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
LIGHT A CANDLE !
For Those Who Died In The Holodomor 1932-1933
International Day Of Memory
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2006
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 793
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
KYIV, UKRAINE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2006
-------- INDEX OF ARTICLES --------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to the Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
1. UKRAINE MARKS 73RD ANNIVERSARY OF FORCED
SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
Natasha Lisova, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 24, 2006
2. UKRAINIAN LEADER YUSHCHENKO URGES MEMBERS OF
PARLIAMENT TO RECOGNIZE 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1000 gmt 24 Nov 06
BBC Monitoring Service, United Kingdom, Nov 24, 2006
3. PRIME MINISTER YANUKOVYCH: HOLODOMOR A TRAGEDY
OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
"Years 1932-33 are a black page of history of the Ukrainian people, as
well as of peoples of Russia, Belarus, Middle Asia," the Premier said.
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
4. YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON PARLIAMENT TO ACKNOWLEDGE
1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
5. UKRAINE SECURITY SERVICE'S DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ON
1932-1933 FAMINE TO BE PUBLISHED IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
6. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT UNVEILS HOLODOMOR MONUMENT
"Such monuments should be erected in thousands of Ukrainian villages."
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
7. UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES TO HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS
OF FAMINE AND MASS REPRESSIONS ON NOVEMBER 25
Army joins the national action 'Light A Candle!'
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
8. LEGACY OF FAMINE DIVIDES UKRAINE
By Helen Fawkes, BBC News, Kiev
BBC, United Kingdom, Friday, November 24, 2006
9. UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED
AS GENOCIDE, SPEAKER MOROZ STATES
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 23, 2006
10. UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON BILL DECLARING
1932-1933 FAMINE AN ACT OF GENOCIDE ON NOV 28 - DEC 1
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
11. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS PARLIAMENT NOT
RECOGNIZING FAMINE AS 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE PREVENTS
OTHER CONTRIES' RECOGNITION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
12. OLEKSANDR SLIPCHENKO: RECOGNIZING THE HOLODOMOR
AS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IS A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
TO THE MEMORY OF ITS VICTIMS
INTERVIEW: by Oleksandr Slipchenko, Ambassador of Ukraine & leader
Ministry of Foreign Affairs's working group on problems of the Holodomor
BY: Mykola Siruk, The Day newspaper, No. 203
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 22, 2006 published in Ukrainian
Published in English by the Action Ukraine Report (AUR), #793, Article 12
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
13. HUMAN TRAGEDY NEEDS TO BE HONOURED, NOT EXPLOITED
FROM THE EDITOR: Peter Dickinson
What's On magazine, No. 43/2006, Kyiv, Ukraine, 24-30 Nov 2006
14. UKRAINIAN PEOPLE'S PARTY CALLS ON PRESIDENT TO
DISMISS RADA FOR SUSPENSION OF DECLARATION
OF 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 23, 2006
15. RECOGNITION OF FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIAN
NATION MEANS NO COMPENSATION BUT WILL ENABLE
UKRAINIAN NATION TO LEARN THEIR HISTORY,
ACADEMICIAN IHOR YUKHNOVSKYI BELIEVES
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
16. "SO-CALLED" HOLODOMOR, CONSEQUENCES FOR UKRAINE
By Oleksandr Kramarenko, Luhansk
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #37, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, 21 Nov 2006
17. STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMMEMORATION
OF GREAT FAMINE-HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE
STATEMENT: by Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Friday, November 24, 2006
18. GARETH JONES: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. HOW A
WELSH JOURNALIST EXPOSED SOVIET UKRAINE'S
FAMINE-GENOCIDE AND MET A TRAGIC FATE
Marta D. Olynyk, Canada
Community Announcements (Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal)
Canada, Thursday, November 23, 2006
19. ALL AUSTRALIANS INVITED TO REMEMBER THE MILLIONS
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations
Representing 24 Peak Ukrainian Organisations in Australia
Member of Ukrainian World Congress, Australia, Thu, 23 Nov, 2006
Published by Action Ukraine Report #793, Article 19
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
20. GOLODOMOR UCRANIA 1932-33
Ass. dos Ucranianos em Portugal (SPILKA) - Homenagem
From: Mariya Dets, ucranianosemportugal@gmail.com
To: Morgan Williams, mwilliams@sigmableyzer.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Published by the Action Ukraine Report #793, Article 20
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
21. UKRAINE: THE FAMINE OF 1921-22: CONFISCATION OF CHURCH
TREASURES; THE GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-33 "TORGSINS"
"A History of the Destruction and Preservation of Cultural Treasures"
By Serhii Bilokin, Doctor of Historical Sciences
Book: "Ukrainian Sculpture And Icons, A History of Their Rescue"
Exhibition Catalogue, Rodovid Press, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2006, Pgs 26-29.
Reprinted With Permission by the Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
#793, Article 22, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
22. LE TABOU DE L'"HOLODOMOR" UKRAINIEN
LE MONDE, Paris, France, Friday, November 24, 2006
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1. UKRAINE MARKS 73RD ANNIVERSARY OF FORCED
SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
Natasha Lisova, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 24, 2006
KIEV - If a black flag appeared waving in the air above a Ukrainian village
in 1933, Ukrainians knew that every single resident was dead, their starved
bodies waiting to be collected.
On Saturday, this ex-Soviet republic marks the 73rd anniversary of the Great
Famine - a tragedy orchestrated by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that
continues to haunt and divide the nation of 47 million.
President Viktor Yushchenko wants the deaths of an estimated 10 million
recognized as genocide, but Russia has warned Kiev against taking that step.
During the height of the Soviet-era famine, 33,000 people died of hunger
every day. Cases of cannibalism were widespread as desperation deepened.
Parents ate their children, and adult children ate elderly parents.
"Cats were eaten, dogs were eaten, then people started eating each other,"
Anna Vasilieva, 85, told The Associated Press.
She said her younger brother, Oleksiy, once returned home and told her he
had just seen their neighbor eat a boiled hand. "He told me, 'I also want to
eat an arm, I want to eat fingers,'" said Vasilieva.
Stalin provoked the famine as part of his campaign to bring peasants under
control by forcing them to give up their land and join collective farms - a
policy that was particularly calamitous for Ukraine, with its vast stretches
of fertile farmland.
The overwhelming majority of deaths were in Ukraine, which historians
say lost one-third of its population, and Stalin's actions came amid other
Soviet attempts to stamp out the growth of Ukrainian nationalism.
Authorities ordered each village to provide the state with a certain amount
of grain, but the demands exceeded crop yields and as village after village
failed to meet the requirements, they were put on a blacklist.
That meant that all food was taken from the village, but residents were
prohibited to leave - effectively condemning them to starvation.
The famine was kept secret by the Soviet authorities, but information
trickled out over the years and Ukraine declassified more than 1,000 files
documenting it in 2003.
Some 10 countries, including the United States, have recognized it as a
genocide. But the pro-Western Yushchenko's attempts to have it
acknowledged as such in Ukraine have met with resistance.
Russia argues that the orchestrated famine did not specifically target
Ukrainians but also other peoples in the Soviet agricultural belt including
Russian and Kazakhs.
Russia, the successor state to the Soviet Union, has been reluctant to tread
too deeply on Soviet-era crimes.
Some lawmakers allied to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, bowing to
Kremlin complaints, have proposed dropping the word genocide from a bill
on the 1932-33 Great Famine, suggesting it be called a tragedy instead.
Ukraine's Communists also strongly oppose declaring the famine a genocide.
On the eve of the anniversary, Yushchenko on Friday appealed to politicians
"to get off their knees and name this page of our history."
"When 10 million people die over two (years), it is not a question open for
discussion with anybody, it is genocide," Yushchenko said.
At its height, bodies of dead people lay across city streets waiting for
police to take them. Many parents abandoned their children at railway
stations, hopeful police would pick them up and take them to orphanages
where there was food.
Many villages simply died away. Authorities confiscated what grain they
found.
"They (the authorities) even took food from pans and pots, (they) looked for
it everywhere," said Dmytro Kalenyk, 88, one of two people in his 14-member
family who survived the famine. He said his grandmother's stomach exploded
when she ate bunch of beets he had managed to find.
"It was an awful death. The whole room was stained with my grandmother's
insides," said Kalenyk, who in 1992 became the head of an association to
investigate the reasons and consequences of the famine in a bid to inform
Ukrainians about what happened.
Now the biggest concern for Kalenyk, who recently suffered a stoke, is
that a worthy monument to the victims be erected in Kiev.
On Saturday, Yushchenko planned to lay the cornerstone for a memorial
complex, and candles were to be lit across the country to commemorate the
victims.
Ukrainians who resisted the confiscation of food were sent to Siberia;
simply taking a wheat ear from a field could result in a death sentence.
In the first five months of 1933, 55,000 people were sent to Siberia and
2,100, including women and children, were shot. Meanwhile, Stalin denied
all accounts of a famine.
When one of Ukraine's political leaders complained to him and asked for
help, Stalin accused him of "creating fairy tales of hunger" and advised him
to resign from the Communist Party and to write children's books "for
fools." -30-
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2. UKRAINIAN LEADER YUSHCHENKO URGES MEMBERS OF
PARLIAMENT TO RECOGNIZE 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1000 gmt 24 Nov 06
BBC Monitoring Service, United Kingdom, Nov 24, 2006
KIEV - [Presenter] Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has again called on
the Supreme Council [parliament] to recognize the 1930s famine as an act of
genocide against Ukrainian people.
Yushchenko was making remarks at the opening of an exhibition of [the
famine-related] archive documents declassified by the Security Service of
Ukraine [SBU]. The exhibition called Declassified Memory is being held at
the Ukrainian House in Kiev.
The president recalled that a famine bill tabled at the Supreme Council
provides for administrative responsibility for making public statements that
deny the fact of genocide. [Passage omitted: The exhibition is going to get
the international status.]
[Yushchenko] I believe that when we are talking about the tragedy of
Ukrainian people in 1932-1933, you can call it nothing but an act of
genocide against the Ukrainian nation. This is why dozens of parliaments
in the world have expressed precisely this stance towards our history.
I want to call on all Ukrainian politicians to adopt a clear stance on this
matter, be courageous and get up from their knees. -30-
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3. PRIME MINISTER YANUKOVYCH: HOLODOMOR A TRAGEDY
OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
"Years 1932-33 are a black page of history of the Ukrainian people, as
well as of peoples of Russia, Belarus, Middle Asia," the Premier said.
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - Prime Minister of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych names Holodomor a
tragedy of the Ukrainian people. Yanukovych told journalists in Minsk after
the end of the meeting of the Council of head of governments of countries -
CIS members.
"Years 1932-33 are a black page of history of the Ukrainian people, as well
as of peoples of Russia, Belarus, Middle Asia," the Premier said.
According to him, November 25 he will visit graves of his relatives and in
the village Yanuki, Vetebskaya region.
Yanukovych expressed a regret that during today's meeting with colleagues
from CIS countries he could not discuss perspectives of possible recognition
of Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian nation by CIS
countries. -30-
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LINK: http://en.for-ua.com/news/2006/11/24/175032.html
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4. YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON PARLIAMENT TO ACKNOWLEDGE
1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIAN PEOPLE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko calls on the Verkhovna Rada to
acknowledge the famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against Ukrainian people.
He disclosed this opening exhibition of the Security Service of Ukraine
archive documents on the famine.
"I want to call on all Ukrainian politicians to define their position
concerning the issue and to be courageous," Yuschenko said.
He said that Ukrainian famine was admitted by parliaments of 10 countries.
The president says that administrative responsibility proposed by him is an
adequate step.
He said that some European countries have responsibility for denial of
Holocaust. "There are countries foreseeing 15-17 year of imprisonment for
denial of Holocaust," the president said.
He said that events of 1932-1933 were the genocide of the nation, as about
10 million died then. The president called the tragedy horror for Ukraine.
"It is hard to realize the tragedy, as it took place on the territory, which
has been called European garner for many years," the president said. He
also said it was horrible that the event has not been remembered for 75
years.
"We were taught to forget it. We were taught for 75 years to forget
fundamental canon of Orthodoxy," the president said.
The exhibition of archive documents of the Security Service of Ukraine
documents on the famine entitled Declassified Memory contains a part of
declassified materials of Soviet security agencies.
