collective farms,
for most of them already were there, and when there was no need to scare
them into giving up their produce, because it had already been confiscated.
The peasants died from induced hunger, not fear. The "terror by famine"
cannot be used as a synonym for genocide, as Kulchytsky seems to imply by
his usage of the terms.
Kulchytsky set for himself the task of discovering Stalin's motives for
destroying Ukrainians. Establishing the motive for a criminal act helps to
understand the criminal's intention to commit it, but it is not a factor in
determining proof of genocide, according to the UN Convention. What the
Convention demands is proof of the intent itself.
Contrary to Kulchytsky's claim, I believe that the Ukrainian famine of
1932-1933 does fit the UN definition of genocide. The two main concerns
of Article II - that the victim population fit one of the four identified
groups and that proof be given of the perpetrator's genocidal intent - can
be satisfied with the available documents, the most revealing of which is
Stalin's border decree.
THE 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Stalin's decree is directed against two groups of peasants, those living in
the Ukrainian SSR and those in the Northern Caucasus, especially the Kuban
region. Let us first examine the targeted population in the Ukrainian
republic.
Stalin complains of a massive flight of peasants from Ukraine to the near-by
regions of Russia and Belarus. These people pretend to search for food but
in fact, he claims, are social-revolutionaries and agents of Poland who
agitate in the northern parts of the USSR against the "kolkhoz" system. The
same thing happened the year before, but the party, state and police
authorities of Ukraine did nothing to stop it. It must not be allowed to
happen this year.
Stalin then orders the party, state and police authorities of Ukraine to
prevent peasants from crossing the border between Ukraine and the rest of
the USSR. Corresponding authorities in Belarus and the adjoining Russian
regions must prevent peasants from Ukraine to enter their territories.
Peasants guilty of disobeying the order must be arrested,
counter-revolutionary elements segregated for punishment, and the others
returned to their villages.
Stalin's decree concerned all peasants of Ukraine. But since the UN
Convention only recognizes national and ethnic groups, the crucial question
is whether they were targeted as peasants or Ukrainians?
We have seen that the "national group" in the UN Convention's has been
interpreted in the sense of "civic nation" and even a well-defined region.
In this regard, all the peasants within the borders of the Ukrainian SSR,
whatever their ethnic origin, were part of the Ukrainian nation. According
to the 1926 census, ethnically Ukrainian peasants made up 88.5 % of the
Republic's peasant population; the ethnic and civic character of Ukrainian
peasantry overlapped.
Ethnically, Ukrainian peasants also made up 89.0 % of the Republic's
ethnically Ukrainian population and 71.8 % of the Republic's overall
population, and thus constituted the overwhelming portion of the Republic's
population. It was this group that Stalin's border decree singled out for
partial destruction, but did he see his enemies as peasants or Ukrainians?
Two months earlier, Kaganovich boasted in Rostov-on-Don that the Party had
definitively settled the question of who would defeat whom in the struggle
between the régime and its opponents. [61] Kaganovich was right regarding
the peasants: by then their opposition to collectivization was broken, as
was their "sabotage" of state procurement.
Ukrainian peasants - as peasants - were no more an obstacle to the Party's
policies or a danger to its domination than were the Russian peasants. There
was no more need to exterminate them, than to eliminate the Russian
peasants. However, Ukrainian peasants presented a more formidable threat to
Stalin's regime as Ukrainians.
In 1925, Stalin lectured the Yugoslav comrades on the national question. He
told them that the peasant question was "the basis, the quintessence of the
national question." "That explains the fact," he affirmed, "that the
peasantry constitutes the main army of the national movement, that there is
no powerful national movement without the peasant army."
The social role of the peasantry is inexorably connected with its national
needs, and because of the peasants' predominance in agrarian societies, the
national question becomes in essence a peasant question. And to be perfectly
clear, Stalin adds that the national question is "not an agrarian but a
peasant question, for these are two different things." [62]
Stalin's separation of the peasant's economic and social functions is
noteworthy. Stalin criticized the Yugoslavs for underestimating "the
inherent strength of the national movement," and warned them that the lack
of understanding and underestimation of the national question constituted a
grave danger.
Stalin's convictions did not change in later years; he continued to be
vigilant lest the national movements endanger the integrity of his
multinational empire, and he had no intention of underestimating the
"profoundly popular and profoundly revolutionary character of the national
movement" in Soviet Ukraine, engendered by the Ukrainian national revival in
the 1920s and fanned by the Party-approved Ukrainianization. By the end of
1932, Ukrainian peasants had been vanquished as peasants; Stalin now
intended to eliminate a part of them - as Ukrainians.
Revealing evidence of Stalin's concern for the national question is provided
by Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich in August 1932. The two agreed
that the Ukrainian party was dragging its feet on grain procurement and that
Petlyurites and agents of Pilsudski infiltrated the party.
Stalin raised the threat that unless proper measures were taken, "we can
lose Ukraine"; Kaganovich agreed, adding: "The theory that we, Ukrainians,
have unjustly suffered, fosters a solidarity and a rotten mutual guarantee
not only among the middle level cadres, but also at the top."[63]
Of course, both knew that there was little threat from imaginary
"Petlyurites" or "Pilsudski agents," who supposedly infiltrated the Party
(this was a directive for the Party on how to interpret these matters), but
there was an eventual threat from the Ukrainian national revival, whose
mainstay was the peasantry. Kremlin's 14 December 1932 analysis of the
procurement difficulties in Ukraine and the North Caucasus was blamed on
the Ukrainianization policy, and both were attacked with a vengeance.
Moscow ordered Party and State authorities in Ukraine "to pay serious
attention to the proper conduct of Ukrainianization, eliminate its
application in a mechanical way, remove Petlyurite and other
bourgeois-nationalist elements from Party and Soviet organizations."
They were also ordered to "carefully pick and train Ukrainian bolshevik
cadres, secure systematic party leadership and control over the process of
Ukrainianization."[64] This was a blueprint for ethnocide; it effectively
put an end to Ukrainianization in Ukraine, and even more so in the RSFSR.
This document was more of a precursor for the genocidal Stalin border
directive than the passport decree.
The other region closed by Stalin's 22 January 1933 directive was the North
Caucasus Territory, but the main target was its Kuban region. The directive
even begins with the notification about peasant exodus from "Kuban and
Ukraine." What did the two targeted areas - Ukraine, a union republic, and
Kuban, a neighboring region of the RSFSR - have in common? They were
important grain-producing regions.
That is true, but so was the Central-Black Earth region, which was not
singled out. There was a more important consideration at that time for
Stalin and Kaganovich: the Ukrainianization program was transforming in a
dangerous way the overwhelmingly Ukrainian peasant population of Ukraine
and Kuban into Ukrainians, conscious of their national identity.
At that time, there were some eight million ethnic Ukrainians living outside
the Ukrainian SSR, mostly in the regions of the RSFSR, contiguous with
Ukraine. The North Caucasus had about three million Ukrainians, and almost
half of them lived in the Kuban region, where it constituted about two
thirds of the population.
Also significant was the fact that about one-half million of the Kuban
Ukrainians were not of traditional peasants stock but descendants of
Ukrainian Zaporozhian Kozaks, people with a military history and democratic
traditions. It was in these regions that most of the starvation outside
Ukraine took place. (Kazakhstan is a separate case.)
The Ukrainianization of the Ukrainian "colonies" in the RSFSR, and
especially of the Kuban, had already added fuel to what Martin calls the
Piedmontist principle of border disputes between the Ukrainian SSR and
Moscow. The peasant/Kozak population could prove to be a disruptive force
in the future.
In its 14 December 1932 decision, Moscow took to task the party and state
authorities of the North Caucasus Territory: "... the flippancy in carrying
out unbolshevik 'Ukrainianization' of almost half of the districts of North
Caucasus, which did not come from the cultural interests of the population,
and which was carried out with a complete absence of controls on the part of
regional organs over the Ukrainianization of the schools and the press, gave
the enemies of the Soviet power legal cover for organizing opposition by
kulaks, [former] officers, returning Cossack emigrants, members of the Kuban
Rada [analogous to the Ukrainian Central Rada of 1917-1918], etc." [65]
The prescribed punishment was harsh: "Immediately change the clerical work
of the Soviet and cooperative organs and all the newspapers and journals in
the 'Ukrainianized' districts of North Caucasus from the Ukrainian language
to the Russian language, as the more understandable to the Kuban population,
and also prepare the transfer of teaching in schools into the Russian
language." The local authorities were further warned to immediately verify
and improve the composition of school personnel in the "Ukrainianized"
districts. [66]
The foregoing examination of Stalin's twin targets should be sufficient to
show that their common characteristic was their national or ethnic identity.
The nexus joining the Ukrainian national group in the Ukrainian SSR (whether
taken in its civic or ethnic sense) and the Ukrainian ethnic group in Kuban
was their Ukrainianness.
The requirement of the UN Convention on Genocide is thus satisfied:
Ukrainian peasants in Ukraine and in the RSFSR were being destroyed in their
capacity as Ukrainians; their agrarian role was secondary. Peasants were the
most numerous part of the Ukrainian national/ethnic group, consisting also
of intellectuals, state and party functionaries, and workers; and it was
this group that Stalin's régime decided, in the language of the UN
Convention, "to destroy in part."
The non-peasant Ukrainians did not die from starvation, but they were
definitely victims of the same genocidal intent. The intent was not to
destroy the whole Ukrainian nation (nor is total destruction of a specified
group a condition for the recognition of genocide by the UN Convention).
The intention was to destroy the élites and a sufficiently large portion of
the most dynamic element of the Ukrainian national group so as to cripple
the Ukrainian nation and reduce Ukrainians to what Stalin liked to call
"cogs" in the great state mechanism.
Stalin's genocidal intent should be sufficiently clear from the various
documents originated by him or signed by others on his orders or in
anticipation of such. Schabas insists that the "genocidaire" must have
knowledge of the consequences of his act. [67]
Stalin was privy to all the important documentation of the Soviet state,
cognizant of, and personally responsible for, all the policies, which
resulted in the death of millions of innocent people. The régime's public
denial of the famine and its rejection of foreign aid cannot be interpreted
in any other way than as a flaunting admission of its intent to starve the
population to death.
The most heinous crime of Stalin and his Communist régime is now quite
well known, especially to the academic community, but various aspects of
the catastrophe still need further research, systematization and
conceptualization. This question of the Ukrainian genocide is a case in
point. We need a breakdown by nationality of the population that died from
the famine in the RSFSR to see how many of the victims were ethnic
Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars and other nationalities.
There is no systematic study to shows the forms and the degree of
discriminatory practices of the Stalinist régime in its policies towards
different localities and nationalities in the ethnically mixed regions with
regards to the procurement quotas, the implementation of Moscow orders.
The national composition of command structure and the cadres that carried
out food confiscation and distribution must also be examined in a more
systematic way. There was some internal aid to some of the hungry
population, but the economic and other reasons behind the régime's help
need a more thorough study.
While the very existence of the famine was vehemently denied and foreign
efforts to organize famine relief were rejected, some foreign aid did get
through to the German and Jewish communities, but this aspect of the Soviet
policies is generally ignored in the literature on the famine, possibly
because it has not been sufficiently explored and documented. This
additional research will give us a more complete knowledge and a better
understanding of the Ukrainian famine and help establish its genocidal
character. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Roman Serbyn is Professor of History at University of
Quebec and the author of numerous articles on Ukrainian history and
nationalities problems in Ukraine in the 19th and 20th centuries. He is
also the editor or co-editor of a number of books, inclusing "Federalisme
et Nations" (1969) and "Famine in Ukraine, 1932-1933" (1986). His
most recent book was "Za yaku spadshchynu?" (1986)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See, for example, R. W. Davies and Stephen G. Wheatcraft, "The Years
of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933" (New York : Palgrave Macmillan,
2004).
[2] Ukrainian Weekly, 16 November 2003.
[3] Kuchynsky at the UN discussion of Holocaust Day, 1 November 2005.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Stanislav V. Kulchytsky, "Holod 1932-1933 rr. v Ukrayini yak henotsyd"
(Kyiv, 2005), pp. 3, 21.
[6] This is the "Den" version (24 November 2005). In the book version (p.
85), "not Ukrainians" was dropped.
[7] ICCEES VII World Congress Abstracts, "Europe - Our Common Home?"
(Berlin, 25-30 July 2005), pp. 247-248. The importance of the intent as
defined by the convention is shown in Michael Ellman, "The Role of
Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931-1934,"
"Europa-Asia Studies," vol. 57, no. 6 (September 2005), pp. 823-841.
(Emphasis added by author.)
[8] "Den," 8 November 2005.
[9] Raphael Lemkin, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation -
Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress" (Washington, D.C.:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1944), p. 80.
[10] "Les actes constituant un danger général (interétatique) considérés
comme delites du droit des gens," "Librarie de la cour d'appel et de l'order
des advocates" (Paris, 1933).
[11] Lemkin, p. 80.; [12] Emphasis added by author.
[13] William A. Schabas, "Genocide in International Law. The Crime of
Crimes" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Chapter 3.
Groups protected by the Convention.
[14] Ibid., p. 115.; [15] Ibid., p. 237.
[16] Leo Kuper, "Genocide. Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century"
(Penguin, 1981), p. 35.
[17] On circumstantial evidence, see Ellman, pp. 829-830.
[18] Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn, "The History and Sociology of
Genocide. Analyses and Case Studies" (New Haven and London : Yale
University Press, 1990), p. 29.
[19] Schabas, p. 245.
[20] Most active in the field have been Ukrainian historians: Stanislav
Kulchytsky, Yuri Shapoval, Valeriy Vasilev, Volodymyr Serhiychuk and a few
others. See also "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini: prychyny ta naslidky"
(Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2003).
[21] V. P. Danilov and I. E. Zelenin, "Orhanizovannyi golod: k 70-letiiu
obshchkrestianskoi trahedii," "Otechestvennaya istoriya," no. 5 (2004).
[22] Among the most recent publications: Vernichtung durch Hunger: "Der
Holodomor in der Ukraine und der UdSSR." (A special issue of Osteuropa).
December 2004; "La morte della terra: La grande "carestia" in Ucraina nel
1932-1933. Atti del Convegno Vicenza, 16-188 ottobre 2003" (Roma : Viella,
2004); Robert Conquest, "Raccolto di dolore" (Italian edition of Harvest of
Sorrow) (Roma : Liberal edizioni, 2004).
[23] Ellman, p. 835.; [24] Danilov and Zelenin, p. 107.
[25] "Dyskusiyi i obsuzhdeniya. Kollektivizatsiya: uroki, sushchnost,
posledsviya," "Istoriya SSSR," no. 3 (1989), p. 46. The telegram is wrongly
dated here as 23 January instead of of 22 January.
[26] E. H. Oskolkov, "Golod 1932/1933," in "Khlebozagotovki i golod
1932-1933 goda v Severno-Kavkazkom krae (Rostov-na-Donu, 1991),"
pp. 75-76.
[27] "Kollektivizatsiia: istoky, sushchnosst, posledstviia. Beseda za
'kruglym stolom'," "Istoriya SSSR," pp. 46-52.
[28] "Dyrektyvnyi lyst TsK KP(b0U ta Radnarkomu USRR vsim obkomam
partii ta oblvykonkomam pro neprypustymist' masovykh vyizdiv kolhospnykiv
ta odnoosibnykiv za mezhi Ukrainy," in "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv na Ukraini:
ochyma istorykiv, movoiu dokumentiv" (Kyiv, 1990), pp. 341-342.
[29] "Holodomor 1932-1933 rr. v Ukraini: prychyny i naslidky. Mizhnarodna
naukova konferentsiia." Kyiv, 9-10 veresnia 1993. Materialy. (Kyiv, 1995),
p. 43.
[30] Ibid., p. 121.
[31] "O golode 1932-1933 godov i eho otsenka na Ukraine," "Otechestvennaya
istoriya," no. 6. (1994), pp. 256-262. (Signed: I. E. Zelenin, N. A.
Ivnitskiy, V. V. Kondrashin, E. N. Oskolkov.)
[32] N. A. Ivnitskiy, "Kollektivizatsiia i raskulachyvanie (nachala 30-kh
godov)" (Moskva, 1994), p. 204. (Reedited in 1996.)
[33] Nicolas Werth, "Un État contre son peuple. Violence, répression,
terreurs en Union soviétique," in Stéphane Courtois et al. (eds.), Le livre
noir du communisme. "Crimes, terreur, repression" (Paris: 1997), p. 183. For
convenience, all references here are to the English edition: "The Black Book
of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression" (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1999).
[34] Ibid., p. 164.; [35] Ibid., p. 168.
[36] "Le pouvoir soviétique et la paysannerie dans les rapports de la police
politique (1930-1934)," "Bulletin de l'IHTP," nos. 81-82 (December 2003).
[37] Nikolia Vert, "Gosudarstvo protiv svoego naroda. Nasilie, repressii i
terror v Sovetskom Soiuze," in Stefan Kurtua et al., "Chernaia kniga
komunizma. Prestupleniia terror i repressi." (Moskva: Tri Veka Istoriyi,
1999), p. 170.
[38] Courtois, "Introduction. The Crimes of Communism" in "The Black
Book," p. 9.
[39] Terry Martin, "The Affirmative Action Empire. Nations and Nationalism
in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939" (Ithaca and London, 2001). See Chapter 7:
"The National Interpretation of the 1933 Famine"; the translation is on pp.
306-307.
[40] Terry Martin, "The 1932-1933 Ukrainian Terror: New Documentation on
Surveillance and the Thought Process of Stalin," in "Famine-Genocide in
Ukraine 1932-1933" (Toronto, 2003), p. 98. The Ukrainian version, Teri
Martyn, "Pro kozhnoho z nas dumaye Stalin ... ," "Krytyka" (December
2003), contains a Ukrainian translation of the document (pp. 17-18).
[41] D'Ann Penner, "The Agrarian Strike of 1932-1933" (Kennan Institute for
Advanced Russian Studies, Occasional Papers #269) (March 1998), p. 23.
[42] Ibid., p. 32.; [43] Ibid. p. 28.
[44] M. P. Kots (ed.), "Holod-henotsyd 1933 roku v Ukrayini:
istoryko-politychnyi analiz sotsialno-demohrafichnyky ta
moralno-psykholohichnykh naslidkiv. Mizhnarodna naukovo-teoretychna
konferentsiya. Kyiv, 28 lystopada 1998" (Kyiv, 2000) ; see Ivnitskiy, p.
113; Serhiychuk, p. 125; Lukyanenko, pp. 240-247; Zdioruk, pp. 248-252.
[45] "Holodomory v Ukrayini 1921-1923, 1932-1933, 1946-1947: Zlochyny
protry narodu" (Kyiv, 2000), p. 104. [Emphasis added by author.]
[46] Valeriy Vasilev, "Tsina holodnoho khliba: polityka kerivnytstva SRSR i
USRR v 1932-1933 rr.," in "Komandyry velykoho holodu: Poyizdky V.
Molotova i L. Kahanovycha v Ukrayinu ta na Pivnichnyi Kavkaz" (Kyiv:
Heneza, 2001), p. 67.
[47] "Tragediya sovetskoi derevni. Collectivizatsia i raskulachivanie.
Dokumenty i material," vol. 3 (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2001), pp. 634-635.
[48] "Stalin i Kaganovich Perepiska. 1931-1936" (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2001).
[49] "Ukrayina. Parlametski slukhannya shchodo vshanuvannya pamyati zhertv
holodomoru 1932-1933 rokiv. 12 lyutoho 2003 roku" (Kyiv, 2003); see
Tabachnyk, pp. 12-24; Kulchytsky, pp. 68-70.
[50] Rudolf Ia. Myrsky, "Holodomor i Kholokost v Ukrayini yak
vseukrayinska trahediya (filosofsko-politolohichni rozdumy," "Visnyk
natsionalnoho universytetu 'Lvivska politekhnika'", no. 493 (2003), p. 299.
[51] Yuri Shapoval, "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv: Kreml i politychne kerivnytstvo
USRR," in "Try holodomory v Ukrayini v XXst.: pohlyad iz sohodennya.
Materialy mizhnarodnoyi naukovoyi konferentsiyi" (Kyiv, 2003), pp. 43-45,
36.
[52] "Polityka totalnoho vyluchennya khliba v ukrayinskomu seli: henotsyd
proty selyan," in II NANU. Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukrayini: prychyny ta
naslidky (Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2003), p. 440.
[53] Ibid., pp. 551, 632-633.
[54] Shapoval (ed.), "The Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine."
(Kashtan Press, 2005), p. 9.
[55] Ibid., pp. 282-283.
[56] "Chomu Stalin nas nyshchyv," "Den" (25 October, 8 November and 22
November 2005) ; rendered into English as "Why Did Stalin Exterminate
Ukrainians."
[57] Stanislav V. Kulchytsky, "Holod 1932-1933 rr. v Ukrayini yak henotsyd"
(Kyiv: II NANU, 2005). The book's relation to the Den articles is not
mentioned, nor is the reader informed that changes (some of them quite
important) had been made in the book version.
[58] Conquest, "Harvest of Sorrow. Soviet Collectivization and the Terror
Famine" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
[59] Egbert Jahn, "On the Phenomonology of Mass Extermination in Europe.
A Comparative Perspective on the Holodomor," in "Osteuropa. Sketches of
Europe: Old Lands, New Worlds" (Bonn, 2005), p. 212.
[60] Martin, "The Affirmative Action Empire," pp. 300-301.
[61] "Komandyry velykoho holodu," p. 49.
[62] J. V. Stalin, "Concerning the National Question in Yugoslavia," in
"Works," vol. 7 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954),
pp. 71-72.
[63] "Stalin i Kaganovich Perepiska"; see Stalin, p. 274; Kaganovich, p.
283. [64] "Tragedia Sovetskoi Derevni,: T. 3., p. 577.
[65] "Tragediya sovetskoi derevni," pp. 576-577.
[66] Ibid., p. 577.; [67] Schabas, p. 207.
========================================================
Seventy-five years ago the Ukrainian people fell victim to a crime of unimaginable horror. Usually referred to in the West as the Great Famine or the Terror Famine, it is known to Ukrainians as the Holodomor. It was a state-organized program of mass starvation that in 1932-33 killed an estimated seven million to 10 million Ukrainians, including up to a third of the nation's children. With grotesque understatement the Soviet authorities dismissed this event as a "bad harvest." Their intention was to exonerate themselves of responsibility and suppress knowledge of both the human causes and human consequences of this tragedy. That is reason enough for us to pause and remember.
During the long decades of Soviet rule it was dangerous for Ukrainians to discuss their greatest national trauma. To talk of the Holodomor was a crime against the state, while the memoirs of eyewitnesses and the accounts of historians like Robert Conquest and the late James Mace were banned as anti-Soviet propaganda. Yet each Ukrainian family knew from bitter personal memory the enormity of what had happened. They also knew that it had been inflicted on them deliberately to punish Ukraine and destroy the basis of its nationhood. It is to honor the victims and serve the cause of historical truth that independent Ukraine is today working to promote greater understanding and recognition of the Holodomor, both at home and abroad.
We are not doing so out of a desire for revenge or to make a partisan political point. We know that the Russian people were among Stalin's foremost victims. Apportioning blame to their living descendents is the last thing on our minds. Our only wish is for this crime to be understood for what it truly was. That is why the Ukrainian Parliament last year passed a law recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide and why I am asking our friends and allies to endorse that position. A world that indulges historical amnesia or falsification is condemned to repeat its worst mistakes.
Genocide is a highly charged term, and there are those who still dispute its applicability in the case of Ukraine. It is therefore worth looking at how the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention legally defines the issue. It describes genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" including "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." The Holodomor falls squarely within the terms of this definition. Significantly, that was also the opinion of Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who conceived the Genocide Convention.
There is now a wealth of historical material detailing the specific features of Stalin's forced collectivization and terror famine policies against Ukraine. Other parts of the Soviet Union suffered terribly as well. But in the minds of the Soviet leadership there was a dual purpose in persecuting and starving the Ukrainian peasantry. It was part of a campaign to crush Ukraine's national identity and its desire for self-determination. As Stalin put it a few years earlier: "There is no powerful national movement without the peasant army...in essence, the national question is a peasant question." In seeking to reverse the policy of "Ukrainianization" that promoted limited cultural and political autonomy during the 1920s, Stalin decided to target the peasantry, representing as it did 80% of the population. His solution to the national question in Ukraine was mass murder through starvation.
Stalin's cruel methods included the allocation of astronomic grain requisition quotas that were impossible to meet and which left nothing for the local population to eat. When the quotas were missed, armed units were sent in. Toward the end of 1932, entire villages and regions were turned into a system of isolated starvation ghettos called "black boards." Throughout this period, the Soviet Union continued to export grain to the West and even used grain to produce alcohol. By early 1933, the Soviet leadership decided to radically reinforce the blockade of Ukrainian villages. Eventually, the whole territory of Ukraine was surrounded by armed forces, turning the entire country into a vast death camp.
The specifically national motive behind Stalin's treatment of Ukraine was also evident in the terror campaign that targeted the institutions and individuals that sustained the cultural and public life of the Ukrainian nation. Waves of purges engulfed academic institutions, literary journals, publishing houses and theaters. Victims included the Ukrainian Academy of Science, the editorial board of the Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and ultimately the Ukrainian Communist Party. This was a systematic campaign against the Ukrainian nation, its history, culture, language and way of life.
The Holodomor was an act of genocide designed to suppress the Ukrainian nation. The fact that it failed and Ukraine today exists as a proud and independent nation does nothing to lessen the gravity of this crime. Nor does it acquit us of the moral responsibility to acknowledge what was done. On the 75th anniversary, we owe it to the victims of the Holodomor and other genocides to be truthful in facing up to the past.
Mr. Yushchenko is Ukraine's president.
2007.11.29 | Хома Брут
Прем"єр-міністр Канади зустрінеться з пережившими Голод
Прем"єр-мінстр Канади зустрінеться з пережившими Голодомор в рамках церемонії в Оттаві. У. Конгрес Канади закликає уряд визнати Голодомор геноцидом.
Prime Minister to meet with Ukrainian genocide survivors during Parliament Hill ceremony
Ottawa - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will launch commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor - the Ukrainian genocide in Ukraine of 1932-33 during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m., Reading Room (Room 237-C, Centre Block). The Prime Minister will join the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Group and Ukraine's Embassy in Canada in honouring the victims of the famine, which claimed up to 10 million lives in the very heart of Europe's breadbasket.
Survivors of the Holodomor from the Ottawa region will participate in the ceremony which will include an ecumenical service and presentations by federal party leaders.
Ukrainians in Canada join the international community in commemorating this tragedy to spread the truth about the Holodomor, and ensure acknowledgement of the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress calls upon the Government of Canada to be a leader in these efforts and to support Ukraine as it petitions the United Nations to acknowledge the Holodomor as genocide.
For further information contact
Ostap Skrypnyk
Executive Director
866.942.4627
ucc@ucc.ca
www.ucc.ca
2007.12.25 | Хома Брут
наміри зняти документальний фільм в Голівуді
Holodomor documentary feature film to be made by established filmmakers in Hollywood
"HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33," a feature-length documentary, is in production by Tomkiw Entertainment and Moksha Films. The film's production coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Ukraine's genocide of 1932-1933.
"HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33" is an edgy, auspicious, cinematic look at a very dark and horrific time in which millions of people died due to a man-made famine in Ukraine, perpetrated by Joseph Stalin.
In November of 2006, Hollywood filmmakers Director Bobby Leigh and Producer Marta Tomkiw, were invited to a Holodomor memorial service in Los Angeles. "Although I had fancied myself as a history buff, seeing every World War I and II movie that I could and studying countless hours of history channels, I had never before heard of Holodomor or any genocide or famine in Ukraine. I was also surprised, as I later found out, that nobody I knew had ever heard of it either" says Leigh.
In the early 1930's, Ukraine was the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, had bountiful crops of grain, yet its people were dying of starvation. In order to crush the will of the independent-minded Ukrainian peasants and secure collectivization of all Ukrainian lands, Joseph Stalin ordered an army of ruthless, well-fed Communist Party activists to confiscate all harvested grain and seize all the foodstuffs in the villages. As a result of this genocidal decree, by the end of 1933 nearly 25 percent of the Ukrainian population - over 10 million people, including 3 million children - had perished.
In the face of terror, Ukrainians had little possibility of escaping their horrific fate or even to create another type of life elsewhere. Travel was banned for Ukrainians, keeping them confined in a prison of starvation within their own villages.
This is the first full-length feature film documentary on this tragic event in history. "HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33" will tell the story of the cold-blooded destruction of human life, silenced from the world for over seven decades.
"Marta and I researched and found no documentary film on this topic with the exception of "Harvest of Despair," which was made in 1983 and was only 53 minutes. A full-length theatrical documentary movie had to be made. I think we both felt that it was time that all the souls who needlessly died or had been murdered were given a collective voice to tell their story." remembers Leigh.
"We found it a duty or a calling to lift the veil of silence that's been shrouding the Ukrainian nation for too many years." recalls Tomkiw.
"This story should be important to ALL of us, not only as a historical fact but also because, the atrocities that happened to the Ukrainian people should never happen again." says Leigh.
Upon Luba Keske's urging and planting of the seed (Mrs. Keske is a member of the Los Angeles Holodomor committee), as well as Marta Tomkiw's convincing tactics, Leigh decided that, "this story needed to be told after being suppressed for 75 years."
Marta Tomkiw is a filmmaker who now lives in Los Angeles. She is a Detroit native of Ukrainian immigrants and grew up attending Ukrainian schools (Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Grade School, High School, Ridna Shkola - Ukrainian Saturday school), was a member of PLAST (Ukrainian scouting organization), and briefly studied Ukrainian dance. She studied film at the School of Visual Arts in NYC where she also worked at Rockamerica Video, a music video production company where she worked with various recording artists. She graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in film and television. She has also lived and worked in Miami for the television show "World Business Review with Casper Weinberger" and later worked as an Executive Producer for AFI Filmworks and produced car commercials.
