Members of U.S. Famine Commission feted at D.C. reception (05/04/86)

Members of U.S. Famine Commission feted at D.C. reception

WASHINGTON - The members of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine were honored here on Capitol Hill at a reception sponsored by the Ukrainian Association of Washington on Tuesday evening, April 22.

The reception took place on the eve of the 15-member government commission's organizational meeting.

Among those present were: Rep. Dan Mica (D-Fla.), the commission chairman; Reps. William S. Broomfield (R-Mich.), Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Dennis Hertel (D-Mich.), commissioners; and all six public members of the commission who represent the Ukrainian American community: Bohdan Fedorak, Dr. Myron B. Kuropas, Daniel Marchishin, Ulana Mazurkevich, Anastasia Volker and Dr. Oleh Weres.

The more than 100 persons in attendance were welcomed by Eugene Iwanciw, president of the Ukrainian Association of Washington. The proceedings were conducted by Rep. Mica, who introduced several speakers.

Rep. Mica told the gathering that the famine commission's final report will help open the eyes of the people in the United States and the world "to something that really has been in the dark for many, many decades."

Sen. Don Riegle (D-Mich.), said the facts behind the famine have never really been brought out into the open. "It's as if history was painted over in order to hide the terrible realities." He added, "It is important that story be told and that the facts be brought to light now for both the living and the dead."

The commission was mandated by Congress, said Rep. Hertel, "so that we know and the world knows who did this to people, and so that it never happens again as it happened then."

Rep. Don Ritter (R-Pa.) noted that the commission will increase the public's knowledge of the famine, which is "of crucial importance in 20th century history."

"As the Holocaust against the Jews defined for all of human history the nature of the Nazis, the enforced famine against the Ukrainian people will define similarly for all of human history the character of the Soviet Communist regime," he said.

Rep. Bill Greene (R-N.Y.), a member of the U.S. Holocaust Commission, said he believed remembering the famine "is important for the future."

Dr. James E. Mace, staff director of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, formally introduced the public members of the commission to the audience.

The Voice of America covered the reception and interviewed Dr. Mace, as well as several of the members of the famine commission.

Also present were the following congressmen: Bernard Dwyer (D-N.J.), Austin Murphy (D-Pa.), Eldon Rudd (R-Ariz.), Dean Gallo (R-N.J.), Lawrence Coughin (R-Pa.), Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), Mike Lowry (D-Wash.) and Thomas Kindness (R-Ohio).

Many Ukrainian Americans from the Washington area attended. The Ukrainian National Association was represented by three supreme officers: John O. Flis, president; Walter Sochan, secretary; and Ulana Diachuk, treasurer.

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