Famine bill's passage would be moral victory (10/14/84)

Famine bill's passage would be moral victory

Ihor Olshaniwsky, coordinator, Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee:

I am grateful to Chairman Dan Mica for scheduling these hearings on H.R. 4459, a bill that would establish a Congressionally chaired commission to study and report on the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine. I also thank Congressman James J. Florio, sponsor of H.R. 4459, and the 120 congressmen who joined as co-sponsors of this important legislation. It is a great honor for me to appear before the Subcommittee on International Operations on behalf of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine (AHRU) and the Committee to Commemorate the 1932-33 Genocide Victims in Ukraine - representing a total of over one-half million Ukrainian Americans.

Almost one year ago Congressman Florio introduced H.R. 4459. A companion bill, S. 2456, was introduced by Sen. Bill Bradley on March 21, 1984. Hearings on S. 2456 were held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on August 1, 1984. The testimonies offered were in favor of establishing the famine commission with the exception of the representative from the State Department. His testimony displayed a lack of knowledge of the bill's language, employed conjecture and contained disinformation which was a disservice to our open form of government. His erroneous testimony was quoted widely by the news media and presented a negative picture to the public. I am asking permission to include in my testimony AHRU's rebuttal to the State Department's position and also letters to the editor published in The Star Ledger, Newark, N.J., and the Evening Press, Binghamton, N.Y. S. 2456 was passed by the Senate on September 21 with some modifications that should overcome objections that were voiced by members of Congress.

There are many reasons we think that the creation of a Congressionally chaired commission is important, and I will try to address them here.

(1) This genocidal famine affected hundreds of thousands of Americans who had their roots in Soviet Ukraine. Almost every family lost relatives and friends. Great numbers of naturalized American citizens were survivors of this genocide. Can we ignore the nightmare, the suffering and the loss of dear ones by so many of our countrymen?
(2) We must prevent a Soviet cover-up from prevailing in the recorded history of mankind. Besides, the old men of the Kremlin are still in power. These are the men who in their youth were the perpetrators of this horrible crime against humanity. We must pinpoint the inner workings of our present-day adversary in order to develop a foreign policy toward the Soviet Union without illusions. Only by learning the hard lessons of the past can we hope to prevent recurrences of political genocides in the future.
(3) We Americans must promulgate the principles upon which this great country was founded - principles of democracy, freedom, human rights and human dignity. We have learned immensely from the studies of the Nazi-imposed Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, but we must also acquire an adequate knowledge of the Soviet uses of food as a political tool. Civilized nations must always be willing to review and remember not only the glories of the past but also its horrors if we are to prevent their recurrence.
(4) From a practical point of view, the study of Soviet behavior and its methods are of paramount importance to all of us - especially to the Department of State and our policy-makers. In a democratic country like ours it is a near impossibility to develop a foreign policy without the support of the general public. The study of Soviet conduct and the nature of the Soviet system is an educational process vital to our understanding the international dilemmas facing us and is an important part of our national defense. Only through a well-informed American public can we develop a reliable long-term national policy toward the Soviet Union.
(5) We believe that the American public needs an impartial study with unbiased conclusions. One cannot suppose that a study conducted by a privately funded group with its limited accessibility would have the same recognition as a Congressional study. Furthermore, the bill provides the Congressional commission with subpoena powers, a call to all available willing and unwilling eyewitnesses, and access to the archives of all government agencies.
(6) Reacting to the Soviet government's methods, deeds and strategies, I am not about to criticize those in our government who believe in strong national defense; however, I do not believe that our defense posture should consist solely of a building up of military hardware. In the present age of advanced weaponry and the danger of total annihilation of mankind we must stress the need of settling our differences through peaceful means. However, we must be realistic and utilize all available data to our advantage. The Soviet Union starts indoctrinating its pupils at the grammar-school level with erroneous information about our country and the dangers that our "imperialistic system" presents to the world. We can counter this in the true democratic spirit by presenting correct information not only to peoples of the Soviet Union via the Voice of America and Radio Liberty but also to the American public. This endeavor should not be the job of one ethnic group or of individual citizens. It should be the concern of us all - including the United States Congress and the executive branch, together with its State Department.

Therefore, we urge the members of the Subcommittee on International Operations to act favorably and promptly on H.R. 4459 and to prevail upon the full Foreign Affairs Committee to report this bill out immediately for a floor vote. We ask this subcommittee to accept the revisions provided by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee without further changes.

Why is it so important that this bill be passed immediately? Because there are still some survivors and witnesses left from the genocidal famine of 1932-33. These survivors are old and sick. Next year may be too late for many of them to offer testimony. Much raw data can be obtained from these eyewitness testifiers of the famine. Since many of the survivors are reluctant to speak out and relive the horrors of their famine experiences, a prestigious Congressional commission would help them overcome their reluctance in order to set history in its proper perspective. Therefore, we must act now. There is an urgency to establish the Congressional famine commission in the waning moments of this legislative session.

We see the Congressional famine commission as a joint venture between the community and the U.S. Congress. With our cooperation and assistance the commission can make this a viable project that will draw on the resources of the community. It will be a worthy monument to the innocent victims of this genocidal famine. The witnesses will be reassured that their testimonies will be properly recorded for the benefit and use of the American people. Their testimonies will assist in the formulation of a more introspective foreign policy. Through their testimonies this crime will not be forgotten and a repetition of such horrors might be prevented.

The commission will not be duplicating existing studies but will incorporate them in this endeavor. We will seek volunteers to donate their time and effort for this task. We will solicit funds from private foundations, corporations and individuals. We will search for all available data that could be utilized by this commission. We will actively seek out the surviving witnesses who can tell us the true story of this horror. If unable to travel, we will go to their homes and help to record their testimonies. We are interested in helping the commission to produce a worthwhile study that will not become a cumbersome and expensive bureaucratic project but one that will enlighten present and future generations.

In 1976 in Kiev, Mykola Rudenko, a Ukrainian poet and human-rights activist, founded the Ukrainian Public Group to Promote the Implementation of the Helsinki Accords. Nine courageous men and women joined him in this venture; many more joined later. All of them were subsequently arrested, deported or died in Soviet labor camps. At its inception the group wrote Memorandum No. 1 expressing the feeling of most Ukrainians to the leaders of the Soviet Union and to the free peoples of the world. In this memorandum they wrote about the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as one of the tools of Soviet oppression. They appealed to the world to react to this genocide. Eight years have passed since that memorandum was issued. After establishing the famine commission we will send a message to Rudenko, to the surviving members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group and to the untold millions of oppressed Ukrainians to reassure them that the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation will be not a mere footnote in the pages of history. We will say that we, the citizens of a free society, heard their plea and are working to investigate and expose one of the greatest crimes against humanity.

To Ukrainians in the Soviet Union, the knowledge that the greatest legislative body in the free world found it appropriate to establish a Congressional commission to study, gather and disseminate all the facts about the famine, will be a moral victory. It will give them the encouragement to keep alive their quest for attaining human and national rights during this dark period of totalitarian rule.

We cannot afford to wait another year while the number of survivors of this tragedy is rapidly decreasing. We appeal to the chairman and members of the subcommittee to act promptly for passage of this bill.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I thank you for this opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 4459.