Marta has produced several independent films with her most recent being a documentary titled HIGH TECH SOUL about the history and evolution of techno music in Detroit. She also works as a Location Manager on feature films and television shows and has worked on various film projects some of which include: JOHN HANCOCK starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron, GET SMART starring Steve Carrell, TRANSFORMERS (for which she received a "COLA Award" ((California On-Location Awards)) for Location Team of the Year), "Ghost Whisperer", "West Wing", RED EYE, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, S.W.A.T., KILL BILL, 8 MILE and many others.
Bobby Leigh served as a producer on THE GIFT--At Risk starring Vince Vaughn and Randy Travis which debuted at the Monaco Film Festival. For Visualiner Entertainment, Bobby is a producer on the Award Winning feature film STRIPPED DOWN staring Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills 90210" and "Dancing with the Stars,") The film, which took three awards at the Silver Lake Film Festival, including Outstanding Achievement in Production, has been sold to eight European Markets including CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Ukraine, and will have an American theatrical release in 2008. Recently he produced THE GUITAR PLAYER'S GIRLFRIEND, winner of the Los Angeles Screenwriting Competition sponsored by KODAK and PANAVISION. With Filmmakers Alliance, Leigh produced PLUS or MINUS: A Few Things I Thought I Should Consider with director Amanda Swikow. Leigh also directed the Children's film IT'S ALL AN ILLUSION for Christopher Coppola's Project Access Hollywood. The film, which took third place in the best picture category, is also on the Festival circuit. Other film credits include INFIDELITY, CHILDLIKE VIOLENCE, BURNING MAN, BROKEN and BUTTERFLY SKY.
Bobby served as a producer for three "MTV Video Awards" Television shows, two in New York and one in Dublin. Bobby also produced VISIONFEST/The Vision Awards for Filmmakers Alliance and the Directors Guild of America for four years in a row. Vision Award honorees include such renowned filmmakers as Mike Figgis, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Allison Anders, Alexander Payne, David O'Russell, Werner Herzog, Michael and Mark Polish and Laura Dern.
Currently Tomkiw and Leigh have put together a five minute sample trailer of the film and are looking for financing for the documentary feature film. "I really feel that this subject needs awareness and must be brought into the mainstream cinematic arena. There is no more effective way to get into everyone's homes and hearts than through cinema." says Leigh.
To view the film trailer and to donate, please see www.HolodomorTheMovie.com.
Be a part of helping the world finally learn about Ukraine's Holodomor, "The biggest lie. The best kept secret."
"History knows no other crime of such a nature and magnitude."
Відповіді
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
виставка документів з архіву Герета Джонса
http://www.uaccnj.org/Start: Nov 15, '07 7:30p
Location: Ukrainian American Cultural Center Whippany, NJ
If you can make it--even though its last minute----please come.....
Come to the Ukrainian American Cultural Center in Whippany Thursday to see a new exhibit by Dr Margaret Colley of London, England that includes new documentation on the cover up of the Holodomor.
Dr. Colley is the niece of Gareth Jones and the exhibit will include large scale reproductions of the lost diaries including one discovered just last year.
These pages paint a picture far more chilling than any Holodomor pictures you have seen.
Dr Colley last appeared in the U.S. in 2004 at the Columbia University Holodomor Conference with Dr James Mace and Dr Mark Von Hagen. This is a rare opportunity.
The presentation starts at 7:30 PM, Thursday, Nov 15 followed by a "Chance to Meet the Author" Buffet.
Admission is free.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
петиція до ООН (ukrcenter.com)
http://www.ukrcenter.com/forum/message.asp?message_id=126996&forum_name=%CD%EE%E2%E8%ED%E8%20%B3%20%CF%EE%EB%B3%F2%E8%EA%E0&page=1Шановні українці, і не тільки.
В 20-х числах листопада, ООН (UN) буде розлядати питання Голодомору 1932-33 років в Україні. Ряд демократичних держав вже визнали голодомор-геноцидом проти українського народу. Тепер черга за Організацією Об’єднаних Націй. Щоб проявити свою громадянську і національну позицію-прошу видрукувати нижчеподану петицію-звернення до ООН, підписати її, і вислати за вказаною адресою в Нью-Йорку. Не пожаліймо 40 центів на поштову марку, бо наша активність може принести перемогу Україні.
Дякую.
************************************************************
Mr.Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General UN
UN Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
I, ___________________________________________________________________________,
residing at ___________________________________________________________________,
call on the UNITED NATIONS to recognize GOLODOMOR, an artificial famine which took place in Ukraine during the years 1932-33. This GENOCIDE against the Ukrainian people was organized by the Communist Totalitarian Regime under Josef Stalin, which was based in Moscow. The Famine resulted in the prolonged deaths of between 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 innocent men, women and children, which accounted for every fourth person in Ukraine. This senseless mass murder, for ethnic reasons, can only be called Genocide. The only intent of this artificial famine was to destroy the national spirit of the Ukrainian people for decades to come. Therefore, I respectfully ask the UN to adopt the following Resolution. Such action would take great strides in preventing future genocides and other crimes against humanity.
Signature: _____________________________ Date: _________________________
RESOLUTION
ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT FAMINE 1932-33
IN UKRAINE
In 2007-2008 the world community will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, when more than 7,000,000 Ukrainian men, women and children lost their lives. This tragedy was not the result of a natural disaster but the consequence of a calculated policy by the Soviet communist regime under Josef Stalin in Moscow to break the will of the Ukrainian people. The United Nations expresses the sense that the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 should serve to honor the memory of the victims, recognize this tragedy as a Genocide against the Ukrainian people, condemn the Soviet communist perpetrators, acknowledge the failure of the world community to react with appropriate opprobrium and urge contemporary and future world communities to be vigilant against any manifestations of repression and inhumanity.
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the United Nations that:
1. The Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 be recognized and acknowledged as a Genocide against the Ukrainian people;
2. The victims of the Ukrainian Famine 1932-33 be solemnly remembered on its 75th anniversary and the month of November be designated in worldwide annually as a particular time to reflect upon the Ukrainian Famine 1932-33;
3. The communist regime of the Soviet Union with its center in Moscow be condemned for its systematic disregard for human life, human rights, human liberty and self-determination that characterized the repressive policies of Joseph Stalin and his henchmen during the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33;
4. Those from the West who were complicit in the cover-up thereby facilitating the crimes of the perpetrators should be rebuked even posthumously and their superiors and/or successors should denounce them publicly; in this regard the United Nations urges the publisher of The New York Times to return the Pulitzer prize awarded to its employee Walter Durant and the Trustees of Columbia University’s Pulitzer Committee to revoke that award, thereby distancing themselves from complicity;
5. On the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33, as Ukraine moves toward a fuller democracy with pervasive respect for human rights and free spiritual and economic opportunity, it is essential that the world continues to assist Ukraine in its endeavors aimed at the betterment of its society and people; and
6. Any supplemental material that may assist in the dissemination of information about the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 and thereby help prevent similar tragedies, should be compiled by historians, academicians and parliamentarians and that these be included within the educational material utilized by educational institutions around the world and be made available worldwide for a more complete study of this great tragedy of mankind.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
книга. "Розсекречена пам"ять"
The Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-33: Documents and MaterialsLink:http://ssu.kmu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=69643&cat_...
Книга про Голодомр 1932 - 1933 років в Україні в документах ГПУ та НКВД
Розсекречена пам'ять: Голодомор 1932-1933 років в Україні в документах ГПУ-НКВД / Упор.: В. Борисенко, В. Даниленко, С. Кокін та ін. - К.: ВД "Стилос". 2007. - 604 с. ББК 63.3(4УКР)622 Р 65
ISBN 978-966-8518-75-1
© В. Борисенко, В. Даниленко, С. Кокін, О. Стасюк, Ю. Шаповал, упорядкування, 2007
© Видавничий дім "Стилос", видання, 2007
У виданні представлено документи радянських органів державної безпеки - Державного політичного управління (ДПУ) та Народного комісаріату внутрішніх справ (НКВС), що містять додаткову архівну інформацію про причини, перебіг і наслідки найстрашнішої трагедії в історії українського народу ХХ століття - Голодомору 1932-1933 років. Документи розповідають про здійснення органами держбезпеки масових політичних репресій, у тому числі й з метоюприховування правди про Голодомор. Майже 70 років ці документи зберігались під грифами секретності і були недоступними для дослідників.
Exhibition -
http://ssu.kmu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/category?cat_id=63245
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Бразилія. Депутатська група "Бразилія - Україна"
http://ukrainian.multiply.com/journal/item/86118 жовтня ц.р. Посол України y Бразилії Володимир Лакомов зустрівся з членами депутатської групи “Бразилія-Україна”.
В ході зустрічі бразильські парламентарії були поінформовані про останні ініціативи з боку світового товариства стосовно визнання Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. та ознайомлені з додатковими документами, що підтверджують політичну природу цього феномену сталінської машини знищення народів.
Зі свого боку, Голова депутатської групи “Бразилія-Україна“ Клаудіо Кажадо вручив Послу Постанову комісії з прав людини та меншин Палати Депутатів Національного Конгресу Бразилії з ухвалою подання депутата від Парани Едуардо Сіарра від 19 вересня ц.р., яке стосується визнання Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. в Україні геноцидом української нації. Депутат, зокрема, відзначив одностайну підтримку членами Комісії такого рішення.
У Постанові говориться наступне :
“Беручи до уваги:
- загибель близько десяти мільйонів українців під час проведення режимомСталіна політики штучного голоду – відомого як Голодомор, що походить від виразу“морити голодом”, що означає вбивати голодом;
- тривалість зазначеної політики Сталіна протягом двохроків;
- направленість акції проти мирного населення, включно з дітьми, старимилюдьми, хворими і трудящими;
- виключно політичні та ідеологічні мотивиГолодомору;
- висловлений вже осуд акту Голодомору з боку США, Канади, Естонії,Аргентини, Австрії, Італії, Угорщини, Латвії, Грузії таПольщі;
- відношення до цього питання частини бразильського суспільстваукраїнського походження;
- положення статті 1, ІІІ, Конституції Бразилії, який встановлює якоснову демократичної держави людську гідність;
- принципи,які визначають політикуБразиліїуміжнароднихвідносинах, згідно зіст.4 (домінування людських прав) і VIII (осуд тероризму і расизму) у текстіКонституції;
- і, врешті решт, положення Конституції, ст.5, ІІІ, яка встановлює, що“ні проти кого не повинні застосовуватися тортури, як нелюдське ставлення таприниження” – основний гарант наших юридичнихпроваджень;
- одностайне ухвалення Комісією з прав людини та меншин Палати Депутатівна засіданні від 19 вересня 2007 року.
Закликаємо УрядБразилії:
Беручи до уваги непорушність принципівОсновного закону Бразилії,визнати цю трагедію і засудити тяжкіпорушення людських прав, здійснені сталінським режимом”.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Аргентина. Визнання Голодомору парламентом провінції Чако
http://ukrainian.multiply.com/journal/item/860Голодомор визнають в Аргентині
Регіональний Парламент (La C?mara de Diputados) провінції Чако (Аргентина), визнав український Голодомор 1932 – 33 pp., Геноцидом і бажає приєднатися до відзначення 75-річчя цієї трагедії.
Автори резолюції: Марія Крістіна Барріос (Maria Cristina Barrios) та Оскар Пабло Дудик (Oscar Pablo Dudik).
Україна відкрила почесне Консульство у провінції Чако
Почесним Консулом було призначено Оскара Хуана Коравайчука (Oscar Juan Korovaichuk), який проживатиме у місті Резістенція (Resistencia), маючи у юрисдикції аргентинські провінції Чако (Chaco) та Формоса (Formosa).
Нагадаємо, що у цих двох провінціях проживає близько 40 тисяч українців та аргентинців українського походження. З огляду на це, катедра Факультету Гуманістики Університету Північного Сходу (Universidad del Nordeste), створила курс української мови. Очікується, що відкриття Консульства допоможе зміцненню культурних та економічних зв?язків між Україною та Аргентиною.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Хвилина мовчання 24 листопада. Постанова СКУ
http://ukrainianworldcongress.org24 листопада - хвилина мовчання.
2 листопада 2007 року Президент України видав Указ „Про відзначення у 2007 році Дня пам’яті жертв голодоморів”, у якому сказано:
„Оголосити 24 листопада 2007 року о 16 годині на вшанування пам’яті жертв геноциду Українського народу хвилину мовчання, зупинивши на цей час роботу в органах державної влади та органах місцевого самоврядування, на підприємствах, в установах та організаціях (крім підприємств, де не допускається за технологією виробництва), рух громадського та приватного транспорту в населених пунктах з подаванням відповідних звукових сигналів”.
Світовий Конґрес Українців підтримує ініціятиву Президента України та закликає Діяспору приєднатись до запланованої в Україні акції і відповідним чином, незалежно від місця проживання та обставин, у той час, який би співпадав з 16 годиною (4-ою пополудні) в Україні, хвилиною мовчання вшанувати пам’ять 7-10 мільйонів ні в чому не винних наших земляків, у тому числі й дітей, які в 1932-33 рр. загинули страшною голодною смертю.
Тож давайте цим символічним спаянням разом з нашими братами та сестрами на рідних землях як одна велика родина віддамо належну честь і шану мільйонам жертв - крові і плоті українського народу, нашим загиблим побратимам. Тож давайте всі разом відчуємо духовну єдність та трагізм нашого спільного великого горя. Нехай же на устах кожного з нас у цю хвилину голосно чи мовчазно прозвучать слова: „Вічна їм пам’ять”.
Торонто-Ню Йорк-Мельбурн
5 листопада 2007 р.
За Світовий Конґрес Українців
Аскольд Лозинський
Президент
Стефан Романів
Голова Міжнародного
Координаційного Комітету
Віктор Педенко
Генеральний Секретар
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Підбірка з Action Ukraine Report
Електронний бюлетеньhttp://www.artukraine.com/aur/aur1.htm
розсилається по пошті
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 887
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007
1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008 AS
YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2, 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance, National Committee to Commemorate
the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, October 12, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
24. DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR
OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
25. UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF MEMORY
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007
26. HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
повний текст
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AURAn International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World
UKRAINE REMEMBERS -
THE WORLD ACKNOWLEDGES
75th Commemoration Of The Holodomor 1932-1933
Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide.
November 24, 2007 to November 22, 2008
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 887
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008 AS
YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
13. UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
14. UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
15. 'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD
FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP),
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2, 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance, National Committee to Commemorate
the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, October 12, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
24. DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR
OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
25. UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF MEMORY
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007
26. HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007
27. UKRAINE: COMMUNIST PARTY SAYS RENAMING OF STREETS
& MONUMENTS WITH SOVIET NAMES IS TOTALITARIANISM
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 2, 2007
28. HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WILL REVISIT CAVE IN UKRAINE
THAT HID FAMILY FROM CERTAIN DEATH
More than 60 years after surviving the Holocaust by hiding,
Yetta Katz will return to the caves where she spent 344 days.
Holocaust Survivor's Journey: By Jennifer Lebovich
Miami Herald, Miami, Friday, Sat, Nov. 03, 2007
29. UKRAINE PRESIDENT ORDERS RETURN OF 700 TORAH
SCROLLS CONFISCATED BY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent, Israel, Sun, Oct 28, 2007
30. UKRAINE: UGLY FACE OF EMERGING EXTREMISM
Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine Magazine
Business Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
========================================================
1. UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO unanimously passed on
November 1 a resolution entitled "Remembrance of the Victims of the Great
Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine", the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry reported on Thursday.
The 34th UNESCO General Conference noted that in the former Soviet Union,
millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and
policies of the totalitarian regime.
The documents reads the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor)
took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national
tragedy for the Ukrainian people.
The resolution of the UNESCO General Conference presented sympathy to the
victims of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and victims of famines
that also took place in Russia, Kazakhstan and other regions of the former
USSR, the Ukrainian press service said.
The resolution was drafted by Ukraine in co-authorship with other 45 member
states of UNESCO. According to a number of Ukrainian media, the word
"genocide" was removed from the final text of the resolution.
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2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko welcomes yesterday's resolution by
UNESCO to honor the victims of Ukraine's Great Famine of 1932-1933.
"This resolution shows that the job which has been done by Ukraine, [its]
political forces and diplomats has been recognized in 193 countries of the
world," he said on Friday in an interview with "Dzerkalo Tyzhnya," "Silski
Visti," "Ukrayina Moloda" and "Fakty."
"The international community has for the first time made such a large-scale
consolidated decision regarding the recognition of the Great Famine of
1932-1933."
The president expressed confidence Ukraine's Soviet-era famine would one
day be recognized as genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
Speaking of Ukraine's efforts to persuade parliaments around the world to
pass such resolutions, Yushchenko said: "We deliver dozens of speeches,
the Memory Institute holds dozens of conferences and there is no parliament
in the world which has not received my message regarding the recognition
of the Holodomor as genocide."
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/data/1_20274.html
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3. UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO has called on the member-
countries of the organization to honor the memories of the victims of the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this
in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
According to the statement, the 34th session of the General Conference of
UNESCO adopted a resolution on honoring the memories of the victims of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine on November 1.
According to the resolution, the tragedy of the famine should be a warning
to the present and future generations to abide by democratic values, human
rights, and the law.
It expresses condolences to the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine
as well as the victims of the famines that occurred in Russia, Kazakhstan,
and other former Soviet republics.
Moreover, the General Conference welcomed the initiative of Ukraine to
organize the commemorations on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine and encouraged UNESCO member-states
to take part in those events.
UNESCO also requests that its director-general promote awareness of
remembrance of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine by incorporating this
knowledge into the educational programs aimed at inculcating the lessons
of this tragic event in future generations.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Foreign Affairs Ministry presented
the draft of the resolution on infirming member-states of UNESCO about the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4.
President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25.
Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates.
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========================================================
4. "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007
KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933"
International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor
1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held
in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through
Thursday, December 6, 2007.
The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the
exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production
and artistic director.
The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature
four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for
seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.
Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:
[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky,
Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko,
Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko,
Acting Chief, and by the
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan
Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Trustee.
The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created
set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor
in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other
historical information.
The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large
number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and
artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized
by the Ukraine 3000 Fund. People attending the exhibition will be
able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of
over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about
the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government
documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.
The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display
over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Artists." The original artworks will include oil on
canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials.
Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first
years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects
as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will
include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in
2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a
program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition
Art Collection.
High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have
some Holodomor works on display. Movies and documentaries
will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display. The exhibition will
be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is
open to the public.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international
community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in
Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by
the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and
public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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========================================================
U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC): http://www.usubc.com
========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008
AS YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has proclaimed 2008 as the
year of memory of the Holodomor 1932-33 victims.
The President announced this in Kharkiv when speaking at the second
meeting of the Coordination council for preparation of events on the 75th
anniversary of the Holodomor 1932-33.
"The next year is proclaimed as the year of immortalizing memory of victims
of the Holodomor 1932-33," told the President.
Yuschenko expressed confidence in that 2008 Kyiv and Kharkiv will build
new memorials devoted to the 75th anniversary of the tragedy will, the first
national museum of the Holodomor will be commissioned and many historical
works on this issue will appear.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, when speaking in Kharkiv Yuschenko
criticized representatives of different layers of power for insufficient
work on immortalizing memory of the Holodomor 1932-33.
In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the
genocide of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of
victims of famines and political repressions.
In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7 million people.
Moreover, according to information from different historians, there were
famines in 1921-23 and 1946-1947.
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6. NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007
KYIV - On October 30 the National congress of the Republic of Ecuador
adopted a resolution by which the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was
recognized as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. Chairman of the
subcommittee on interparliamentary relations, bilateral and multilateral
relations of the foreign affairs Committee of the VRU of the fifth
convocation Oksana Bilozir informed.
As it is noted in the statement, the parliament of Ecuador also shows
solidarity with the Ukrainian people, noted that following of principles of
justice, freedom, democracy and mutual respect, which must be the basis in
the relations between the countries in order such phenomena as Holodomor
in Ukraine doesn't repeat again.
Ecuador is the second country after Peru, the parliament of which recognized
Holodomor in Ukraine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. 11
countries have already recognized Holodomor in Ukraine.
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LINK: http://en.for-ua.com/news/2007/10/31/132042.html
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7. UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007
KYIV - Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
urged the world community during the 62nd session of the UN General
Assembly to endorse a resolution introducing an international day
commemorating the victims of genocide, the ministry's press service has
reported.
He raised the issue on the need for international recognition of Ukraine's
famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian people. Khandohiy also
expressed hope that the UN "as a collective and moral voice of the world
community and an effective instrument for observing human rights and
freedoms" would condemn the tragedy the Ukrainian people suffered in
1932-1933.
Furthermore, he stressed the need to step up the international legal
mechanisms and political instruments aimed at preventing the spread of
weapons of mass destruction.
Khandohiy said that frozen conflicts in GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan
and Moldova) countries threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the region's states, and stressed the importance of taking practical
steps, including at the UN, to settle them.
Commenting on the Kosovo problem, he said that in order to resolve the
situation, all parties should refrain from acting unilaterally to resolve
the problem, not involving the UN.
Khandohiy said that hasty actions in resolving the Kosovo issue might
destabilize the situation in the Balkans and have a negative effect on the
whole system of international relations.
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========================================================
NOTE: Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
========================================================
8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
KYIV - Libya intends to consider the issue of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine at a session of the Libyan General People's Congress. The press
service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this in a
statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
According to the statement, the Secretary of the Libyan General People's
Committee for Foreign Liaison & International Cooperation, Suleiman
al-Shehoumi, promised during a meeting with Ukraine's Ambassador to Libya
Hennadii Latyi on Wednesday, October 24, to put the issue to a debate in the
General People's Congress.
The Ukrainian ambassador drew attention to the importance of informing the
international community about the tragedy suffered by the Ukrainian people
as a result of the 1932-1933 famine and expressed the hope that member-
countries of UNESCO will support the relevant resolution that Ukraine
proposed for consideration at a general conference of UNESCO.
Latyi also stressed the importance of the closeness of the two countries'
positions on international politics as well as the constructiveness of
Ukrainian-Libyan cooperation within international organizations.
They also paid significant attention to development of Ukrainian-Libyan
cooperation and the need to quickly sign several important bilateral
agreements.
The Ukrainian ambassador also informed Shehoumi about the problems
that Ukrainian citizens working in Libya are encountering.
Shehoumi assured Latyi that the leadership of the Libyan People's Congress
would facilitate solution of the problems connected with the work of
Ukrainian citizens in Libya.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine has called on UNESCO
member-countries to support its resolution entitled "On Honoring the
Memory of the Victims of the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine."
President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25. [Actually it is Saturday, November 24th]
Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates. Moreover, according to several
historians, there were famines in Ukraine in the 1921-1923 and 1946-1947
periods.
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9. UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko is expected to ask Israel to recognize
the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 1930s by their communist
government when he visits here in about two weeks, sources said.
Israel is not expected to accede to the request, which has won the support
of Jewish community leaders in Ukraine, so as not to damage its relationship
with Vladimir Putin's government at a sensitive time.
Millions of Ukrainians died of hunger from 1931 to 1932 following the
collectivization of farming in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin. Famine was
particularly severe in Ukraine, which was a regional breadbasket and was
strongly opposed to the move.
At the same time the communist government attempted to wipe out Ukrainian
intelligentsia and nationalists, with estimations of the number of victims
ranging from a million and a half to 10 million. Advertisement
A number of countries, including the United States, have recognized these
acts as genocide, however, Russia vigorously rejects this definition,
preferring to use the term "tragedy."
Members of the Jewish community in Ukraine say Yushchenko also intends
to present a proposal in the parliament in Kiev to recognize the suffering
of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and the suffering of the Ukrainian
people.
The chairman of the General Council of Jewish organizations, Joseph Zisels,
who met with Yushchenko last Monday, said yesterday: "Israelis understand
more than anyone what genocide is and Yushchenko therefore expects that
Israelis will also recognize the Ukrainian genocide. We don't think it is
the same as the Holocaust, but it is also a terrible tragedy with seven or
eight million murdered."
Last week Yushchenko signed a presidential order to return to the Jewish
community 700 Torah scrolls that were confiscated from the community by
the communists.
The move is believed to be an attempt to soften up Jewish and Israeli public
opinion ahead of his visit. He is expected to bring some of the scrolls to
the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem during his visit.
An attempt to organize a visit by Yushchenko to Israel was made about six
months ago by Rabbi Moshe Azman, Ukraine's Chabad rabbi, and Mordechai
Tzivin, an Israeli attorney active in international Jewish causes.
But Israeli government officials postponed the visit, among other reasons
because Yushchenko wanted to be in Israel on Holocaust Day and to
participate in a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
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LINK: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917798.html
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10. UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international community
to condemn the crimes committed by the Stalin regime. Yuschenko made the
call at a meeting on perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine the major
terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by the international
community. It is the duty of all countries, political and public forces that
accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
He expressed compassion for all the peoples who were part of the former
USSR and suffered losses as a result of the policies of the Stalin regime.
Yuschenko called on all the former republics of the USSR to join forces to
establish the actual scale of the crimes of the Stalin regime.
'We are obliged to clear our land of all totalitarian signs and monuments to
criminals who were involved in the destruction of millions of Ukrainians,'
Yuschenko said in his speech at the meeting.
He welcomed the Kyiv municipal council's decision to name one of the streets
in Kyiv after Lesia Kurbas, who was a victim of a totalitarian regime.
Yuschenko believes that perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression is sacred. 'Stalinism destroyed Ukraine with special thoroughness
and in special dimensions. These losses are definitely irreparable.
Systematic destruction of Ukraine-hood was perpetrated on our land,'
Yuschenko said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko welcomed the General
Conference of UNESCO's resolution that calls on the member-countries of the
organization to honor the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine.
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11. PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko is calling on Romania's parliamentary
authorities to assist in the recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as
genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
The Presidential press service announced this in a statement, a copy of
which Ukrainian News has obtained. According to the statement, Tuesday
Yuschenko met Nicolae Vacaroiu President of the Senate of Romania, the upper
house of the Romanian Parliament, and Bogdan Olteanu president of the
Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Romanian Parliament.
At the meeting the sides discussed Ukraine's domestic political situation,
interparliamentary cooperation, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of
Ukraine. Besides, the talkers discussed collaboration in the national
minorities issues.
Yuschenko expressed hope that the Romanian Parliament will be assisting,
within the scope of its competence, improvement of condition of the
Ukrainian national minority in Romania.
The President also called on the Romanian side to adjoin recognition of the
Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide against the Ukrainian nation. Yuschenko
invited heads of the Romanian Parliament to pay a visit to Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko left for Romania to attend a
meeting of the Yuschenko-Basescu Ukrainian-Romanian commission.
In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the genocide
of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of victims of famines
and political repressions. In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7
million people. Moreover, according to information from different historians,
there were famines in 1921-23 and 1946-47 in Ukraine.
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12. FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
MOSCOW - The famine in Ukraine in the 1930s was not genocide directed
exclusively against Ukrainians but was part of the then Soviet state's tough
policy towards all nationalities of the former Soviet Union, ombudsman in
Russia Vladimir Lukin said at a press conference at Interfax' main office
[Moscow] on Thursday.
"Attempts are being made to portray the great famine in Ukraine in the 1930s
as an exclusive action directed against Ukrainians, which is, of course,
absolutely untrue," he said.
"This [famine] was the toughest action against all Soviet people, Ukrainians
were not alone in suffering from it," Lukin added.
Earlier, UN coordinator in Kyiv Francis O'Donnell announced that the issue
of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, known as Holodomor, was a very
important problem for the entire international community.
More and more countries officially recognize Holodomor as genocide,
he told reporters in Kyiv.
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13. UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KYIV - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is critical of the opinion statements
made by Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin about the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers and the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine.
Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the ministry.
According to the report, the ministry said that provision of expert
summarization about the country's past and its inside political life does
not correspond to the established diplomatic practice.
'We would like to note that Ukrainian politicians and academic elite, as
well as the public community, are able to make judgments about the
historical and social phenomena of their nation without additional comments
which are based on ideological and stereotypical principles,' the report
reads.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requests Chernomyrdin to refrain
from statements and actions that can have a negative influence on the
development of good neighbor relations between Ukraine and Russia.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Chernomyrdin said that official
recognition of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers as WWII veterans
would negatively influence Ukraine-Russia relations.
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14. UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KIEV - Ukraine's Foreign Ministry dismissed statements by the Russian
ambassador about a Ukrainian WWII army and Soviet-era famine as being
against diplomacy.
In an interview with Russia's Vremya Novostei popular daily Friday, Viktor
Chernomyrdin spoke critically of the attempts to romanticize the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army (UPA), which has been said to cooperate with the Nazis in
WWII.
He also slammed President Viktor Yushchenko's initiative to prosecute those
who deny the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine known as Holodomor.
"Ukrainian political and scientific elite and the public can well qualify
historical events of their nation without any additional commentaries based
on ideological and stereotyped principles," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
said.
The UPA was formed in 1942 on the initiative of the Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). UPA operated mostly in western Ukraine,
historically opposed to Russian domination, and fought against the Soviet
Army.
UPA is known to have cooperated with the Nazis, even though at the end of
the war, it fought against them and the Soviet Army altogether.
In 2007, President Yushchenko signed a decree to celebrate the date of UPA
formation as a state holiday. He also awarded a title of the Hero of Ukraine
posthumously to UPA leader Roman Shukhevich.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071103/86547995.html
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Ukraine Monthly Macroeconomic Report From SigmaBleyzer:
http://www.sigmableyzer.com/index.php?action=publications
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15. 'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD
FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
MOSCOW - Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is back in fashion in
Russia as the Kremlin condones history textbooks that honour the
Soviet leader (1878-1953) as renovator of the country. "Children, learn
to value Stalin," the Gazeta newspaper recently summed up the message
by the textbook's authors. Stalin, the synonym for state-ordered terror
and torture, still has his followers, especially among the communists.
However, even non-communists seem to long for someone like Stalin,
public opinion polls suggest. Historians and human rights activists
complain about an unprecedented misrepresentation of history and
accuse President Vladimir Putin of ignoring it.
"Many now present Stalin as an efficient manager, who did a good thing
with his collectivization, industrialization and the Second World War
victory," the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Human Rights,
80-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said.