According to Security Service Chairman Ihor Dryzhchanyi, all famine
documents were declassified on August 18. The Service has 5,000 pages of
such documents. Those are archive criminal cases, directives, photos and
letters. Currently, the documents are available for scientists and can be
watched on Security Service website.
Dryzhchanyi said that taking into account interest of journalists and people
in these historical events, the exhibition can be held at the international
level. According to Dryzhchanyi, the Security Service has started to open
documents on the famine four years ago.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in early November 2006, Yuschenko
submitted the bill On 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada and
proposed to acknowledge the famine as genocide against Ukrainian people.
According to various estimates, from three to seven million people died of
the famine in 1932-1933. Parliaments of ten countries acknowledged the
famine of 1932-1933 as the genocide against the Ukrainians.
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FOOTNOTE: I attended the opening of the Holodomor Exhibition in
Kyiv today. The Exhibition was a good start but needs considerable
work before it could be held at the international level. Many key Soviet
documents used by scholars to document Soviet actions that caused
the induced starvation that killed millions were not on display. There
were not enough significant documents on display to make the
exhibition really interesting from a historical viewpoint. Reports indicated
the Exhibition was put together within the last two weeks and this fact
is rather evident.
Many of the photographs on display did not come from the SBU files
for sure as the SBU does not have any photographs in their files showing
famine victims. Many of the photographs are the same standard ones that
have been shown for many years regarding village life in the early 1930's
and the dekulakization program. There were many photographs and
new posters in the display, actually more that there were documents.
Unfortunately many of the photographs on display showing famine
victims came from other unidentified files/archives and included a
sizable number of photographs taken along the Volga River in Russia
during the 1921-1923 famine and have nothing whatsoever to do with
Ukraine. It was very alarming and surprising to have an Exhibition
claiming to be a SBU sponsored Exhibition that contained so many
glaring, gross and obvious historical errors in the photographs.
AUR EDITOR Morgan Williams
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5. UKRAINE SECURITY SERVICE'S DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ON
1932-1933 FAMINE TO BE PUBLISHED IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - The "Declassified Memory" exhibition in Kyiv presented as many as
5,000 pages of documents of USSR's entities, displaying the tragic event of
the 1932-1933 famine.
The exhibition has on a display orders, directives and secret documents of
the USSR Main Political Department on repression in Ukrainian villagers
and criminal cases of victims of the totalitarian policy of the communist
regime, pictures, and witnessing.
Taking the floor at the solemn opening ceremony, President Viktor
Yushchenko stressed that the 1932 to 1933 famine resulted in the death toll
of 10 million people, which is more versus during the WW II. The most
severe crime is that the Ukrainian nation was forced to forget about these
events.
According to Chief of the Security Service Ihor Dryzhchanyi, the SS's staff
were for several years engaged in searching for secret documents on famine.
Ihor Dryzhchanyi noted that the SS intends to prepare some data on the
famine consequences, and publish them in several languages. -30-
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FOOTNOTE: I certainly hope the SBU sticks to publishing documents
and does not bring into any of their publications the photographs of
famine victims taken in Russia in 1921-1923 along the Volga River such
as they had in their Holodomor Exhibition yesterday in Kyiv.
AUR EDITOR
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6. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT UNVEILS HOLODOMOR MONUMENT
"Such monuments should be erected in thousands of Ukrainian villages."
ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - Victor Yushchenko has attended a ceremony to unveil a monument
honoring the Holodomor victims in the village of Serhiivka (Chernihiv
oblast), president's press office reported. In his speech, the President
said such events were necessary to preserve national memory.
"Such monuments should be erected in thousands of Ukrainian villages. This
is our common obligation: we must remember what our grandparents and great
grandparents went through," he said, thanking the locals for their interest
in those tragic events and urging all Ukrainians to renew sites where the
Holodomor victims were buried.
The President reiterated that Joseph Stalin and his regime were to blame for
the tragedy. He said the fact of genocide against the Ukrainian nation could
not be questioned.
"I want the nation and its politicians to understand this," he said. "Our
voters are responsible that there are still politicians in Ukraine who deny
the genocide."
Yushchenko called on witnesses to those events to share their memories with
Holodomor researchers.
The President observed one minute of silence and prayed to honor the dead.
A snowball tree garden was then opened near the monument. Yushchenko
and Serhiivka pupils put yellow-and-blue ribbons on the branches.
Chernihiv Governor Mykola Lavryk, ex-Minister of Culture Ihor Likhovy, who
now heads the Secretariat Office to Preserve Cultural Heritage, Ukrainian
Diaspora Relations Coordinator Ivan Dratch and Prosvita Association Head
Pavlo Movchan attended the ceremony. -30-
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LINK: http://en.for-ua.com/news/2006/11/24/165713.html
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7. UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES TO HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS
OF FAMINE AND MASS REPRESSIONS ON NOVEMBER 25
Army joins the national action 'Light A Candle!'
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - The Ukrainian Armed Forces are going to honor memory of victims
of famines and mass political repressions on November 25. Ukrainian News
has learned this from the Armed Forces' press service.
According to its message, the army joins the national action 'Light A
Candle!' It also holds a series of measures to raise national self-
consciousness and respect to Ukraine's historical past in the crew.
The press service reported, that on November 25 all the military bases,
institutions and establishments of the Armed Forces lower the state flag.
At 16:00 servicemen will honor memory of the victims of famines and
political repressions with a minute of silence, during which all the other
measures will be stopped.
This day the military men will put in order monuments and memory signs,
burial places of victims of famines and political repressions, participate
in mass-meetings honoring the victims' memory and lay flowers.
On November 25 the Armed Forces plan to hold information and propaganda
measures, meetings with writers and scientists, show documentary films about
famines and mass political repressions in Ukraine.
The army also plans to make book exhibitions and presentations of books
devoted to honoring memory of victims of famines and political repressions
in libraries, clubs and garrison officer houses.
The statement tells, that all this measures will be held in accordance with
the President's order as to the Day of Memory of victims of famines and
mass political repressions.
Higher military educational institutions will hold memory lectures and
lessons, pedagogic hours lighting famines' consequences.
As Ukrainian News reported before, Foreign Affairs Ministry announced
that non-recognition of the Famine of 1932-1933 as Genocide against the
Ukrainians by the Verkhovna Rada prevents similar recognition by the other
countries.
The Rada considers the draft bill on recognizing the Famine of 1932-1933 as
Genocide against the Ukrainians next week (November 28-December 1).
Yuschenko called on the Rada to adopt the bill recognizing the Famine of
1932-1933 as Genocide against the Ukrainians and introduce administrative
responsibility for public denial of this event. -30-
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8. LEGACY OF FAMINE DIVIDES UKRAINE
By Helen Fawkes, BBC News, Kiev
BBC, United Kingdom, Friday, November 24, 2006
A row of emaciated Ukrainian children stare out of a photograph. Their
gaunt faces are full of despair and their bodies are little more than
skeletons.
It is one of many images being shown on Ukrainian television in the run-up
to Memorial Day, which is being held this weekend to mark the Soviet-era
famine.
It was one of the bleakest moments in Ukraine's history. The famine which
happened between 1932 and 1933 killed up to 10 million people.
It is widely believed to have been caused by the actions of the communist
regime. The harvest was confiscated and people starved to death.
It was part of a brutal campaign by the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to
force Ukrainian peasants to join collective farms.
Ukraine is now trying to get this mass starvation recognised by the United
Nations as an act of genocide.
But the issue is highly controversial and Russia is strongly against the
move.
'SCARED'
Now in his eighties, Ivan Leschenko was a child during the famine. He
remembers how some people resorted to cannibalism.
"Such things really did happen. I know that one of my relatives ate human
flesh. Just imagine how bad the situation was that people were forced to do
that."
On the eve of Memorial Day, Ivan visited the capital's monument to the
victims of the man-made famine to pay his respects.
"I remember walking the streets and seeing dead, bloated bodies of children
and adults all over the place. I went up to one boy, he was saying something
and suddenly he started shaking and then passed away," Ivan says.
"I was so scared; it was the most frightening experience of my life."
'DANCING ON GRAVES'
The famine had a devastating impact on villages across Ukraine. It is
thought that around a quarter of the population was wiped out.
At the KGB archive in Kiev, recently released files are piled up on an
old-fashioned desk. These are said to demonstrate how the famine was
artificially engineered.
One document is an order from Moscow to shoot people who steal food.
It is signed by Stalin in red ink.
Now Ukraine's president wants what happened to be recognised as an act
of genocide.
Russia admits this was an awful tragedy but is angry at claims that it was
an attempt to destroy the Ukrainian nation. It says that other parts of the
former USSR were affected.
This issue has also divided Ukraine's parliament. Last week MPs refused to
vote on a law proposed by the president. He wanted parliament to declare
that the famine was an act of genocide.
The ruling coalition which includes the Communist Party is pro-Russian.
It is led by the president's rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych - the
man who was defeated by mass protests in the 2004 "Orange Revolution".
"This is like dancing on the graves of the dead. Before it's been proved
this was an act of genocide, the Orange authorities are doing their best to
persuade everyone that it was," says Sergei Gmyrya, a historian for the
Communist party.
"I am furious that this is being used by the politicians in their games," he
says.
FRAGILE RELATIONS
For Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko this is personal.
"In my family we remember my grandfather Ivan, a strong and hard-
working man who died. In my local village alone 600 people died," he says.
"It is important to realise that politics were behind the genocide. It's
terrifying to know that the only aim of that experiment was to exterminate
Ukrainian people."
Last year the president initiated the first ever Memorial Day to honour the
victims. This Saturday, Ukraine will once again pause to remember the
tragedy.
Kiev is determined to push for a UN resolution on the issue. But this could
put the president on a collision course with his pro-Russian opponents.
It also threatens to damage the country's fragile relations with Moscow.
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GREAT FAMINE
Called Holodomor in Ukrainian - meaning murder by hunger
About a quarter of Ukraine's population wiped out
Seven to 10 million people thought to have died
Children disappeared; cannibalism became widespread
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LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6179818.stm
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9. UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932-1933 SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED
AS GENOCIDE, SPEAKER MOROZ STATES
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 23, 2006
KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksandr Moroz has said that the
Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933, also known as Holodomor in Ukraine,
should be recognized as genocide against the Ukrainian people.
"I cannot answer for the whole parliament. As for me, I will be pressing to
have a vote that this was genocide against the people who lived in Ukraine
then rather than against people of Ukrainian blood," he said in an interview
with the Era radio on Thursday.
He said, however, that he didn't want the question of Holodomor split
Ukrainian society. He said the tragedy also affected Russia. -30-
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10. UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON BILL DECLARING
1932-1933 FAMINE AN ACT OF GENOCIDE ON NOV 28 - DEC 1
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - Next plenary week (November 28- December 1) the Verkhovna
Rada will be considering the bill on declaring the 1932-1933 Famine an act
of genocide against the Ukrainian people. Parliament Speaker Oleksandr
Moroz made this statement to the press. "The bill will be put on the next
week's agenda," he said.
Moroz said the parliament would have an objective debate on this bill. At
the same time, Moroz believes it is necessary to recognize an act of
genocide not against the Ukrainian nation but against the Ukrainian people
because people of different nationalities have suffered.
"My personal position is that we have to recognize the mischief not against
the Ukrainian nation, but against the Ukrainian people because it concerned
all peoples in Ukraine," Moroz said. Moroz thinks the bill could be revised
and passed in Rada.
"In a juridical sense, all inaccuracies of the bill will be rectified and
this document can be passed," the speaker said.
He said the bill submitted by President Viktor Yuschenko was similar to
the bill proposed by deputies of the Party of Regions faction, the only
difference is that the latter one declared the famine a crime of Stalin
against the people while the president insisted on declaring it an act of
genocide against the Ukrainian nation.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the president called on the Verkhovna
Rada to acknowledge the famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against the
Ukrainian people and introduce administrative responsibility for denying
this fact in public. -30-
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11. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS PARLIAMENT NOT
RECOGNIZING FAMINE AS 1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE PREVENTS
OTHER COUNTRIES' RECOGNITION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that the Verkhovna Rada's
delay with the recognition of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-1933, also known
as Holodomor, as genocide prevents from the recognition by other states.
Yaroslav Baran, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's department for
Ukrainians abroad, told this to the press.
Representatives of many countries...express their surprise that Ukraine
itself has not endorsed a relevant political act and the issue is stalling
very much relevant work," Baran said.
He said some countries would not recognize Holodomor as genocide before
there was a relevant decision in Ukraine.
