UCCLA welcomes Ukraine's Day of Remembrance

TORONTO - The Ukrainian Canadian community has welcomed the Ukrainian government's recent announcement that, henceforth, every fourth Saturday of November will be set aside for a National Day of Remembrance of Famine Victims.

Between 1932-1933, millions of Ukrainians were starved to death by the Stalinist regime, in what remains one of Europe's least known but greatest acts of genocide. This politically engineered famine, which was denied by Soviet officials at the time and thereafter, took the lives of well over 7 million Ukrainians. Despite the fact that many Western governments knew what was happening in Ukraine, they, and supporters of the Soviet regime, deliberately covered up this crime against humanity. To this day, Famine-deniers remain active in North America and Western Europe.

The chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, John B. Gregorovich commented: "We welcome the government of Ukraine's official recognition of this genocide, which was probably the single-greatest crime against humanity perpetrated in 20th century Europe. We now call up the government of Ukraine to do whatever still can be done to bring those responsible for this atrocity to justice. Regrettably, many of those who were Stalin's willing executioners remain unpunished for their crimes, living in Ukraine and abroad.

"The government of Ukraine should bring those who remain in Ukraine to justice and should apply to various foreign countries for the extradition of all who willingly served Stalin and thus participated in the mass murder of millions of Ukraine's people. Certainly some of these Communist war criminals are still alive, hiding in North America, Israel, Western Europe and Russia."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 10, 1999, No. 2, Vol. LXVII

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