This "dangerously flattering picture" ridiculed millions of innocent
victims of the regime, she said.
Russian human rights official Vladimir Lukin is deeply concerned that
one of the "country's most terrible and ruthless criminals is put on a
pedestal."
The Academic Education Society for the Arts recently approved two
books which were intended to turn pupils into "real patriots," Russian
media reported.
The historian Aleksandr Filippov in his book "A Modern History of
Russia: 1945-2006," has called Stalin "one of the USSR's most
successful leaders," whose repression helped to get the country out of
a crisis.
"The modernization of the country needed a responsible power system,"
the book says. "This is a scandal," individual scholars and teachers said.
The authors' collective around Filippov is trying to justify the mass
terror with hindsight and rehabilitate its perpetrators, they claim.
During a meeting with representatives of the Kremlin, the Education
Ministry and authors, historian Andrei Sakharov criticized the book as
a "serious methodical mistake."
"History follows the state's motto: everything that secures power must
also be good for the people," the director of the Institute for Russian
History said.
Stalin, who also determined the history of Germany before, during and
after Hitler's period in power, continues to be well regarded by many
Russians, according to a survey by polling firm WZIOM, which is close
to the government.
Almost half the Communists - second-largest power in the Russian
parliament - dream of a "new Stalin."
In the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of populist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky 23 per cent feel the same way, and 14 per cent of the
Kremlin's United Russia do so too. Only 40 per cent of those
questioned categorically rejected a return of Stalinism.
With the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution coming up on
November 7, which will be celebrated by thousands of communists,
leading members of the opposition have compared the situation in
Russia with that of 1917.
"Our present-day parliament has no rights, just like back then under
the tsar," Kremlin critic and former chess world champion Garry
Kasparov said.
In addition, there was corruption, bureaucracy, a lack of internal
mechanisms for a modernization of the country, and political solitude,
Jablonko opposition party leader Grigori Yavlinski said.
Human rights organizations such as Memorial will this year hold a
number of commemorative events for the millions of victims of the so-
called Great Terror under Stalin 70 years ago.
Putin has also distanced himself from the cruelties. However, critics
have accused the former civil service head of not fighting hard enough
for a public condemnation of the crimes.
The Russian president has so far not reacted to calls for a state- run
commemorative and research centre for the victims of Stalin's terror
regime.
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LINK: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/135533.html
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16. DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
KYIV - The Kyiv city planning council has approved design of the memorial
complex to the victims of 1932-1933 Famine on 15A Sichnevoho Povstannia
Street in Pecherskyi district of the capital. Kyiv chief architect Vasyl
Prysiazhniuk disclosed this at a meeting of the council.
The project was worked out by Project Systems Company. Prysiazhniuk
marked it is necessary to specify proportions of a campanile, condition of
elements of the complex and elements of art features.
The concept of the memorial complex foresees construction of 26-meter-high
campanile, roads of four granite slabs with two angels on the sides, which
would lead to a small round lake, where it is planned to locate museum to
Famine victims.
The campanile and the museum will be made in the style of left Dnipro River
architecture. There will be a circle of 24 stones around the campanile with
internal paintings dedicated to bible and four mosaics.
Each of the stones will bear 1,000 spikelets, which symbolize the number of
Ukrainian victims. The campanile will be opened letting each person to light
candle in memory of the tragedy.
According to representative of the customer, the approximate cost of the
project will amount to over UAH 80 million [approx. $16 million.]
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the city council of Kyiv had approved
architectural feasibility study regarding placement of the monument to
American historian, analyst of Famine 1932-1933 in Ukraine James Mace in the
Sichnevoho Povstannia Street, Pecherskyi District of Kyiv. According to
various estimates, about 3-7 million people died during the 1932-1933 famine
in Ukraine.
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17. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007
To ensure adequate organization and conduct of events related to the Day
of Memory for the victims of Holodomor on November 24, 2007, I hereby
decree:
1. To set up an Organizing committee to prepare and mark in 2007 the Day
of Memory for the Holodomors victims. To appoint Ivan Vasiunyk, first
deputy head of presidential secretariat, and Dmytro Tabachnyk, Vice-Premier
of Ukraine, co-heads of the Organizing committee.
Within three days, the Organizing committee co-heads are to agree with the
prime minister their proposals on the Organizing committee line-up.
2. The Organizing committee must approve within one week a plan of
events to be held to prepare for and commemorate in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the victims of Holodomors.
3. A one-minute silence shall be observed at 16.00 on November 24, 2007
to remember the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, by stopping
the work of central and local executive bodies, industrial companies,
institutions and organizations (except the organizations where stoppages of
work are technologically excluded). All public and private vehicles in
cities and towns shall stop and blow their horns for one minute.
The Ukrainian state flags on the territory of the country shall be lowered
to half mast on November 24, 2007. Entertainment events in concert halls,
on radio and TV must be restricted.
4. The Council of Ministers of the Crimean Autonomous Republic, the state
administrations of the Kyiv oblast and cities Kyiv and Sevastopol are to lay
mourning wreaths made from rye and wheat ears at the graves of Holodomor
victims and remember them by observing a minute of silence, candle lighting,
holding remembrance events and other mourning events.
5. The Cabinet of Ministers shall:
- jointly with the Kyiv city administration accelerate designing and
erecting in Kyin the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors in Ukraine;
- allot funding in the finalized 2008 budget for the Memorial construction
and research on the history of Holodomors by the Ukrainian Institute of the
National Memory;
- accelerate designing and erecting a monument to the 1932-1933 Holodomor
victims in Washington, DC as well as similar monuments and remembrance
plaques in other countries.
6. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall:
- oblige its foreign missions to hold the events to mark in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the Holodomor victims, inviting foreign diplomats stationed in
Ukraine to participate in commemoration events inside the country;
- render any assistance to the International Coordinating Committee of the
World Ukrainian Congress in preparing and conducting by public diaspora
organizations the events to commemorate the Holodomor victims.
7. The State Committee on television and radio broadcasting shall provide
wide coverage of events held in preparation and remembrance in Ukraine
and worldwide of the Day of Memory for the Holodomors victims.
8. The decree comes into force on publication.
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
November 2, 2007
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/6934.html
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18. AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all Australian capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
PERTH ---------
Nov 17 - opening of "Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was
Then and This is Now" - Holodomor Exhibition at the Perth Town Hall.
Nov 24 - Combined Panachyda at the UOAC (followed by a showing of the
"Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was Then and This is Now"
Holodomor Exhibition in the UOAC church hall...
VICTORIA ----------
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide - Famine 1932-1933
Ukraine Remembers the World Acknowledges
Association of Ukrainians in Victoria appeals to all to commemorate
and acknowledge the 75th Anniversary of the Great Famine - Genocide
1932-1933.
Mourning Service & Requiem Concert of Religious Songs
Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.; Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
of Sts. Peter & Paul, 35 Canning Street, North Melbourne
NEW SOUTH WALES -----
WE MUST NOT FORGET THE HOLODOMOR OF 1932-1933
Programme of the NSW/Sydney/ Observance on Saturday December 1st,
10.00am Solemn Panachyda - Requiem Ecumenical Service St. Mary's
Cathedral (45 min)
Encompassing Ecumenical Prayer service with Homily, and Declaration
of Commencement of the Year of Holodomor 32-by the Chair of the
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, AFUO / SUOA.
10.50 am March through Hyde Park ( a distance of less than 200 m)
11.00 am Public Rally in Hyde Park at Archibald Fountain
Addresses by public figures, reminiscences of Holodomor survivors,
expressions of solidarity
12.00 pm Conclusion of Rally , viewing of Exhibition
4.00 pm All Exhibition stands and platforms to be removed
SOUTH AUSTRALIA ----------
November 24, 2007, Program to be available soon.
Full National program will shortly be available on www.ozeukes.com.
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19. JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance
National Committee to Commemorate the
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, November 2, 2007
NEW YORK - One of the darkest pages in Ukraine's history is the
Genocide of 1932-33, during which up to 10 million innocent victims
were starved to death through a deliberate Soviet policy to crush the
nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry.
The Ukrainian Genocide ranks among the worst cases of man's
inhumanity towards man, and is perhaps the most extreme example
of the use of food as a weapon.
Starting Point: St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church
(7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
March begins at 11:45AM, Friday, November 17, 2007
Final Destination: St. Patrick's Cathedral
Solemn Requiem Service at 2PM
To commence the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor!
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th 2007, NEW YORK CITY
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NOTE: For further information contact Tamara Olexy at ucca@ucca.org.
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20. UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007
ROME, Italy - An international conference entitled, "The Ukrainian
Holodomor and the Denial of Genocides, is being held in Rome, Italy
on Friday, November 9, 2007.
PROGRAM:
9:30: Welcoming and opening addresses
10:00: First session (Chair: prof. Eric Terzuolo, JCU)
-- Prof. Taner Akçam (University of Minnesota)
Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
-- Prof. Federigo Argentieri (John Cabot University)
Hiding, Denying, Minimizing – The Slow and Difficult
Truth About the Ukrainian Famine
-- Dr Frediano Sessi (independent author)
La negazione della Shoah (in Italian)
Discussant: Dr Dario Fertilio, („Corriere della Sera”), Milan
13:15 Lunch break
15:00: Second session (Chair: Prof. F.Argentieri)
-- Prof. Roman Serbyn, (Université du Québec a Montréal)
Is there a "Smoking Gun” for the Holodomor?
-- Prof. Georgiy Kasianov (Kyïv-Mohyla Academy),
The Great Famine of 1932-33: Academia and Politics
-- Dr. Mykola Ryabchuk, (co-editor of Krytyka, Kyïv)
Holodomor, Politics of Memory and Political Infighting
in Contemporary Ukraine
Discussant: Prof. Olena Ponomareva, La Sapienza (in Italian)
17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 Concluding Round Table Discussion, chaired by Ambassador
Luigi Vittorio Ferraris, President of AISSECO
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21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
President Yushchenko announced last week his intention to push for laws
criminalising the denial of the Ukrainian Holodomor terror famine of the
1930s. This would be the latest step initiated by Yushchenko in addressing
the crimes of the Soviet era, but it also threatens to infringe on freedom
of speech
Since becoming Ukraine's third president in 2005, Viktor Yushchenko has
made a fresh appraisal of the country's history and the crimes of the
Communist regime one of his broad policy objectives.
This has seen previously muted remembrance services enter the national
consciousness and led to the benchmark November 2006 parliamentary vote
which saw lawmakers overwhelmingly support a bill to recognise the famine
as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The next step, it seems, is to be the introduction of legislation making it
a criminal offense to cast doubt on this version of events.
During an official visit to Kharkiv last week, President Yushchenko declared
his intention, as soon as the new parliament convenes, to call for the
introduction of laws making it a crime to deny the 1932-33 famine.
A EUROPEAN TREAD
Such legislation would be very much in line with the general trend towards
genocide denial laws already in place in many European Union member states.
These existing laws currently focus on denial of the Holocaust, or genocide
of European Jewry during WWII. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have all made
denying the Holocaust a criminal offense punishable by anything from fines
to serious prison time.
Other forgotten or unrecognised genocides of the 20th century are also
coming up for reappraisal, not least the murder of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War.
A preliminary vote by the American House of Representatives earlier this
month branding the deaths an act of genocide provoked international
political repercussions that are now threatening to impact on the precarious
peace of northern Iraq. A similar vote in France in 2006 led to a major
diplomatic row between the two countries.
FEARS OVER ALIENATING RUSSIA
Given the sensitivity to charges of crimes against humanity in today's
Russia, the self-appointed successor state of the Soviet Union, many
Western nations are cautious about offering any official acknowledgement
of the Holodomor.
Numerous resolutions have been passed sympathetic to the claims of
genocide, but international legislation recognising the Holodomor remains
largely elusive.
President Yushchenko has called on foreign governments to recognise it as
genocide in time for the beginning this November of a year of memorial
events to mark the 75th anniversary of the tragedy, but few appear ready to
do so.
Denial laws similar to those in place across the EU governing denial of the
Jewish Holocaust could only be introduced once official recognition for
Ukraine's Holodomor has been granted.
However, with recognition within Ukraine already achieved in November
2006, there are no legal constraints which could act as barriers to the
introduction of denial laws domestically.
REOPENING THE DEBATE?
In light of the highly charged political debate surrounding the Ukrainian
Holodomor, it will not be long before any new denial legislation is put to
the test.
Apologists for the Soviet regime have repeatedly claimed that the famine,
while acknowledged as a real historical event, was in fact a product of a
number of factors and was not a systematic genocide perpetrated specifically
against the Ukrainian people.
With support in Ukraine relatively high for pro-Russian politicians and
resistance to attacks on the Soviet past still robust, there will likely be
no shortage of activists and academics prepared to test any new denial laws
by contradicting the official government line over the Holodomor publicly.
Whereas Holocaust denial is largely the preserve of minority extremist
groups in most Western countries, millions of Ukrainians still refuse to
adopt the official government position that the Soviet authorities willfully
ordered the destruction of the Ukrainian population. The size of this
constituency would appear to pave the way for large scale opposition to the
plan.
The irony is that any new laws will doubtless be attacked as infringements
on Ukraine's new-found freedoms of speech by the same political forces
which previously fought to curtail press and public freedoms.
Advocacy groups throughout the Muslim world have successfully attacked
Western perceptions regarding freedom of speech by pointing out the
contradictions inherent in Europe's widespread Holocaust denial laws, and
there is every reason to believe that Kremlin loyalists in Ukraine and
across the former Soviet Union would use any new Holodomor denial
legislation to undermine the moral stance of the pro-democracy camp.
Sergiy Ilyin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Communist Party in Donetsk,
slammed the idea of Holodomor denial laws, commenting, "Yushchenko has
no right to impose his way of thinking on entire nations. There was famine
but to see the hand of Moscow in engineering it is wrong.
"Genocide cannot be recognised in this way. If governments can do this, then
the policy of the United States towards the indigenous American Indian
population can equally be labeled an act of genocide."
LEGAL COMMUNITY HESITANT
Lawyers are also unsure over the plans to introduce anti-denial legislation.
Sergei Konnov, the Senior Partner at Kyiv's Konnov & Sozanovsky law firm,
comments, "If the President wants everyone in Ukraine to have the same
opinion about the Holodomor then he should try to educate people about the
historic facts, but not punish those who do not agree that it was the result
of Moscow policy against Ukraine.
"By all means explain the facts to anyone in doubt but don't send them to
court. Criminalising denial of the Holodomor would demonstrate that Ukraine
is still not ready to be a truly civilised country. Or at least its leaders
are not."
Konnov's colleague Ronald G. Marks adds, "In a democracy, the people
'hold the stick', and in some countries they have used it to 'beat' the
politicians into passing anti-holocaust denial laws.
"I can't imagine a democracy in which the president would force the
population into living under such a law, where there is no demonstrable
evidence that a compelling majority have demanded such a restriction on
civil liberty."
Beyond the argument about the need for Holodomor denial legislation is the
issue of priorities, and there is a further debate about how urgent the
issue is given the very real practical problems facing the country.
Alex Frishberg of Frishberg & Partners attorneys summed up this sentiment,
commenting, "Ukraine's President should be focusing on economic and
corruption issues (particularly in the judicial sphere) rather than seeking
to appease the nationalists with a populist measure like this.
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LINK: http://www.businessukraine.com.ua/yushchenko-s-push-for-a-denial
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22. UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
KYIV - In February 2008 the residents of Kherson oblast will become widely
acquainted with the latest materials on the Holodomor tragedy of 1932-33.
This announcement was made by the governor of Kherson oblast Borys
Sylienkov, as he commented on the Oct. 24 session of the Coordinating
Council, which has been tasked with preparing measures dedicated to the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Liga reports.
Sylienkov said that the work of the Coordinating Council, created by
presidential decree on March 14, 2007, has enabled researchers to reveal the
whole truth about the Holodomor of 1932-33, which "raged in Kherson region
too.
Ukrainian society must consolidate around its own history," said the
governor, who added that "for 75 years the Communist Party concealed the
tragic truth and spread propaganda that there was no Holodomor in our
region.
Thanks to the president's position, confirmation of tens of thousands of
deaths as a result of the genocide of 1932-33 was found in the archives.
Many unmarked graves were discovered.
We have published information about the Holodomor in the Kherson lands
based on evidence provided by eyewitnesses and disseminated it among
local communities," the governor of Kherson oblast emphasized.
According to Sylienkov, the truth about the events connected to the
Holodomor must be conveyed first and foremost to the communities of
southern and eastern Ukraine.
"Following in the footsteps of historians and researchers in Kharkiv oblast,
the residents of Kherson oblast will be widely familiarized with materials
on the study of the Holodomor of 1932-33," he summarized.
On Oct. 23 President Yushchenko arrived on a working visit to Kharkiv
oblast, where he chaired a session of the Coordinating Council to prepare
measures dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor.
The main goal of the council is to draft proposals for coordinating tributes
to the Holodomor victims, which will be organized by the Ukrainian
government, and academic and social institutions.
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/190507/
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23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
BRUSSELS - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he was going to
propose a bill criminalising the denial of the Holodomor and Holocaust,
instructing Ukraine's central and local authorities to hold events on
November 24, 2007 to honour the victims of the Soviet-era famine and mark
its 75th anniversary, according to a press statement from the Mission of
Ukraine to the EU, release
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
Ще одна підбірка з Action Ukraine
22. INTERNATIONAL 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION,HOLODOMOR 1932-1933, TO BE HELD IN KYIV, AT UKRAINIAN
HOUSE FROM TUESDAY, NOV 20 TO THURSDAY, DEC 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #888, Article 22
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 7, 2007
KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933"
International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor
1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held
in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through
Thursday, December 6, 2007.
The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the
exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production
and artistic director.
The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature
four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for
seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.
Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:
[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky,
Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko,
Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko,
Acting Chief, and by the
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan
Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Founder and Trustee.
The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created
set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor
in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other
historical information.
The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large
number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and
artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized
by the Ukraine 3000 Fund. People attending the exhibition will be
able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of
over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about
the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government
documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.
The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display
over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Artists." The original artworks will include oil on
canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials.
Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first
years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects
as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will
include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in
2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a
program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition
Art Collection.
High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have
some Holodomor works on display. Movies and documentaries
will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display. The exhibition will
be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is
open to the public.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international
community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in
Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by
the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and
public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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23. NOT TOO LATE: THREE MESSAGES IN UNESCO
RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING HOLODOMOR VICTIMS
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest #33
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 6, 2007
On Nov. 1, 2007, the 34th General Conference of UNESCO, consisting of
193 countries, unanimously adopted the resolution "Remembrance of
Victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine."
Recalling the 1932-33 Holodomor, which claimed millions of innocent
Ukrainian lives, the UNESCO General Conference stated that the Holodomor
tragedy, caused by the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian
Stalinist regime, should be a warning to the present and future generations
with the goal of upholding democratic values, human rights, and rule of law.
The Ukrainian media instantly noted that the word "genocide" is missing from
the text of the resolution. It is common knowledge that Ukraine insists that
the 1932-33 Holodomor be recognized worldwide as genocide of the Ukrainian
people.
During a press conference held by President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine,
attended by journalists from five Ukrainian print publications, The Day's
correspondent asked the Ukrainian head of state to comment on the UNESCO
resolution and say whether he thinks it is in line with the Ukrainian vision
of the tragic events that occurred 75 years ago.
PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
"It is not too late. We must understand that informing the entire world
about the tragedy - the great famine of 1932-33 - is not a matter of one
calendar year. We should understand clearly that this issue entails very
many challenges that the Ukrainian nation is facing.
What happened yesterday (Nov. 1. - Ed.) in fact proves that the work that
Ukraine and its political forces and diplomacy have done in the past two
years has been duly recognized by 193 countries that passed a unanimous
decision yesterday. \
"It is very important for me that for the first time the world community has
passed such a high- level joint decision on recognizing the Great Famine of
1932-33.
This is the most important victory of yesterday. Other, more specific,
details of this tragedy are our future work. Excuse me, but if it took our
society 73 years to have a parliament that recognizes this as the Holodomor,
can we reproach the world?
"For 73 years we were afraid to say clearly that this is so, but now are
demanding that 193 countries do what the nation itself, Ukrainians
themselves, the leaders themselves did not have enough courage to do.
"I think we have received three messages.
[1] First, we have proved to the world that this is not an exclusive tragedy
of the Ukrainian nation: this is a tragic page that should be known and
commemorated throughout the world.
[2] Second, it is significant that the UNESCO General Conference is also
marking the 75th anniversary of this tragedy.
[3] Third, it is important that with this resolution UNESCO has recommended
that the signatory countries make sure that this course of history, this
truth, will be part of curricula and educational programs in every country
of the world so that they will better understand the tragic nature of this
event in Ukraine.
"I think these are the three strongest messages of which we can be proud.
For, above all, this is about our tragic history and the ideas that we would
like the world to accept."
PROFESSOR STANISLAV KULCHYTSKY
We requested a comment from our regular contributor Stanislav Kulchytsky,
whose book "Why Did He Exterminate Us? Stalin and the Ukrainian \
Holodomor" was published this year in The Day's Library Series.
"Online publications reacted to this event on the day it took place. Ukraine's
Internet space is almost entirely filled with Russian mass media, so the
headlines typically said, 'UNESCO fails to recognize the 1932-33 famine as
genocide.' So The Day's expert should comment on both the event and the
first reactions to it.
"This event was predictable. The international community expressed sympathy
with the Ukrainian people because this tragedy is now known to a certain
number of people who are shaping public opinion in every country.
"This is a major achievement for our diplomats, journalists, statesmen, and
academics. This is another step in understanding the tragic history of our
people by those who until very recently could not even find Ukraine on a
map.
"Following standard procedure, our diplomats drew up a draft UNESCO
resolution. The actual resolution included the most important provision of
the draft: an appeal to UNESCO member states to disseminate information
about the Holodomor by including it in educational and research programs so
that the generations to come will learn the lessons of this tragedy.
"It is also important that the recommended appeal was in the form of a
UNESCO resolution.
"In 2003 the UN marked the 70th anniversary of the Holodomor by adopting a
lower-status document - a joint statement by a group of countries. The
Ukrainian delegation's attempts to grant the document resolution status were
thwarted at the time.
"Very soon, on the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Ukrainian diplomats
will again be urging the UN to recognize it as an act of genocide.
"We have a year during which the president of Ukraine intends to proclaim a
year in honor of the memory of Holodomor victims. I think we will do a lot
during that year to convey the magnitude of this tragedy to the Ukrainian
public and people in other countries.
Will these efforts be enough to convince Russian politicians and ordinary
people that the 1932-33 famine in the Soviet Union had a qualitatively
different form - the Holodomor - in Ukraine? I doubt it, and not because we
will be insufficiently convincing.
So far Russia and a large number of Ukrainians who support the Party of
Regions do not want to enter into a dialogue on this issue. This
unwillingness is linked with today's circumstances, not with a different
viewpoint on the events of the 1930s. This is the main obstacle.
"What should be done in this situation? That which the UNESCO conference
unanimously advised us in the Holodomor resolution: to disseminate
information on the Holodomor by making it part of educational and research
programs.
"If the UN fails to recognize the Holodomor as genocide in 2008, which is
quite possible because of Russia's negative position, we will go on working.
"All of us, in both Ukraine and Russia, must learn from the lessons of the
past. The past must not ruin our future, the lives of our children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren."
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/190928/
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24. GERMANY READY TO ASSIST IN DELIVERING TO
ITS CITIZENS INFORMATION ABOUT 1932-1933 FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 6, 2007
KYIV - Germany is ready to assist in delivering information about the
1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine to its citizens.
Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, which referred to a meeting between First Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko and Minister of State
of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany Gernot Erler in
Germany.
According to the report, the officials agreed on the German ministry's
assistance in the conduct of joint measures at parliamentary, academic
and non-governmental institutions with the aim of delivering objective
information about the 1932-1933 Famine to the public.
Additionally, the officials discussed the process of building a
parliamentary majority and the new government in Ukraine, Ukraine's
entry to the European Union and NATO, bilateral relations.
Erler indicated hope for the soonest appointment of the Ukrainian
government and continuation of active cooperation in the areas
prioritized by both sides.
He further emphasized on Germany's readiness to deepen bilateral
dialogue in implementation of Ukraine's key foreign policy priorities.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, on November 1, the 34th session
of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution on
commentating the victims of the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry presented the draft of the resolution on
infirming member-states of UNESCO about the Holodomor of 1932-33
in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4.
President Viktor Yuschenko declared 2008 as the year of commemoration
of the Holodomor victims. The Ukrainian parliament declared the
Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainian people in 2006.
Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 24. Between 3 million and 7 million people died
during the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine, according to various estimates.
Moreover, some historians are saying there were famines in Ukraine in
1921-1923 and 1946-1947.
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LINK: http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/78297.html
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25. HOLODOMOR: WAS IT ETHNOCIDE?
OPINION & ANALYSIS: By Andrei Marchukov, PhD (History),
Staff Researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Russian History.
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, October 16, 2007
MOSCOW - The Soviet famine of 1932-33 was an act of genocide against
Ukrainians. Kiev has been forcing this point on the world, the United
Nations and Moscow for several years now, in a vast and aggressive
campaign.
The Famine (Holodomor, in Ukrainian) is an all-pervading ideological
concept, a tool of public indoctrination. It is not only a tribute to the
victims' memory but also a pressing political demonstration by present-day
Ukrainian leaders, spearheaded against Russia as much as against the
communist past.
The matter returned to the United Nations on October 15, when Ukraine
submitted to a UNESCO conference a resolution demanding the greatest
possible information about the Great Famine. In fact, this information is
not withheld, even though the world does not regard the Famine as a
deliberate genocidal act.
While fully recognizing the Ukrainian tragedy, there is no explicit proof
that the famine was provoked by the Kremlin and intended to exterminate the
Ukrainian nation.
The holodomor concept first arose amongst the Ukrainian Diaspora. Many
books and press publications appeared in the West in the 1940s-70s
describing the Famine as a Kremlin plot to kill off Ukrainians and undermine
the survivors' spirit. Public attention to the holodomor skyrocketed in the
1980s.
This was the time when President Ronald Reagan was referring to the U.S.S.R.
as the Evil Empire. Ukrainian emigres added fuel to the fire with their
reminiscences and analyses of the holodomor.
In 1984, the U.S. Congress established an ad hoc commission to investigate
the causes of the Great Famine in Ukraine in 1932-33. Its 1988 Report to
Congress described the famine as "man-made" and denied any causal
connection with drought.
"Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians
in 1932-1933," the report says. Perestroika, with its outspoken spirit,
brought the concept to Ukraine. Mourning the millions starved to death went
hand-in-hand with wrathful denunciations of genocide.
Today's propaganda aims to make the holodomor part of the Ukrainian
world-view. President Viktor Yushchenko called on politicians of his
generation to "preserve historical memory and spare no efforts to make the
world qualify the Famine of 1932-33 as genocidal".
Why is such sensation whipped up over bygones? On the one hand, Ukrainian
propaganda has found a satanic enemy, the epitome of Absolute Evil, and is
now out to develop a guilt complex in Russians to make them feel morally and
materially responsible for the tragedy.
On the other hand, it seeks to make Ukrainians feel like innocent victims,
and spread this assumption worldwide. Tellingly, Ukrainian leaders are ever
more frequently referring to the Famine as the "Ukrainian Holocaust" - thus
putting the U.S.S.R. on a par with Nazi Germany.
Cardinal Lubomir Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church,
concisely described the goal of the campaign: "Memory of the holodomor is
what our nation shall stand on." Words of equal aptitude belong to former
President Leonid Kuchma: "Ukrainian national consolidation has a long way
to travel yet. We have made Ukraine. Now is the time to make Ukrainians."
"Making Ukrainians" implies a new national ethic and mentality, with the
idea of Ukrainians and Russians as two nations apart. What several Ukrainian
generations firmly believed in has been turned on its head.
The young regard their country's recent past as a time of colonialism, when
Ukrainians were ruthlessly exterminated. It is hard to find a more graphic
example than the Famine.
Was it really genocide or ethnocide against Ukrainians? The U.S.S.R. owed
the terrible famine of 1932-33 to agricultural collectivization.
The rapid creation of a thoroughly new type of farming went together with
the cruel dispossession of well-to-do farmers, so-called "kulaks". Peasant
resistance inevitably followed.
Bloated grain procurement quotas envisaged total confiscations-seed, food
and fodder grain. The 1932 quota for Ukraine was 400 million poods, or 6.4
million metric tons, but even the severest possible confiscations brought
only 261 million poods, so extra procurements were launched, with searches,
ruinous fines-and firing squads. Peasants were dying of starvation as early
as October 1932, and the famine went on up to the next year's end.
Those two years saw 2.9-3.5 million deaths from starvation in Ukraine alone,
according to various estimates. Yet it was not ethnocide proper.
Registry office statistics for 1933 show death rates in urban localities no
higher than average, in contrast to an exorbitant death toll in the
countryside not only in Ukraine but all over the Soviet Union. People were
doomed not on the grounds of ethnicity, but merely because they lived in
rural areas.
Grain shortages were exacerbated by a rapid increase of the urban
population. It swelled by 12.4 million nationwide in the four years 1929-32,
and by 4.1 million in Ukraine within 1931, mainly because persecuted
peasants fled their villages.
Nothing could have been easier for the regime than to starve townspeople,
who depended on food supplies from elsewhere for their survival. Yet, it
was not done. The regime made do with harsh food rationing.
Peasantry as a social class was the victim of the cruel policy. This point
clearly follows from the geography of the Great Famine.
It spread throughout the Soviet breadbasket areas-Ukraine, the middle and
lower reaches of the Volga, the North Caucasus, the central part of the
Black Earth Zone, the Urals, part of Siberia, and Kazakhstan - with a total
population of 50 million. The Famine killed 6-7 million people nationwide.
All Soviet peoples were victims.
Arguments cited to prove that the famine was a deliberate act of genocide do
not hold water. Still, many Ukrainians do not want to turn the tragic page
of history. This is understandable. If they did, public attention would turn
to their own, present-day, policy and its dire fruit.