"The problem exists and it should be settled. That is why, we have big hopes
that the Verkhovna Rada would positively consider the draft bill on
Holodomor of 1932-1933 submitted by President Viktor Yuschenko on
November 2," Baran said.
Andrii Beshta, acting head of the Foreign Ministry's department for the UN
and other international organizations, said some countries that didn't want
to recognize Holodomor genocide might use the fact of absence of the
decision in Ukraine as an argument not to recognize Holodomor genocide.
Baran said there was some progress in the issue abroad. In particular, the
parliaments of Finland and Austria have decided to hold special parliament
hearings on Holodomor. He said the problem existed in Russia and the Czech
Republic.
"There is a problem in the Czech Republic. There is sympathy with Ukrainian
people there, however, there is also an opinion that such issues as
Holodomor should be left for historians and should not be considered by
politicians," Baran said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Verkhovna Rada will be considering
the bill on declaring the 1932-1933 Famine an act of genocide against the
Ukrainian people next plenary week (November 28 through December 1).
President Viktor Yuschenko called on the Verkhovna Rada to acknowledge the
famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against Ukrainian people and to introduce
administrative responsibility for denying the tragedy publicly. -30-
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FOOTNOTE: The Ukrainian Parliament passed a strong resolution in
May of 2003 declaring the events of 1932-1933 a genocide. AUR EDITOR
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12. OLEKSANDR SLIPCHENKO: RECOGNIZING THE HOLODOMOR
AS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE IS A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
TO THE MEMORY OF ITS VICTIMS
INTERVIEW: by Oleksandr Slipchenko, Ambassador of Ukraine & leader
Ministry of Foreign Affairs's working group on problems off the Holodomor
BY: Mykola Siruk, The Day newspaper, No. 203
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Nov 22, 2006 published in Ukrainian
Published in English by the Action Ukraine Report (AUR), #793, Article 12
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
A working group was created in 2006 by order of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Borys Tarasyuk, with the purpose of coordinating the Ministry of
Foreign Affair's (MFA) work on the problems of the Holodomor.
This group was charged with preparing proposals and materials for foreign
institutions and with rendering an account of work carried out in this area
to higher leadership.
Oleksandr Slipchenko, Ambassador of Ukraine and leader of the MFA's working
group on the problems of the Holodomor, tells Day about the work that has
already been done in this direction and what tasks lay ahead for the MFA in
gaining world-recognition of the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian
people.
[The Day] - Lately, the topic of the Holodomor has become the subject of an
exchange of statements, or more like commentaries, between Ukraine's and
Russia's Departments of Foreign Affairs. In your opinion, what has elicited
this?
[Amb. Slipchenko] - The work of bringing to light the problems of the
Holodomor was being conducted earlier. But in the last few years, it has
significantly expanded in scope.
For example, in 2003 in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the
Holodomor at our initiative a joint statement of 63 countries was issued in
the UN, in which statement the Holodomor was first recognized as a national
tragedy of the Ukrainian people.
Even then Russia's position-which objected to the artificial famine being
directed specifically against Ukraine-prevented the ratification of our
draft resolution with the corresponding qualification of the Holodomor.
Last year, a wide range of activities were carried out in over 80 countries
of the world that included holding mourning campaigns, lectures and round
table discussions, exhibits of archive materials, memorial classes, showings
of movies, publications aimed at informing the international community and
clarifying these positions of Ukraine.
The Ministry and foreign institutions are carrying on just as actively in
this vein now. The basic emphasis of all of these activities lies in
achieving widespread international recognition of the Holodomor precisely as
an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people committed by the authoritarian
Stalinist regime, and to solidify proper understanding of the tragedy of the
Holodomor in these and other documents.
It is obvious that specifically this activity that you have rightly noted
has caused Russia's negative reaction, although this, frankly speaking,
evokes astonishment, to say the least.
[The Day] - Not long ago the Russian MFA once again sharply criticized
Ukraine with regards to the fact that the Ukrainian side is blatantly
broaching the issue of recognizing the Holodomor. What do you think: will
Ukraine succeed in convincing the Russian side of the necessity of
recognizing the Holodomor?
[Amb. Slipchenko]- Actually such statements by the Russian side, as we
discussed before, were made.
By the way, our press service and the Minister responded to them, who in a
calm tone during the recent first session of the bilateral Subcommittee on
International Cooperation explained to the Russians that it is unnecessary
to transfer similar false interpretations to the context of present
Ukrainian-Russian relations.
This is absolutely irrelevant because it does not foster normal
understanding and formation of an adequate position that is ultimately
absolutely obvious.
By the way, in the spring of this year Minister Tarasyuk initiated a
resolution on the issue of the Holodomor in a session of the Council of
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the NIS.
He presented a proposal to pass a statement or address in the NIS to the
international community in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the
Holodomor.
Lavrov does not disagree with the preparation of such a document, but in his
opinion, the document should condemn the politics that led to "a massive
famine, the victims of which became representatives of various peoples of
the USSR."
We, of course, do not dispute the fact that millions of inhabitants of
Kazakhstan and Russia perished as a result of a massive famine last century
at the beginning of the 1930's.
That is why in Ukraine we are not inclined to revise the historic past, and
especially not to monopolize the right to condemn the criminals of
Stalinism.
We view our desire to receive worldwide recognition of the Holodomor as
an act of genocide foremost as a moral responsibility to the memory of the
victims particularly in Ukraine, where the famine took on an unforeseen
scope and targeted character.
But here there is also an external aspect, since we all, including the
member-participants of the NIS, have the international responsibility to
prevent in every way forms of totalitarian and dictators' ideologies.
Namely, such work as recognizing the Holodomor as genocide is a fulfillment
of our responsibilities within the framework of the UN Convention on the
Prevention of the Crime of Genocide.
This document contains precise definitions that give us the basis for
obtaining international recognition of the famine in Ukraine precisely as
genocide.
Unfortunately, the last century brought too many instances of genocide.
Again, this does not mean that we are monopolizing the right to talk about
this. We are giving a qualification of the events that took place in Ukraine
and resulted in millions of victims in order that this might not be repeated
in the history of mankind.
Our Holodomor to some degree has a specific character, since no one knew
about it for centuries. But there existed a criminal regime that committed
this genocide, and, of course, hid the evidence, as is the case in other
well-known instances.
[The Day] - How has the understanding of this problem changed in the world?
As you know, in one of the commentaries the Ministry noted that ten
countries recognized the fact of the Holodomor in Ukraine.
[Amb. Slipchenko]- Above all, we have to understand for ourselves what
happened to us. Perhaps this is the greatest task. >From my own experience I
can say that people abroad always ask, "How do you understand these events?
What official documents do you have to support this?"
Therefore it is absolutely natural that this year the President of Ukraine
submitted a new draft bill to the Verkhovna Rada in which it is proposed to
the people's deputies that the 1932-1933 Holodomor be legally and officially
recognized as genocide with all of the political-legal and moral
consequences that follow from this.
There are some speculations or commentaries that push the issue of
compensation or punishment. But mainly we have to ask ourselves this
question and clarify what happened with us, how to interpret this tragedy,
who were its "destructive powers" and perpetrators.
To this day it's still not clear what the overall number of victims is from
this tragedy; there are only estimates that vary widely. But these aren't
some statistical units-they were real people whom they suddenly decided to
condemn to death. And they executed this design.there were plans, orders,
executioners.
Not long ago the Security Service of Ukraine made public about five thousand
documents from this time period. By the way, they will be on display in the
Ukrainian House under the observance of the Day of Memory of the Victims
of the Holodomors and Political Repressions.
All of these needs to be researched, entered into scholarly circulation, and
brought to the public's attention. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank the newspapers Day for paying so much attention to this topic and for
printing interesting materials that help us.
Some of these articles that have been published on the pages of Day have
been distributed to embassies with recommendations on how to use them,
along with other materials, as a base of methodology and evidence.
Furthermore, it is even more beneficial that we in general feel the lack of
documental and illustrative materials that would visually depict to the
international audience the horrors that Ukraine endured and other culprits.
Some things we are commissioning ourselves, but the efforts of the MFA
alone are insufficient.
The signing of an Act on the allocation of a plot of land in Washington to
the government of Ukraine for the construction of a memorial to the victims
of the Holodomor became a significant example of the substance of our work
abroad.
Our embassy, who together with Ukrainian Diaspora organizations carried out
extensive work with members of the House of Representatives and Senators
gave rise to this. Our Ambassador spoke at special hearings in Congress.
The preparation of this decision that required separate resolutions from
both legislative chambers took nearly two years. Now we all have perhaps no
less work to do in holding a competition to ensure that the monument is
worthy of Ukraine and the memory of the victims. We also need to raise
funds.
Even though this plot of land is allocated to the government, who will play
a major role, additionally much depends upon the Ukrainian community in the
US and here in order to unveil this monument in conjunction with the 75th
anniversaries of the Holodomor.
I would also like to announce that with the aid of our Consulate General in
New York in the past few days a portion of the archives and library of a
well-known researcher of the Holodomor, James Mace, that remained till now
in the US were delivered to Kyiv. Now these valuable materials are being
added to the Mace Collection in the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
[The Day] - By what means did you manage to get some countries to recognize
the Holodomor as genocide?
[Amb. Slipchenko] - There is continual work of persistence and clarification
behind this. Even in 1993 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the
Holodomor Estonia's Parliament first issued a corresponding statement that
completely coincides with our understanding of these events.
It took another 10 years for the parliaments of Austria, USA, Canada,
Hungary and a few other countries to issue similar statements. Literally at
the end of last year and the beginning of this year the parliaments of three
other countries-Lithuania, Georgia and Poland-also added their statements.
This was not easy. The work of our foreign institutions and initiatives of
the Ukrainian community abroad with whom they act in close contact are
behind this. And this work continues.
I have a lot of reports from our embassies where they inform about these and
other initiatives, discussions with parliamentarians, notes for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Of course, this works yields its own fruits. But this is
not an overnight matter. I can give the example of the French side's
reaction.
This illustrates word-for-word the difficulties we have to overcome in
achieving international recognition of the Holodomor as genocide.
So, the Minister of Foreign Affairs P. Douste-Blazi declared that ".under
the circumstance of a lack of consensus on this issue among historians and
lawyers the French government at present does not intend to comment on the
political or legal grounds for recognizing the Great Famine as an act of
genocide."
[The Day] - In the process the French clearly stated their thoughts
regarding the Armenian genocide.
[Amb. Slipchenko] - This is true. But in Armenia they have passed laws. Do
you know when? They included an article in their Declaration of Independence
back in 1990 that states that this genocide is a part of Armenia's history.
There are no other interpretations there.
But in a general tally, the Armenians haven't gotten many more official
recognitions. However, this is a phenomenon of a completely different order,
such as the Holocaust, the denial of which in Israel is considered a
criminal act. But there are certain parallels that we can draw here.
By the way, sometimes they tell us abroad that in principle they do not have
a tradition of issuing statements regarding historical events in other
countries. In some of the European countries they lean more towards waiting
for issuance of a general opinion by the EU Parliament. That is why our
representatives in Brussels and Strausburg are working with the EU
Parliament and other European institutions.
But the MFA and embassies have limited influence on parliamentary
structures, and that is why the measurement of this work must first, of
course, rely on the active inclusion of our parliamentary delegations, like
this was done, say January 25, 2006 during the first session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe during the discussion of the
question of "The Necessity of International Condemnation of Criminals of
Totalitarian Communist Regimes."
The Ukrainian delegation turned PACE's attention to the tragedy of the
1932-1933 Holodomor and urged members of the Assembly to recognize it as
genocide of the Ukrainian people and entered the corresponding amendment to
the draft bill of general recommendations.
Notwithstanding the fact that the draft bill of recommendations was not
confirmed by the Assembly in its entirety (since during the voting
two-thirds of the needed votes were not obtained), the support for the noted
amendment of the majority of the parliamentarians who took part in the
voting lends the basis to broach this subject again in PACE. This creates a
certain precedent even for other organizations.
In general we have many activities in which parliamentarians take part.
Namely, in Germany, Israel, Ireland and Pakistan our embassies have planned
to carry out thematic evenings on the Day of Memory with local deputies
taking part.
The Embassy of Ukraine in the Russian Federation has proposed to initiate an
examination of the matter of recognizing the Holodomor within the framework
of inter-parliamentary cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada and the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation.
