FOR THE RECORD: Hillary Rodham Clinton's address at the memorial to victims of repression (11/23/97)

FOR THE RECORD

Hillary Rodham Clinton's address at the memorial to victims of repression

Following is an unofficial transcript of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's speech at the monument to the victims of Communist repression in Lviv on November 17.

I am honored to join you today. I have come here in the spirit of 1 million Ukrainian Americans, who, even when it was hard, always had faith that one day freedom would triumph in their homeland.

And I have come here on behalf of my husband, the president of the United States, to send a message embodying the flags of our two countries. In your fight for freedom, your fight for democracy, the American people will stand with you.

Just 18 blocks from the White House in Washington there is a monument to your great poet and national leader, Shevchenko, built at a time when Ukraine was still a captive nation.

This morning I visited another monument of Shevchenko, this one built in your free nation.

It was Shevchenko who wrote, "In your house you will find them, truth and strength and freedom." In your home of Ukraine, we have found them, those citizens who work in the name of truth, those who push forward with strength, and those who fought for and sometimes died for freedom.

Because you know that there is no freedom when you cannot speak your own language, practice your own religion, choose your own leaders, or make your voice heard without fear. There is no freedom if you use your power only to protect yourself. If the history of this century teaches us anything, it is that if the human dignity of any person or group is compromised, then the human dignity of us all is compromised as well.

We must always listen to the voices of those whom this extraordinary, powerful memorial honors. One of them is a 36-year-old man, shot and killed more than 50 years ago at Prison No. 1, which was once just behind me. Next to the monument is a wreath addressed to him. The wreath reads: "Our dear father ... grandfather ... great-grandfather ... and brother."

These are the voices of entire generations. But I also heard the voices of freedom when I visited the Gilad Synagogue earlier today. The Nazis turned that holy place into a horse stable and left a signature of bullet holes in the ceiling. The Soviets used it as a warehouse.

Today it is a beautiful synagogue where the people can once again worship freely and where the Jewish community and the freedom of religion have been reborn - as all of Ukraine has been reborn.

I hear these voices of freedom in the legacy of the millions of Ukrainians who lost their lives in the famines imposed by Stalin, those "harvests of sorrow."

I hear these voices of freedom in the story of an infant whose family was banished to Siberia, her three uncles killed, simply for advocating an independent Ukraine. Today Larysa Krushelnytska directs the Stefanyk Scientific Library, where the best literature, once banned for many of us, is now accessible to all people.

We hear these voices of freedom when we look at the memorial, here in this square - a noble gift from the victims, their families and community groups. We see a body twisted by Communist oppression, but we also see a courageous spirit that seems to say "I will not give up, I will carry on."

Even in face of unspeakable horrors, the people of Ukraine and others living under Soviet domination did not give up. Instead, you found the best shield against oppression, you started down the road to democracy - including free and fair elections. But the journey is far from over.

Because democracy does not end with a constitution or the right to vote. As we have learned in my country for more than 200 years, democracy is a never-ending struggle that we must grapple with every day. Yes, government can have laws to protect our most cherished institutions and freedoms. But if we, in Ukraine and in the United States, want democracy and freedom to thrive, then we must build a civil society where democratic values live in our hearts and minds, where people stand up for what is right, and where the rule of law, not the rule of crime and corruption, prevails.

Democracy will thrive also only if we use our ethnic diversity as a force not to pull us apart but to bring us together, as you have done in Ukraine. And democracy will thrive if women are full participants in every aspect of society and if the people of Ukraine continue to forge an alliance of values of the democratic community of nations.

And ultimately, democracy will thrive if we act now to invest the next generation, because it is our young people in both of our countries who will determine whether we honor the past by creating a different kind of future for the next generations.

It is our young people who will determine whether you create a free and prosperous Ukraine, a Ukraine that allows all citizens to reach their God-given potential, and a Ukraine that brings our countries together, the way we stand here today and will stand tomorrow.

I want you to know that the American people will stand with you, as you undergo the hardships of this historic transition that you are accomplishing here in your country. We know that the road you have chosen is a difficult one, but it is the right road. And we will walk that road with you, now and into the next century and millennium. Because America has faith and confidence in the people of Ukraine, and as we have learned from the many contributions of Ukrainian Americans, we have seen that you will be successful in creating a democratic, prosperous, stable Ukraine.

As my husband said the last time we were in Ukraine, "God Bless America" and "Slava Ukraini."

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