The Ukrainian population shrank by 4.3 million in 1991-2003-3.6 million
died, and over 1.2 million emigrated, while only 500,000 former emigres
returned.
If we extrapolate the figures to the end of 2006, the population decline
exceeds 5.4 million-this without wars, famine, or the Kremlin's imperialism.
Don't these statistics give food for uneasy thought?
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NOTE: Andrei Marchukov, PhD (History), is staff researcher of the Russian
Academy of Sciences' Institute of Russian History. The opinions expressed
in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of
RIA Novosti.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071016/84171679.html
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26. DISTINCTIONS AMONG GENOCIDES
COMMENTARY: By David A. Mittell, Jr.
Providence Journal, Providence, RI, Thu, November 1, 2007
THE EFFORT by some in the U.S. House to answer the historical dispute
about whether the death of at least a million Christian Armenians in
the predominantly Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1915 “rates” as a
genocide is an unfortunate chapter in a deeply unfortunate contemporary
phenomenon: treating mass murders like competitions, and ranking them
as if they were U.S. News & World Report’s annual rating of colleges.
In Greek, holocaust means “burnt whole.” The Holocaust — capitalized —
denotes Hitler’s attempt to exterminate European Jewry during World War
II. Genocide, from Greek (genos, “race”) and Latin (cidium, “murder”),
means the attempt to kill an entire race or people. The point can be made
(I will deal with it below) that a million acts of murder do not constitute
a genocide if they are not directed against a race, ethnic group, religious
population or social class.
In sheer numbers of those killed, the greatest mass murder of the 20th
Century was Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, from 1956 to 1959,
when an estimated 30 million rural Chinese died in agricultural
collectivization and from the removal of the able-bodied from villages.
Yet today, most Westerners are willing to philosophically accept Robert
Frost’s observation that “the longest peace in China ends in strife.”
The worst most historians will say of Mao is that he was a butcher, and
some still accept him as one of the great men of his age. Benignity on
the part of intellectuals may reflect their racism: In part, they
excuse Mao because the Great Leap Forward was just Chinese killing
Chinese.
Mass murders that directly compete with the Jewish Holocaust for
remembrance are the Armenian catastrophe of 1915 and the Ukrainian
Holodomor of 1932-33. (Ukrainian, holod: “hunger” and mor: “plague.”).
The best account of 1915 probably remains "The Murder of a Nation,"
written on the spot by the American ambassador to Turkey, Henry
Morgenthau Sr. (father of Franklin Roosevelt’s Treasury secretary).
In World War I, the “Central Powers” - of Austria, Germany and Turkey -
were opposed by the “Triple Entente” of Britain, France and Russia. By
1915, Turkish Armenians were suspected of being pro-Russian, and
were accused of committing atrocities in Turkish villages whose young
men had been drafted.
The decision was taken to disarm Armenians and remove them to “safe”
areas. Some Armenians were actually given train tickets. But, as
Morgenthau writes, Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army were disarmed
and put into “labor battalions,” where many perished from cold and
hunger. The civilian population was put on a death march to the Syrian
Desert.
The atrocities en route were committed by fanatic Muslim Kurds
and Turks, but were planned by “Young Turk” atheists, who would
organize the post-Ottoman government. The present-day Turkish wish to
ascribe all things to the Ottoman regime is based on false assertions.
Before the war, the Ottoman government had visited similar privations
on Greeks, of whom more than 100,000 were removed from their ancestral
homes on the Mediterranean coast. Morgenthau wrote: “It was probably
for the reason that the civilized world did not protest . . . that the
Turks decided to apply the same methods on a larger scale . . . to the
Armenians, Syrians, Nestorians, and others.” Hitler would use the
civilized world’s lack of protest about the destruction of the
Armenians to ridicule the idea that anyone would care what he did to
the Jews.
The most compelling survivor’s account of the Ukrainian Holodomor is
Miron Dolot’s 1985 "Execution by Hunger." Under Lenin, the USSR had
attacked kulaks - unacceptably rich peasants - by confiscating all
grain, then partly redistributing it.
The policy had the effect of making the rural population compliant in
surrendering its food and complicit in reporting hoarders. Stalin revived
the policy, and when Ukrainians resisted agricultural collectivization, he
withheld the government’s meager return-of-rations - leading to an
estimated 7 million deaths from starvation.
Stalin later purged the Ukrainian Communist Party and destroyed most
of the republic’s cultural elite. But he did have a purpose beyond killing
Ukrainians: subservience. Kazakhstan, southern Russia and the Volga
German Republic experienced many of the same horrors.
Today, the legitimacy of the Armenian and Ukrainian agonies as
genocides is opposed by defenders of the uniqueness of the Jewish
Holocaust on both principled and unprincipled grounds. The principled
ground is (it is argued) that however evil the purposes and methods of
the Turks and Soviets, they did not set out to kill Armenians and
Ukrainians only because of their birth.
Hitler, by contrast, contrived for Germans to despise and ultimately murder
Jews simply because of who they were, and without any political purpose
other than using innocents to unify Germany in a frenzy of hatred. I agree
with that distinction.
The illegitimate grounds are: As to Armenians, 1) denial of the facts
and, 2) (worse) an unwillingness by some Jewish organizations to offend
modern Turkey, which has a pro-Israeli foreign policy.
As to Ukrainians, the Holodomor was always categorically denied by the
Soviets and by Western apologists, such as Walter Duranty, of The New
York Times, who received an unrescinded Pulitzer Prize for his lies.
The Soviets also perpetrated the myth that Ukrainians - not they - were
anti-Semites and had been Nazi collaborators.
There were, of course, collaborators in Ukraine, as in every occupied
country. Prof. Omer Bartov, of Brown University, has researched this in
"Erased, Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-day Ukraine." It
is not a pretty picture. But it is beside the point of 7 million dead.
Ordinarily I think words are important. But the descendants of the dead
should not be quarreling about semantics. Let us say that Armenians,
Chinese, Jews and Ukrainians were all victims of genocides. Then let us
admit that among genocides there are distinctions.
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NOTE: David A. Mittell is a member of the editorial board of
The Providence Journal.
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http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/CL_mitt1_11-01-07_ON7LGPC_v30.3595d3f.html
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
резолюція ЮНЕСКО
http://www.interfax-news.com/3/331005/news.aspxUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) honors Golodomor victims in Ukraine.
KYIV. Nov 1 (Interfax) - The 34th session of UNESCO's General
Conference has unanimously passed a resolution commemorating the
millions of Ukrainians who died of starvation during the 1932-1933
famine (Golodomor) in Ukraine.
The Golodomor tragedy that took away an estimated 7-10 million
lives (almost half of the then population of Ukraine) was "caused by the
deplorable actions and policy of the totalitarian Stalinist regime and
should be a warning to present and future generations to abide by
democratic values, human rights and the rule of law," the resolution
says.
The resolution honors Golodomor victims and expresses sorrow for
the famine that hit Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and other parts of the
former Soviet Union in the early 1930s, the Russian Foreign Ministry
says on its website.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been seeking
international recognition of the Golodomor as genocide against
Ukrainians ever since he took office in 2005.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
відео
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JAiUcqy3lMВласне 1932-33 з ІІІ частини.
2007.11.15 | Хома Брут
хода в Нью-Йорку, 17 листопада.
http://ukrainian.multiply.com/calendar/item/10804/75th_Anniversary_of_the_Holodomor-_Join_the_MarchStart: Nov 17, '07 11:00a
Location: St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
TO HONOR the INNOCENT VICTIMS Of the UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE of 1932-1933
One of the darkest pages in Ukraine’s history is the Genocide of 1932-1933, during which 10 million innocent victims were starved to death through a deliberate Soviet policy to crush the nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry. The Ukrainian Genocide ranks among the worst cases of man’s inhumanity towards man, and is perhaps the most extreme example of the use of food as a weapon.
Starting Point:
St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
March begins Promptly at 11:45AM
Final Destination:
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Solemn Requiem Service at 2PM
THIS IS A NATIONAL EVENT TO commence the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor!
TAKING PART IN THE MARCH?
HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW …
When to Assemble
Saturday, November 17th at 11am (no later than 11:30am)
Where to Assemble
On 7th Street in front of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church (between Second and Third Avenues) in New York City. The street will be closed to traffic.
If you're being dropped off, do so on the adjacent avenues. Buses should have this sign posted in the window: UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE MARCH. After drop-off, buses may park near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 50th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
If you're using public transportation (recommended), take the #6 train to Astor Place or the R or W to 8th Street/Broadway. Bus routes: M15 (closest), M101, M102, M103, M1, M2, M3, M8.
When to Be There
No later than 11:30 a.m., as the March begins promptly at 11:45 a.m.
What to Wear
Traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts and blouses may be worn with clothing that is appropriate for this somber occasion. Members of Ukrainian youth organizations (Plast and CYM) are asked to wear Ukrainian embroidered shirts and blouses as well.
What to Expect
The March will proceed north along Third Avenue to 51st Street, then turn west to Fifth Avenue, the location of St. Patrick's Cathedral. A solemn Requiem Service will take place in the Cathedral from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
What If I Can't Walk That Far?
You can still take part in the March! Assemble at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza (885 Second Avenue at 47th Street) by 1:00 p.m., and you'll be able to join in from that point onward.
PLEASE NOTE …
The NYPD has banned the use of wood or metal in signage and flags. Placards will therefore be provided, although you are welcome to bring small flags with plastic or similar supports.
JOIN THE NOV. 17 MARCH IN NEW YORK CITY – SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE 10 MILLION INNOCENT VICTIMS OF THE HOLODOMOR
2007.11.19 | Хома Брут
проблеми з висвітленням в пресі
http://ukrainian.multiply.com/journal/item/889/On_getting_coverage_for_the_March_of_Remembranceif you have any photos/videos of Saturday's Nat'l March of Remembrance, I found a few sites where people can submit photos and videos.
Entirely frustrating that our story does not seem to be important enough, to get coverage. but I was SO PROUD of us on Saturday. If we were able to reach just one person who didn't know about the Holodomor, then I feel like we have succeeded. and I know we reached so many on Saturday during the march.
I happened to find ONE thing - in the New York Times in their upcoming events section from last Friday. and GEEZ.
"UKRAINIAN DAY PARADE, Saturday at noon, on Third Avenue, from Seventh Street to 51st Street, Manhattan."
Ukrainian Day Parade?
so... LET US BE HEARD and OUR STORY SHARED!
email your photos to the ny times: nytnews@nytimes.com, executive-editor@nytimes.com,
managing-editor@nytimes.com, metro@nytimes.com, news-tips@nytimes.com
Post photos/videos on yahoo news: http://news.yahoo.com/you-witness-news
ABC's 'i-caught' http://ugv.abcnews.go.com/
and if you happen to find any coverage, please post. diakuyu!
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
фотографії з ходи
http://www.brama.com/news/press/slideshow/2007/071117_Holodomor/2007.11.19 | Хома Брут
Напад ЄСМ на виставку в м. Москва. 17 листопада.
Оголошено про напад на виставку присвячену Голоду 32-33. Члени ЄСМ (Євразійського Союза Молодьожі) вдерлися на виставку в українському культурному центрі м. Москва, де пошкодили стенди. Інформації небагато, хто знає щось - напишіть.http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=eqyysr0aDIs&eurl=http%3A//us.f335.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter%3FMsgId%3D4343_13449968_1049628_2541_12141_0_125776_42043_2520059223%26Idx%3D0%26Y&iurl=http%3A//img.youtube.com/vi/eqyysr0aDIs/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskID6UzUbuYz5Kr0cxRuUYBf&&rel=1&border=0
http://rossia3.ru.d2.gfns.net/politics/golod?PHPSESSID=b007db8f18b8fb879864dade954da79f
Сайт українського культурного центру станом на 17 листопада не працює.
http://www.ukrcentr.com
404 File (site) not found
This page was generated by 1Gb.ru hosting server s15.in-solve.ru (IIS).
If you have any questions, please contact support@1gb.ru
2007.11.19 | Хома Брут
в Польщі знімається відео
http://ukrainian.multiply.com/video/item/34/Song_for_75th_Commemoration_of_the_Holodomor_in_Ukraine_1932-1933_-_Svicha_Музична "Свіча" в пам'ять Голодомору
Поляки та українці запалили музичну "Свічу" в пам'ять Голодомору
В польському місті Кракові розпочалися зйомки відеокліпу на пісню "Свіча", присвячену трагедії Українського народу - Голодомору 1932-33 рр.
Слова пісні "Свіча" написав Богдан Стельмах на відому "Мелодію" Мирослава Скорика, виконує пісню Народна артистка України Оксана Білозір.
Як зазначила у своєму коментарі народний депутат України IV-V скликань Оксана Білозір, спільна робота над відеокліпом дала полякам можливість глибше осягнути цю трагічну сторінку історії нашого народу. Польська сторона проявила дуже великий інтерес до цього проекту. Можна сказати, що члени знімальної групи переживали цю біду разом з українцями.
Оксана Білозір також відзначила, що "Польша - це країна, яка ментально близька Україні (навіть мови наші схожі: поляки кажуть "my rozumiemy", а українці "ми розуміємо"), яка також пережила трагічні сторінки під час Радянської доби. І поляки вже починають сприймати українську націю як постгеноцидну націю, а це для України дуже важливо, оскільки нація, яка пережила геноцид, розвивається по¬-іншому, ніж інші нації".
І складні процеси, які відбуваються в Україні частково є наслідком того, що українці - постгеноцидна нація. Геноцид - це нищення генетичного кореня, роз'єднання нації. І необхідно розуміти, що саме після таких тяжких для народу наслідків ми сьогодні будуємо демократію.
Але важливо, що Україна на цьому шляху вже не одна, півтора десятка країн світу визнали Голодомор геноцидом Українського народу, і сьогодні багато хто хоче долучитися до того, щоб відкрити ці сторінки історії України, підтримати Україну.
Як зазначила екс-депутат, метою зйомки відеокліпу є донесення до людей правди про Голодомор. Адже пісня проникає у душу людини, люди звертаються до неї у часи і радості, і смутку.
"Хоча перша частина кліпу є дуже сумною, але пісня закінчується на оптимістичній ноті: Україна, незважаючи на страшний укіс Голодомору, продовжує жити. Головне для нас сьогодні - пронести цю Свічу пам'яті, щоб ми, Український народ, щоб інші народи світу, більше ніколи не зазнали такої страшної біди", - зазначила Оксана Білозір.
Зйомки відеокліпу відбудуться також і в Україні, в частині сцен будуть використані архівні фотографії.
Довідка: Зйомки відбувалися у Кракові, в найбільшій у Польщі телестудії. У складі групи працювали оператор, що має досвід роботи з американською мега-продукцією, провідний польський монтажер та група пост-опрацювання 3D: Войцех Капела (керівник групи), Марек Клімашевський та Пьотр Треля.
Продюсують кліп - Юліан Кутшеба та "Ультрамедіо",
режисура та сценарій - Юліан Кутшеба та Войцех Капеля.
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
21 листопада, Київ. Ющенко відкриє виставку присвячену Голоду
постiйна адреса статтi:http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-222621.html
Ющенко візьме участь у відкритті виставки про Голодомор
21 листопада о 13.00 Президент України Віктор ЮЩЕНКО в «Українському домі» візьме участь у церемонії відкриття документально-художньої виставки «Україна пам`ятає! Голодомор 1932-1933 рр. – геноцид українського народу».
Як повідомляє прес-служба глави держави, акредитація представників ЗМІ за телефонами: 255-74-02, 255-78-44, 255-63-18.
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
Звернення голови Меджлісу
ОбращениеПредседателя Меджлиса крымскотатарского народа
«Об уважении памяти миллионов жертв Голодомора 1932-1933 годов»
Уважаемые соотечественники!
В эти дни в Украине чтится память о миллионах жертвах Голодомора 1932-1933 года.
75 лет назад, по распоряжению высших руководителей СССР, во всех селах Украины силами специально созданных «продовольственных отрядов» стали насильственно изымать хлеб и имущество крестьян. Тех, кто сопротивлялся, вместе с семьями подвергли выселению в Сибирь. За разными данными, в годы коллективизации из Украины насильственно вывезли более 350 000 крестьян, в 1932-1933 годах от голода погибло до 10 миллионов людей, среди которых большинство составляли дети.
Наше поколение помнит многочисленные рассказы своих отцов и дедов о том, как в Крыму стали появляться неимоверно обессиленные и изможденные от голода жители украинских сел и городов, чудом прорвавшиеся через оцепления и кордоны НКВД. Многие из них нашли спасение в семьях крымских татар.
Правда о Голодоморе украинского народа, как и все преступления, совершенные коммунистическим режимом СССР против других народов, тщательно замалчивались во все годы существования СССР. В ряду таких преступлений и голод 1921-1923 годов в Крыму, унесший более 70 тысяч жизней крымских татар, и насильственная депортация крымскотатарского народа 18 мая 1944 года.
Меджлис крымскотатарского народа, последовательно претворяя решение Курултая крымскотатарского народа « О признании актом геноцида депортацию крымскотатарского народа 18 мая 1944 года, десятилетий насильственного удержания крымских татар в местах изгнания и связанных с этими преступлениями последствий» и исходя из того, что Голодомор 1932-1933 годов также должен быть признан международным сообществом как акт геноцида, совершенный советским режимом против украинского народа, призывает всех соотечественников и жителей Крыма других национальностей к солидарности и выражению чувства уважения памяти миллионов жертв Голодомора.
Председатель Меджлиса
крымскотатарского народа
Мустафа Джемилев
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
22 листопада, Київ. Мітинг: скасувати премію Дюранті
Відбудеться мітинг-протест “Ніяких призів для Дюренті”22 листопада о 12:00 на Європейській площі (перед Українським домом) відбудеться мітинг-протест “Ніяких призів для Дюренті”.
Мета заходу – позбавити кореспондента газети “Нью Йорк Таймс” Уолтера Дюренті престижної Пулітцерівської премії , яку він отримав у Москві 1932р.
Мітинг-протест закликатиме відповідні установи позбавити Дюренті Пулітцерівської премії .
Під час мітингу будуть прийняті звернення до Колумбійського університету, який відповідає за призначення Пулітцерівської премії , відкликати премію, надану Дюренті, а також до власників газети Нью-Йорк Таймс.
Координатор акції: Іван Лозовий, випускник Колумбійського університету 1983 р.
За додатковою інформацією звертатися за телефоном: (8-066) 544-1548.
постiйна адреса статтi:
http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-222535.html
2007.11.21 | Хома Брут
перевидання книжки Конквеста "Жнива скорботи"
Газета "День", 13 листопада 2007 р.презентація книги, виступи К.Ющенко, Є.Сверстюка, В.Тейлора
http://www.day.kiev.ua/191186/
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
хода в Лондоні 24 листопада 2007
Фоторепортаж BBC:http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian/inpictures/story/2007/11/071124_holodomor_london_oh.shtml
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
Відзначення в Бельгії (Брюссель). Фото.
Відзначення в Бельгії (Брюссель). Фото.http://www.unian.net/ukr/news/news-223549.html
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
заяви в Європарламенті, 22 листопада
http://www.abhaber.com/news_page.asp?id=3688Hans-Gert Pottering,
President of the European Parliament:
Remembering the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine 75 years ago
To mark the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor famine in Ukraine, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, made the following statement:
"Today we know that the famine which has come to be known as the 'Holodomor' was in reality an appalling crime against humanity.
This famine, which killed between 4 and 6 million people in Ukraine in the winter of 1932-1933, was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin's regime in order to force through the Soviet Union's policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine.
It was only in 1991, when Ukraine regained its independence, that it became possible for people there to discover the background to this tragic period of their history.
All of us should be prompted by this day of remembrance to engrave the 'Holodomor' in our memories."
* * *
The fourth Saturday in November has been chosen as the day on which the victims of the Holodomor are commemorated.
Leaders of European Parliament expressed solidarity with Ukrainian people on occasion of 75th anniversary of Holodomor of 1932 - 1933
Speaking during a ceremony in Brussels to commemorate the Holodomor victims, Vice President of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec said that people must know their history in order to live on into future.
The Holodomor, in which millions of people died and which was attributed to natural circumstances for many years, was in fact masterminded by the Soviet Communist deathly regime, Mr Siwiec said. On behalf of the European Parliament he urged the nations across the globe to recognize the Holodomor as genocide. President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering also made a statement on the occasion of the 1932 - 1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
збірка Action Ukraine Report №890 (початок)
From: "UKRAINE REPORT (AUR)"Subject: AUR#890 Nov 23
Tragic Pages of History; Light A Candle; Harvest of Sorrow; Executed By Famine; Letters from Kharkiv; Politics of Genocide;
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 04:00:19 +0200
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR
An International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World
Ukraine Remembers -The World Acknowledges
75th Commemoration Of The Holodomor 1932-1933
"Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide"
Light A Candle of Memory, Saturday, November 24, 2007
"With due respect, I call on all Ukrainians and all people of goodwill
regardless of their backgrounds to light on November 24 the candles of
memory of the Holodomor victims on all our planet.
Bring the flames of truth to every nation and every country. All your
candles will help form a single candle which we will light in November
2008.
This candle will become an eternal and ever burning symbol of our grief
for the millions of starved brother and sisters, of our unity and our faith
in the unconquerable strength of the Ukrainian people.
Our duty is to unite the efforts and make everything possible to ensure
that these tragic pages of history will be never forgotten.
Ukraine to Remember! The World to Recognize!"
Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine [Article Two]
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 890
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
KYIV, UKRAINE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2007
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
1. COMMEMORATION EVENTS FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 TO BE HELD IN KYIV, UKRAINE, ON THE
OFFICIAL DAY OF MEMORY, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 1
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
2. ADDRESS TO ALL UKRAINIANS ON 75TH COMMEMORATION
OF THE 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
Presidential Administration, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 2007
3. UKRAINE: WE REMEMBER
Editorial: Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
4. CANADA: UKRAINE FAMINE REMEMBERED
By Julie Horbal, Sun Media
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, November 22, 2007
5. PRES YUSHCHENKO BELIEVES POWER STRUCTURE PAYING
INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
6. PRESIDENT INSISTS ON CREATING NATIONAL MUSEUM OF
MEMORY OF 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR VICTIMS ASAP
UKRINFORM, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 21, 2007
7. LEADERS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EXPRESS SOLIDARITY
WITH UKRAINIANS ON OCCASION OF 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
8. ROBERT CONQUEST'S BOOK "THE HARVEST OF SORROW"
REPUBLISHED IN THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE
U.S. Ambassador Taylor says U.S. Congress has still not approved
a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian people.
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
9. DECLARATION: “UKRAINE TO REMEMBER - THE WORLD
TO RECOGNIZE!"
Upcoming International Events to Commemorate 75th Anniversary
of 1932-1933 Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation
World Ukrainian Congress (WUC) and the
International Holodomor Committee (IHC) (in Ukrainian)
Toronto, New York, Melbourne, Saturday, November 17, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #890, Article 9 (in English)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
10. "EXECUTED BY FAMINE: THE UNKNOWN GENOCIDE OF
THE UKRAINIANS" EXHIBITION UNVEILED AT THE GENEVA,
SWITZERLAND MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
International Charitable Fund 3000, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 9, 2007
11. LETTERS FROM KHARKIV
The truth about the Holodomor through the eyes of Italian diplomats
By Yurii Shapoval, Professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
12. AN APPEAL TO THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
By Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, "Maidan" Alliance
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
13. THE POLITICS OF GENOCIDE
Will Moscow ever recognize the Stalin-led forced famine
in Ukraine 75 years ago as an act of genocide?
Analysis & Commentary: By Lisa Shymko
The American Spectator, Arlington, Virginia, Wed, Nov 14, 2007
14. UKRAINIAN MASS FAMINE OF 1932-1933: RUSSIA IGNORES
TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce
itself from the 1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, republished by RIA Novosti
Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
15. TOO MUCH EMOTION OVER HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE,
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
16. DECLARING FAMINE A GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIANS INSULTS
NON-UKRAINIAN VICTIMS SAYS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
17. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SHOULD READ MORE BOOKS
ABOUT HISTORY SAYS UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY
UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
18. FORMER MIN OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BORYS TARASIUK
CRITICIZED RUSSIAN AUTHORIES FOR OBSTRUCTION OF
HONORING MEMORY OF 1932-1933 FAMINE VICTIMS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
19. PRES YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S POLICY ON DECLARATION
ON 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
NOT DIRECTED AGAINST OTHER NATIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, November 20, 2007
20. THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE IN
LIGHT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF 1948
By Roman Serbyn, Professor of History, University of Quebec
The Ukrainian Quarterly, Volume LXII, Number 2, Taras Hunczak, Editor
A Journal of Ukrainian & International Affairs - Since 1944
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, Summer 2006
Journal article re-published with permission by the
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 20
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
========================================================
1. COMMEMORATION EVENTS FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 TO BE HELD IN KYIV, UKRAINE, ON THE
OFFICIAL DAY OF MEMORY, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #890, Article 1
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
KYIV - The following commemoration events for the 75th anniversary
of the Holodomor 1932-1933 [induced starvation, death for millions,
genocide] will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 24,
2007 led by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and the
First Lady Mrs. Kateryna Yushchenko.
9.00 - 9.35 a.m. Service at Saint Sophia Cathedral (Volodymyrska St.,
Saint Sophia Cathedral).
10.00 -10.30 a.m. Guelder-rose trees planting (Dniprovskyi uzviz).
15.15 - 16.10 p.m. Memorial events on Sofiyvska Square and
Mykhaylivska Square:
Thousands will march in a mournful procession to The Monument
"To Victims of Holodomor 1932-1933 " from Sofiyvska Square to
Mykhaylivska Square
Lighting of thousands of candles near The Monument "To Victims
of Holodomor 1932-1933" in Mykhaylivska Square
Address of The President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
National and International Moment of Silence
All Ukrainian and International Act: "Light A Candle"
18.00 - 19.05 p.m. Requiem-Concert "Black Tillage Is Ploughed Up"
(Shevchenko National Opera Theater)
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2. ADDRESS TO ALL UKRAINIANS ON 75TH COMMEMORATION
OF THE 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
Presidential Administration, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 2007
Dear Ukrainians!
Brothers and sisters!
These days Ukraine begins to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the
1932-1933 Holodomor.
The Holodomor is one of the most horrendous humanitarian catastrophes in
human history. Millions of Ukrainians were destroyed as a result of a
well-planned and deliberate policy of the totalitarian communist regime.
The appalling death rate of the Holodomor even exceeded the casualties the
Ukrainians suffered in WWII. We are still exposed to the consequences of
this merciless terror targeted to destroy the Ukrainian nation.
The crimes of the totalitarian regime demand condemnation by the world.
Ukrainian diplomats and diaspora Ukrainians have taken great efforts to
convince the world community and international institutions to recognize the
Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people. Such work must be
continued steadfastly and unwaveringly in order to bring the truth about the
past tragedy to the world.
In all lands where Ukrainians live the memory of Holodomor must be properly
preserved and its innocent victims commemorated. I call on you to actively
cooperate in the creation of information centers, educational programs and
exhibitions about the tragic events of 1932-1933.
My special call goes to young Ukrainians worldwide. I ask you to actively
respond to my appeal and back the efforts, sincerely and ardently, to open
the truth about the Holodomor to the world community.
With due respect, I call on all Ukrainians and all people of goodwill
regardless of their backgrounds to light on November 24 the candles of
memory of the Holodomor victims on all our planet.
Bring the flames of truth to every nation and every country. All your
candles will help form a single candle which we will light in November 2008.
This candle will become an eternal and ever burning symbol of our grief for
the millions of starved brother and sisters, of our unity and our faith in
the unconquerable strength of the Ukrainian people.
Our duty is to unite the efforts and make everything possible to ensure that
these tragic pages of history will be never forgotten.
Ukraine to Remember! The World to Recognize!
Viktor Yushchenko
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3. UKRAINE: WE REMEMBER
EDITORIAL: Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
At 4 p.m. this Saturday, Ukrainians will honor the memories of millions of
victims of three Soviet-engineered terror-famines, the most devastating of
which began 75 years ago with the Great Famine of 1932-33.
The government is urging Ukrainians to light a candle in honor of the
victims of Soviet repressions and place it on their windowsills as a sign of
solidarity. Memorial services will be held nationwide and around the world.
Ukraine's political and religious elites have largely recognized the
Holodomor as genocide. Even the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -
Moscow Patriarchate, Volodymyr Sabodan, did not mince words when he
wrote in an encyclical last year that "this genocide was an attempt to
destroy the very soul of the people, to spiritually enslave the people."
He used words like "hell, diabolic, anti-Christ" to describe Soviet rule.
Thus, all four major Ukrainian Christian prelates agree that the Holodomor
was genocide - a rare instance of ecumenical consensus among church leaders.
All three of Ukraine's presidents since independence agree that the
Holodomor was genocide. President Leonid Kravchuk drove the final nail into
the coffin of the Kremlin-sponsored "bad weather and harvest" disinformation
campaign regarding the Holodomor in his autobiography. Kravchuk, who as a
Communist ideologue was responsible for denying the Holodomor in the 1980s,
proved that rainfall levels were normal in 1932-33.
President Leonid Kuchma was the first to ask the world to recognize the
Holodomor as genocide in 2003. The declassification of State Security
Service archives began in the last years of Kuchma's rule, a process that is
continuing by leaps and bounds under President Viktor Yushchenko today.
Since 2003, Ukraine's parliament has twice voted on condemning the
Holodomor as genocide. Both times the votes passed with slim majorities
with the support of the Socialist Party, which was hesitant, but whose ties
to the countryside made it impossible to deny the truth.
The Communists aside, the only hold-out on the genocide issue is the Party
of Regions, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. If Ukraine's efforts to
secure international recognition are to be successful, then this political
force must add its voice to the condemnation. We hope to see this party's
leaders standing with the president and other national leaders on St.
Michael's Square Saturday to honor the victims.
As for Moscow's recognition of the genocide, while Ukraine has made
significant progress in dealing with its Soviet past, Russian leaders are
still in a state of denial, or defensive paranoia. No one is blaming
Russia's current leadership or the Russian people for the Holodomor.