[The Day] - Will there be a sound atmosphere in the UN before the 75th
anniversary of the Ukrainian tragedy in order to support Ukraine and
recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people?
[Amb. Slipchenko] - You know, the resolution on the Holocaust, despite the
tremendous diplomatic work that was carried out during the post-ward years,
was passed by the General Assembly only in 2005. We will hope that we can
cover this ground faster, but of course, getting nearly 200 countries to
agree on a single text of a similar resolution will not be so easy.
As we see, there are certain varying views even throughout the NIS. It would
be natural if the former republics that all suffered from the harshness and
self-will of that regime demonstrated unity at least in the framework of
evaluating this phenomenon. We will hope that this comes to pass.
Moreover, there is a good opportunity for this-60 years from the day of
ratification of the UN's Convention on Genocide that will occur in 2008; in
other words, it practically coincides with the 75th anniversaries of the
Holodomor.
[The Day] - Can the subject of the Holodomor's recognition be broached in
the UN's Commission on Human Rights, to which Ukraine belongs?
[Amb. Slipchenko]- Right now the law enforcement bodies of the UN have
undergone a certain structural reorganization, and we were inducted into the
new Council on Human Rights.
I am absolutely certain that this matter also will be discussed there. We do
this everywhere, where an opportunity presents itself and where there is
appropriate context to do so.
Of course, in the Worldwide Meteorological Society it is unlikely that we
will raise this question. But in international bodies that deal with human
rights or other aspects of trying totalitarian regimes-of course.
[The Day] - What role can the Verkhovna Rada play in recognizing the
Holodomor as genocide? And why hasn't it done this before?
[Amb. Slipchenko] As I already said, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs more
than once has drawn attention to the fact that the appearance of such an act
on the part of our Verkhovna Rada would give a serious stimulating push
towards obtaining similar documents from political and law-making officials
of other countries.
So, you have to understand that a step in recognizing the Holodomor as
genocide of the Ukrainian people is possible only after the respective bill
is passed. Of course, this will provide a major impetus.
But even without this it is happening. Specifically, in 2003 the Verkhovna
Rada passed a resolution that classified the Holodomor as genocide, but
this was a resolution passed as the result of hearings.
Meanwhile in the President's draft bill sent to the Verkhovna Rada for
review-specifically in its recommendations-international experience to a
certain degree already was employed.
Our Ministry was also involved in developing and discussing this bill. For
example, as in Armenia or Israel, here it follows that the very fact of an
intentional Holodomor is beyond doubt.
Furthermore, it is declared a criminal act. I think that this is a very
serious internal statement. Such an official and legal qualification of the
Holodomor as genocide is given foremost.
[The Day] - Does the Ministry have a strategy or plan as to what to do next
after the Holodomor is recognized by the Verkhovna Rada and UN? What
will happen next? Will scores be settled with Russia?
[Amb. Slipchenko] - Exposing the true motives and facts of one of the most
pernicious crimes of the Stalinist regime is not intended to be a global
examination of our history or a putting forth of demands of a material or
legal nature.
The position of our government lies in a desire to give that which is due to
the innocent victims of those days and to prevent similar tragedies in the
future, and not in seeking revenge. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: This article was translated from Ukrainian to English for
the Action Ukraine Report (AUR) by Heather Fernuik. The translation
cannot be used without specific permission from the AUR. We have
worked with Ambassador Slipchenko for the past six month regarding
the Holodomor. The AUR congratulates him for his excellent work.
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13. HUMAN TRAGEDY NEEDS TO BE HONOURED, NOT EXPLOITED
FROM THE EDITOR: Peter Dickinson
What's On magazine, No. 43/2006, Kyiv, Ukraine, 24-30 Nov 2006
The Ukrainian parliament bravely voted last week to postpone the vote
on whether to recognise the terror famine of the 1930s as an act of
genocide against the Ukrainian people.
Yet again the country's legislators approached a subject that lies at the
heart of Ukraine's struggle with its troubled past, peered over the rim
into the gaping abyss, and promptly ran away.
It is easy enough to understand why: attitudes to the famine, like those
relating to WWII, ties with Russia and the Soviet past in general are
symptomatic of the utter lack of consensus as to what being Ukrainian
should be all about.
At one end of the spectrum you have the nationalists who believe the
famine was designed to destroy Ukraine as a nation, and at the other
you have the hard-line communists who refuse to admit that it was
anything other than a ghastly natural disaster.
The reality, namely that as the Soviet Union's agricultural stronghold
Ukraine was doomed to suffer the brunt of the savagery as Stalin set
about collectivising agriculture and breaking the resistance of the
peasantry, gets lost amid a screaming match of accusation and denial.
It is a great credit to the country that Ukraine is now finally honouring
the millions of victims in something like a fitting manner, but it is tragic
in its own way that rather than offering some form of closure the subject
of the famine continues to divide contemporary Ukraine.
Ultimately I'd have question whether the slow, brutal murder of so many
millions really needs to be bestowed with the increasingly politicised
epithet of 'genocide' to render it the place in the world's collective
consciousness that the famine so clearly warrants.
Calling it genocide simply give an ethnic slant to this manmade
monstrosity that is both historically dubious and socially divisive.
It is perhaps a sign of the times that there should be a push for such
keywords, but the human tragedy of the 1930s needs to be honoured,
not exploited. -30-
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14. UKRAINIAN PEOPLE'S PARTY CALLS ON PRESIDENT TO
DISMISS RADA FOR SUSPENSION OF DECLARATION
OF 1932-1933 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 23, 2006
KYIV - The Ukrainian People's Party calls on President Viktor Yuschenko
to dismiss the Verkhovna Rada for suspension of declaration of 1932-1933
famine as genocide. Party's press service has disclosed this to Ukrainian
News.
The party says that the suspension of the issue consideration by the
parliament is betrayal of Ukrainian people and refusal to fulfill a moral
duty.
'Current members of the Ukrainian parliament are not representatives of
Ukrainian nation, in this they have no moral right to continue their work,'
the party report reads.
The party says that on November 17, the presidential bill 'On 1932-1933
famine in Ukraine' was not even put on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada.
According to the party, the anti-crisis coalition was frightened by bill's
articles foreseeing acknowledgement of the famine as genocide and public
denial from famine as desecration over the memory of millions of victims.
The party voices its concern that there is none of deputies, who would back
renewal of historical fairness.
'The Communist Party, Party of Regions and Socialist Party have openly
accepted Moscow's position, which denies the fact of genocide of Ukrainians
and Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine factions were afraid to
counteract,' the report reads.
The Ukrainian People's Party also said that on November 25, Ukraine would
mark the Day in memory of famine and political repressions victims.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Party of Regions deputies Vladyslav
Zabarskyi, Vadym Kolesnichenko and Orest Muts suggest that the
Verkhovna Rada acknowledge 1932-1933 famine as genocide.
In early November, Yuschenko submitted the relevant bill 'On 1932-1933
famine in Ukraine,' to the Verkhovna Rada.
According to different estimations, in 1992-1933, about 3-7 million people
died due to the famine in Ukraine. Parliaments of 10 countries have
acknowledged 1932-1933 famine as a genocide against Ukrainians. -30-
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15. RECOGNITION OF FAMINE AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIAN
NATION MEANS NO COMPENSATION BUT WILL ENABLE
UKRAINIAN NATION TO LEARN THEIR HISTORY,
ACADEMICIAN IHOR YUKHNOVSKYI BELIEVES
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 24, 2006
KYIV - Recognition of the 1932 to 1933 famine as a genocide against the
Ukrainian nation won't lead to demanding compensation, but will enable the
Ukrainian nation to learn their history, Chief of the Ukrainian Institute of
National Memory, academician of the National Academy of Sciences Ihor
Yukhnovskyi told Ukrinform.
Ihor Yukhnovskyi noted that the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory was
engaged in drafting a bill "On Recognition of the 1932 to 1933 Famine as a
Genocide Against the Ukrainian Nation", represented by President Viktor
Yushchenko.
Speaking about the second bill, submitted by the Regions Party, Ihor
Yukhnovskyi stressed that it can't replace the President's one, as it denies
recognition of the famine as the genocide against the Ukrainian nation and
doesn't envisage punishment of those, who will object to the fact. In case,
this will be omitted, the bill is of no sense. -30-
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FOOTNOTE: Jurij Klufas, Toronto, Canada and I had a long meeting
with Ihor Yukhnovskyi in Kyiv this week. The Institute of National
Memory is in very capable hands with academician Yukhnovskyi. We
urged the Institute's director to appoint a special international
committee of experts to review all the photographs of victims that have
been used since 1934 to show the Holodomor in Ukraine to determine
once and for all which ones were actually taken in Ukraine during 1932-
1933. The widespread use of photographs taken in Russia during the
1921-22 famine to show the Ukrainian Holodomor of 1932-33 needs
to stop. The use of the Russian photographs can especially be found
in Ukraine, Canada and the United States. AUR EDITOR Morgan Williams
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16. "SO-CALLED" HOLODOMOR, CONSEQUENCES FOR UKRAINE
Oleksandr Kramarenko, Luhansk
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #37
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs sees no grounds for recognizing the
Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as an act of genocide on an ethnic
basis, reads the statement issued by the ministry's press and information
department " in connection with the discussion of the so-called Holodomor
of 1932-1933 by the Ukrainian press."
"The Ukrainian press continues to discuss the 'Holodomor' of 1932-1933,
often drawing on the thesis that the famine during this period was not only
specially provoked by the Soviet leadership, but aimed exclusively against
the Ukrainian people," www.pravda.com.ua reports.
"Available archival materials attest to the fact that the mass famine in the
early 1930s was indeed in many respects caused by the policy of the then
leadership of the Soviet Union. However, it is clearly apparent that it was
waged not on national grounds."
Well, there is nothing surprising about these statements. The Russian
Federation has expressed its stand on the question of the "so- called"
Holodomor on more than one occasion.
Why should any of this be surprising when our own Ukrainian political elite
has not grasped the actuality of the consequences of the 1932-1933
Holodomor for the Ukrainian nation, let alone the need to overcome them
as soon as possible.
This is one of the signs that this elite is by no means a national one. This
fact, in turn, causes disgust toward it on the part of growing numbers of
people from various social strata in Ukraine.
Among my acquaintances is a man who was legally separated from his
parents (today they would be qualified as "asocial") and institutionalized.
Eventually, he obtained an education and mastered a prestigious profession
that allows him to live comfortably. Despite all this, I still feel ill at
ease sharing a table with him. He eats so fast and so much that people
cannot help averting their eyes.
As I later learned, as a three-year-old boy he was left alone for days
without food while his mother was out getting drunk. When she was sober,
she would repent by giving her son the best food money could buy.
The boy was not dying of starvation, but those periods of hunger were enough
to awaken an animal instinct that could not be overcome either by the strict
discipline in government-run institutions or even by his current state of
well-being.
In the early 1930s children of Ukrainian peasants did not see food for
months on end; their bodies swelled from hunger and they died before their
parents' eyes. One can only try to imagine what horrible metamorphoses took
place in those who were destined to survive the living hell of the
Holodomor.
This is what Hryhorii Bevz, a man who lived through the Holodomor in a
Ukrainian village, has to say: "A starving person's psyche alters
simultaneously with the physiological changes. Profound and prolonged
hunger deadens or totally destroys normal human feelings and emotions.
"A starving person develops a different attitude to good and evil, truth and
falsehood, justice and injustice. To such a person universal human values
are of secondary importance, not worthy of his attention. Above all the
person wants to eat. Feelings of patriotism, faith, friendship, and love are
extinguished or are never born."
Indeed, what patriotism could there be at a time when acts of cannibalism
were taking place in almost every village in Ukraine during the Holodomor,
when mothers ate their own children?
According to the noted British scholar Robert Conquest, 325 Ukrainians were
serving a life sentence for this type of crime in the prison camps of the
White Sea - Baltic Canal in the late 1930s.
However, a life sentence was seldom handed down for cannibalism in the USSR;
more often than not the guilty parties were shot. Therefore, it is possible
to assume that there were dozens more cases of cannibalism in Ukraine during
the Holodomor.
This is how Bevz characterizes the famine as a weapon of genocide: "People
have invented a number of various means of mass destruction: mechanical,
chemical, biological, and radiation.
Famine is one such means, the cheapest and most effective. Famine can also
be used not only to physically destroy but also re-educate people, change
their aspirations and objectives, feelings and moods. This is very important
for the creators of a new society."
