They came from near and far (10/09/83)

They came from near and far

by Marta Kolomayets

WASHINGTON - They came from all over the United States; they came by bus, by car, by train and by plane. They all converged upon the nation's capital. Some 18,000 Ukrainian Americans gathered at the Washington Monument on Sunday, October 2, for one reason: they came to commemorate the millions of victims of the Great Famine in Ukraine 1932-33.

Some had carried the memory of the tragedy in their hearts and in their minds for 50 years. Some knew only of the genocide through stories told by parents and relatives. Still others, second- and third-generation Ukrainians learned of the holocaust through English-language accounts in the Ukrainian press and through word of mouth. They all came to honor the memory of innocent victims - Ukrainian brothers and sisters - and to make others aware of the Soviets' horrible crime against humanity.

Pawlo Malar, of Syracuse, N.Y., was an eyewitness to the famine in the Poltava region. He, along with a full bus of Plast members and parishioners of St. John's Ukrainian Catholic and St. Luke's Ukrainian Orthodox churches, traveled to Washington to rightfully commemorate the great tragedy.

"As a 22-year-old student in the city, I saw the trucks coming around to pick up the corpses, I saw death all around me," he stated, recalling the famine years. "And through the years I have tried to spread the word about the famine," he added. Mr. Malar said he participated in the 15th, 25th and 40th year commemorations of the famine held in the diaspora. He is the author of a trilogy "Zolotyi Doshch," in which he devotes several chapters to the famine.

On Sunday he came to Washington because he feels the Reagan administration is not apathetic to the politics of the Soviet Union, as administrations in the past were.

He was one of many demonstrators who arrived as early as 9:30 a.m. The chartered buses from various cities kept pulling up near the Washington Monument to let rally-goers off. The dark sky, scattered with rain clouds, seemed almost appropriate for the somber event.

By 10:30 a.m. the masses extended to either side of the stage and stretched way back to the Washington Monument, a distance of several hundred feet. The sun started breaking through the clouds and the umbrellas were folded and put away.

The people still kept coming; chartered buses from all parts of the United States - the Rochestarians carried their symbolic coffins, imprinted with the words "7,000,000 Ukrainians Murdered"; the Plast members assembled, staking out a good piece of land to accommodate 1,000 uniformed members of all ages.

Women in embroidered blouses and dark skirts, members of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America and the Ukrainian Gold Cross listened attentively to the speakers on the stage. Eleven full buses from the Philadelphia area carried both young and old to the commemorations in Washington.

Among the sea of faces, signs proclaiming all the cities and towns represented emerged. They read San Diego; Los Angeles; Chicago; Dayton, Solon, Youngstown (Ohio); Pittsburgh, Monessen (Pa.); Buffalo (N.Y.); Hartford (Conn.); Detroit; Richmond (Va.); Trenton (N.J.); Boston; New York and Baltimore. The list of cities grew longer and longer as the rally continued past noon. Ukrainians from Texas, Florida, Rhode Island, and Washington made their way through the crowds.

Signs, some meticulously printed and others scrawled in a hurried fashion, were carried by many of the demonstrators. They carried such slogans as "The West Must Not Forget," "Whole Ukrainian History is Holocaust," "7,000,269 Murdered - 1933 Soviet Genocide in Ukraine, 1983 Soviet Attack on KAL 007."

As the solemn march to the Soviet Embassy began the demonstration took on a somber tone. The uniformed members of Plast and ODUM gave the march a formal air, followed by representatives of women's organizations and communities.

The Ukrainian Orthodox League, numbering over 200 from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois, marched together, caught up in the spirit of unity which, their president Dr. Gayle Woloschak remarked, has prevailed since their summer convention.

Marching the mile-long route from the Washington Monument to the Soviet Embassy, the Ukrainian Americans conscientiously informed passers-by of the great tragedy perpetrated upon the Ukrainian people by the Soviet regime.

A young marcher from St. Mary's parish in Solon, Ohio, remarked "I'll bet you could not even find a handful of people on the street who know about this tragedy," and continued marching on proudly with his group, which had traveled 10 hours to get to Washington.

"We're a small community in Richmond, Va.," remarked Ihor Taran in a southern drawl, "but we're aware of the famine and we came here today to commemorate the memory of the victims. My parents came from Zaporizhzhia and Kiev and I've grown up being aware of the tragedy of the genocide," he said.

A handful of marchers from Kentucky, representing the cities of Louisville and Lexington, were organized by the local UNA branch and had traveled to Washington to commemorate the event on a national level. "We've had local television and press coverage in Kentucky," Oksana Mostovych stated.

Road-weary Chicagoans who spent 17 hours on a chartered bus, their travels extended due to bad weather in Pennsylvania, arrived in Washington on Friday. Many of them spent the day visiting U.S. senators and congressmen with fellow members of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine.

The first-, second- and third-generation Ukrainian Americans who have never experienced the tyranny of the Soviet system took part in the commemorations. So did newly arrived Soviet emigres. Former dissident Nadia Svitlychna and her entire family showed up in Washington, as did former political prisoner Valentyn Moroz, who now resides in Toronto with his wife, and recent defector Victor Kovalenko, presently a Plast member in Philadelphia.

The United States Ukrainian community was not the only Ukrainian community represented. Torontonians came down by bus to observe U.S. national famine commemorations. One Canadian student remarked that he thought it was important for Canadians also to take part in one of the largest commemorations of the 50th anniversary of this holocaust. Ukrainians from Australia and Europe took part in the commemorations as did many non-Ukrainian friends of Ukrainians.

Maria Petrauskas - dressed in traditional Lithuanian garb - and her daughter Solamaja, joined the masses of Ukrainians at the Washington Monument. "We have always known about the famine, today we come out to the demonstration in solidarity with our oppressed brothers," Solamaja said.

Some of the marchers, too old to walk the route of the march, were driven to the embassy to watch the crowds assemble and hear the statement addressed to the Kremlin. Hlib Naumenko of St. George's Church in Yardville, N.J., who was 23 at the time of the famine, said that his family in Poltava was saved by eating gruel even dogs refused to eat. "Today, I come to remind myself of those days and to make others aware," he said, slowly making his way to a bench.

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