Rather, it is the Kremlin's former rapacious leaders who are to blame. Yet,
the Kremlin's current leadership has stubbornly opposed recognizing the
genocide, labeling it as fear-mongering with Kyiv roots.
Last week's attack on a Holodomor exhibit in Moscow and the Russian
Foreign Ministry's subsequent accusations that political forces are
"speculating" on the famine, are signs that the Kremlin still prefers to
look at its record through rose-colored glasses. In fact, the Kremlin's
record is blood-colored, and the sooner Russian society recognizes that
fact, the better.
The Kremlin's claim that Ukraine is somehow trying to monopolize the Soviet
terror-famine is essentially recognizing that Ukraine has done a far better
job in shedding light on the darkest episodes of Soviet rule.
Instead of criticizing Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin should open
up Russian Federation archives on the terror years.
There is no denying that the Soviets forced famines in other regions of
Eurasia in the 1930s, including areas of modern-day Russia and Kazakhstan.
But the campaign within the closed borders of Ukraine was ruthless in its
efficiency and organization and targeted the rural population that was
primarily Ukrainian.
The histories of all Soviet forced famines need to be addressed the same
way the Holodomor has been handled in Ukraine. From Russia, Kuban to
Kazakhstan, the bitter truth deserves to be known.
Ultimately, promoting awareness of the crimes of Communism is in the
national interests of Ukraine and Russia. Given Russia's current denial,
Yushchenko has rightfully appealed to other countries to recognize the
famine as genocide, one that Kremlin spin doctors and powerbrokers can't
deny.
We call upon the world's leaders to recognize the genocidal nature of the
famine and, in doing so, help break the information blockade isolating the
Russian people.
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LINK: http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/editorial/27842/
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4. CANADA: UKRAINE FAMINE REMEMBERED
By Julie Horbal, Sun Media
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, November 22, 2007
Anna Shewel was four years old when her family was pushed out of its home
in Ukraine onto impoverished streets and into social exile as a result of
government-forced famine.
When the Holodomor famine ended, having killed an estimated eight million
people, she was seven. But the atrocity of Stalin's politically driven
starvation plan will live forever in her mind.
"I still remember how it was punishment for the people," Shewel, now 81,
said yesterday. "We were looking for whatever was possible to eat. Whatever
we could swallow."
Today through Sunday, Shewel's memories will be showcased as part of the
75th anniversary of the 1932-33 Holodomor tragedy.
DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SURVIVORS
Winnipeg's events include information sessions and church services at
various locations across the city, and also the premiere of Vichny Iy
Pamyat -- a Canad Inns-produced documentary about the 40-or-so survivors
living in the city.
Organizer Eugene Hyworon of St. Mary the Protectress Church said the
survivor experiences epitomize why people should care about the often
forgotten genocide. "The agony and the sorrow, when you watch that, it
really brings tears to your eyes," he said.
RAISE AWARENESS
Shewel said she hopes telling her heart-wrenching story to filmmakers will
help raise awareness.
"We don't want this to happen to no other people, to no other nations, to no
other countries," she said. "There's not anybody who should go through what
we went through."
Growing up, Shewel and her family ate whatever they could scrape together,
including pancakes made from tree bark, leaves and handfuls of borrowed
flour. The "most delicious thing," she said, was Scotch pine.
"The needles were very soft and the shoots were very sweet," she said. "It's
hard to believe that was our dessert."
Shewel said one of her most horrific memories is when her grandmother
severely burned her chest trying to hide a loaf of bread for the children to
eat.
Her sister Nadia Dowhayko, 79, said she'll never forget having to beg for
food. "I asked my grandma all the time about something to eat," said Dowhayko,
who was too young at the time to recall much else. "She told me we don't
have nothing. Then I asked my mom, she said 'We don't have nothing.'"
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LINK: http://winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2007/11/22/4675964-sun.html
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U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC): http://www.usubc.com
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5. YUSHCHENKO BELIEVES POWER STRUCTURE PAYING
INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko considers that the power does not pay
enough attention to Great Famine of 1932-1933.
He disclosed this in a statement opening documental-art exhibition entitled
"Ukraine Remembers 1932-1933 Famine, Genocide of Ukrainian People"
in Kyiv.
"1932-1933 events are forgotten in Ukraine... The nation has not yet got
enough skills to be adequate to 1932-1933 tragedy. That is the reproach for
the power and the reproach for itself," Yuschenko said. He marked that the
Holocaust of 1932-1933 is the problem of nowadays.
The Great Famine is not the problem of 1932-1933, that is the problem of
nowadays. It touches upon our morality, spirituality and patriotism,"
Yuschenko said. Besides, the President said that the Holocaust is the
tragedy of the humankind and the crime against humanity.
"The Holocaust is for sure the tragedy of my nation. That is the tragedy of
the mankind and crime against humanity," Yuschenko said. Yuschenko said
Ukraine had yet to build a monument appropriate for the scale of the tragedy
of the Holodomor famine.
"Why is this country not having a worthy monument to the victims of the
Holodomor? Why is there no worthy film? Why are we not having a national
museum? Why are we having the Institute of National Memory, which is
financed by 50%? Is it a question of money? No! This is somebody's policy
to get us to live without memory," Yuschenko said.
The President called on every Ukrainian citizen to study the history of
Ukraine.
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6. PRESIDENT INSISTS ON CREATING NATIONAL MUSEUM
OF MEMORY OF 1932-1933 HOLODOMOR VICTIMS ASAP
UKRINFORM, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 21, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko, who took part in "Ukraine remembers!
Holodomor 1932-1933 - Genocide of the Ukrainian nation" exhibition opening,
urged on Ukrainians to visit such expositions which opened around Ukraine
and honor the memory of Holodomor and repression victims.
President is reassured that today's Ukraine, its authorities and people are
obliged to make everything possible to bring up to light tragedy's scale.
However V. Yushchenko is distressed by a fact that researchers speak often
of the victims' numbers rather than of the importance of the tragedy itself.
"For me it is a tragedy regardless of the deceased numbers whether it is one
million, hundred thousands or ten million", he added.
V. Yushchenko thinks it is very important that present generation gives
deserving honor to those who died during the Great Famine. "Why don't we
have a worthy monument dedicated to victims of Holodomor or worthy film
in this country? Why there's no national museum?", he said.
V. Yushchenko thanked the exhibition's [four main] organizers - the Ukrainian
Institute of National Heritage [Memory], Security Service of Ukraine,
International Charitable Foundation "Ukraine 3000", [the Holodomor: Through
the Eyes of Ukrainian Artists Collection] and other governmental and public
organizations as well as researchers of Holodomor and activists, who were
helping to arrange the exhibition.
According to Director of the Institute of National Memory Ihor Yukhnovsky,
the main task of the exhibition is to show the consecution of deliberate
action by the Bolshevist regime, which had been stepping up since 1928 and
resulted in the tragedy of Holodomor of 1932-1933.
The exhibition consists of several expositions presenting documents of GPU,
NKVD and archives of the Security Service of Ukraine dubbed "Declassified
Memory", paintings and posters from the "Holodomor: Through The Eyes of
Ukrainian Artists Collection," Morgan Williams, Trustee.
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FOOTNOTE: The Holodomor exhibition that opened in Kyiv, Ukraine
this week at the Ukrainian House is the largest and more historically
comprehensive Holodomor exhibition ever held. There are over 300
panels/posters (with documents, testimonies, information, historical data,
maps, photographs, etc.) and Holodomor artworks by Ukrainian artists
on display. The exhibition will be open through Thursday, December 6th.
Most of the items on display in Kyiv will soon be available on disks that can
be used to provide information and to print out materials for Holodomor
exhibitions worldwide. Some displays will be available in multiple languages
in early 2008.
If you would like information about such items as they become available
please write to Morgan Williams, Chairman, Exhibition Subcommittee,
International Holodomor Committee (IHC); morganw@patriot.net.
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7. LEADERS OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EXPRESS SOLIDARITY
WITH UKRAINIANS ON OCCASION OF 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - The leaders of the European Parliament have expressed solidarity with
the Ukrainian people on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the
Holodomor Famine of 1932-1933.
Speaking during a ceremony in Brussels to commemorate the Holodomor victims,
Vice President of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec said that people must
know their history in order to live on into future.
The Holodomor, in which millions of people died and which was attributed to
natural circumstances for many years, was in fact masterminded by the Soviet
Communist deathly regime, Mr. Siwiec said. On behalf of the European
Parliament he urged the nations across the globe to recognize the Holodomor
as genocide.
"We are here to honor the victims and well as to prevent similar things from
happening in the future," the Vice President of the European Parliament
said.
President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering also made a
statement on the occasion of the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
"Today we know that the famine which has come to be known as the
'Holodomor' was in reality an appalling crime against humanity. The famine
was cynically and cruelly planned by Stalin's regime in order to force
through the Soviet Unions policy of collectivization of agriculture against
the will of the rural population of Ukraine.
"It was only in 1991, when Ukraine regained its independence, that it became
possible for people there to discover the background to this tragic period
of their history. All of us should be prompted by this day of remembrance to
engrave the 'Holodomor' in our memories", Mr. Hans-Gert Poettering's
statement reads.
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NOTE: Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
========================================================
8. ROBERT CONQUEST'S BOOK "THE HARVEST OF
SORROW" REPUBLISHED IN THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE
U.S. Ambassador Taylor says U.S. Congress has still not approved
a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an act of genocide
against the Ukrainian people.
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The book by the well-known Western historian Robert Conquest, "The Harvest
of Sorrow," was recently republished in the Ukrainian language. This key
book on the Holodomor was published in English in 1986 but was translated
into Ukrainian only in 1993.
The launch of the second Ukrainian edition took place at the US ambassador's
residence in Kyiv, a move explained by the fact that with the assistance of
the Department of Press, Education and Culture of the US Embassy to Ukraine.
"The Harvest of Sorrow" was published by the Volyn-based Teren Art Agency
within the framework of the program "Lessons of History: the Holodomor of
1932-33," which is part of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund.
"Thanks to this book many people throughout the world became aware of the
Holodomor. The author showed and described the horror of the Holodomor.
Some people who visited Ukraine in 1932-33 could not even write about the
things they had seen.
"As Robert Conquest admits in the foreword to his book, Boris Pasternak
visited Ukraine during that period and said afterwards: 'It is impossible to
recount what I saw there.
"There was such inhumane, incredible distress and sorrow that everything
began to look unreal and my mind could not grasp all the horror. I became
ill. I could not write for a year,'" US Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor
quoted the writer as saying.
Ambassador Taylor also noted that unlike Pasternak, Conquest succeeded in
describing all this horror and did this in such a way - through painstaking
effort - that both the personal sufferings of a single person and the
suffering of the entire society were shown.
According to the ambassador, the historian reached the conclusion that the
ascertained facts and Stalin's motives prove his involvement in this
catastrophe. Thus, there can only be one verdict of history: this was a
crime for which responsibility must be taken.
On her part, Kateryna Yushchenko, the head of the Supervisory Board of
the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund, stressed that 75 years after
these tragic events Ukrainians have a great responsibility to let the world
know about the Holodomor.
According to the Ukrainian president's wife, people both in Ukraine and
abroad are now coming to the real understanding of the scale of this crime:
how many people were dying and how the regime did this in a systemic,
cynical, and massive way.
According to Ukraine's First Lady, the main program of the Ukraine 3000
International Charitable Fund is to elucidate the question of the Holodomor.
"We are gathering evidence, making films, and helping to organize the Light
a Candle Action.
(This action was the brainchild of the late James Mace, who first broached
this subject in his column "A candle in the window" in The Day on Feb. 18,
2003. Together with Conquest, he also spoke at the US Congressional
Hearings on the Holodomor - Author).
This action has to be expanded throughout Ukraine, so that everyone in every
house will remember their ancestors, their grandfathers and grandmothers,
who perished during the Holodomor. Many countries have recognized the
Holodomor. UNESCO did so two weeks ago, and the United Nations
recognizes the Holodomor. They will not immediately say that this was
genocide.
"But we must prove this to them. Everyone used to say that there was no
famine. Today it has been acknowledged that there was a Holodomor, but not
genocide. But with the help of facts, research, orders, and decrees we will
prove that the Holodomor was an act of genocide," she stressed.
The initiator of the second edition of the book, the writer and former
dissident Yevhen Sverstiuk considers "The Harvest of Sorrow" the best
book on the history of 20th-century Ukraine.
"This book was written by a person of great talent and intelligence, whom I
would place alongside Orwell. Our history books did not take into account
inaccessible materials. Information written abroad about life in Ukraine and
the USSR was broader, more objective, and more analytical.
This is a book that was written by a free man, who thinks in a free way and
has a huge amount of material to work with. Yesterday's slaves cannot
contemplate the facts about their life deeply," he noted.
In Sverstiuk's opinion, the genocide in Ukraine and the Nazi genocide are
linked. "If one could engineer the Holodomor genocide in a large country in
peacetime and conceal this from the world, why can one not secretly execute
a numerically small nation in wartime? It is known that the Fuhrer learned
from the Leader," Sverstiuk emphasized.
"After directing attention to the importance of the nature of the assessment
given to this historical phenomenon, he noted that we often err in the
everyday assessment, whereas the sense of this phenomenon is defined by
the word "genocide."
INTERVIEW WITH U.S. AMBASSADOR TAYLOR
William TAYLOR: "A judiciary analysis is crucial to recognizing that the
Holodomor was an act of genocide" What is being done in the US in order to
recognize the Holodomor of 1932-33, and does the United States recognize
that the Holodomor was an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation?
These and other questions are raised in The Day's blitz interview with US
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine William TAYLOR.
The American Senate and the House of Representatives have approved a law
that has been signed by the president. This law provides for the
construction of a memorial dedicated to the Holodomor in Washington, the
US capital. The Ukrainian government is financing its construction.
[The Day] When will this memorial be built?
[Ambassador Taylor] I don't know. I hope very soon. There is a large and
well-known monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington. A monument to
enslaved nations was built in the US in the 1950s. And this new memorial
will be another great Ukrainian monument.
[The Day] What about the resolution on recognizing the Holodomor as an act
of genocide against the Ukrainian people? Will such a decision be made by
the two chambers of the American Congress?
[Ambassador Taylor] The resolution in this form was not approved by the two
chambers. What was actually approved was the decision to build a memorial.
We have to carry out a judiciary analysis in order to recognize the
Holodomor as genocide. But the American government has not done this yet.
[The Day] But there is a book by Robert Conquest, about which you spoken
today and whose author addressed Congress at one time and gave evidence.
[Ambassador Taylor] True, there is much evidence. And Conquest's books
are an indisputable part of it. Congress also considered this issue, but it
has still not approved a resolution that would define the Holodomor as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
[The Day] But this is a contradiction. The House Committee on Foreign
Affairs had recommended the resolution on recognizing the Armenian
genocide.
[Ambassador Taylor] And you see what kind of problem it has caused.
[The Day] But in the Ukrainian case there should not be any problems because
the totalitarian regime that existed at that time is blamed for the genocide
against the Ukrainian people, not another nation.
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes, that's true. I don't think that there will be any
problem with Ukraine. But a problem linked to other tragedies can arise.
Again, a judiciary analysis must be completed in order to approve such a
resolution, and this has not been done yet. If this is done for Ukraine, a
similar analysis will have to be conducted with respect to other tragedies,
and this will be quite complicated.
[The Day] Does this mean that in approving the draft resolution on
recognizing the Armenian genocide the Democrats in the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs did not think it through?
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes. It's true. But the draft law approved by the
committee has not been submitted to the House of Representatives.
[The Day] I'd like to return to the topic of the judiciary analysis. Is the
American government afraid of conducting this analysis and recognizing that
the Holodomor was genocide? After all, many countries, including those
located on the American continent, have recognized that the Holodomor
was an act of genocide that was perpetrated by a totalitarian regime?
[Ambassador Taylor] Yes, that's true. One can say the same thing about
Turkey in 1915. The current government did not exist at that time, and there
was no current Constitution of Turkey; the Ottoman Empire existed then.
Thus, it was a completely different regime.
In general, the issue is quite complicated. We are very glad that the US has
approved a law that has come into force and according to which a monument
to the Holodomor will be constructed in Washington.
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/191766/
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9. DECLARATION: “UKRAINE TO REMEMBER - THE
WORLD TO RECOGNIZE"
Upcoming International Events to Commemorate 75th Anniversary
of 1932-1933 Holodomor Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation
World Ukrainian Congress (WUC)
International Holodomor Committee (IHC) (in Ukrainian)
Toronto, New York, Melbourne, Saturday, November 17, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #890, Article 9 (in English)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 23, 2007
The International Holodomor Committee (IHC) at the World Ukrainian Congress
(WUC) in close cooperation with the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
and the Ukrainian Institute of the National Memory has scheduled major
events for 75th Commemoration of the Ukrainian Genocide 1932-1933 to be held
under the dynamic slogan “Ukraine To Remember – The World To Recognize!”
Ahead of commemorative events in Ukraine and the countries where Ukrainians
live we would like to offer several proposals for consideration.
The 1932-1933 Holodomor is one of those horrendous acts which Moscow
perpetrated in a bid to conquer the Ukrainians, notably, the linguocide
(attempts to wipe out the Ukrainian language); distortion of the historical
truth about the Kievan Rus’; the denial of the distinctive status of the
Ukrainian nation that in fact brought European culture and science to the
early Russian state; and, finally, the terrible crime of a deliberate famine
that was a true genocide of the unsubdued Ukrainian nation.
Ukraine’s tragic experience is a unique episode in the world’s history. The
world must be informed about it to ward off similar perils ever emerging
from totalitarian and imperial regimes.
A lot of new light must be thrown on the Holodomor by studying the archives
of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other sources, notably, the
archives of NKVD (the forerunner of the KGB) in Moscow.
It is not too late to record eye-witness accounts of the Holodomor. We must
establish the true motives for the Holodomor and name those who unleashed
the genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
It would be good to borrow an Irish tradition (The Irish people also
suffered from a catastrophic famine and had to scatter all over the world):
the Irish carve on the monuments the names of all their dead with the dates
of their deaths and location of their graves. In so doing, they preserve the
memory about their ancestors.
All information about the 1932-1933 Holodomor in various forms – brochures,
exhibitions of photographs, fiction books and documents, requiem masses and
remembrance services for the innocent victims – must serve two ends.
[1] On the one hand, the slogan calls to establish the truth about and
remember millions of Ukrainians deliberately starved to death.
[2] On the other, we must get the governments of all countries and reputable
international organizations to denounce the Holodomor as a genocide directed
against the Ukrainian nation that stood up against brutal domination of
Ukraine by Moscow bolsheviks.
Versatile events have been planned, information, artistic and political, to
help recognize the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian people by the
world governments as well as such influential international organizations as
PACE, EU Parliament, and UN General Assembly. Information booklets,
research reports and other printed matter will be published.
We realize that the recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide of Ukrainians
has met with strong resistance and that it will take many years of joint
information and diplomatic efforts of Ukrainians living in Ukraine and in
the diaspora as well as our numerous friends worldwide.
The key role in this campaign should be played by Ukraine statesmen. After
75 years, we can no longer tolerate simplification or distortion of history,
or any compromises hatched by those who acted against Ukraine and its
national and state interests.
The President and Government of Ukraine must accept historical and political
responsibility for informing the Ukrainian people and the world about this
tragic page of our history.
The first part of the slogan is “Ukraine to Remember.” Therefore, how much
Ukraine and its people will remember about the Holodomor will serve as a
yardstick of Ukraine’s leaders dedication and commitment to spreading the
truth about the Famine.
Simultaneously, Ukrainian diplomats abroad bear responsibility,
predominantly as spokespersons for the state, for the second part of the
slogan “The World To Recognize!”
The Ukrainian diaspora as a civil and lobbying factor has long proved its
complete readiness and commitment to cooperate with the state for the sake
of the common Homeland.
The role of ambassadors and other members of the Ukrainian diplomatic
service in the Ukrainian diaspora countries is rather to initiate public
campaigns and not merely to join them.
Ukrainian diplomats should not only be the link between public organizations
and world parliaments – they should head the campaign, initiate actions and
lobby them most effectively.
Such are the instructions given by the President of Ukraine in his decrees.
The enforcement of these instructions should be checked by the public: are
they enforced at all and at which level?
The 1932-1933 Holodomor is a crime against the Ukrainian people, engineered
and perpetrated by representatives of the Stalin communist regime that
continued Moscow’s imperialistic policy in a different form.
Although the goal of the White and Red Moscow was the same, the means of
attaining it were different, much more horrendous and murderous this time.
No one can hide from the truth or deny it or hush it up.
The truth is confirmed by the documents found in recently declassified SBU
archives and published in the “Declassified Memory” collection.
We are aware of our responsibility to tell the world the truth on behalf of
millions of children, women and men killed by the famine that struck a
deadly blow to the genetic and spiritual foundations of Ukrainians. Only by
exposing and denouncing the crime can we ensure that it will never be
repeated.
It is now important that the Ukrainian youth realize its role in spreading
the truth and prepare itself for the roles of the “ambassadors of truth”!
The first stage of our campaign has started. However, we must realize that
the campaign for the recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide cannot be
limited to the annual event.
It must be our steady and consistent effort until the world recognizes the
great truth about this grave crime, until every person in Ukraine knows
about this tragic page in the history of Ukraine.
The International Committee at the World Ukrainian Congress wishes the
Ukrainian state leaders, public organizations in Ukraine and the Diaspora a
lot of endurance, commitment and success in their efforts.
Eternal memory to the victims of the dreadful Holodomor!
Let the memory about them pass from generation to generation!
Toronto - New York - Melbourne, November 17, 2007
For the World Ukrainian Congress
Askold Lozynsky, President
Stephan Romaniw, Head, IHC WUC
Viktor Pedenko, General Secretary
Irena Mytsak, Secretary, IHC WUC
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10. "EXECUTED BY FAMINE: THE UNKNOWN GENOCIDE
OF THE UKRAINIANS" EXHIBITION UNVEILED AT THE
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
International Charitable Fund 3000, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 9, 2007
KYIV - On November 7, 2007, the "Executed by Famine: Unknown
Genocide of the Ukrainians" exhibition was unveiled at the Geneva
Municipal Library [in Switzerland].
The exhibition was prepared by the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable
Fund as part of its History Lessons: Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 program.
The co-organizers of the exhibition are the Ukraine 3000 Fund, Geneva City
Council, and Ukraine's Permanent Representation at the UN and other
international organizations in Geneva.
Among the participants of the unveiling ceremony were Head of the
Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund Kateryna
Yushchenko, Mayor of Geneva Mr. Patrice Mugny, Permanent Representative of
Ukraine at the UN and other international organizations in Geneva Mr. Yevhen
Bersheda, members of the Government of Geneva, members of public
organizations and the media.
Addressing the audience, Mrs. Yushchenko tendered her thanks to all the
exhibition organizers. "By creating this exhibition we wanted to familiarize
the European audience with this tragic page of Ukraine's history," she said.
"Today, the issue of the Manmade Famine has evoked a wide response from
the global community."
Mrs. Yushchenko mentioned that the US, Canada, Australia, Estonia, Italy,
Lithuania, Georgia, Poland, Hungary, Argentina, Spain, Peru, and Ecuador had
recognized the Manmade Famine in Ukraine as genocide on the state level.
A few days before, a resolution on recognizing the manmade famine in
Ukraine was passed by the UNESCO General Assembly. "We hope that the
next step will be recognition of the Ukrainian national tragedy by other
countries and most influential international bodies, like the United Nations
Organization," Mrs. Yushchenko said.
"I am certain that if the global community had displayed an adequate
reaction to the Holodomor famine 75 years back, the humanity would have
been able to prevent later genocides and massacres taking a heavy toll of
many a million human lives in all continents," Mrs. Kateryna said.
This event is continuing a series of educational exhibitions at the capitals
of the leading countries, carried out as part of a joint program by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Ukraine 3000 Fund.
The program's goal is revealing the truth about Holodomor to the global
community, seeking its recognition as genocide against the Ukrainian
people on the international level.
The Executed by Famine: Unknown Genocide of the Ukrainians exhibition
is based upon documentary archive sources corroborated by eyewitness
accounts of the famine survivors.
The exhibition has already been displayed in Brussels and Berlin and
demonstrated to the diplomatic corps in Kyiv. In the near future it will
travel to New York, Vienna, Copenhagen, Strasbourg, Paris, Bratislava,
Budapest, etc.
During one year, electronic versions of the display will be given to all
Ukraine's diplomatic representations abroad and also to the Ukrainian
Diaspora organizations and Ukrainian communities.
The exhibition will stay in Geneva till November 21, 2007. A public
discussion on the Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 will be held November
22, 2007, at the Geneva Ethnographic Museum.
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LINK: http://ukraine3000.org.ua/eng/yesterday/yesnews/6154.html
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11. LETTERS FROM KHARKIV
The truth about the Holodomor through the eyes of Italian diplomats
By Yurii Shapoval, Professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
In a few days, the Kharkiv-based Folio Publishers is expected to issue an
extremely interesting and important book called "Letters from Kharkiv."
These letters are in fact reports from Italian diplomats who were posted in
the USSR in 1930-34, in which they describe the famine situation.
The book is being published through the efforts of the Institute of Italian
Culture in Kyiv. This academic institution invited me to take part in this
interesting project as a scholarly editor and the author of a brief
afterword.
I agreed with pleasure, not in the least because it was Prof. Andrea
Graziosi, a colleague and a good friend of mine, who discovered the Italian
diplomats' letters, which he found in 1987 at Italy's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
"These documents lead one to reckon with one of the 20th-century's biggest
European tragedies," Prof. Graziosi writes in the foreword to the book.
"They radically changed my idea of Soviet history and my overall vision of
the last century. This is why their publication in Ukraine fills me with
joy."
What is also important is that these documents were found even earlier by
Basilian monks, who handed them over to the US Commission that researched
the famine in the mid-1980s. The Italian diplomats' accounts were attached
to the commission's Report to Congress.
So this evidence is of paramount importance for understanding the causes and
consequences of the Holodomor. Published in Italy, France, and the US, these
documents are finally appearing in print in the very place where these
tragic events took place, fortunately long ago.
As Prof. Nicola Franco Balloni, director of the Institute of Italian Culture
in Kyiv, rightly states in his foreword to Letters from Kharkiv, the
Ukrainian-language edition is the most complete documentary evidence of the
1930s famine in the USSR, gathered by members of Italy's diplomatic mission.
"The evidence of Italian diplomats," Prof. Balloni emphasizes, "who were
forced to work in the difficult conditions of the Stalin and Mussolini
regimes, but were able to remain impartial witnesses of these infernal
events, was in fact of no use to Il Duce. For certain reasons, he wanted to
maintain good relations with the USSR.
However, the times of dictators are ending, but documents remain and, aimed
at the descendants of the victims of tyranny, they teach them to remember
the tragic past for the sake of the future."
In the early 1930s, Italy had an embassy in Moscow, as well as a
well-ramified network of consular agencies, including consulates in
Leningrad, Odesa, and Tbilisi, and vice-consulates in Kharkiv, Batumi, and
Novorossiisk.
It is the reports from the three latter consular offices and the Moscow-
based embassy that were included in Letters from Kharkiv. The people who
headed the consular agencies in Kharkiv, Batumi, and Novorossiisk were not
professional diplomats but former army officers, who had served well during
World War One.
Most of the documents cited in the book were prepared by Sergio Gradenigo
(1886- 1966), who had worked in Ukraine in 1931-34. He headed the Kharkiv
vice-consulate (later elevated to a Royal Consulate) and, at the end of his
mission, the newly-formed Consulate General in Kyiv, where the capital of
Soviet Ukraine moved in 1934, and, later, a consular representation in
Italy.
After finishing his term in Ukraine, he served as a volunteer in the Tevere
Division in the Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935-36. In 1948 Gradenigo
immigrated to Argentina, where he taught and wrote until his death.
What were these reports by the Italian diplomats? They contain very specific
information as well as reflections - sometimes merciless, sometimes
sympathetic - of foreigners, which were by and large correct assessments
and analyses of governmental actions and human behavior.
But let me make a general remark before going into greater detail. Ukraine
and the Northern Caucasus had been supplying more than half of all the grain
produced in the USSR.
Speaking of Ukraine, Stalin noted in 1931that "a number of granaries are in
a state of devastation and famine." Yet the Kremlin believed that Ukraine
had enormous reserves of grain that the collective farms and independent
farmers were allegedly hiding.
This is why the government resorted to brutal measures to procure grain.
More than 150,000 people died in 1931 alone. In March and April 1932 there
were large numbers of starving people in Ukrainian villages, and cities were
full of children who had been abandoned by their parents.
This was a distress signal that did not, however, stop the authorities. On
July 7, 1932, the Central Committee of the All- Union Communist Party
(Bolsheviks) passed a resolution on the state grain deliveries. The main
idea of the resolution was to fulfill the plan at any cost.
The Stalinist leadership clearly saw two genuine enemies:
[1] firstly, the peasants, who were unwilling to work on collective farms
and die in the name of industrialization (seeking to avoid the famine caused
by meeting the compulsory grain procurement targets, peasants began
withdrawing en masse from collective farms); and
[2] secondly, the not-so-reliable political-state leadership of Ukraine,
which to a certain degree was pursuing a "flexible" line in its dealings
with the Kremlin's demands and tragic local realities.
This is why Stalin sent his trusted lieutenants to Ukraine and applied tough
sanctions against the peasants, which turned into genocide.
In late October 1932, in pursuance of the CC AUCP(b) Politburo resolution
of Oct. 22, 1932, an extraordinary commission headed by Viacheslav
Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR,
began to work in Ukraine.
As early as Oct. 29 Molotov cabled to Stalin, "We had to severely criticize
the Ukrainian organization, especially the party's Central Committee, for
failure to launch full- scale requisitioning." Sharing Stalin's mistrust of
the local authorities, Molotov also demanded that Moscow officials be sent
to the Ukrainian SSR to achieve the desirable effect.
Molotov gave a powerful impetus to the repressions. The Politburo of the CC
AUCP(b) resolved on Nov. 5, 1932, to increase coercion in the state grain
delivery campaign, in particular to boost the role of law-enforcement
bodies.