These are not scholarly conclusions or assumptions made by political
scientists; these are the recollections of a man who experienced everything
that he recounts.
One can only envy the willpower of Bevz, who, after experiencing the hell of
the Holodomor, was able to overcome in himself all its destructive
consequences and look at himself dispassionately. Yet the sad fact remains
that the absolute majority of Ukrainian peasants failed to do so.
The satanic re-education of Ukrainians by the Stalinist regime did take
place. The distinguished Holodomor researcher James Mace reached the
conclusion that people's ethics and morals, as an important element of
cultural life, suffered a devastating blow.
In the conditions of the mass destruction of the Ukrainian people, such
age-old features as friendliness, helpfulness, politeness, and empathy
receded into the past. Instead, indifference and cruelty reigned supreme.
If we take a closer look at our current milieu, we must agree with this
noted US scholar. The pathological desire of Ukrainians to climb to the top
of the hierarchical ladder by hook or by crook is indirect proof that those
who survived the Holodomor were raised that way (and, of course, they also
raised their children and grandchildren this way) by the criminal regime
that was by no means starving in 1933.
It is safe to assume that there is nothing coincidental about the fact that
our three last presidents came precisely from the postgenocidal countryside.
You will agree that Kravchuk, Kuchma, and Yushchenko were different people
before and after the elections.
Those who believe that the Holodomor cannot have such long- lasting
aftereffects on our public life are wrong.
They ought to be reminded of what the prominent Ukrainian intellectual Ivan
Dziuba said: "Of course, the millions of victims of the Holodomor mean not
only horrible sufferings sustained by each and every one of these millions,
not only a horrible blow to the vital force of the nation but also a blow to
its future. This means the destruction of its cultural essence; it is the
vanished Atlantis of the traditional Ukrainian village."
Indeed, where can you find our traditional homespun embroidered shirts and
towels? Where can you hear our folk songs that are known all over the world?
All this is preserved only in the countryside in western Ukraine,
territories that were fortunate enough to be spared the Holodomor and its
terrible consequences.
The Bolshevik genocide dealt a devastating blow to Ukrainian national
consciousness. According to Conquest, the same people who, with weapons in
hand, resisted Russian communist chauvinism during the Civil War, who
rebelled against forcible Russification in the Kuban region in late 1932,
volunteered to register themselves as Russians during the 1939 census.
There is information about the fact that Ukrainian-speaking peasants
everywhere changed their nationality this way, much to the delight of the
local authorities.
It is common knowledge that the most heinous consequences of the Holodomor
were observed in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Ukraine, which were
not sources of food - in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv,
Poltava, Cherkasy, Odesa, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts, as well as
in the Crimea and the Moldavian Autonomous Republic (today: Transdnistria).
Therefore, it is no surprise that the residents of these territories are the
most active supporters of pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine. During
the last referendum in Transdnistria local Ukrainians proclaimed their
desire to become citizens of Russia.
This is precisely what the ideologues and architects of the Holodomor were
after. Valentyn Bokovsky, a noted researcher of the Ukrainian genocide,
points out: "That was why it was decided to prepare a fundamental action
aimed at destroying the Ukrainian national movement in Ukraine, so that
there would be no possibility of reviving it in the future.
To do so, the assault by famine had to be directed at the Ukrainian
peasantry as the source of the people's national strength; it was carried
out so carefully that nothing was noticeable."
An opportune occasion was chosen for launching this action: the start of the
new agricultural system, collectivization. Under the guise of this economic
experiment Moscow fulfilled its murderous plans, explaining the victims by
"the hardships of collectivization."
Of course, the peasants realized that the Bolsheviks were starving them to
death precisely because they were Ukrainians, so the fear of preserving
their national mentality entered their genes and mentality. Since the
communists suffered no punishment for that genocide but only strengthened
their rule, this fear was handed down to the succeeding generations.
Today it is felt in the Russified mentality of many Ukrainians. Hence the
mental split in our nation, which is not from its long history, as we are
told time and again by the political advocates of the Bolshevik genocide.
The fact remains that 75 years ago the level of national consciousness among
the Kuban Cossacks was as high as that of the Galicians.
Instead of Christian virtues, totally different "moral values" were
instilled in the Holodomor-mutilated minds of Ukrainians, which were brought
by those very ethnoses that tortured our villages in the early 1930s: "If
you don't get caught, you're not a thief"; "If you want to live, you've got
to be smart"; "The only way to get somewhere is by greasing palms"; "Might
makes right"). Today these guidelines are supplemented by another one: "Life
according to the rules of the underworld."
This is why one should not be surprised by the fact that these carriers of
latter-day "values" cast their ballots for politicians who are like them,
and they do so sincerely and consciously.
Herein lie the essential distinctions between the Holodomor and the
Holocaust, which the Nazis directed only at the physical destruction of the
Jewish nation. The Bolshevik genocide against the Ukrainians was also an act
of ethnocide, meant to destroy systemic ties within the ethnos and, as
Holodomor researchers point out, to spur its representatives to acquire a
different ethnic quality.
Thus, the state of Israel has totally different problems compared to the
Ukrainian state, which can hardly even be called "Ukrainian" because ethnic
self- identity has been destroyed in the greater part of the titular nation;
there is no historical memory or even the need to communicate in the native
language.
This situation allows representatives of other ethnoses to dominate Ukraine.
Nor is there anything coincidental about them standing shoulder to shoulder
with Russified Ukrainians in the front ranks of those campaigning against
recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide.
Naturally, this situation in Ukraine, given the conditions of a
quasi-democracy, produces a non-Ukrainian government so aptly described by
Kharkiv's human rights champion Vasyl Ovsiienko:
"That same Soviet nomenklatura, comprising for the most part of individuals
who do not even remotely understand the national interests of the titular
Ukrainian nation and who at times are openly hostile to Ukraine, is still in
power in our country. It is not a national but territorial ruling stratum
that is not a carrier of national values and has no clear-cut state-building
guidelines.
"Even though most of them are of Ukrainian descent, they are reliably
Russified and psychologically oriented toward Russian culture, and
politically - toward the Kremlin stars.
"It would be naive to expect people who have problems with their national
identity to set about implementing the national idea. Each of them has his
nationality and the most important idea is to grab as much as possible from
Ukraine, drag a juicy piece as far away as possible in order to devour it.
But such an idea does not unite but disunite. It is destructive for Ukraine.
"If Ukraine had a truly Ukrainian government, would it have ever destroyed
its own people so mercilessly? The time has come to call a spade a spade;
otherwise we will never leave Russian captivity."
Unfortunately, it is the Russified intelligentsia that is calling a spade a
spade for the vast social strata in southeastern Ukraine, and this only
serves to deepen the mental rift in our country. This process could be
stopped only by a presidential republic headed by a true patriot.
It was not for nothing that our "Europeans" Moroz and Symonenko exerted
inhuman efforts to prevent this by implementing their so-called
constitutional reform.
This allows the pro-Russian forces to build their own Ukraine that Ovsiienko
describes as follows: "Thus Russia No. 2, Little Russia, is being created on
the territory of Ukraine, which at any moment can be 'canceled as no longer
needed', to quote Saltykov-Shchedrin."
For doubting readers, here is just one example. Under the Soviets Russian
obscenities could be heard in high schools in the Donbas only during
fistfights among senior students. Today the schools of Luhansk oblast are
raising an "obscenity-spewing population" for which, beginning in the third
or fourth grade those dubious links with the "great and mighty" Russian
language has become a daily necessity.
The hopes of those who expect that our young people will build a European
Ukraine within several decades are futile, if not harmful. They will not
build it because they are being raised outside any national ideology,
without national heroes. Whatever language they speak, their life's
guidelines lead to a very dubious idol, the "golden calf."
That is why the following political forecast by the noted Ukrainian
historian Stanislav Kulchytsky is entirely realistic: "The main conclusion
stemming from the comparison of national-spatial self-identification and the
linguistic one is rather disheartening: Ukrainian society is in the initial
phase of forming a political nation.
In the event of unfavorable socioeconomic processes, an increasing number
of Ukrainian nationals will gravitate to Russia, with tragic consequences for
national statehood." This is what should have given a headache to the
leaders of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council if it were really
pro- Ukrainian.
Why be surprised at seeing representatives of other nations with no national
self-identification problems dominating Ukraine?
These people have the biggest capital in Ukraine, and their culture and
education are predominant in our country. They own newspapers with the
largest circulation and popular television channels where the Ukrainian
language has Cinderella status.
Finally, the largest church in Ukraine is also non-Ukrainian. Russified
Ukrainians pray in its temples for a foreign government and president, for
the victory of a foreign army (also for a victory over the Ukrainian army,
if need be).
Of course, these ruling non-Ukrainians are doing their utmost to maintain
this situation, shameful as it is for the titular nation of this country,
for as long as absolutely possible, if not forever.
That is why the Holodomor topic is a reliable taboo in their media or is
denied outright, as was the case in Soviet times. Unlike the modern
so-called Ukrainian national elite, they know only too well the meaning of
returning historical memory to a nation that has lost it.
Russian political scientist Sergei Kara-Murza notes in this connection: "In
times of social crises historical memory is destroyed as a purposeful
program of political forces. A man who remembers nothing from the history
of his people, country, and family falls out of this social environment and
becomes totally exposed to manipulations.
"A man without memory faces the need to re-establish his place in the world;
a man without the historical experience of his own nation or others finds
himself outside the historical perspective and is capable of living only on
a day-to-day basis."
There are many individuals of this type in the totally denationalized
southeastern regions of Ukraine, where their historical amnesia is being
carefully maintained by the local authorities and media.
This is what Academician Ivan Dziuba has to say about such media: "A
large part of the mass media is working to lower the moral level of their
audiences and simplify their needs and tastes.
"They are shamelessly parasitizing on national immaturity, the deep-reaching
Russification of this society; they are conducting a frenzied campaign aimed
at discrediting Ukrainian culture and the Ukrainian spirit in general.
"This already includes brazen falsifications of Ukrainian classics and
profanation of beloved Ukrainian names to the deafening accompaniment of
hypocritical rhetoric about freedom of expression and human rights that have
nothing to do with such public filth. Reading such newspapers, the feeling
is that you live in an occupied Ukraine and that the occupier is becoming
more savage every day."
Dziuba believes that this situation is threatening "the very existence of
the Ukrainian nation as an equal of the world's nations." A nation
disappearing from the face of the earth is none other than the successful
outcome of a genocidal campaign. Those who pedal the theme of inferiority
of all things Ukrainian in our country should know as much.
But this does not seem to be troubling these Ukrainophobes. As the
descendants of the architects and executors of the Holodomors in Ukraine,
they are in no hurry to repent and redeem their parents' faults. Instead,
they bluntly refute the very fact of the Bolshevik genocide against the
Ukrainians.
Of course, our "elder brother" is doing everything possible to prevent the
return of historical memory to Ukrainians traumatized by the Holodomor -
ever. Using the media under their control, Russians are imposing on us their
interpretation of history, their holidays, their heroes, and their
lifestyle.
Lately, instead of the Soviet version of our history a "Single Economic
Space" version has appeared on Russian and domestic oligarchical channels,
which seemingly refutes the previous one, but at the same time never goes
beyond great power ideology. None of our intellectual patriots has duly
responded to this ideological subversion.
The non-Ukrainian government is apparently shutting its eyes to all these
antinational acts. As a result, Ukraine remains an exceptional country on
the world's political map, and the only explanation of this depressing
exceptionality is perhaps that, unlike all other countries, Ukraine is still
reeling from the consequences of the genocide against the titular nation, as
a result of which we have today a postgenocidal society that largely
explains all our outwardly inexplicable hardships and paradoxes.
Among the genetically mutilated Ukrainian intelligentsia no one has been
found who could offer us scholarly substantiation of what is actually
happening to our society. This task was undertaken by James Mace, who
introduced the concept of a "postgenocidal society" into scholarly
circulation.
This is how he describes the overall situation in Ukraine: "In reality it
took considerable sluggishness, incompetence, and undisguised fraud to turn
a country with the world's most fertile soils, great mineral resources, and
a workforce that was better educated than in the US into a laughingstock.
The economy cannot sustain such a large government and it has far more
authority than necessary, so business entities either hide in the shadows or
are crushed. The state is plunging increasingly deeper into debt and is
eating up loans that should be used as investments. The state of the
environment is the worst in Europe. The population is shrinking; people are
losing their faith in a better future, etc."
What can one say? This is a classic of sociology, despite the fact that Mace
died almost three years ago.
This objective and extremely scrupulous scholar saw a military threat to
Ukraine only on the part of Russia, which issued the infamous resolution of
the State Duma on Sevastopol.
But mostly he wrote that the claims to Ukraine are deeply rooted in Russian
political culture, and there is no denying the possibility that Russia will
produce its claims sooner or later and not just in words.
Moscow is increasing its economic pressure on Ukraine, politicians are
striking back with statements, and economists are surrendering their
positions one after another. And all this is happening to the accompaniment
of rhetoric about the fraternal ties between two nations. Apparently only
people who are brainwashed by the "elder brother" in Ukraine can believe in
such fraternity.
As for postgenocidal Ukraine's prospects in connection with its so- called
bilingualism, Mace wrote that when the late Raphael Lemkin coined the term
"genocide" in 1944 he actually meant the forceful replacement of one
national model by another one. This is precisely what happened in Ukraine.
It will be a long time before our nation comprehends the real meaning of
this legacy and learns once again to be proud of itself and the things that
make it unique.
No one has anything against Russian culture and language, but so long as
Ukrainian remains a second-rate language in the eyes of Ukrainians this
nation will not be a united one.
This is indeed food for thought for those Ukrainian intellectuals who
enthusiastically support the idea of a bilingual Ukraine.
According to James Mace, this bilingualism is the source of Ukraine's
multivectoral foreign policy, which will lead it into Russia's embrace,
nowhere else. "The choice that Ukraine is still not capable of making is to
become European or Eurasian, consciously moving toward Europe or
sinking ever deeper into the post-Soviet environment.
"This choice will ultimately have to be made, despite all the idle prattle
about multiple vectors in the Ukrainian foreign policy. Let's face it: the
force of gravity is slowly but surely pulling Ukraine into the Eurasian
orbit. It can reorient itself toward Europe only by using its political
will.
"The Commonwealth of Independent States may not be an effective
organization, but real politics in this part of the world is made not only
on an official level. In Ukraine an economic system has emerged, which is
practically similar to that in Russia and it depends on Russia's energy
supplies.
"This means that Russia's energy concerns will call their own an increasing
number of sectors of the Ukrainian economy on account of debts. This, in
turn, means that Russia's leadership will exert an increasing degree of
influence on Ukraine's. This integration is taking place in the shadows,
away from the public eye."
I am sure that people who have preserved their Ukrainian mentality will have
no doubts that the above statement, made by the late American scholar, is
addressed to Yanukovych's government.
But there are not enough of these kinds of people in postgenocidal Ukraine
to make this government stop functioning immediately, and so our state is
still headed for the Russian imperial harbor.
Needless to say, James Mace could not have overlooked the postgenocidal
Ukrainian countryside that suffered the most negative transformations in the
aftermath of the Holodomor. He regards the land reform in independent
Ukraine as adequate to Stalin's agrarian policy.
"The peasants, who essentially were turned into slaves in accordance with
Stalin's version of social justice, ended up with nothing. Now it seems that
they are being prepared for eviction from the land that has fed them and
their forefathers." Is the author of these lines the only one in Ukraine
prepared to raise a clamor on the subject?
Unfortunately, Mr. Mace, you were the only one. Today's ruling elite in
Ukraine, regardless of its colors, is bating its breath in anticipation of
the tasty morsels of our chornozem soils under cover of empty phraseology
about the social protection of farmers whom they are consistently turning
into roving beggars.
You will agree that it is difficult to refute Mace's foresight with regard
to our postgenocidal society.
Unless the Ukrainian intelligentsia realizes all this, it will never produce
a true national elite that will have to make Herculean efforts and suffer
countless losses to prevent the cultural heirs of Stalin from enjoying the
fruits of his satanic tyranny against the Ukrainian people. -30-
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/172762/
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17. STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMMEMORATION
OF GREAT FAMINE-HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC)
STATEMENT: by Ukrainian Canadian Congress
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Friday, November 24, 2006
For several years already, the last Saturday of November has been a day of
remembrance for the millions of Ukrainians killed by the artificially
1932-33 Great Famine-Holodomor in Ukraine.
On this day, Ukrainians, together will all mankind, honour the memory of our
brothers and sisters, who became innocent victims of the Stalinist
authoritarian regime.
Seventy four years ago, from April 1932 to November 1933 in approximately
500 days, some 7 to 10 million people, a third of who were children, died of
famine.
For the first time in human history, a government used the confiscation of a
harvest as a weapon for the destruction of the people. In 1932-33, Ukraine
last every fourth or fifth person.
The horrific truth is that mass murder for ethnic reasons can only be called
a genocide, the consequence of which was the destruction of the national
spirit of the Ukrainian people for ensuing decades.
In spite of attempts to bring the horrible truth of the Holodomor to public
attention, the world still knows little about this catastrophe for Ukraine.
Therefore, it is during these days that we, Ukrainian Canadians, once again
open the horrible pages of history and relate this to our children, friends
and neighbours and to all those who are not indifferent to the suffering of
others.
In the name of present and future generations, we will do everything
possible so that memory about the victims of the Famine will remain alive,
and that these horrific events never occur again.
With heavy hearts, the entire Ukrainian Canadian community remembers
those who suffered and died during the Great Famine-Holodomor by
holding memorial services and joint prayers or by honouring their memory
with a moment of silence or in some other appropriate manner.
May the memory of these innocents unite us, the living, and give us
strength to move forward to a better future.
Orysia Sushko
President, Ukrainian Canadian Congress
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Contact: Ostap Skrypnyk, Executive Director, Ukrainian Canadian
Congress (UCC), ucc@ucc.ca; www.ucc.ca
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18. GARETH JONES: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. HOW A
WELSH JOURNALIST EXPOSED SOVIET UKRAINE'S
FAMINE-GENOCIDE AND MET A TRAGIC FATE
Marta D. Olynyk, Canada
Community Announcements (Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal)
Canada, Thursday, November 23, 2006
In commemoration of the Famine-Genocide in Soviet Ukraine, 1932-33.
International guest speaker: Nigel Linsan Colley, author and independent
researcher from the UK, and grand-nephew of acclaimed newspaper
journalist Gareth Jones.
Title of talk: Gareth Jones: The Man Who Knew Too Much. How a Welsh
journalist exposed Soviet Ukraine's famine-genocide and met a tragic fate.
TORONTO: Monday, Nov. 27, 2006, 7:00 p.m. at the Ukrainian Canadian
Art Foundation, 2118-A Bloor St. West, Toronto
OTTAWA: Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006, 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul's University,
223 Main St., Ottawa, Amphitheatre, room 1124, Guigues Hall.
MONTREAL: Nigel Linsan Colley speaks on: The Gareth Jones Diaries,
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, 2:00 p.m., Faculty Club, McGill University,
3450 McTavish, Montreal, and Friday, Dec. 1, 2006, 7:00 p.m., St.
Sophia's church hall, 6270 12th Avenue, Rosemount. -30-
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19. ALL AUSTRALIANS INVITED TO REMEMBER THE MILLIONS
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 GREAT FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations
Representing 24 Peak Ukrainian Organisations in Australia
Member of Ukrainian World Congress, Australia, Thu, 23 Nov, 2006
Published by Action Ukraine Report #793, Article 19
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
TIME FOR INHERITORS OF SOVIET SYSTEM TO ACKNOWLEDGE
THE FACTS AND SAY MEA CULPA
Over 7,000,000 victims who perished in the 1932-33 Great Famine in Ukraine
will be remembered in commemorative services throughout Australia, Ukraine
and in other parts of the world this weekend.
All Australians are called on to remember the victims and join with
Australia’s Ukrainian community in attending Remembrance Services in all
major and regional centres throughout Australia.
Australian’s can light a remembrance candle over this weekend 25-26
November 2006 in memory of those who suffered and died as a result
this inhumane part of history.
The Australian Senate in 2003 recognized this inhumane act as an Act of
Genocide against the Ukrainian nation which was engineered by Stalin and
his regime and one that should never be allowed to be forgotten.
Australian Ukrainians are calling on the Government of Ukraine to reinforce
the 2003 Resolution of the Parliament of Ukraine condemning this atrocity
as an act of Genocide against the Ukrainian Nation.
President Yushchenko this week has introduced a Bill into the Parliament
to strengthen this position.
“This is no time for members of Ukraine’s Parliament to shirk their
responsibilities. Any additional aspects of a Bill should strengthen not
diminish the 2003 Parliamentary position Mr Stefan Romaniw OAM
Chairman of Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations (AFUO)
said today
“Collectivization, the forced seizure of grain, the absolute horrific acts
by the Stalinist regime should be judged internationally as atrocities
against mankind.’ Mr Romaniw said
“Ukraine’s Security Organization has now opened the archives and the
evidence in on the table. Ukraine must now demand the handing over of all
documents held within the Kremlin about that period.
Ukraine must now take this matter to the United Nations and call for an
International tribunal to condemn Stalin, his system and all who conspired
at the time to perpetrate this gross act against a Nation,” Mr Romaniw said.
Survivors of this period are still alive. Some live in Australia. Their
evidence must be collected. Melbourne based Tatiana Wolynec said she
often has graphic flashbacks of seeing her mother die of starvation before
her very eyes and Soviet officials forcibly removing not only grain, but
anything that could hold food.
The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) has convened an International
Coordinating Committee to Plan and Coordinate the 75th Anniversary
(2007-2008) of the Great Famine, which is headed by AFUO Chairman
Stefan Romaniw.
“As we approach this weekend of commemorations in Australia our
communities internationally do likewise. “ Mr. Romaniw said.
Ukraine’s President and the Ukrainian Government must now show where they
stand. They must totally refute Russia’s President Putin and his regime who
have so despicably demeaned this atrocity – continually attempting to water
down this event in history” Mr. Romaniw said
“It was a planned Act of Genocide. The evidence is now on the table – Enough
of the political games with human lives. The President and Government of
Ukraine must be honest to the Ukrainian Nation and more importantly to those
who perished.” Mr. Romaniw said
In a recent meeting between Ukrainian officials and Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrova the Famine issue was raised with commentators reporting the
following Russian position -
"If the famine is recognized at the international level as genocide directed
against the Ukrainians, that would raise the question of Russia being the
Soviet Union's successor state and its accountability for Soviet actions" -
which is certainly a cause of concern for Moscow.”
“The AFUO asks who was concerned about the millions that perished. Today
those painted with the same brush are concerned now about stopping the truth
being told. The fact is Stalin and the Soviet regime was responsible. There
is no hiding.
It is time to recognizing the facts and the words Mea Culpa need to called
out loud and clear by the inheritors of the inhumane Soviet regime,” Mr.
Romaniw said.
SERVICES THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA THIS WEEKEND
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2006 -----
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Saturday November 25, 2006 – 1.00pm
Famine Memorial; St. Michael Orthodox Church,
427 Port Road,Croydon
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2006 --------
BRISBANE: Ukrainian Catholic Church
36 Broadway St,Wooloongabba, 9.30am
Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church
60 Vallely St, Annerley, 9.00am
CANBERRA: Ukrainian Orthodox Church
McKay Gardens, Turner, 11.30am
MELBOURNE: Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral Sts Peter and Paul
35 Canning Street North Melbourne; Liturgy 9.30am, Requiem 10.30am
Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Buckley Street Essendon; Liturgy 10.00am, Requiem 11.30am
SYDNEY: St Andrew’s Ukrainian Catholic Church
57 Church Street, Lidcombe, 8.00AM and 10.00AM;
Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church of the Holy Intercession –
Cnr Arthur Street & Mitchell Road, Strathfield West, 9.00AM;
St Aphanasius Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church
William Street, Granville 9.00AM;
PERTH: 11:00 am Combined Requiem at the Millenium Cross
Ukrainian Catholic Church, 20 Ferguson St Maylands
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20. GOLODOMOR UCRANIA 1932-33
Ass. dos Ucranianos em Portugal (SPILKA) - Homenagem
From: Mariya Dets, ucranianosemportugal@gmail.com
To: Morgan Williams, mwilliams@sigmableyzer.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Published by Action Ukraine Report #793, Article 20
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
Caros Amigos,
Nos proximos dias 25-26 de Novembro a comunidade Ucraniana do todo mundo
comemora o 74º aniversario do Golodomor - Fome artificialmente criada pelo
regime sovietico na Ucrânia em 1932-33, que ceifou a vida de cerca de 7
milhões de pessoas. Governos de 10 países do mundo já reconheceram a
natureza genocidaria deste acontecimento terrivel na historia do seculo XX.