A number of measures were drafted, such as immediate trials of cases
connected to the state grain deliveries, the organization of circuit court
proceedings and the creation of additional courts in every region, and
meting out severe punishments. All cases were to be spotlighted in the
national and local press.
"The famine continues to take a heavy toll of human lives on such an
enormous scale that it is absolutely unclear how the world can remain
indifferent to this catastrophe. Through merciless requisitions (which I
have repeatedly reported), the Moscow government allowed not just a famine,
for this is not quite the precise word, but the complete absence of any
means of existence," a stunned Gradenigo pointed out in his communication
dated May 31, 1933.
A little earlier, in February 1932, Gradenigo sent a piece of bread, the
kind that was being consumed in Kharkiv at the time, to Italy's ambassador
Bernardo Attolico in Moscow.
In one of his messages to Rome the ambassador wrote about the shortage
of bread: "It is difficult to imagine that the quality of the food item, so
important to the dietary regime in the USSR, should be so bad, as this
little piece of bread shows. The truth...is hidden in the real conditions of
the decline into which collectivization has thrown Russian agriculture,
which is too patriarchal to endure without disastrous consequences an
injection of modernization in the shape of collectivization."
Peasants were fleeing Ukraine to save themselves from the famine. The
authorities blocked their departure, captured them, and sent them back.
The report of the Italian consulate in Batumi, dated Jan. 20, 1933, provides
a detailed description of the way the authorities pushed out the Ukrainian
peasants who were fleeing from the famine to Transcaucasia: "The expellees
are herded into customs warehouses, where they wait for a steamship.
Those who can pay for the passage are separated from those who cannot.
The latter are gathered a few hours before departure and escorted by police
to a free market, where they can sell what they have with them in order to
raise money for a ticket. The police keep curious onlookers away from them
and only let in those who are really going to buy something - a coat, a pair
of boots, etc.
Clearly, lack of time robs these wretched people of the opportunity to
bargain, which is advantageous to buyers. All this occurs in complete
orderliness and silence, which does not diminish the sad impression of this
scene, which turns a marketplace into something like a slave market for a
few hours."
The organs of repression and punishment vested with the exclusive right to
record deaths, block information on the famine, and carry out punitive
actions were a mighty force. The diplomats' letters cite some influential
secret police officers describing the tragic situation in quite a realistic
way.
For example, Gradenigo writes in May 1933, "Comrade Frenkel, a member
of the OGPU Collegium, admitted to an acquaintance of ours that about 250
corpses of those who starved to death are picked up on the streets of
Kharkiv every night. On my part, I can confirm that I saw trucks carrying
10- 15 corpses past the consulate at midnight.
"Since there are three large neighborhoods under construction next to the
consulate, one of the trucks halted by the fence, and two operatives
wielding pitchforks got off to search for corpses. I saw 7 people, i.e., two
men, one woman, and four children, being picked up with these pitchforks.
Other people woke up and vanished as if they were shadows. One of the
operatives doing this job said to me, 'You don't have this in your country,
do you?'"
Incidentally, when I was writing the commentaries, I kept in mind the
aforesaid "Comrade Frenkel," about whom I will write more in detail some
other time.
This Mikhail Frenkel (1888-1938) held top administrative positions in the
GPU of the Ukrainian SSR and was later the chief billeting official at the
Administrative and Economic Directorate of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1924 he had been prosecuted for smuggling, but the case was dismissed.
In February 1938 he was arrested and accused of spying for Poland and
"wrecking" (creating "poor" living conditions for the highest-ranking NKVD
officers). He died on March 8, 1938, as a result of savage beatings that
were administered to him in the inner prison of the Directorate of State
Security of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR.
On March 20, 1933, Italy's Ambassador Attolico, wrote to Rome: "The
impression is that the only strong link, the real backbone of the entire
Soviet system, is the GPU, which is usually able to achieve, through its
typically fast and violent methods, what even the best propaganda cannot."
Meanwhile, we find in these diplomatic documents evidence of what communist
propaganda was doing. Leone Sircana, the vice- consul in Novorossiisk,
reported the following to the Italian Embassy in Moscow on April 8, 1933:
"It is like mocking the beastly condition to which millions of people have
been reduced to claim that the Soviets have launched the world's most
powerful radio transmitter, which is supposed to overwhelm perhaps all the
other voices on the airways and beam to the oppressed peoples of Europe
and Asia Moscow's revelations about 'the incredible achievements of the
Bolshevik miracle'.
"Or we read that the workers of Novorossiisk are donating one percent of
their starvation wages (in paper rubles) to the cause of combating fascist
terror, and so on. This typical revolutionary fervor catches your eye in
banner slogans, newspaper headlines, the hidebound and mindless phrases
of articles and speeches, but it never finds any response.
"Countering these purely bureaucratic onslaughts on capitalism, fascism, and
kulaks and the no less bureaucratic glorification of Bolshevik successes is
the huge, patient, callous, and indifferent mass (or herd?) of these hapless
people, who listen without hearing and look without seeing and whose mind,
now even more stupefied than ever, has only one vision: a small piece of
brown bread, underbaked and mixed with the most incredible and most varied
ingredients, to which they are still entitled and which they must share with
their large family, old and infirm relatives, not to mention those who do
not have even this right, or the painful and bitter despair from the fact
that Moscow requisitions everything that the earth offers and, as the
peasant deceives himself, is supposed to belong to him."
The famine in Ukraine turned into an instrument not only of terror but also
of the "nationalities policy." This radically distinguished the situation in
Ukraine from that in, say, Russia or Kazakhstan, where famine-related losses
were also very high.
On Dec. 14, 1932, Stalin and Molotov signed a resolution of the CC AUCP(b)
and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which demanded
"correct Ukrainization" in Ukraine and other regions densely populated by
ethnic Ukrainians. The document also demanded a struggle against Petliurites
and other 'counterrevolutionary" elements, who this time were accused of
organizing the famine.
This not only meant the end of the policy of "Ukrainization." This was the
decisive phase of the liquidation of the "Ukraine-centered" potential that
was never supposed to revive, and the brutally and carefully organized
punishment turned into genocide.
"Since famine always begets a revolution (in this case, it would be a
counterrevolution)," one of the documents says, "the greatest burden of the
famine was placed on the Ukrainian peasants, who were politically the most
dangerous and resisted the issue of collectivization as much as they could.
No matter what kind of famine he is suffering from, the peasant cannot
launch an offensive on the city and become dangerous to the regime, above
all, for purely organizational reasons."
The Stalinist regime used the Holodomor and false stories about those who
were responsible for it as a concrete pretext for mass-scale repressive
campaigns, purges, and the like.
On May 22, 1933, Gradenigo wrote in his regular message to the Italian
Embassy in Moscow, "The current disaster will lead to the colonization of
Ukraine, mostly by the Russian population. This will change its ethnographic
nature.
In all probability, we will not have to speak about Ukraine and the
Ukrainian people in the very near future and, consequently, there will be no
Ukrainian problem because Ukraine will in fact become part of Russia."
Contrary to this sad forecast, Letters from Kharkiv is being published in
independent Ukraine, which remembers its history and - I do believe! - is
ready to learn its lessons.
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NOTE: Yurii Shapoval is a professor and Doctor of Sciences (History).
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2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
Re: збірка Action Ukraine Report №890 (продовження)
12. AN APPEAL TO THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRSBy Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, "Maidan" Alliance
Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KHARKIV - On 24 November, people throughout the world will be joining
Ukrainians in lighting candles. They are candles in memory of the millions
who died in an artificially caused famine - Holodomor 1932-1933. The
Holodomor was not caused by blundering incompetence.
A murderous regime took the grain away, surrounded villages with armed units
and closed the borders. Given the lies and denial for decades, the figures
range, however most believe at least 5 to 7 million people died.
There have been arguments for decades now over whether this constitutes
genocide as understood in the 1948 Convention. There is no opportunity
here to discuss this, nor would I wish to.
There was food, but it was taken away by force and people were prevented
from saving themselves and their children from starvation.
While there were famines throughout the USSR, it was in Ukraine and in an
area predominantly populated by Ukrainians that starvation was used as a
deliberate weapon.
If this does not constitute genocide as defined in the UN Convention, I
would respectfully suggest that perhaps the latter is not fulfilling its
role as a human rights document aimed at acknowledging human rights crimes
and ensuring they never happen again.
We have begun collecting signatures for an appeal to the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. We are asking for their cooperation in opening up all the
documents which they presently hold but which pertain to our common fate
under the old totalitarian regime.
We ask also for Russia to implement the recommendations in the recent
UNESCO Resolution which Russia signed.
We also call in our appeal for Russia to join Ukraine and many other
countries in recognizing the actions of the totalitarian regime of that time
to have been genocide.
We wish to wrench this subject from the area of geopolitical considerations
which make us cogs in some abstract machine on which we can have no impact.
We are adamant that the subject of Holodomor must be viewed in the context
of ethics and law.
Most of all we wish to separate this vital question of justice, memory and
of safeguards for the future from all extraneous issues and grievances.
In the last four days, our petition has been signed by many people in
Ukraine, Russia and other counties of the world. It is intended as a
uniting force, aimed at removing artificially created obstacles and
geopolitical arguments.
We are remembering the victims of a crime against the Ukrainian nation and
against all humanity both with our candles and with our petition. We would
ask you to join us.
You can read (and sign!) our covering letter and appeal (in three languages)
at: http://maidanua.org/static/viol/1195265429.html.
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13. THE POLITICS OF GENOCIDE
Will Moscow ever recognize the Stalin-led forced famine
in Ukraine 75 years ago as an act of genocide?
ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY: By Lisa Shymko
The American Spectator, Arlington, Virginia, Wed, Nov 14, 2007
TORONTO - This week, Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, will travel
to Israel - a nation for whom the term "genocide" has become an indelible
part
of its collective memory - where he is expected to ask Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert to endorse a UN resolution put forth by Ukraine recognizing the
Soviet-era forced famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide.
For Prime Minister Olmert and members of the Knesset, it will not be an easy
decision to make, since Jewish leaders have long maintained that the
Holocaust was unique and should not be equated with other genocides.
Complicating the matter is the new political reality in the Middle East.
Israelis have hesitated to endorse the Ukrainian position, for fear of
straining Israel's delicate relations with Russia.
Olmert is hoping to convince Russia to use its geopolitical influence in the
Caspian basin to stave off a military confrontation with Tehran over its
nuclear program. Yet so far, as Moscow undertakes a series of cozy deals
with Iran and Syria, Vladimir Putin has done little to appease Israeli
concerns.
Will Prime Minister Olmert hold off on backing Ukraine's UN resolution in an
attempt to woo the Kremlin? Only time will tell. One thing is clear, the
Russians do not want to see improved relations between Israel and Ukraine.
Historically, Moscow has benefited from the painful rifts of the past, and
the Kremlin is not happy to see Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko
proposing a more dynamic Ukraine-Israel relationship.
Recently, Ukraine's President announced the return of 1,000 Torah scrolls
previously confiscated from Ukraine's Jewish communities during the
communist regime.
Historic synagogues in Ukraine have been returned to Jewish communities and
President Yushchenko has ordered Ukraine's Security Service to establish a
special department to combat hate crimes. Yushchenko has also proposed
legislation to criminalize the denial of the Holocaust.
So why is the Kremlin irritated over Ukraine's pursuit of the genocide
issue? Because the current government in Moscow is still unwilling to deal
with the ugly side of its Stalinist past.
THIS YEAR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY will begin
commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 1932-33 state-sponsored famine
in Ukraine, masterminded by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The premeditated
policy of forced grain seizures targeted Ukraine's anti-Soviet rural
population and resulted in mass murder by starvation.
The artificially induced famine, known as the Holodomor, claimed the lives
of millions of victims. The genocide was the precursor to the bloody Red
Terror that later swept the entire USSR.
Having resisted Stalin's forced collectivization, Ukraine's
independent-minded rural population faced sweeping food confiscations
enforced by the notorious OGPU-NKVD secret police.
Starving Ukrainian peasants initially tried surviving on hay, weeds, and
leaves, even stripping trees of their bark. As conditions worsened, some, on
the verge of insanity, resorted to cannibalism, feeding on the remains of
the recently deceased.
But few in the West were aware of the genocide. While Ukrainians starved to
death, Moscow dumped millions of tons of cheap grain on Western markets.
When Western journalists like the Welsh reporter Gareth Jones, stationed in
the USSR in the 1930s, secretly traveled to Ukraine, uncovering information
about the decimation of entire rural towns and villages, pro-Soviet
apologists like Walter Duranty of the New York Times published fabricated
stories of well-fed peasants in an attempt to suppress the truth.
Those in Ukraine's Communist Party who dared to speak out, were meticulously
purged by Stalin. Ukraine's aspirations for independence were to be squashed
at all costs. Mass executions of Ukraine's intellectual elite followed.
The result was a campaign of ethnic cleansing on a vast scale. By 1933, as a
result of Stalin's State Decree, all territories previously populated by
Ukrainians, now de-populated by the forced famine, were systematically
settled by ethnic Russians.
In 2006, after decades of denials and cover-ups, the Parliament of Ukraine
shed its Soviet legacy and passed legislation recognizing the 1932-33
Ukrainian Forced Famine as an act of genocide.
In recent years, an ever-growing number of countries, including the USA,
Australia, Italy, Poland, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, to name just a few, have
officially acknowledged this heinous crime to be genocide.
This year, Canada's Parliament is expected to adopt a similar resolution in
the House of Commons, mirroring a unanimous motion passed in the Senate in
2003.
Ironically, as the international community prepares to vote on a UN General
Assembly resolution introduced by Ukraine that would condemn Stalin's
actions in Ukraine as nothing less than genocide, Russia -- the
self-appointed successor state of the Soviet Union -- has vowed to oppose
the passage of such a resolution.
THE KREMLIN HAS YET TO COME to terms with its genocidal past. In a
recent article published by Russia's Novosti news service, the Russian
author, Andrei Marchukov, referred to the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine as
"propaganda" and called recent efforts to uncover previously censored
information on the tragedy "sensation whipped up over bygones."
Bygones indeed!
It is estimated that at least 7 million perished as a result of Stalin's
induced famine in Ukraine. According to research presented at a 2001
Population Conference in Brazil, historian Mark Tolts, of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, stated that, up until recently, it had been
difficult for historians to reach an exact figure on the number of victims,
since Stalin personally falsified the Soviet Union's demographic data after
the 1932-33 famine.
In fact, according to Tolts, three successive heads of the Soviet Central
Statistical Administration were executed by Stalin, while others were
arrested, in a deliberate attempt to cover-up the shocking human losses.
Recently, Ukraine declassified over 100 documents pertaining to the 1932-33
Ukrainian Famine and repressions of the 1930s from its Security Service
Archives.
The documents are eye-opening because they show that international
humanitarian aid was systematically denied to Ukraine's starving population.
But countless more Soviet-era documents remain locked in Russian archives,
inaccessible to Western historians.
The Kremlin's image is in need of a major makeover. Allegations of
state-complicity in the assassinations of Alexander Litvinenko in Great
Britain and investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow have done
little to enhance Russia's international image as a democratic, peace-loving
nation.
More recently, the Kremlin has failed to crack down on home-grown racist
youth gangs, responsible for a series of cross-border attacks on Jews and
visible minorities in Russia and Ukraine.
Last week, Russian politician Grigory Yavlinsky called on the Russian
government to undertake "a de-Stalinization program" to remember the
millions of victims of Soviet repression.
Russia's Memorial Human Rights Society issued a statement asking the
Russian government "to acknowledge past crimes and offer apologies to
the victims," including the former Soviet Union's repressed ethnic groups.
It's time for Russia to make peace with its past, by showing a willingness
to make peace with its neighbors. Acknowledging Stalin's genocidal
complicity in the 1932-33 state-sponsored Famine in Ukraine would be an
important first step.
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Lisa Shymko is a Canadian political scientist and director of the
Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Center in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine. The center
was established in 2000 by Canadian Friends of Ukraine and the Government
of Canada to enhance legislative reform and open access to information.
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LINK: http://www.Spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12306
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14. UKRAINIAN MASS FAMINE OF 1932-1933: RUSSIA
IGNORES TRAGIC ANNIVERSARY
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce
itself from the 1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, republished by RIA Novosti
Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, November 21, 2007
On Saturday, November 24, all Ukraine will observe the 75th anniversary of
the Ukrainian famine or Holodomor of 1932-33. The scale of mourning was
made public both to Ukrainians and the world.
Nothing, however, is known about the famine, which also affected Russia,
and how the date will be marked in Russia. There is no information available
about any official events on either the Internet or from news agencies.
This oversight in the official response to the tragic date in Russia and
Ukraine is unlikely to be due to the difference in the number of victims:
between 3.5-4 million Ukrainians perished in the famine, while Russia lost
hundreds of thousands.
Kiev believes that the extent of the losses from the famine surpasses even
World War II.
But even if the number of Russian victims does not run into the millions
this does not mean that Russia is incapable of honoring the memory of those
hundreds of thousands on a nationwide scale.
The overwhelming fact is that Moscow is anxious to divorce itself from the
1932-33 tragedy for political reasons.
The Russian authorities fear losing the information war against Ukraine,
which is demanding that other countries recognize the Holodomor as
genocide of Ukrainians.
Although the regime guilty of the crime no longer exists, Moscow is
concerned that if there was an admission it would have to bear the moral
and maybe material responsibility for the millions of deaths 75 years ago.
Moscow is making every effort to block Kiev's plans to turn the Holodomor
into an international issue like the Jewish Holocaust of World War II.
The authorities are also trying to wipe out all memory of the event that is
now extremely unsafe politically. There are, however, no documents
testifying that the famine was deliberately engineered for ethnic reasons.
Moscow had to repay German industrial loans, and was forced to clear
out barns in grain-producing areas.
At the same time, the geographical range of the famine shows that it hit
mostly the Soviet Union's outlying ethnic regions. Aside from Ukraine the
famine raged in the Kuban, Stavropol, Don, and the lower and middle
Volga areas, which were part of the Russian Federation.
A year earlier, in Kazakhstan, which was also part of the Russian Federation
at that time, one in three Kazakhs died from starvation. In the Volga area
the worst hit was the German autonomy, which was wiped out in 1941.
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15. TOO MUCH EMOTION OVER HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE,
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 22, 2007
KYIV - Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin believes that the
topic of the Holodomor famine of 1932-1933 is being treated too emotionally.
"There was Soviet Union, there was famine, a great famine. It is true that
Ukrainians suffered, as did Russians and other nationalities, including all
who lived in Ukraine," Chernomyrdin told the press in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He said the famine had no mercy on anybody and regret could be expressed on
that occasion. "But here we see so much sentiment. We don't understand it,"
he said. "I don't see any benefit from this storm of emotions," he added.
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16. DECLARING FAMINE A GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIANS INSULTS
NON-UKRAINIAN VICTIMS SAYS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
MOSCOW - The subject of 1930s famine is increasingly becoming a field for
political speculation in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.
"We would like to say that the famine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s to
which members of numerous ethnic groups, including Ukrainians, Russians,
Kazakhs and others fell victim is increasingly becoming a subject of various
speculations on the part of certain political circles in Ukraine," a Foreign
Ministry commentary says.
"The declaration of the tragic developments of those years as an act of
genocide with specific regard to the Ukrainian people is a biased distortion
of history for the benefit of present-day political and ideological
concepts.
Not only that, it is an insult to the memory of victims of the famine of
1932-1933 in the Soviet Union who belonged to other ethnic groups," the
commentary says.
At the same time the Foreign Ministry condemned the vandalism at the
Ukrainian cultural center in Moscow during the November 17 opening of an
exhibition on the famine in Ukraine.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry denounces such hooliganism. We would like to
draw your attention to the fact that the individuals were immediately
detained and handed over to law enforcers for investigation which cannot be
said about the attitude of Ukrainian law enforcement in regard numerous
provocations against the Russian cultural center in Lviv," the commentary
says.
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17. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SHOULD READ MORE BOOKS
ABOUT HISTORY SAYS UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY
UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
KYIV - The statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for
Information and Press about Holodomor is contrary to historical facts.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, top deputy Foreign Minister of
Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzko said this to journalists today.
He turned attention to the fact that the "statements, made today by the RF
Information Department, are not true, and are contrary to the elementary
historical knowledge".
V.Ohryzko pointed out that he has intent to summon the councilor at the
Russian Embassy to Ukraine in order to give him a clear view of the
situation concerning smashing up the exhibition, devoted to the Ukrainian
Holodomor of 1932-33, in Moscow on 17 November.
In his turn, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Andriy Deshchytsia
emphasized that "to exchange statements about that-time events is absolutely
tactless, because we humiliate ourselves by doing so".
He stressed that Ukraine has determined its position concerning the
recognition of Holodomor of 1932-33 as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainian nation. "Solely within the frameworks of a friendly and partner
advice, I would like to advise our Russian colleagues, including that of the
RF Foreign Ministry's Information Department, to read books about history",
he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 17, 7 representatives of the Eurasian
Union of Youth (EUY) smashed up the exhibition in memory of Holodomor
[Ukrainian Great Famine of 1932-33] exhibition in the Ukrainian cultural
center in Moscow. EUY believes that the exhibition stirred up hatred between
Russia and Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assessed these actions as illegal,
provocative, and anti-Ukrainian.
On 19 November the Department for Information and Press of the Russian
Foreign Ministry disseminated a commentary, reading that the announcement
of the famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide "is a one-sided
distortion of history in favor of modern market's political-ideological
guidelines".
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that "the theme of hunger of 30ies
in the Soviet Union, the victims of which were people of many nationalities,
in particular, Ukrainians, Russians, Kazakhs, and other nations, more and
more becomes a topic of different speculations by certain political circles
in Ukraine".
The Russian MFA is confident that should the Ukrainian great famine be
recognized as an act of genocide, it "will insult the memory of victims of
other nationalities, who died because of hunger in the former USSR", reads
the commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information Department.
By different estimates, from 7 to 10 millions of Ukrainians died during the
Great Famine of 1932-33, which was a result of Stalin's policy against those
who resisted his plans (Ukrainian farmers).
Stalin decided to sacrifice a considerable part of this group in order to
eliminate the opposition to his projects and to frighten the rest of the
Ukrainian nation into accepting the role of cogs (as he liked to call them)
of the great socialist mechanism.
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18. FORMER MIN OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BORYS TARASIUK
CRITICIZED RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES FOR OBSTRUCTION OF
HONORING MEMORY OF 1932-1933 FAMINE VICTIMS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
KYIV - The chairman of the Narodnyi Rukh party and parliamentary deputy
of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc, former Minister of Foreign
Affairs Borys Tarasiuk is criticizing the Russian authorities for
obstruction of honoring the memory of the 1932-1933 Great Famine victims
in Ukraine.
This follows from the bloc's press service, a copy of which was made
available to Ukrainian News.
According to the message, Tarasiuk views as unfriendly the statement by the
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the 1932-1933 Great Famine issue
has become a subject of speculations by certain political circles in
Ukraine.
'Russian mass media whip up hysteria within their own country every time
when another anniversary of the Famine is approaching. The Foreign Ministry
of Russia is not falling behind,' the press service cited Tarasiuk as
saying.
The bloc representative also believes that the Russian officials,
particularly the Foreign Ministry, workers of foreign establishments, are
attempting to obstruct honoring the memory of the Famine victims in Ukraine.
'...attempting to obstruct honoring the memory of the Famine victims in
Ukraine by refusing to support the corresponding resolutions of the UN
General Assembly, UNESCO,' Tarasiuk said.
The ex-foreign minister is viewing these actions as an outbreak of
anti-Ukrainian campaign from Russia due to the forthcoming elections to the
State Duma (parliament).
'Unfortunately, Russian politicians are trying to play the Ukrainian card.
These are dirty methods. It's manifestation of a dangerous tendency, as well
as the recent attack of young people from the Eurasian movement on the
Ukrainian exhibition in Moscow,' Tarasiuk said.
At the same time, the bloc representative believes that the attempts to deny
the famine are ungrounded, saying Russia may also raise the issue of
starvation of Russian people.
'One should respect not only his own history, but also the history of his
neighbors. If the Russian side wants to build relations with Ukraine based
on equality and law, it should behave correspondingly,' Tarasiuk noted.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs believes it is not correct to dispute with the Russian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs on the Great Famine of 1932-33.
On November 19, Ukraine demanded that Russia bring to justice the members
of the Eurasian Youth Union that destroyed an exhibition honoring the
memories of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine at the
Ukrainian Cultural Center in Moscow.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its turn called declaration of
the Holodomor of 1932-33 in Ukraine as an act of genocide against the
Ukrainians as one-sided garbling of history.
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19. PRES YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S POLICY ON DECLARATION
ON 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE OF UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
NOT DIRECTED AGAINST OTHER NATIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine Tue, November 20, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko marks that Ukraine's policy on declaration
of 1932-1933 Famine as genocide of the Ukrainian people is not directed
against other nations. Presidential press service disclosed this in a
statement.
'Retuning of our memory is not the work against anyone. We do not want to
humiliate any nation or state, for we know well that evil, which took place
in Ukraine in 1932-1933, was not the idea of any strange nation, but the
idea of Stalin totalitarian regime,' Yuschenko said. The president also
said that studying of the Famine has to consolidate the nation.
'The nation is eliminated via humiliation, especially spiritual one. The
nation is destroyed this way. In this, when we are made forget 1932-1933,
we are deprived of our history and future,' Yuschenko said.
Besides, he reminded about efforts, which are undertaken by Ukraine to
inform local and international community about the Famine as a national
tragedy.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry is
calling the declaration of the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine the act of
genocide of the Ukrainian nation as one-sided garbling of history.
The Russian foreign ministry says such initiatives by Ukraine abuse the
memory of other nationality victims of the 1932 - 1933 famine in the Soviet Union.
2007.11.26 | Хома Брут
стаття Р. Сербина (геноцид чи ні)
20. THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDEIN LIGHT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF 1948
By Roman Serbyn, Professor of History, University of Quebec
The Ukrainian Quarterly, Volume LXII, Number 2, Taras Hunczak, Editor
A Journal of Ukrainian & International Affairs - Since 1944
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, Summer 2006
Journal article re-published with permission by the
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #890, Article 20
Washington, D.C., Friday, November 23, 2007
THE STATE OF THE QUESTION
Serious scholars and respectable politicians no longer challenge the
historicity of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933. What is still disputed is
the cause of death and the number of victims. Some influential Western
historians blame climatic conditions, administrative mismanagement and
peasant attitudes for bringing about the famine, and deny or minimize the
moral responsibility of Stalin and his régime for voluntarily starving
millions of innocent people - or at least knowingly pursuing policies which
they knew would result in such human losses. [1]
Proponents of the view that the cause of the monstrous loss of life was the
criminal activity of the Soviet régime continue to disagree on the nature of
the crime and the identity of the victims. In other words, there is no
agreement on whether the famine in Ukraine should be classified as genocide,
and if so, if its victims were targeted as peasants or as Ukrainians. The
issue has both a theoretical and a political dimension. It still elicits the
most partisan feelings among both politicians and academics.
The Ukrainian famine is not recognized as genocide by the United Nations. In
November 2003, the UN General Assembly commemorated the 70th anniversary
of the event with a declaration signed by some 60 countries. The document
declared that "the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine" took seven to 10
million of innocent lives, and explained that they were victims of "the
cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime."
What had happened was called "a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people,"
but there was no allusion to genocide. The declaration erroneously
attributed the cause of the famine to "civil war and forced
collectivization" and misleadingly merged the Ukrainian catastrophe with
the "millions of Russians, Kazaks and representatives of other nationalities
who died of starvation in the Volga river region, North Caucasus, Kazakhstan
and in other parts of the former Soviet Union."
The Ukrainian delegation agreed to this watered-down version out of fear
that the Russians would block a more strongly worded declaration. [2]
Ambassador Valeriy Kuchinsky of the Ukrainian Mission to the UN later stated
that it was, nevertheless, "an official document of the General Assembly,"
whose importance resided in the fact that "for the first time in the history
of the UN, Holodomor was officially recognized as a national tragedy of the
Ukrainian people, caused by the cruel actions and policies of a totalitarian
regime." [3]
The precedent allowed the Ukrainian Ambassador to return to the famine two
years later, during the General Assembly discussion of the resolution on the
International Holocaust day. Kuchynsky reiterated: "We believe that it is
high time that the international community recognized that crime as an act
of genocide against the Ukrainian nation." [4]
There is no unanimity on the famine among Ukrainian historians. Some, like
Valeriy Soldatenko of the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies,
continue to reject the notion of a man-made famine in Ukraine. Others, like
Yuri Shapoval of the same institution, blame the communists for the crime
and consider it genocide in accordance with the 1948 UN Convention.
Stanislav Kulchytsky of the Institute of History of the National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine maintains that the famine was genocide and that
Ukrainians must ensure that the international community officially
recognizes it as "an act that falls under the UN Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." At the same time, he
claims that, "in reality, this famine cannot be classified as genocide as
defined in the Convention." [5]
Kulchytsky draws a sharp distinction between the Ukrainian famine, on the
one hand, and the Jewish Holocaust and Armenian massacres, on the other.
"We will never prove to the grandchildren of those Ukrainian citizens who
starved to death, let alone to the international community, that people died
in 1933 in the USSR as a result of their national affiliation, i.e., in the
same way that Armenians died in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, or Jews in the
European countries that were occupied by Hitler's Reich."
Convinced that the Ukrainian famine cannot satisfy the criteria set by the
UN Genocide Convention, he comes to a rather surprising conclusion: "And
there is no need to prove this, because the mechanism of the Soviet genocide
was different. The terror by famine that Stalin unleashed on Ukraine and the
Kuban was an act of genocide against Ukrainian citizens, not Ukrainians."
[6]
Further on, I shall return to Kulchytsky's "terror by famine"
interpretation; for now, I wish to point out that his approach cannot be
used in arguing the Ukrainian case before the UN, nor is it of much help
when debating the issue with scholars who base their rejection of the
Ukrainian genocide on the UN Convention.