Associação dos Ucranianos em Portugal (Spilka) , representante da comunidade
Ucraniana residente em Portugal (cerca de 110 mil pessoas), junto com
Congresso Mundial dos Ucranianos (Ukrainian World Congress) e Congresso
Europeu dos Ucranianos (EKU), Embaixada da Ucrânia em Portugal, e Igreja
Greco-Católica Ucraniana convidamos a todos participar nos eventos de
Homenagem às vitimas de Golodomor, e apoiar o nosso apelo ao Governo e
Povo Português, para que a verdade sobre o Golodomor seja conhecida e sirva
de aviso às presentes e futuras gerações e para que nunca acontecem os actos
de genocídio e qualquer violencia contra a vida humana!
Toda a informação sobre os eventos de Homenagem está em documentos
anexados. A "Mensagem da Comunidade Ucraniana ao Povo Português" foi
entregue ao Governo Português pelo Ministro de Negócios Estrangeiros da
Ucrânia Senhor Boris Tarasyuk durante a sua visita oficial em Portugal no dia
17 de Novembro de 2006.
Para mais informações sobre o Golodomor na Ucrânia de 1932-33:
http://www.ucca.org/famine/
http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
http://www.shevchenkoorg/famine/
http://www.infoukes.com/history/famine/
http://www.faminegenocide.com/
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Sections/Famine/index.php
http://www.represii.org/
http://ukraine33.free.fr/
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
http://www.ukrainianworldcongress.org/Holodomor/index.html
Atenciosamente,
Pela Associação dos Ucranianos em Portugal (SPILKA)
Mariya Dets, Presidente.
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21. UKRAINE: THE FAMINE OF 1921-22: CONFISCATION OF CHURCH
TREASURES; THE GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-33 "TORGSINS"
"A History of the Destruction and Preservation of Cultural Treasures"
By Serhii Bilokin, Doctor of Historical Sciences
Book: "Ukrainian Sculpture And Icons, A History of Their Rescue"
Exhibition Catalogue, Rodovid Press, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2006, Pgs 26-29.
Reprinted With Permission by the Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
#793, Article 22, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 25, 2006
NOTE: The article "A History of the Destruction and Preservation of
Cultural Treasures" by Serhii Bilokin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, is
found in English in the book "Ukrainian Sculpture And Icons, A History
of Their Rescue" Exhibition Catalogue, Copyright Rodovid Press, Kyiv,
Ukraine, 2006, on pages 24-53. The article is also found in Ukrainian.
The following text dealing with the famine of 1921-22 and the famine of
1932-33 is a portion of the larger text and is found on pages 26-29. The
text is reprinted by the AUR with the specific permission of Lidia Lykhach,
Publisher, Rodovid. [AUR EDITOR]
FAMINE OF 1921-22
CONFISCATION OF CHURCH TREASURES
The Lenin period, the real essence of which was the Red Terror, was
characterized by systematic and unremitting expropriations and vigorous
seizures of property. The confiscation of church treasures that took place
during the famine of 1921-22 belongs to this period in fullest measure.
Lenin's famous letter of 10 February 1922 to Molotov and the members of
the Politburo contains no hint of the need to assist the starving population
with money earned from the sale of church valuables.
Its main theme is the extermination of "slave owners" and, as Lenin called
them, the reactionary clergy. The "leader's" main concern was to take
advantage of the moment when it was possible to count on total victory over
the opponent.
However, a comparison will show that the idea in Lenin's letter derives from
Machiavelli. (34) Lenin's letter was published for the first time in 1970
(abroad, naturally), (35) but the idea in it can be traced to earlier
publications.
The scholarly secretary of Munich's Institute for the Study of the USSR,
Mykhailo Miller, defined the period in history of the confiscation of church
treasures in an article from 1957:
"During this first period, the destruction of churches and religious
monuments and their plunder were not of a planned nature but the spontaneous
assault of the lumpen proletariat and the plebs on higher social strata,
which included the clergy.
"Thus, the destruction and plunder of churches took place in parallel and
simultaneously with the destruction and plunder of private landowners'
estates.
"This period ended with the so-called 'sequestration of church treasures'
from all churches, lavry (large monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of
the highest church body), and monasteries. This action, broad in scope,
represented the first Soviet planned pogrom of churches." (36)
It is interesting to note that the awkward phrase "churches, lavry, and
monasteries" is a direct quote from Lenin's letter, where this wording
appears twice. For several decades the historiography of the famine
developed, for obvious reasons, only in emigration.
The first work on the famine was written by Ivan Herasymovych (1876-1942),
a community leader and organizer of Ukrainian educators.
Until 1914 he worked in Bukovyna and headed the press bureau of the Supreme
Command of the Ukrainian Galician Army (UHA). During the years of the
Struggle for Independence, until the late fall of 1921, Herasymovych lived
in Ukraine.
From 1932 to 1939 he edited the Lviv journal Ridna shkola. In 1922 he
published a monograph in Berlin: Holod na Ukraini (Famine in Ukraine, 2nd
ed., Hoverlia, 1973). The work contains a short section on "Church Treasures
of Ukraine on the Famine Front" (pp. 211-12).
Ivan Vlasovsky found important things to say about the plunder of church
treasures in his monumental work, linking it to the question of cultural
heritage. He noted that "for the Ukrainian people this was the theft of its
national treasure, evidence of its centuries-long piety and national
culture." (37)
On 26 April 1922 the Ukrainian humanists Ahantanhel Krymsky, Serhii
Iefremov, Fedir Shmit, and museologists Mykola Makarenko, Danylo
Shcherbakivsky, Fedir Ernst, and others sent the following request to the
Council of People's Commissars of the URSR: "[.] we find that if the
program of the sequestration of material treasures is not implemented with
sufficient care, there exists the possibility of destroying very rare,
irreplaceable monuments of art, whose material value is insignificant
compared with their artistic value.
A work of art, once destroyed, can never be replaced. Obviously, the cross
of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, which was sequestered from the Museum of Religious
Cults and Folkways at the Kyivan Cave Monastery, or the royal doors that
were the gift of Hetman Ivan Mazepa, which were sequestered from the
Chernihiv Cathedral, cannot be created anew.
Obviously, the Byzantine bracelet, removed from the Chernihiv Museum, is a
thousand times more valuable than the silver from which it is made. To melt
down or sell these items abroad would be a grave crime against the people,
leaving a black stain on the names of those who allowed this to happen.
"We ask the Council of People's Commissars of Ukraine to take into account
this aspect of the sequestrations and ask that the artistic treasures
confiscated from museums be returned to them." (38)
The Ukrainian scholars received a reply to this letter the very next day.
Ad protocollum No. 36 of 18 May 1922
To the Council of the Church Community of the Kyivan Cave Monastery
REPORT
On the second sequestration of church treasures from the Cave Monastery's
churches that took place on 27 April 1922:
At around noon on 27 April, the Cave Monastery was cordoned off from all
sides by Soviet troops, who did not allow anyone in or out of the gates
without a special permit from the commander of the guards.
Before long, the Commission for the Sequestration of Valuables, headed by
the deputy chief of the NKVD, Com. Serafimov, arrived at the monastery.
Upon his arrival, the latter announced that he had received an explicit
order from the authorities and had come to take the revetment (ryza) of the
Assumption icon, and would not enter into any negotiations about its
redemption.
He proposed to the Father Superior that he voluntarily remove the revetment,
adding that if he refused to do so, the Commission itself would remove it.
[.] The revetment was carefully removed from the old icon of the Assumption
of the Mother of God by the Commission's jeweler [Khmelevsky].
The icon, covered with varnish, was placed back by the ecclesiarch of the
Cave Monastery into the metal ring in which it had been before and which was
left by the Commission in view of the fact that the jeweler had placed a low
value on it.
But for the diamond halo around the head of the Lord of Sabaoth on that ring
the Commission demanded a redemption payment of 17 carats of diamonds,
which were paid out from the voluntary donations of the faithful.
The artistically worked gold revetment, gleaming with the play of
multicolored precious stones, was valued by the Commission's jeweler at
62,550 rubles (in gold).
In addition to the revetment, the grand candelabra (large, silver) from the
Cave Monastery's Large Church [Church of the Assumption], weighing 10 1/2
poods, the silver plate from the altar of the Refectory [Trapezna] Church,
and the sepulcher containing part of the relics of the Holy Princess
Iulianna in the Church of the Annuciation, weighing 2 1/2 poods, were
removed. This and other silver was weighed.
Inasmuch as according to Com. Serafimov the number of poods of silver
planned by the Commission was short 8 poods, the Monastery had to provide
this amount.
When the members of the Council of the Church Community stated definitely
that there was no such silver, the Commission decided to take the revetments
from icons and the sepulchers from the Large Church; however, after some
negotiations, the Commission agreed to the redemption of the indicated
items - in gold or the diamonds donated to buy back the revetment of the
Assumption icon - a total equal to the value of 8 poods of silver, that is,
6,400 rubles (prewar), which were ordered to be submitted by 4 May to the
Gubernia Commission for the Sequestration of Valuables.
At 6 o'clock by the sun, taking with it the valuables sequestered from the
churches, the Commission departed. (39)
THE GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-33 "TORGSINS"
The confiscation of gold directly from the citizenry began around mid-1931
and continued through the famine. The initial stages of these confiscations
coincided with the abolition of the New Economic Policy, known by its
acronym NEP.
At the end of NEP, the campaign to confiscate gold from the new bourgeoisie
took on great scope. (40) The well-known Chekist, Aleksandr Osipovich
Bronevoi (Faktorovich: 30 May 1898, Odessa - 22 February 1940, OnegLag
[Onega labor camp]), (41) served from 18 April 1931 as deputy chief of the
Economic Directorate of the GPU (State Political Administration) of the
URSR.
The émigré writer, Dokiia Humenna, remembered him: "His specialty was to
'extract' gold from rich Jews."(42) Another second-wave émigré, a former
Kyivite who published his narrative under a cryptonym, described the same,
but in greater detail: "I will conclude my description with a mention of
Com. Bronevoi, who headed the OGPU group of investigators in Kyiv
tasked with conducting the gold 'mining' campaign.
It was said of him that he had once belonged to the Zionist movement; after
being arrested together with other fellow members, in contrast to them, he
bought his freedom by betraying his convictions and agreeing to work in
OGPU organs.
Together with Fisher, Bruk, Sokolov, and other investigators, he headed the
investigation in the case of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine [SVU]
and the Association of Ukrainian Youth [SUM].
Having distinguished himself in Kyiv, Bronevoi was transferred in 1933 to
Moscow, where he also worked in the 'gold business.' I heard that that same
year he tried to flee abroad with diamonds, but was caught and soon
liquidated." (43)
The great famine yielded the Bolsheviks huge material profits. Planning for
this revenue, in the summer of 1930 they established the All-Union Office
for Trade with Foreigners (Torgsin) under the People's Commissariat of
Foreign Trade.
An office opened in Kharkiv in August 1931, and by the beginning of January
1932, "Torgsin" stores were already operating in Odessa, Kyiv, Mariupil,
Kherson, Mykolaiv, Vinnytsia, Shepetivka, Zhytomyr, and Berdiansk - that is,
everywhere where famine soon raged.
Documents prepared by experts of the People's Commissariat of the
Workers'-Peasants' Inspectorate reveal the political and economic
justification of the entire "Torgsin" system, which stressed the
confiscation from the public of "everyday gold items, which after the
revolution lost their everyday significance as objects of adornment (rings,
earrings, bracelets, crosses, and so on) [.] but retained their value. [.]
this gold needs to be collected with the help of the 'Torgsin' system and
used to serve the interests of the proletarian state." (44)
The "Torgsin" system was given specific plan targets for the confiscation
of gold from the population.
In the span of two years, the state took in: (45)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1932
Name of metal Revenues
In millions of karvobantsi In metric tons
Gold (scrap, coins) 26.8 21.0
Silver 0.3 18.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1933
Name of metal Revenues
In millions of karvobantsi In metric tons
Gold (scrap, coins) 58.0 44.9
Silver 22.9 1,420.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Vasyl Marochko points out, "The peasants were not always able to
avail themselves of the bread they bought at the 'Torgsins.' Quite often
hey were arrested outside the stores by GPU officers.