Kulchytsky quotes the UN Convention and then dismisses it without bothering
to analyze it, point by point, to see if it really covers the Ukrainian
famine or not. Absence of such analysis is a common characteristic of
Ukrainian scholarship, which often contents itself with simple assertions
that the Ukrainian famine falls within the UN criteria for genocide.
Deniers of the Ukrainian genocide often rely on the UN Convention for their
main argument against the recognition of the Ukrainian famine as genocide.
This approach can be illustrated by the discussion that took place at the
VII World Congress of the International Committee for Central and East
European Studies held in Berlin in the summer of 2005. A special session was
organized under the title "Was the Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 Genocide?"
Otto Luchterhadt, Professor of Law at the University of Hamburg in Germany
entitled his presentation "Famine in Ukraine and the Provisions of
International Law on Genocide." Luchterhand's own summary of his argument,
printed in the Congress Abstracts, reads as follows:
"The question whether the Ukrainian Golodomor [sic!] was a
genocide, can only be answered along with the Anti-Genocide Convention
(9.12.1948), because it exclusively offers the relevant criteria, i.e. the
definition of genocide as a crime under international law. While the
objective elements of the offense were completed without any doubt by state
terrorist measures against a substantial part of the Ukrainian population
during the so-called Dekulakization, the subjective element was not
fulfilled, because killings, deportations, and mistreatments were not
committed with the required specific 'intent' to destroy, in whole or in
part, the Ukrainians as a national group as such. The victims of the
Dekulakization policy were defined by a social approach, not by a national
one. So, the Golodomor-case touches on a crucial problem of genocide
definition: due to the Soviet UN-policy it doesn't protect social and
political groups." [7]
Let us disregard, for the moment, the author's erroneous reading of history
("dekulakization" was mostly over when the great famine began, and people
died from induced famine, which was not a function of "dekulakization") and
his misdirection in subject identification (victims of "dekulakization"
instead of the famine). What is important is that Luchterhandt's denial of
the Ukrainian genocide is based on the UN document, as is the case with most
of the other scholars who reject the notion of a Ukrainian famine-genocide.
Andrea Graziosi, a recognized expert on the Ukrainian famine, has come to
the conclusion that the Ukrainian famine will be recognized as genocide
because recently revealed documentation points to such a crime. [8] What the
Italian historian does not say is whether he believes that this claim can be
made on the basis of the UN Convention. I think it can. In this paper I
shall argue the following three points:
1. The Ukrainian famine was genocide.
2. It was a genocide directed against Ukrainians.
3. The evidence meets the criteria set by the 1948 United Nations
Convention on Genocide.
THE UN CONVENTION ON GENOCIDE OF 9 DECEMBER 1948
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was
adopted by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948 and came into force on
12 January 1951. Soviet Ukraine became a signatory of the Convention on 16
June 1949 and ratified it on 15 November 1954. Independent Ukraine continues
to respect the international Convention and has inscribed "Article 442.
Genocide" into its own Code of Criminal Law.
The term "genocide" was coined in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959) "from
the ancient Greek word 'genos' (race, tribe) and the Latin 'cide' (killing),
thus corresponding in its formation to such words as tyrannycide, homicide,
infanticide, etc." [9] A Polish Jew, born in what today is Lithuania, Lemkin
studied law at the University of Lviv, where he became interested in crimes
against groups and, in particular, the Armenian massacres during the First
World War.
In October 1933, as lecturer on comparative law at the Institute of
Criminology of the Free University of Poland and Deputy Prosecutor of the
District Court of Warsaw, he was invited to give a special report at the 5th
Conference for the Unification of Penal Law in Madrid. [10] In his report,
Lemkin proposed the creation of a multilateral convention making the
extermination of human groups, which he called "acts of barbarity," an
international crime.
Ten years later, Lemkin wrote a seminal book on the notion of genocide. A
short excerpt will show that the author's approach was much broader than the
one later adopted by the UN:
"Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the
immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings
of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated
plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations
of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups
themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the
political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings,
religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction
of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of
the individuals belonging to such groups. Genocide is directed against the
national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against
individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the
national group." [11]
Lemkin's book became a guiding light for the framers of the UN Convention
on Genocide.
The Convention voted by the UN General Assembly contains 19 articles,
dealing mainly with the problems of the prevention and punishment of
genocidal activity. Most relevant to our discussion is the preamble and the
first two articles. The preamble acknowledges that "at all periods of
history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity," while the first
article declares that genocide is a crime under international law "whether
committed in time of peace or in time of war." The all-important definition
of genocide is contained in Article II:
"In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following
acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in 'part' a 'national,'
'ethnical,' racial or religious 'group, as such.'" [12]
This definition was a compromise after much discussion by the delegates of
various countries who sat on the drafting committees. It satisfied few
people and continues to be criticized by legal experts, politicians and
academics. However, it remains the only legal definition sanctioned by the
UN and operative international courts.
A major objection to the definition is the restricted number of recognized
genocide target groups. Coming in the wake of the Second World War and
informed by Lemkin's work and the evidence of the Nazi concentration camps,
the definition would necessarily be tailored to the Jewish Holocaust. Jews
could fall into any one of the four categories: national, ethnic, racial and
religious. They did not form a political or a social group, but this was not
the reason for the exclusion of the two categories, which, after all, were
part of Lemkin's concern.
The exclusion of social and political groups from the Convention, to which
Luchterhandt alluded, was the result of the Soviet delegation's
intervention. The implication of the definition's limitation to the four
categories of victims is that one cannot argue for the recognition of a
Ukrainian genocide if its victims are identified only as peasants. Of the
four human groups listed by the Convention, it is quite clear that
Ukrainians did not become victims of the famine because of their religious
or racial traits. This leaves two categories: "national" and "ethnic(al)."
There has always been a certain ambiguity about the distinction between the
two groups labeled as "nation" and "ethnic(al)" by the Convention. William
Schabas, internationally recognized legal expert on genocide, believes that
all four categories overlap, since originally they were meant to protect
minorities. He argues that "national minorities" is the more common
expression in Central and Eastern Europe, while "ethnic minorities" prevails
in the West. [13] But if both terms designate the same group then there is
redundancy, which Schabas fails to note.
A more meaningful interpretation of "national group" was given in a recent
case cited by the author. "According to the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda, the term 'national group' refers to 'a collection of people who
are perceived to share a legal bond based on common citizenship, coupled
with reciprocity of rights and duties'."[14]
What we have here is a "civic nation" formed by all the citizens of a given
state, regardless of their ethnic, racial or other differentiation, as
opposed to "ethnic nation," or members of an ethnic community often divided
by state borders. Such a clarification of the terms "national" and
"ethnical" in reference to "groups" used would remove any ambiguity or
redundancy in the Convention. It would also help the understanding of the
Ukrainian famine-genocide.
Relevant to this discussion is a statement made in 1992 by a Commission of
Experts, applying the Genocide Convention to Yugoslavia: "a given group can
be defined on the basis of its regional existence ... all Bosnians in
Sarajevo, irrespective of ethnicity or religion, could constitute a
protected group." [15] The "regional" group is thus analogous to the civic
national group.
The decisive element in the crime of genocide is the perpetrator's intent to
destroy a human group identified by one of the four traits mentioned above.
When applying this notion to the Ukrainian case, certain aspects of the
question of intent as used by the Convention should be taken into
consideration. First, it is not an easy task to document intent, for as Leo
Kuper pointedly remarked, "governments hardly declare and document genocidal
plans in the manner of the Nazis." [16] However, documents which directly
reveal Stalin's intent do exist, and there is also circumstantial evidence
which can be used. [17]
Secondly, contrary to frequently erroneous claims, the Convention does not
limit the notion of genocide to an intention to destroy the whole group; it
is sufficient that the desire to eliminate concern only a part of the group.
This implies that there is the possibility of selection on the part of the
perpetrator from among the victims within the targeted group, and this
aspect must not be neglected when analyzing the Ukrainian genocide.
Thirdly, the Convention (Article II) lists five ways in which the crime is
executed:
1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the
group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole
or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
All of these acts, to a greater or lesser extent, can be documented in the
Ukrainian experience.
Fourthly, the Convention places no obligation on establishing the motive
behind the crime, even though the reason behind a criminal's activity can
help to establish his intent. Two Canadian scholars with long experience in
genocidal studies have classified genocides in four groups according to
their motives.[18] It should be clear from examining the list that the
Ukrainian genocide fits all four categories:
1. To eliminate a real or potential threat;
2. To spread terror among real or potential enemies;
3. To acquire economic wealth; or
4. To implement a belief, a theory or an ideology.
Schabas approaches the problem somewhat differently: "There is no explicit
reference to motive in article II of the Genocide Convention, and the casual
reader will be excused for failing to guess that the words 'as such' are
meant to express the concept." [19]
Yes, to a certain extent. With the help of a criminal ideology, perpetrators
of genocide can transform a targeted group into an object of blind hate,
which then in itself becomes a motive for the destruction of members of that
group. In other words, members of a group "X" are singled out for
destruction because they are members of that group. But the underlying
motives which brought about the hatred do not disappear - they are only
pushed into the background.
STALIN'S DIRECTIVE OF 22 JANUARY 1933:
'HABENT SUA FATA DOCUMENTI'
All serious scholars, not only in Ukraine, [20] but also in Russia [21] and
the West, [22] now generally accept the fact that Stalin and his cronies
willfully starved millions of peasants to death in 1932-1933. Ellman, who
rejects the idea of a specifically Ukrainian famine and a Ukrainian
genocide, admits that "Stalin also used starvation in his war against the
peasants" and that "an unknown fraction of mortality in the 1931-34 Soviet
famine resulted from a conscious policy of starvation." [23]
One can only speculate as to why the Amsterdam historian disregarded in his
tightly reasoned and well-argued discussion of intent in the Soviet famine a
document which of all the known testimonies best illustrates this intent.
For almost two decades now, historians have known about Stalin's secret
directive of 22 January 1933. Danilov and Zelenin, whose knowledge of Soviet
archives was second to none, considered it one of the few documents "to bear
witness to Stalin's direct personal participation in the organization of
mass famine of 1932-1933."[24]
The document is of particular significance for the study of the Ukrainian
genocide, and we cannot exclude the possibility that its checkered fate in
the hands of Soviet, post-Soviet and Western historians had something to do
with this connection.
The document was made known to the academic world at a conference on
collectivization, held in Moscow, on 24 October 1988. Iu. A. Moshkov of
Moscow State University informed the meeting that Stalin had complained of a
massive flight of peasants from Kuban and Ukraine in search of food in
various regions of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR)
and Belarus.
The General Secretary called the peasants SR agitators and Polish agents who
were going to RSFSR with the intention of stirring up the peasants against
the Soviet power. "Instead of ordering aid for the fugitives," commented
Moshkov, "the telegram demanded that these people be apprehended at the
railway stations and sent back."[25]
To my knowledge, this was the first public presentation of the important
document. A participant at the conference, E. N. Oskolkov from the Rostov
University, later used the document in his study of famine in the Northern
Caucasus, in which the Ukrainian Kozak "stanytsyi" figured prominently.[26]
There were no scholars from Ukraine at the Moscow conference, but they must
have read about it in "Istoriya SSSR."[27]
In 1990, the Institute of Party History of Ukraine published documents of
the famine held in its own Archive. The Stalin document was probably not
found, for it was not published. However, the collection contained a
follow-up directive from Kharkiv, the then-capital of Soviet Ukraine,
relaying the Kremlin directive to the Ukrainian oblasts.[28]
In 1993, Ukrainians organized an international conference on the occasion of
the 60th anniversary of the tragedy. Ukrainian scholars made no reference to
the 22 January 1933 document, but N. Ivnitsky from the Institute of Russian
History, Russian Academy of Sciences, gave a detailed analysis of it.
This historian stated that as a result of the directive 219,460 individuals
were arrested; 186,588 of them were sent back to their starving villages,
and the others were punished in other ways.[29] Oskolkov spoke about a real
"people hunt" in the Northern Caucasus and, in particular, the Kuban region,
as a result of Stalin's directive.[30]. Significantly, no Ukrainian
participant referred to the document.
The Russian participants were unhappy with the conference and, once in
Moscow, wrote a scathing report.[31] They objected to Ukrainian historians'
"groundless insistence" on Ukraine's exclusiveness during the famine, on
imagining "a separate character and content of the events in that republic,
distinct from other republics and regions."
They liked Kulchytsky's linking the famine with grain procurement and
collectivization; they ignored James Mace's comments on the national motives
in Stalin's starvation policy; and they condemned Ivan Drach for his demand
that Russia recognize its liability for the famine. The statement discussed
at length the famine in the Kuban and Northern Caucasus, but only as proof
of Russian famine and without a single reference to its ethnic Ukrainian
population.
In 1994, N. A. Ivnitsky published a seminal study on collectivization from a
post-Soviet perspective, explaining in some detail Stalin's secret directive
on closing the borders around Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus. This
measure was to prevent a peasant exodus from Ukraine and Kuban to the
Russian regions of Central-Black Earth, the Volga, Moscow and Western
oblasts, as well as to Belarus. The scholar reiterated the fact that, as a
result of that order, the OGPU arrested 219,460 persons in the first six
weeks of the order. [32]
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik overthrow of the
Provisional Government, a group of French historians, many of them former
Marxists, published a book of communist crimes around the world. [33] The
book hit the French public like a bombshell, was translated into a dozen of
languages and had a great impact on intellectuals of leftist leanings.
Nicolas Werth, a known expert on Soviet history, authored the part on the
Soviet Union.
In the chapter on "the Great Famine," he presents Ivnitsky's findings on
Stalin's directive but changes the direction of the peasants' migration. The
peasants from Ukraine and Kuban no longer go to the four Russian regions,
but to unspecified "towns" - towns that were not even mentioned in Stalin's
decree or Ivnitsky's rendering of it. [34]
Werth made Stalin's directive a follow-up to the new law on passports,
decreed on 27 December 1932. Peasants were not entitled to the passports,
and this was one way of preventing them from leaving the village. The two
measures were quite different. The passport law concerned the whole Soviet
Union, and it was of a social nature - to prevent peasants from moving
freely into urban centers. Stalin's directive on the border concerned only
Ukraine and the heavily Ukrainian Northern Caucasus (especially the
predominantly Ukrainian Kuban), and was thus of a national character.
The immediate consequence of this misrepresentation of the important
document in Werth's work was to allow the author to preclude its use as
evidence of Ukrainian genocide. Tackling a problem that was then hotly
debated in the academic world, Werth asks: "Should one see this famine as 'a
genocide of the Ukrainian people', as a number of Ukrainian historians and
researchers do today?" To which he gives a somewhat evasive answer, which
is worth a direct quotation:
"It is undeniable that the Ukrainian peasantry were the principal
victims in the famine of 1932-33, and that this 'assault' was preceded in
1929 by several offensives against the Ukrainian intelligentsia, who were
accused of 'nationalist deviations', and then against some of the Ukrainian
Communists after 1932. It is equally undeniable that, as Andrei Sakharov
noted, Stalin suffered from 'Ukrainophobia'. But proportionally the famine
was just as severe in the Cossack territories of the Kuban and the Don and
in Kazakhstan." [35]
The national character of the document is thus lost on two counts: the
flight from Ukraine to Russia was replaced by migration from village to
town, and the Ukrainian ethnicity of the Kuban Kozak population was ignored.
In fairness to Werth, it should be noted that in a later publication he has
corrected the first, although not the second, point in his presentation of
Stalin's infamous directive. [36] There is also merit in Werth's situating
the famine in a broader national context.
But the fact that there was a famine in Kuban, the Don and Kazakhstan in no
way affects the genocidal nature of the famine in Ukraine, as the author
seems to imply. Werth's unfortunate mistaken interpretation of the Stalin
border directive was reproduced in all the translated versions of the "Black
Book" and, paradoxically, Ivnistky's correct comments on Stalin's directive
returned to his homeland in a twisted and deceptive form. [37]
Stéphane Courtois, the editor of the "Black Book," gave the famine another
spin. In his "Introduction" to the publication, he begins by quoting the
whole Article II of the UN Convention on Genocide but then reminds the
reader of the addition to the definition of genocide made by the French
criminal code: "or a 'group that has been determined on the basis of any
other arbitrary criterion' " [emphasis added by Courtois].
This allows Courtois to add "social group" to the list of targeted
populations. Inspired by Vasily Grossman's "magnificent novel" Forever
Flowing, Courtois compares "the great famine in Ukraine in 1932-33, which
resulted from the rural population's resistance to forced collectivization"
and in which "6 million died" to the Jewish Holocaust.
"Here, the genocide of a 'class' may well be tantamount to the genocide of a
'race' - the deliberate starvation of a child of a Ukrainian kulak as a
result of the famine caused by Stalin's regime 'is equal to' the starvation
of a Jewish child in the Warsaw ghetto as a result of the famine caused by
the Nazi regime." [38] Courtois's analysis of the 1932-1933 famine as "class
genocide" is shared today by many scholars in the West, Ukraine and Russia.
Terry Martin was the first Western scholar to draw particular attention to
Stalin's border decree of 1933, which he also published in "toto." [39] The
American historian examined the Ukrainian famine in connection with the
national aspect, not only in Ukraine but also in the Northern Caucasus.
Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich and Molotov reveals his distrust of
the Ukrainian party leaders, such as Chubar and Petrovsky, and the whole
Communist party in Ukraine, which he accused of being infiltrated by
Petlyurites and agents of Pilsudski.
The general opposition in Ukraine to grain procurement was seen as directly
connected to the national question, as was the similar sabotage mentality in
the Northern Caucasus. This part of the RSFSR had a high proportion of
ethnic Ukrainians, especially the Kuban region, with its clear Ukrainian
majority. It is in this context that the historian introduces Stalin's
directive of 22 January 1933.
However, in spite of the revealing evidence about the national factor in the
1932-1933 events, and even though he called the chapter dealing with the
famine "The National Interpretation of the 1933 Famine," the author remains
far from recognizing the famine as a Ukrainian genocide.
In a lecture delivered at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute in
February 2001, Martin stated his interpretation is "derived primarily from a
close analysis of Soviet nationalities policy," but that this did not mean
that he thought it "the decisive factor in explaining the famine."
"On the contrary," declared the speaker, "I fully accept the standard
peasantist interpretation of the famine." The historian was convinced by the
"forceful restatement of that argument" by his colleague, D'Ann Penner, who
argued "that the famine was the culminating act in a five-year assault on
the peasantry."[40]
Martin's reliance on Penner's work is surprising, because the latter
analyzed the famine in the Don and North Caucasus regions, and in her
otherwise excellent essay shows a curious understanding of the Ukrainian
population of the RSFSR. Penner writes: "The Kuban Cossacks who spoke
Ukrainian did not consider themselves Ukrainians nor did they exhibit a
desire to join a Ukrainian national movement.
They treated the 'khokhly,' one of the less derisive terms used by Cossacks
when referring to Ukrainian-speaking peasants, with as much disdain as did
the Russian-speaking Cossacks of Veshensk. [Penner's emphasis]" [41] As the
title of her essay indicates, Penner sees the famine primarily as a result
of the struggle between the peasants and the Soviet state. Comparing the
Chinese and "the Soviet" (her words) famines, the American author writes:
"In both cases, the famines were immediately preceded by decisions
to change and, the decision-makers believed, to rapidly upgrade agricultural
production on a grand scale irrespective of the farming people's expressed
will. At the most basic level, each famine was caused by the government's
handling of a serious grain crisis, which itself was the result of a
predominantly unnatural disaster caused by failed innovations, short-sighted
policies and effective peasant resistance." [42]
Penner mentions the Stalin border decree, not in connection with the
national question, but as a follow-up to the law on passports and a way to
control popular mobility, unproductive to the state.[43] For Martin, there
was also no Ukrainian famine as such, and his perception of the event was
reflected in the title of his Harvard paper: "The 1932-33 Ukrainian Terror."
The evidentiary potential of the Stalin directive was not exploited to its
fullest.
Stalin's directive to close the border has been slow in attracting interest
among Ukrainian scholars, even those who uphold the thesis of Ukrainian
genocide and need evidential material to support their claim. On the 65th
anniversary of the famine, Ivnitsky once more spoke of the Moscow document
of 22 January 1933, and Volodymyr Serhiychuk quoted from the follow-up
Kharkiv directive to the Ukrainian regions.
Regrettably, neither historian approached the blockade of the Ukrainian
peasants from the perspective of the UN Convention on genocide. Nor was it
the approach adopted by Levko Lukyanenko and Olena Zdiochuk, who were
supposed to provide the conference with a legal analysis of the famine. [44]
When, at the end of the millennium, Vasyl Marochko wrote a long essay titled
"Genocide of the Ukrainian People," he quoted the definition in Article II
of the Convention without analyzing it, made no reference to the Stalin
directive and waffled between a national and a "peasantist" interpretation
of the tragedy. Marochko begins his section on "Terror by famine" with this:
"The most pronounced indication of genocide in Ukraine is the conscious
creation of life conditions, calculated for the physical destruction of
'peasants.'" [45]
Only in the beginning of our century did Stalin's directive receive adequate
attention in Valeriy Vasilev's thorough analysis of the Soviet authorities'
starvation policies. Surprisingly, the author took at face value Stalin's
demagogic claim that the reason for the closing of borders was to "prevent
the spreading of information about the famine." [46]
The 70th anniversary of the famine was marked by scholarly conferences, a
special hearing at the Ukrainian Parliament, and a representation to the UN
General Assembly. A central aim of these events was to ascertain the
genocidal character of the famine.
By then, Stalin's directive should have been well known in academic circle
and among interested politicians, for in 2001 the Russian Academy of
Sciences published the whole text of Stalin directive. [47] That same year,
Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich came out, which helped put the
document in a more meaningful historical context. [48]
Assistant Prime-Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk presented the main report at the
Parliamentary hearing in February 2003. The historian- turned-politician
argued in the spirit of the UN Convention on genocide, showing how the
conditions in Ukraine in 1932-1933 corresponded to the criteria of the UN
Convention on Genocide. As one of the repressive measures, Tabachnyk
mentioned the introduction of the passport system, which tied the peasants
to the starving villages.
However, with one exception, no politician or academic at the hearing evoked
Stalin's border decree. Only one Member of Parliament, the head of the
Poltava "Prosvita" organization, Mykola Kulchytsky, quoted Stalin's
directive and recounted an incident from the period to illustrate its
effect.[49] I was not able to obtain the dossier presented by the Ukrainian
delegation to the 5th Committee of the General Assembly of the United
Nations, but I suspect that there was no particular attention drawn to the
border-closing decree.
Of the numerous conferences held that fall in Europe and North America, let
us look at just two, one held in May at the Lviv Polytechnic University, and
the other in November at Kyiv University. Not one paper at the Lviv
conference mentions Stalin's border decree. Rudolf Myrsky's paper, however,
is relevant to our discussion for another reason. The author draws a
parallel between two genocides executed on Ukrainian soil: Stalin's "class
genocide" against Ukrainian peasants and Hitler's "race genocide" against
the Jews of Ukraine.
Echoing Courtois's quotation from Grossman's "Forever Flowing" Myrsky
asserts: "We can say that in Holodomor and Holocaust a class genocide joins
up with a racial genocide in a fatal calculation: the death from hunger of a
Ukrainian child has the same value as death from hunger in a Warsaw ghetto."
[50] Courtois's Ukrainian child thus lost its "kulak" label, but was
subjected to the same "peasantist" interpretation, which enjoys much
support among Ukrainian scholars.
Only Shapoval discussed Stalin's borders directive at the Kyiv conference.
He made it clear that the decree was to counter the flight of peasants
"beyond the limits of Ukraine." Shapoval also quoted a Ukrainian translation
of the whole follow-up order sent the next day from Kharkiv to the oblasts.
But the Ukrainian specificity of the two documents are diminished by the
historian's discussion of the matter in a section, which he aptly calls "the
second serfdom," namely the tying down of all Soviet peasants to the land,
which began with the passport decree. [51]
To complete this brief overview of the fate of Stalin's border decree, three
more publications should be mentioned. For the 70th anniversary of the 1933
famine, the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of
Ukraine published a voluminous collective study under the title "Famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine: Causes and Consequences."
Significantly, neither "Holodomor" nor "Genocide" appear in the book's
title, and of the 68 titles of sections and subsections in the book, the
term "genocide" is used only once in a subtitle, and in reference to
peasants, not Ukrainians: "The policy of total grain confiscation in the
Ukrainian village: genocide against the peasants." [52]
Neither in that section, nor anywhere else in the almost 900-page opus, is
there any mention of the UN Convention on Genocide or an analysis of the
concept of genocide. As for Stalin's border decree, there is only discussion
of its application and its effect in the sections on how peasants tried to
save themselves from the famine and in connection with the passport system.
[53] The more popular terms used in the book are "holodomor" and "terror by
famine."
Mention should be made of the 80 documents on the famine, recently published
by Lubomyr Luciuk (Royal Military College in Kingston, Canada) and Shapoval
(Political and Ethnic Studies Institute, Kyiv). As the collection is
intended primarily for the academic public outside Ukraine, Shapoval
included a succinct introduction, in English, showing the most important
stages in the realization of Stalin's famine-genocide.
The author briefly explains the border closing document and adds:
"appropriate instructions were issued to the transport departments of the
OGPU USSR" (the precursor of the better-known NKVD).[54] Notwithstanding
the sloppy appearance of the book, it is a worthwhile addition to the
material on the Ukrainian genocide.
Since many of the documents have already appeared in the original language
(Russian), it would have been more useful to give an English translation of
these documents. What is also baffling is the editor's failure to include
the crucial Stalin-Molotov directive of 22 January 1933. Instead, the
editors published the follow-up directive, sent the next day by Kharkiv to
the Ukrainian regions, which does not have the same evidentiary value in
proving Stalin's genocidal intent. [55]
Ukraine's most prolific academic writer on the famine is Stanislav
Kulchytsky. His last major essay on the subject was first serialized in the
Ukrainian, Russian and English versions of the newspaper "Den," under the
title "Why was Stalin Destroying Us."[56] Then the Ukrainian and Russian
versions were adapted for a bilingual book published by the Institute of
History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the title
"Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as Genocide." [57]
Kulchytsky's conceptual paradigm is the notion of "terror by famine,"
borrowed from Robert Conquest [58] and also popular with many Western
and Ukrainian historians. Yet, as Egbert Jahn so cogently argued, a terror
policy seeks to alarm and intimidate people, and to be effective makes
available as much information as possible. This was not characteristic of
the famine and so "one cannot characterize the core of the Holodomor as
the use of hunger terror." [59] "Terror by famine" is a misnomer.
Terror was employed to force the peasants into collective farms and to
confiscate their harvest. It was effective and achieved its goal. It also
caused some loss of life but did not result in mass extermination. Famine
came after most of the collectivization was already accomplished and the
peasants' foodstuffs confiscated. Terror was employed throughout the whole
period towards party and state cadres to intimidate them into carrying out
Stalin's genocidal policies toward the Ukrainian peasants, but these
functionaries did not die from the terror.
Terry Martin provides a good analysis of the measures taken to terrorize the
local communists in the Kuban.[60] Ukrainian peasants succumbed to
starvation when there was no need to scare them into the collective farms,
for most of them already were there, and when there was no need to scare
them into giving up their produce, because it had already been confiscated.
The peasants died from induced hunger, not fear. The "terror by famine"
cannot be used as a synonym for genocide, as Kulchytsky seems to imply by
his usage of the terms.
Kulchytsky set for himself the task of discovering Stalin's motives for
destroying Ukrainians. Establishing the motive for a criminal act helps to
understand the criminal's intention to commit it, but it is not a factor in
determining proof of genocide, according to the UN Convention. What the
Convention demands is proof of the intent itself.
Contrary to Kulchytsky's claim, I believe that the Ukrainian famine of
1932-1933 does fit the UN definition of genocide. The two main concerns
of Article II - that the victim population fit one of the four identified
groups and that proof be given of the perpetrator's genocidal intent - can
be satisfied with the available documents, the most revealing of which is
Stalin's border decree.
THE 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Stalin's decree is directed against two groups of peasants, those living in
the Ukrainian SSR and those in the Northern Caucasus, especially the Kuban
region. Let us first examine the targeted population in the Ukrainian
republic.
Stalin complains of a massive flight of peasants from Ukraine to the near-by
regions of Russia and Belarus. These people pretend to search for food but
in fact, he claims, are social-revolutionaries and agents of Poland who
agitate in the northern parts of the USSR against the "kolkhoz" system. The
same thing happened the year before, but the party, state and police
authorities of Ukraine did nothing to stop it. It must not be allowed to
happen this year.
Stalin then orders the party, state and police authorities of Ukraine to
prevent peasants from crossing the border between Ukraine and the rest of
the USSR. Corresponding authorities in Belarus and the adjoining Russian
regions must prevent peasants from Ukraine to enter their territories.
Peasants guilty of disobeying the order must be arrested,
counter-revolutionary elements segregated for punishment, and the others
returned to their villages.
Stalin's decree concerned all peasants of Ukraine. But since the UN
Convention only recognizes national and ethnic groups, the crucial question
is whether they were targeted as peasants or Ukrainians?
We have seen that the "national group" in the UN Convention's has been
interpreted in the sense of "civic nation" and even a well-defined region.
In this regard, all the peasants within the borders of the Ukrainian SSR,
whatever their ethnic origin, were part of the Ukrainian nation. According
to the 1926 census, ethnically Ukrainian peasants made up 88.5 % of the
Republic's peasant population; the ethnic and civic character of Ukrainian
peasantry overlapped.
Ethnically, Ukrainian peasants also made up 89.0 % of the Republic's
ethnically Ukrainian population and 71.8 % of the Republic's overall
population, and thus constituted the overwhelming portion of the Republic's
population. It was this group that Stalin's border decree singled out for
partial destruction, but did he see his enemies as peasants or Ukrainians?
Two months earlier, Kaganovich boasted in Rostov-on-Don that the Party had
definitively settled the question of who would defeat whom in the struggle
between the régime and its opponents. [61] Kaganovich was right regarding
the peasants: by then their opposition to collectivization was broken, as
was their "sabotage" of state procurement.
Ukrainian peasants - as peasants - were no more an obstacle to the Party's
policies or a danger to its domination than were the Russian peasants. There
was no more need to exterminate them, than to eliminate the Russian
peasants. However, Ukrainian peasants presented a more formidable threat to
Stalin's regime as Ukrainians.
In 1925, Stalin lectured the Yugoslav comrades on the national question. He
told them that the peasant question was "the basis, the quintessence of the
national question." "That explains the fact," he affirmed, "that the
peasantry constitutes the main army of the national movement, that there is
no powerful national movement without the peasant army."
The social role of the peasantry is inexorably connected with its national
needs, and because of the peasants' predominance in agrarian societies, the
national question becomes in essence a peasant question. And to be perfectly
clear, Stalin adds that the national question is "not an agrarian but a
peasant question, for these are two different things." [62]
Stalin's separation of the peasant's economic and social functions is
noteworthy. Stalin criticized the Yugoslavs for underestimating "the
inherent strength of the national movement," and warned them that the lack
of understanding and underestimation of the national question constituted a
grave danger.
Stalin's convictions did not change in later years; he continued to be
vigilant lest the national movements endanger the integrity of his
multinational empire, and he had no intention of underestimating the
"profoundly popular and profoundly revolutionary character of the national
movement" in Soviet Ukraine, engendered by the Ukrainian national revival in
the 1920s and fanned by the Party-approved Ukrainianization. By the end of
1932, Ukrainian peasants had been vanquished as peasants; Stalin now
intended to eliminate a part of them - as Ukrainians.
Revealing evidence of Stalin's concern for the national question is provided
by Stalin's correspondence with Kaganovich in August 1932. The two agreed
that the Ukrainian party was dragging its feet on grain procurement and that
Petlyurites and agents of Pilsudski infiltrated the party.
Stalin raised the threat that unless proper measures were taken, "we can
lose Ukraine"; Kaganovich agreed, adding: "The theory that we, Ukrainians,
have unjustly suffered, fosters a solidarity and a rotten mutual guarantee
not only among the middle level cadres, but also at the top."[63]
Of course, both knew that there was little threat from imaginary
"Petlyurites" or "Pilsudski agents," who supposedly infiltrated the Party
(this was a directive for the Party on how to interpret these matters), but
there was an eventual threat from the Ukrainian national revival, whose
mainstay was the peasantry. Kremlin's 14 December 1932 analysis of the
procurement difficulties in Ukraine and the North Caucasus was blamed on
the Ukrainianization policy, and both were attacked with a vengeance.
Moscow ordered Party and State authorities in Ukraine "to pay serious
attention to the proper conduct of Ukrainianization, eliminate its
application in a mechanical way, remove Petlyurite and other
bourgeois-nationalist elements from Party and Soviet organizations."
They were also ordered to "carefully pick and train Ukrainian bolshevik
cadres, secure systematic party leadership and control over the process of
Ukrainianization."[64] This was a blueprint for ethnocide; it effectively
put an end to Ukrainianization in Ukraine, and even more so in the RSFSR.
This document was more of a precursor for the genocidal Stalin border
directive than the passport decree.
The other region closed by Stalin's 22 January 1933 directive was the North
Caucasus Territory, but the main target was its Kuban region. The directive
even begins with the notification about peasant exodus from "Kuban and
Ukraine." What did the two targeted areas - Ukraine, a union republic, and
Kuban, a neighboring region of the RSFSR - have in common? They were
important grain-producing regions.
That is true, but so was the Central-Black Earth region, which was not
singled out. There was a more important consideration at that time for
Stalin and Kaganovich: the Ukrainianization program was transforming in a
dangerous way the overwhelmingly Ukrainian peasant population of Ukraine
and Kuban into Ukrainians, conscious of their national identity.
At that time, there were some eight million ethnic Ukrainians living outside
the Ukrainian SSR, mostly in the regions of the RSFSR, contiguous with
Ukraine. The North Caucasus had about three million Ukrainians, and almost
half of them lived in the Kuban region, where it constituted about two
thirds of the population.
Also significant was the fact that about one-half million of the Kuban
Ukrainians were not of traditional peasants stock but descendants of
Ukrainian Zaporozhian Kozaks, people with a military history and democratic
traditions. It was in these regions that most of the starvation outside
Ukraine took place. (Kazakhstan is a separate case.)
The Ukrainianization of the Ukrainian "colonies" in the RSFSR, and
especially of the Kuban, had already added fuel to what Martin calls the
Piedmontist principle of border disputes between the Ukrainian SSR and
Moscow. The peasant/Kozak population could prove to be a disruptive force
in the future.
In its 14 December 1932 decision, Moscow took to task the party and state
authorities of the North Caucasus Territory: "... the flippancy in carrying
out unbolshevik 'Ukrainianization' of almost half of the districts of North
Caucasus, which did not come from the cultural interests of the population,
and which was carried out with a complete absence of controls on the part of
regional organs over the Ukrainianization of the schools and the press, gave
the enemies of the Soviet power legal cover for organizing opposition by
kulaks, [former] officers, returning Cossack emigrants, members of the Kuban
Rada [analogous to the Ukrainian Central Rada of 1917-1918], etc." [65]
The prescribed punishment was harsh: "Immediately change the clerical work
of the Soviet and cooperative organs and all the newspapers and journals in
the 'Ukrainianized' districts of North Caucasus from the Ukrainian language
to the Russian language, as the more understandable to the Kuban population,
and also prepare the transfer of teaching in schools into the Russian
language." The local authorities were further warned to immediately verify
and improve the composition of school personnel in the "Ukrainianized"
districts. [66]
The foregoing examination of Stalin's twin targets should be sufficient to
show that their common characteristic was their national or ethnic identity.
The nexus joining the Ukrainian national group in the Ukrainian SSR (whether
taken in its civic or ethnic sense) and the Ukrainian ethnic group in Kuban
was their Ukrainianness.
The requirement of the UN Convention on Genocide is thus satisfied:
Ukrainian peasants in Ukraine and in the RSFSR were being destroyed in their
capacity as Ukrainians; their agrarian role was secondary. Peasants were the
most numerous part of the Ukrainian national/ethnic group, consisting also
of intellectuals, state and party functionaries, and workers; and it was
this group that Stalin's régime decided, in the language of the UN
Convention, "to destroy in part."
The non-peasant Ukrainians did not die from starvation, but they were
definitely victims of the same genocidal intent. The intent was not to
destroy the whole Ukrainian nation (nor is total destruction of a specified
group a condition for the recognition of genocide by the UN Convention).
The intention was to destroy the élites and a sufficiently large portion of
the most dynamic element of the Ukrainian national group so as to cripple
the Ukrainian nation and reduce Ukrainians to what Stalin liked to call
"cogs" in the great state mechanism.
Stalin's genocidal intent should be sufficiently clear from the various
documents originated by him or signed by others on his orders or in
anticipation of such. Schabas insists that the "genocidaire" must have
knowledge of the consequences of his act. [67]
Stalin was privy to all the important documentation of the Soviet state,
cognizant of, and personally responsible for, all the policies, which
resulted in the death of millions of innocent people. The régime's public
denial of the famine and its rejection of foreign aid cannot be interpreted
in any other way than as a flaunting admission of its intent to starve the
population to death.
The most heinous crime of Stalin and his Communist régime is now quite
well known, especially to the academic community, but various aspects of
the catastrophe still need further research, systematization and
conceptualization. This question of the Ukrainian genocide is a case in
point. We need a breakdown by nationality of the population that died from
the famine in the RSFSR to see how many of the victims were ethnic
Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars and other nationalities.
There is no systematic study to shows the forms and the degree of
discriminatory practices of the Stalinist régime in its policies towards
different localities and nationalities in the ethnically mixed regions with
regards to the procurement quotas, the implementation of Moscow orders.
The national composition of command structure and the cadres that carried
out food confiscation and distribution must also be examined in a more
systematic way. There was some internal aid to some of the hungry
population, but the economic and other reasons behind the régime's help
need a more thorough study.
While the very existence of the famine was vehemently denied and foreign
efforts to organize famine relief were rejected, some foreign aid did get
through to the German and Jewish communities, but this aspect of the Soviet
policies is generally ignored in the literature on the famine, possibly
because it has not been sufficiently explored and documented. This
additional research will give us a more complete knowledge and a better
understanding of the Ukrainian famine and help establish its genocidal
character. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Roman Serbyn is Professor of History at University of
Quebec and the author of numerous articles on Ukrainian history and
nationalities problems in Ukraine in the 19th and 20th centuries. He is
also the editor or co-editor of a number of books, inclusing "Federalisme
et Nations" (1969) and "Famine in Ukraine, 1932-1933" (1986). His
most recent book was "Za yaku spadshchynu?" (1986)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See, for example, R. W. Davies and Stephen G. Wheatcraft, "The Years
of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933" (New York : Palgrave Macmillan,
2004).
[2] Ukrainian Weekly, 16 November 2003.
[3] Kuchynsky at the UN discussion of Holocaust Day, 1 November 2005.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Stanislav V. Kulchytsky, "Holod 1932-1933 rr. v Ukrayini yak henotsyd"
(Kyiv, 2005), pp. 3, 21.
[6] This is the "Den" version (24 November 2005). In the book version (p.
85), "not Ukrainians" was dropped.
[7] ICCEES VII World Congress Abstracts, "Europe - Our Common Home?"
(Berlin, 25-30 July 2005), pp. 247-248. The importance of the intent as
defined by the convention is shown in Michael Ellman, "The Role of
Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931-1934,"
"Europa-Asia Studies," vol. 57, no. 6 (September 2005), pp. 823-841.
(Emphasis added by author.)
[8] "Den," 8 November 2005.
[9] Raphael Lemkin, "Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation -
Analysis of Government - Proposals for Redress" (Washington, D.C.:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1944), p. 80.
[10] "Les actes constituant un danger général (interétatique) considérés
comme delites du droit des gens," "Librarie de la cour d'appel et de l'order
des advocates" (Paris, 1933).
[11] Lemkin, p. 80.; [12] Emphasis added by author.
[13] William A. Schabas, "Genocide in International Law. The Crime of
Crimes" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), Chapter 3.
Groups protected by the Convention.
[14] Ibid., p. 115.; [15] Ibid., p. 237.
[16] Leo Kuper, "Genocide. Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century"
(Penguin, 1981), p. 35.
[17] On circumstantial evidence, see Ellman, pp. 829-830.
[18] Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn, "The History and Sociology of
Genocide. Analyses and Case Studies" (New Haven and London : Yale
University Press, 1990), p. 29.
[19] Schabas, p. 245.
[20] Most active in the field have been Ukrainian historians: Stanislav
Kulchytsky, Yuri Shapoval, Valeriy Vasilev, Volodymyr Serhiychuk and a few
others. See also "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini: prychyny ta naslidky"
(Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2003).
[21] V. P. Danilov and I. E. Zelenin, "Orhanizovannyi golod: k 70-letiiu
obshchkrestianskoi trahedii," "Otechestvennaya istoriya," no. 5 (2004).
[22] Among the most recent publications: Vernichtung durch Hunger: "Der
Holodomor in der Ukraine und der UdSSR." (A special issue of Osteuropa).
December 2004; "La morte della terra: La grande "carestia" in Ucraina nel
1932-1933. Atti del Convegno Vicenza, 16-188 ottobre 2003" (Roma : Viella,
2004); Robert Conquest, "Raccolto di dolore" (Italian edition of Harvest of
Sorrow) (Roma : Liberal edizioni, 2004).
[23] Ellman, p. 835.; [24] Danilov and Zelenin, p. 107.
[25] "Dyskusiyi i obsuzhdeniya. Kollektivizatsiya: uroki, sushchnost,
posledsviya," "Istoriya SSSR," no. 3 (1989), p. 46. The telegram is wrongly
dated here as 23 January instead of of 22 January.
[26] E. H. Oskolkov, "Golod 1932/1933," in "Khlebozagotovki i golod
1932-1933 goda v Severno-Kavkazkom krae (Rostov-na-Donu, 1991),"
pp. 75-76.
[27] "Kollektivizatsiia: istoky, sushchnosst, posledstviia. Beseda za
'kruglym stolom'," "Istoriya SSSR," pp. 46-52.
[28] "Dyrektyvnyi lyst TsK KP(b0U ta Radnarkomu USRR vsim obkomam
partii ta oblvykonkomam pro neprypustymist' masovykh vyizdiv kolhospnykiv
ta odnoosibnykiv za mezhi Ukrainy," in "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv na Ukraini:
ochyma istorykiv, movoiu dokumentiv" (Kyiv, 1990), pp. 341-342.
[29] "Holodomor 1932-1933 rr. v Ukraini: prychyny i naslidky. Mizhnarodna
naukova konferentsiia." Kyiv, 9-10 veresnia 1993. Materialy. (Kyiv, 1995),
p. 43.
[30] Ibid., p. 121.
[31] "O golode 1932-1933 godov i eho otsenka na Ukraine," "Otechestvennaya
istoriya," no. 6. (1994), pp. 256-262. (Signed: I. E. Zelenin, N. A.
Ivnitskiy, V. V. Kondrashin, E. N. Oskolkov.)
[32] N. A. Ivnitskiy, "Kollektivizatsiia i raskulachyvanie (nachala 30-kh
godov)" (Moskva, 1994), p. 204. (Reedited in 1996.)
[33] Nicolas Werth, "Un État contre son peuple. Violence, répression,
terreurs en Union soviétique," in Stéphane Courtois et al. (eds.), Le livre
noir du communisme. "Crimes, terreur, repression" (Paris: 1997), p. 183. For
convenience, all references here are to the English edition: "The Black Book
of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression" (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1999).
[34] Ibid., p. 164.; [35] Ibid., p. 168.
[36] "Le pouvoir soviétique et la paysannerie dans les rapports de la police
politique (1930-1934)," "Bulletin de l'IHTP," nos. 81-82 (December 2003).
[37] Nikolia Vert, "Gosudarstvo protiv svoego naroda. Nasilie, repressii i
terror v Sovetskom Soiuze," in Stefan Kurtua et al., "Chernaia kniga
komunizma. Prestupleniia terror i repressi." (Moskva: Tri Veka Istoriyi,
1999), p. 170.
[38] Courtois, "Introduction. The Crimes of Communism" in "The Black
Book," p. 9.
[39] Terry Martin, "The Affirmative Action Empire. Nations and Nationalism
in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939" (Ithaca and London, 2001). See Chapter 7:
"The National Interpretation of the 1933 Famine"; the translation is on pp.
306-307.
[40] Terry Martin, "The 1932-1933 Ukrainian Terror: New Documentation on
Surveillance and the Thought Process of Stalin," in "Famine-Genocide in
Ukraine 1932-1933" (Toronto, 2003), p. 98. The Ukrainian version, Teri
Martyn, "Pro kozhnoho z nas dumaye Stalin ... ," "Krytyka" (December
2003), contains a Ukrainian translation of the document (pp. 17-18).
[41] D'Ann Penner, "The Agrarian Strike of 1932-1933" (Kennan Institute for
Advanced Russian Studies, Occasional Papers #269) (March 1998), p. 23.
[42] Ibid., p. 32.; [43] Ibid. p. 28.
[44] M. P. Kots (ed.), "Holod-henotsyd 1933 roku v Ukrayini:
istoryko-politychnyi analiz sotsialno-demohrafichnyky ta
moralno-psykholohichnykh naslidkiv. Mizhnarodna naukovo-teoretychna
konferentsiya. Kyiv, 28 lystopada 1998" (Kyiv, 2000) ; see Ivnitskiy, p.
113; Serhiychuk, p. 125; Lukyanenko, pp. 240-247; Zdioruk, pp. 248-252.
[45] "Holodomory v Ukrayini 1921-1923, 1932-1933, 1946-1947: Zlochyny
protry narodu" (Kyiv, 2000), p. 104. [Emphasis added by author.]
[46] Valeriy Vasilev, "Tsina holodnoho khliba: polityka kerivnytstva SRSR i
USRR v 1932-1933 rr.," in "Komandyry velykoho holodu: Poyizdky V.
Molotova i L. Kahanovycha v Ukrayinu ta na Pivnichnyi Kavkaz" (Kyiv:
Heneza, 2001), p. 67.
[47] "Tragediya sovetskoi derevni. Collectivizatsia i raskulachivanie.
Dokumenty i material," vol. 3 (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2001), pp. 634-635.
[48] "Stalin i Kaganovich Perepiska. 1931-1936" (Moskva: ROSSPEN, 2001).
[49] "Ukrayina. Parlametski slukhannya shchodo vshanuvannya pamyati zhertv
holodomoru 1932-1933 rokiv. 12 lyutoho 2003 roku" (Kyiv, 2003); see
Tabachnyk, pp. 12-24; Kulchytsky, pp. 68-70.
[50] Rudolf Ia. Myrsky, "Holodomor i Kholokost v Ukrayini yak
vseukrayinska trahediya (filosofsko-politolohichni rozdumy," "Visnyk
natsionalnoho universytetu 'Lvivska politekhnika'", no. 493 (2003), p. 299.
[51] Yuri Shapoval, "Holod 1932-1933 rokiv: Kreml i politychne kerivnytstvo
USRR," in "Try holodomory v Ukrayini v XXst.: pohlyad iz sohodennya.
Materialy mizhnarodnoyi naukovoyi konferentsiyi" (Kyiv, 2003), pp. 43-45,
36.
[52] "Polityka totalnoho vyluchennya khliba v ukrayinskomu seli: henotsyd
proty selyan," in II NANU. Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukrayini: prychyny ta
naslidky (Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2003), p. 440.
[53] Ibid., pp. 551, 632-633.
[54] Shapoval (ed.), "The Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine."
(Kashtan Press, 2005), p. 9.
[55] Ibid., pp. 282-283.
[56] "Chomu Stalin nas nyshchyv," "Den" (25 October, 8 November and 22
November 2005) ; rendered into English as "Why Did Stalin Exterminate
Ukrainians."
[57] Stanislav V. Kulchytsky, "Holod 1932-1933 rr. v Ukrayini yak henotsyd"
(Kyiv: II NANU, 2005). The book's relation to the Den articles is not
mentioned, nor is the reader informed that changes (some of them quite
important) had been made in the book version.
[58] Conquest, "Harvest of Sorrow. Soviet Collectivization and the Terror
Famine" (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
[59] Egbert Jahn, "On the Phenomonology of Mass Extermination in Europe.
A Comparative Perspective on the Holodomor," in "Osteuropa. Sketches of
Europe: Old Lands, New Worlds" (Bonn, 2005), p. 212.
[60] Martin, "The Affirmative Action Empire," pp. 300-301.
[61] "Komandyry velykoho holodu," p. 49.
[62] J. V. Stalin, "Concerning the National Question in Yugoslavia," in
"Works," vol. 7 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954),
pp. 71-72.
[63] "Stalin i Kaganovich Perepiska"; see Stalin, p. 274; Kaganovich, p.
283. [64] "Tragedia Sovetskoi Derevni,: T. 3., p. 577.
[65] "Tragediya sovetskoi derevni," pp. 576-577.
[66] Ibid., p. 577.; [67] Schabas, p. 207.
========================================================
2007.11.27 | Хома Брут
стаття Ющенка в Wall Street Journal, 26/11/2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119602928167703318.htmlBy VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
November 26, 2007
Kiev
Seventy-five years ago the Ukrainian people fell victim to a crime of unimaginable horror. Usually referred to in the West as the Great Famine or the Terror Famine, it is known to Ukrainians as the Holodomor. It was a state-organized program of mass starvation that in 1932-33 killed an estimated seven million to 10 million Ukrainians, including up to a third of the nation's children. With grotesque understatement the Soviet authorities dismissed this event as a "bad harvest." Their intention was to exonerate themselves of responsibility and suppress knowledge of both the human causes and human consequences of this tragedy. That is reason enough for us to pause and remember.
During the long decades of Soviet rule it was dangerous for Ukrainians to discuss their greatest national trauma. To talk of the Holodomor was a crime against the state, while the memoirs of eyewitnesses and the accounts of historians like Robert Conquest and the late James Mace were banned as anti-Soviet propaganda. Yet each Ukrainian family knew from bitter personal memory the enormity of what had happened. They also knew that it had been inflicted on them deliberately to punish Ukraine and destroy the basis of its nationhood. It is to honor the victims and serve the cause of historical truth that independent Ukraine is today working to promote greater understanding and recognition of the Holodomor, both at home and abroad.
We are not doing so out of a desire for revenge or to make a partisan political point. We know that the Russian people were among Stalin's foremost victims. Apportioning blame to their living descendents is the last thing on our minds. Our only wish is for this crime to be understood for what it truly was. That is why the Ukrainian Parliament last year passed a law recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide and why I am asking our friends and allies to endorse that position. A world that indulges historical amnesia or falsification is condemned to repeat its worst mistakes.
Genocide is a highly charged term, and there are those who still dispute its applicability in the case of Ukraine. It is therefore worth looking at how the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention legally defines the issue. It describes genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" including "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." The Holodomor falls squarely within the terms of this definition. Significantly, that was also the opinion of Raphael Lemkin, the legal scholar who conceived the Genocide Convention.
There is now a wealth of historical material detailing the specific features of Stalin's forced collectivization and terror famine policies against Ukraine. Other parts of the Soviet Union suffered terribly as well. But in the minds of the Soviet leadership there was a dual purpose in persecuting and starving the Ukrainian peasantry. It was part of a campaign to crush Ukraine's national identity and its desire for self-determination. As Stalin put it a few years earlier: "There is no powerful national movement without the peasant army...in essence, the national question is a peasant question." In seeking to reverse the policy of "Ukrainianization" that promoted limited cultural and political autonomy during the 1920s, Stalin decided to target the peasantry, representing as it did 80% of the population. His solution to the national question in Ukraine was mass murder through starvation.
Stalin's cruel methods included the allocation of astronomic grain requisition quotas that were impossible to meet and which left nothing for the local population to eat. When the quotas were missed, armed units were sent in. Toward the end of 1932, entire villages and regions were turned into a system of isolated starvation ghettos called "black boards." Throughout this period, the Soviet Union continued to export grain to the West and even used grain to produce alcohol. By early 1933, the Soviet leadership decided to radically reinforce the blockade of Ukrainian villages. Eventually, the whole territory of Ukraine was surrounded by armed forces, turning the entire country into a vast death camp.
The specifically national motive behind Stalin's treatment of Ukraine was also evident in the terror campaign that targeted the institutions and individuals that sustained the cultural and public life of the Ukrainian nation. Waves of purges engulfed academic institutions, literary journals, publishing houses and theaters. Victims included the Ukrainian Academy of Science, the editorial board of the Soviet Ukrainian Encyclopedia, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and ultimately the Ukrainian Communist Party. This was a systematic campaign against the Ukrainian nation, its history, culture, language and way of life.
The Holodomor was an act of genocide designed to suppress the Ukrainian nation. The fact that it failed and Ukraine today exists as a proud and independent nation does nothing to lessen the gravity of this crime. Nor does it acquit us of the moral responsibility to acknowledge what was done. On the 75th anniversary, we owe it to the victims of the Holodomor and other genocides to be truthful in facing up to the past.
Mr. Yushchenko is Ukraine's president.
2007.11.29 | Хома Брут
Прем"єр-міністр Канади зустрінеться з пережившими Голод
Прем"єр-мінстр Канади зустрінеться з пережившими Голодомор в рамках церемонії в Оттаві. У. Конгрес Канади закликає уряд визнати Голодомор геноцидом.htt://www.ucc.ca
For Immediate Release
November 28, 2007
Prime Minister to meet with Ukrainian genocide survivors during Parliament Hill ceremony
Ottawa - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will launch commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor - the Ukrainian genocide in Ukraine of 1932-33 during a ceremony on Wednesday, November 28 at 7:30 p.m., Reading Room (Room 237-C, Centre Block). The Prime Minister will join the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Group and Ukraine's Embassy in Canada in honouring the victims of the famine, which claimed up to 10 million lives in the very heart of Europe's breadbasket.
Survivors of the Holodomor from the Ottawa region will participate in the ceremony which will include an ecumenical service and presentations by federal party leaders.
Ukrainians in Canada join the international community in commemorating this tragedy to spread the truth about the Holodomor, and ensure acknowledgement of the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress calls upon the Government of Canada to be a leader in these efforts and to support Ukraine as it petitions the United Nations to acknowledge the Holodomor as genocide.
For further information contact
Ostap Skrypnyk
Executive Director
866.942.4627
ucc@ucc.ca
www.ucc.ca
2007.12.25 | Хома Брут
наміри зняти документальний фільм в Голівуді
Holodomor documentary feature film to be made by established filmmakers in Hollywood"HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33," a feature-length documentary, is in production by Tomkiw Entertainment and Moksha Films. The film's production coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Ukraine's genocide of 1932-1933.
"HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33" is an edgy, auspicious, cinematic look at a very dark and horrific time in which millions of people died due to a man-made famine in Ukraine, perpetrated by Joseph Stalin.
In November of 2006, Hollywood filmmakers Director Bobby Leigh and Producer Marta Tomkiw, were invited to a Holodomor memorial service in Los Angeles. "Although I had fancied myself as a history buff, seeing every World War I and II movie that I could and studying countless hours of history channels, I had never before heard of Holodomor or any genocide or famine in Ukraine. I was also surprised, as I later found out, that nobody I knew had ever heard of it either" says Leigh.
In the early 1930's, Ukraine was the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, had bountiful crops of grain, yet its people were dying of starvation. In order to crush the will of the independent-minded Ukrainian peasants and secure collectivization of all Ukrainian lands, Joseph Stalin ordered an army of ruthless, well-fed Communist Party activists to confiscate all harvested grain and seize all the foodstuffs in the villages. As a result of this genocidal decree, by the end of 1933 nearly 25 percent of the Ukrainian population - over 10 million people, including 3 million children - had perished.
In the face of terror, Ukrainians had little possibility of escaping their horrific fate or even to create another type of life elsewhere. Travel was banned for Ukrainians, keeping them confined in a prison of starvation within their own villages.
This is the first full-length feature film documentary on this tragic event in history. "HOLODOMOR; Ukraine's Genocide of 1932-33" will tell the story of the cold-blooded destruction of human life, silenced from the world for over seven decades.
"Marta and I researched and found no documentary film on this topic with the exception of "Harvest of Despair," which was made in 1983 and was only 53 minutes. A full-length theatrical documentary movie had to be made. I think we both felt that it was time that all the souls who needlessly died or had been murdered were given a collective voice to tell their story." remembers Leigh.
"We found it a duty or a calling to lift the veil of silence that's been shrouding the Ukrainian nation for too many years." recalls Tomkiw.
"This story should be important to ALL of us, not only as a historical fact but also because, the atrocities that happened to the Ukrainian people should never happen again." says Leigh.
Upon Luba Keske's urging and planting of the seed (Mrs. Keske is a member of the Los Angeles Holodomor committee), as well as Marta Tomkiw's convincing tactics, Leigh decided that, "this story needed to be told after being suppressed for 75 years."
Marta Tomkiw is a filmmaker who now lives in Los Angeles. She is a Detroit native of Ukrainian immigrants and grew up attending Ukrainian schools (Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Grade School, High School, Ridna Shkola - Ukrainian Saturday school), was a member of PLAST (Ukrainian scouting organization), and briefly studied Ukrainian dance. She studied film at the School of Visual Arts in NYC where she also worked at Rockamerica Video, a music video production company where she worked with various recording artists. She graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in film and television. She has also lived and worked in Miami for the television show "World Business Review with Casper Weinberger" and later worked as an Executive Producer for AFI Filmworks and produced car commercials.
Marta has produced several independent films with her most recent being a documentary titled HIGH TECH SOUL about the history and evolution of techno music in Detroit. She also works as a Location Manager on feature films and television shows and has worked on various film projects some of which include: JOHN HANCOCK starring Will Smith and Charlize Theron, GET SMART starring Steve Carrell, TRANSFORMERS (for which she received a "COLA Award" ((California On-Location Awards)) for Location Team of the Year), "Ghost Whisperer", "West Wing", RED EYE, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, S.W.A.T., KILL BILL, 8 MILE and many others.
Bobby Leigh served as a producer on THE GIFT--At Risk starring Vince Vaughn and Randy Travis which debuted at the Monaco Film Festival. For Visualiner Entertainment, Bobby is a producer on the Award Winning feature film STRIPPED DOWN staring Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills 90210" and "Dancing with the Stars,") The film, which took three awards at the Silver Lake Film Festival, including Outstanding Achievement in Production, has been sold to eight European Markets including CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Ukraine, and will have an American theatrical release in 2008. Recently he produced THE GUITAR PLAYER'S GIRLFRIEND, winner of the Los Angeles Screenwriting Competition sponsored by KODAK and PANAVISION. With Filmmakers Alliance, Leigh produced PLUS or MINUS: A Few Things I Thought I Should Consider with director Amanda Swikow. Leigh also directed the Children's film IT'S ALL AN ILLUSION for Christopher Coppola's Project Access Hollywood. The film, which took third place in the best picture category, is also on the Festival circuit. Other film credits include INFIDELITY, CHILDLIKE VIOLENCE, BURNING MAN, BROKEN and BUTTERFLY SKY.
Bobby served as a producer for three "MTV Video Awards" Television shows, two in New York and one in Dublin. Bobby also produced VISIONFEST/The Vision Awards for Filmmakers Alliance and the Directors Guild of America for four years in a row. Vision Award honorees include such renowned filmmakers as Mike Figgis, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Allison Anders, Alexander Payne, David O'Russell, Werner Herzog, Michael and Mark Polish and Laura Dern.
Currently Tomkiw and Leigh have put together a five minute sample trailer of the film and are looking for financing for the documentary feature film. "I really feel that this subject needs awareness and must be brought into the mainstream cinematic arena. There is no more effective way to get into everyone's homes and hearts than through cinema." says Leigh.
To view the film trailer and to donate, please see www.HolodomorTheMovie.com.
Be a part of helping the world finally learn about Ukraine's Holodomor, "The biggest lie. The best kept secret."
"History knows no other crime of such a nature and magnitude."
http://www.HolodomorTheMovie.com
Press contact: Marta Tomkiw +1.213.840.4780
Marta@HolodomorTheMovie.com