The peasants who brought in gold coins to the collection centers were
arrested on the spot. The Chekists demanded lists of 'gold deliverers' with
their addresses and names. [.] it can be said that in 1932-1933 the
extortion of grain and gold from peasants took place simultaneously." (46)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES:
34 Bilokin', Masovyi terror iak zasib derzhavnoho upravlinnia v SRSR,
1917-1941 rr,: Dzhereloznavche doslidzhennia (Kyiv, 1999), p. 27.
35 "Neizdannoe pis'mo V. I. Lenina chlenam Politbiuro," Vestnik Russkogo
studencheskogo khristianskogo dvizheniia (Paris-New York), vol. 98, [no.] 4
(1970), pp. 54-60.
36 Mykhailo Oleksandrovych Miller, "Znyshchennia Pravoslavno? Tserkvy
bol'shevykamy," Ukrains'kyi zbirnyk (Munich), 1957, no. 10, pp. 42-43.
37 Ivan Fedorovych Vlasovs'kyi (1883-1969), Narys istorii Ukrains'koi
Pravoslavnoi Tserkvy, vol. 4, pt. 1 (New York, 1961), pp. 292-93.
38 Manuscript division of the M. T. Rylsky Institute of Fine Arts, Folklore,
and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine [Instytut
mystetstvoznavstva, fol'kloru ta etnohrafii im. M. T. Ryl's'koho NAN
Ukrainy], F. 13-5 Ernst, Od. zb. 299, Ark. 10-zv. Full publication in
Bilokin', "Vtraty ukrains'koi kul'turnoi spadshchyny pid chas holodu 1922
roku," in Mohylians'ki chytannia 2004: Zbirnyk naukovykh prats' (Kyiv,
2005), pp. 77-98.
39 Kyivan Cave Monastery Preserve [Zapovidnyk "Kyievo-Pechers'ka Lavra"],
Fondy, A-525/2, Ark. 2-zv. A stamp on page 2 reads: "Lavrs'kii muzei pry
Hubpolitosviti m. Kyiv" [Lavra Museum of the Gubernia Political Education
Administration of the c. of Kyiv]. I removed this document and made a copy
of it when I worked in the preserve's division of preservation of monuments
in 1971-72. Full publication in Bilokin', "Vtraty ukra?ns'ko? kul'turno?
spadshchyny pid chas holodu 1922 roku," pp. 77-98.
40 See: B. St., "Iz"iatie zolota: Materialy k istorii bol'shevistskogo
terrora," Vestnik Instituta po izucheniiu istorii i kul'tury SSSR (Munich),
1951, vol. 1, pp. 142-44.
41 Bilokin', "Bronievoi (Faktorovich) O. Io.," Entsyklopediia istorii
Ukrainy, vol. 1: A-V (Kyiv: Naukova dumka, 2003), p. 382. We know of two
Bronevoi brothers (real name Faktorovich), who served in the GPU - Aleksandr
Iosifovich and Solomon Iosifovich. Inasmuch as the latter served first in
the EKO PP OGPU [Economic Plenipotentiary Directorate of the OGPU] in the
Ivanov industrial oblast, and only much later in Ukraine, after the trial of
the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine [SVU] - from 3 May 1934 (head of the
6th department of EKO PP OGPU) - this refers to someone else, and if this is
a dynasty, more likely to Aleksandr Iosifovich. The latter became the deputy
chief of the Economic Directorate of the GPU of the URSR on 18 April 1934
(Yu. Shapoval, V. Prystaiko, and V. Zolotar'ov, ChK-GPU-NKVD v Ukra?ni:
Osoby, fakty, dokumenty (Kyiv: Abrys, 1997), pp. 43-445. Neither of the
Bronevoi brothers named here served in Moscow. The first was not imprisoned
until 1938, and the latter, in 1936.
42 Dokiia Kuz'mivna Humenna, Dar Evdotei: Ispyt pamiati, vol. 2, Zhar i
kryha (Baltimore-Toronto: Smoloskyp, 1990), pp. 247-48.
43 See B. St., "Iz"iatie zolota: Materialy k istorii bol'shevistskogo
terrora," pp. 142-44.
44 Marochko, "'Torhzin': zolota tsina zhyttia ukrains'kykh khliborobiv," p.
457. The passage is quoted in a Ukrainian translation by the author from the
original Russian.
45 Ibid., p. 463.
46 Ibid., p. 466.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article above cannot be republished without permission from Rodovid Press.
BOOK: "Ukrainian Sculpture And Icons, A History of Their Rescue"
Exhibition Catalogue from the collection of the President of Ukraine,
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Copyright by Rodovid Press, Lidia Lykhach, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2006
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22. LE TABOU DE L'"HOLODOMOR" UKRAINIEN
LE MONDE, Paris, France, Friday, November 24, 2006 .
'Histoire n'est pas neutre. Dans l'ex-Union soviétique encore moins
qu'ailleurs. L'Ukraine s'apprête à commémorer, samedi 25 novembre, la famine
qui a frappé le pays en 1932 et 1933. Connue sous le nom d'"Holodomor"
("extermination par la faim", en ukrainien), cette page de l'ère stalinienne
a fait plusieurs millions de morts, principalement dans les régions de
Kharkiv et de Dniepropetrovsk. L'anniversaire est, cette année, plus
politique que jamais.
Le président Viktor Iouchtchenko a déposé, début novembre, un projet de loi
"sur la perpétuation de la mémoire des victimes de la famine". Le texte
prévoit notamment de punir quiconque contesterait son caractère génocidaire.
"Nous n'accusons aucun peuple, aucun pays et personne, en Ukraine, de
génocide. Ce n'est pas le but de cette loi", a assuré le président, le 15
novembre.
Tout de même. L'affaire survient alors que Viktor Iouchtchenko est en train
de rompre le pacte de gouvernement scellé en août, après les élections
législatives, avec le parti prorusse de Viktor Ianoukovitch, qui représente
justement ces russophones dont les parents sont venus s'installer en Ukraine
pour combler la saignée démographique de la famine.
Les partisans de M. Ianoukovitch sont divisés sur l'opportunité de voter ce
projet de loi. En visite à Kiev, début novembre 2006, Sergueï Lavrov,
ministre russe des affaires étrangères, a de son côté refusé que la famine
soit considérée comme un génocide.
Le texte fouaille une blessure de la mémoire ukrainienne. Occultée de
l'histoire officielle soviétique, l'Holodomor a marqué les familles et
entretenu le ressentiment vis-à-vis de Moscou. Dans les périodes de tensions
avec le grand voisin ou dans les phases d'impopularité interne, le
gouvernement ukrainien se saisit de la tragédie.
En 2003, avant la "révolution orange", le Parlement ukrainien avait voté une
résolution - pas une loi - qui assimilait déjà la famine de 1932-1933 à un
"génocide", "un acte terroriste délibéré du système stalinien" et "un des
facteurs importants pour la reconnaissance de l'indépendance ukrainienne".
L'offensive du président est également diplomatique. Le 27 octobre, un
représentant ukrainien a appelé, lors d'une réunion de l'Assemblée générale
de l'ONU, "tous les Etats à condamner l'Holodomor et à promouvoir sa
reconnaissance internationale, particulièrement par les Nations unies, comme
génocide contre la nation ukrainienne". Une dizaine de pays, la plupart
abritant une forte communauté ukrainienne comme les Etats-Unis, le Canada
ou l'Australie, ont aujourd'hui reconnu officiellement ce caractère
génocidaire.
La France, qui aime tant légiférer sur l'Histoire, ne fait pas partie de la
liste. "Le gouvernement français n'envisage pas, à ce stade, de se prononcer
sur la qualification politique et juridique de la grande famine comme crime
de génocide", assurait, en 2005, le ministère des affaires étrangères, en
réponse à une question écrite d'un sénateur.
L'exploitation politique de la famine ne facilite pas le travail des
historiens, déjà compliqué par le long interdit qui a pesé sur le sujet.
"Nous sortons d'un silence absolu de soixante ans", constate Nicolas Werth,
l'un des meilleurs connaisseurs français de la période, directeur de
recherche à l'Institut d'histoire du temps présent, dépendant du CNRS.
L'ouverture partielle des archives de l'ex-URSS a amélioré la connaissance,
tout comme les témoignages des derniers survivants, recueillis notamment par
Georges Sokolov (L'Année noire 1933 : la famine en Ukraine, Albin Michel).
Les rapports de la Guépéou sur les "difficultés alimentaires" apportent un
éclairage glacial mais circonstancié. Les estimations divergent encore sur
le bilan, mais le chiffre de 5 millions de morts est le plus fréquemment
évoqué.
La gravité de la famine est cependant contestée par quelques historiens
revendiquant leur fidélité communiste. La Française Annie Lacroix-Riz, qui
enseigne à Paris-VII, dénonce ainsi une "opération de propagande", "un
bobard" et préfère évoquer "une sérieuse disette conduisant à un strict
renforcement du rationnement" (Sur la "famine" en Ukraine en 1933 : une
campagne allemande, polonaise et vaticane). Contactée par Le Monde,
l'historienne n'a pas donné suite à notre appel.
Les réfractaires s'appuient notamment sur le voyage d'Edouard Herriot dans
la région en 1933. L'homme politique radical s'était répandu sur la
prospérité des campagnes ukrainiennes. Mais des travaux historiques ont,
depuis, démontré comment le voyageur, obnubilé par sa volonté d'un
rapprochement franco-soviétique, avait été magistralement abusé par ses
hôtes.
Le journaliste américain Walter Duranty, correspondant du New York Times
à Moscou, prix Pulitzer 1932, a également nié jusqu'à sa mort, en 1957,
l'existence d'une famine. Mais son journal a récemment soumis ses articles à
un examen critique et conclu que sa couverture était "discréditée". Une
campagne a été lancée outre-Atlantique pour que le prix Pulitzer lui soit
retiré.
Si la réalité de la famine n'est plus guère contestée, le principal débat
concerne donc la qualification de génocide. La pénurie alimentaire est née
de réquisitions massives, virant au pillage, organisées à partir de l'été
1932. Elle a surtout touché les régions les plus hostiles à la
collectivisation des terres et les foyers du nationalisme ukrainien.
Les victimes avaient interdiction de sortir du périmètre dans lequel les
vivres avaient été confisqués. Elles y étaient renvoyées quand elles
tentaient de s'en échapper. Tandis que des hommes mouraient de faim, l'URSS
exportait des céréales (1,7 million de tonnes en 1932, puis en 1933).
Selon l'historien Stéphane Courtois, coauteur du Livre noir du communisme,
"cette famine préméditée, organisée, systématisée était destinée à éliminer
la partie la plus dynamique de la paysannerie. Il faut appeler cela un
génocide de classe". "C'est un génocide par famine", estime le docteur Yves
Ternon, auteur de Guerres et génocides au XXe siècle, ouvrage à paraître en
janvier chez Odile Jacob. "Les historiens ont la volonté de contenir la
définition de génocide, mais, même selon des critères restrictifs, la mort
par famine délibérée de 5 millions de personnes est sans aucun doute un
génocide", poursuit le spécialiste.
"Une volonté punitive est-elle une volonté génocidaire ?", interroge
cependant Pavel Chinsky, normalien franco-russe enseignant à Moscou et
auteur de Staline. Archives inédites 1926-1936 (éd. Berg). Egalement opposés
à la collectivisation, les nomades du Kazakhstan, les paysans des bords de
la Volga ou les cosaques du nord du Caucase ont été à la même époque l'objet
de mesures répressives qui ont abouti à de terribles famines.
Longtemps, Nicolas Werth s'est montré circonspect sur la qualification de
l'Holodomor. Mais les derniers textes exhumés des archives, notamment des
lettres de Staline, ont infléchi sa position. "Est-ce un génocide ? Plutôt
oui. Par rapport aux autres famines qui ont touché l'Union soviétique,
celle-ci se distingue par la volonté d'éradiquer le nationalisme et de punir
des paysans.
Elle est aggravée volontairement. Il y a une spécificité", estime-t-il. Près
de soixante-quinze ans après, les archives ne sont encore qu'entrouvertes
et le débat est soumis aux pressions. "Il y a, dans certaines démarches
historiques, la recherche d'une part de revanche", regrette Pavel Chinsky.
"Être historien reste un métier difficile en Russie", constate-t-il. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-838243,0.html
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