Ukrainians recall Famine-genocide at memorial events in New York (11/28/99)

Ukrainians recall Famine-genocide at memorial events in New York

by Roma Hadzewycz

NEW YORK - Vowing they would never forget the millions starved to death by the Stalin regime in 1932-1933 in Ukraine, approximately 1,500 Ukrainian Americans walked in a solemn procession from St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church on East Seventh Street in Lower Manhattan to St. Patrick's Cathedral uptown on Fifth Avenue and between 50th and 51st streets, where a requiem service was offered in memory of the genocide's victims.

The procession up Third Avenue was orderly with officers of the New York City Police Department clearing the path for the procession, closing off traffic lanes and intersections as the marchers passed.

The column of marchers was led by church banners and Ukrainian national flags draped with black ribbons of mourning. Clergy, among them Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., were at the head of the procession.

Participants carried placards pointing to the Soviet regime's atrocities in Ukraine, and informative leaflets were distributed to passers-by and drivers. Many were dressed in embroidered Ukrainian shirts or blouses or other elements of traditional Ukrainian attire (female members of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization were distinguished by their Hutsul "kyptari"), while others wore black for the mournful occasion.

The mourners hailed from all parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and cities beyond. Many arrived by the busload: from Hartford and New Haven, Conn., from Passaic/Clifton, Bound Brook, Jersey City/Bayonne and Newark, N.J., and from Bethpage, Long Island, N.Y. Others came by public transportation or in private cars from various cities throughout the tri-state area.

Queried by The Weekly about why they had chosen to march, community activists both young and old, all had the same response: to mourn the victims of what is known in Ukrainian as "Velykyi Holod" - the Great Famine; to let the fellow Americans know that Ukrainians will always remember the 7 million to 10 million deliberately killed during the Famine-genocide of 1932-1933; to increase public awareness of this little known genocide.

Along the route, Ukrainian Americans could be seen speaking with passers-by curious to know why this column of people of all ages was quietly proceeding down Third Avenue.

One marcher, Eugenia Dallas, traveled from Hollywood, Calif., to New York specifically to participate in the day's commemoration of the Great Famine. The author of a book of memoirs, "One Woman, Five Lives, Five Countries," which she dedicated to her parents who had perished at the hands of the Soviets in Siberia, Mrs. Dallas indicated how important it is "to expose the truth about this genocide." She explained that she prefers not to use the word "famine," because it was not a true famine, but an artificially created one, engineered deliberately to break the Ukrainian nation.

Volodymyr Rabitsky of Lviv, who is visiting his daughter, a student in this country, said he came to speak out as a Lemko, having seen another atrocity of this century: the Communist Polish government's Akcja Wisla that resettled Ukrainians from their native Lemkivschyna region, and the period when Ukrainian activists were persecuted and killed, and Ukrainian villages destroyed in Poland.

Ihor Lemischka, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton University, said he came to march and mourn because the Great Famine is "an underappreciated horrific act of this century, on par with other genocides." He added, "It needs to be remembered, in particular now that we are entering a new era with an independent Ukraine."

As several community activists of the older generation passed by, one remarked to The Weekly correspondent: "Write this: even old grandmothers are marching." A young Plast member commented that she and her friends were participating to pay their respects to the victims of the Famine and to demonstrate that "we remember."

As the marchers poured into the landmark cathedral, they we rejoined by hundreds of others who had chosen to arrive directly at St. Patrick's. First to enter were those who carried crosses, church banners and national flags. At the altar, a lone wreath of kalyna (guelder rose), a Ukrainian national symbol, with blue, yellow and black ribbons was placed by the Women's Association of the Organization for the Defense of Four Freedoms for Ukraine. According to organizers, more than 3,000 attended the service.

Inside the cathedral there were words of remembrance and reconciliation.

Bishop Basil Losten of the Stamford Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church noted:

"We gather to remember all those innocent victims, who perhaps were not even aware of their purpose as a political instrument. We pray that the evil done by men to them has been converted into good by our Almighty Creator who, in his time, has allowed their story to be publicly acknowledged through the dissolution of atheistic communism ...

"We pray also for the souls of those responsible for such a hideous policy. Our Christian vocation is one of healing and reconciliation. In recalling their calculated cunning and their blind adherence to an evil and deceitful policy, we pray that they also have discovered that greater wisdom from on high, which calls to 'forgive those who know not what they do.'"

Officiating at the service were Archbishop Antony, Bishop Losten and numerous clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches. The Dumka Chorus of New York, under the direction of Vasyl Hrechynsky, sang the responses.

Afterwards, remarks were delivered by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, as well as Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Anton Buteiko, and its ambassador to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko. Also present was Ukraine's Consul General in New York Yuriy Bohaievsky.

Referring to the Great Famine as "what can accurately be called the Ukrainian holocaust," Sen. Schumer pointed out that "The goal of the Famine - perpetrated by Stalin - was not to destroy a physical people, but to destroy Ukraine as a culture, society and political entity in order to allow the Communist regime to recreate Ukraine in its own image."

Ambassador Buteiko observed: "Monuments were erected to commemorate the victims, secret archives made public, tens of books, memoirs and studies published. Nevertheless, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, directed by the bloody deeds of Lenin and Stalin, is yet to bear the judgement of the nations of the world, the judgement of history. We have yet to tell the truth about the artificial famine to preach its lessons to humankind."

Ambassador Yelchenko added: "According to the most modest estimates, it took some 7 million innocent lives. In some areas the total population was decreased by one-third; and in many cases entire towns and villages were depopulated. ... Our people paid an extremely high price for its independence and freedom. We shall never forget it, and we shall do our best to prevent similar tragedies elsewhere."

Roksolana Lozynskyj, speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, stated: "...it takes great courage to place yourself, into a place of such unimaginable horror even after all this time. 66 years have passed.... we are mute with sorrow. There can be no words to describe the anguish." She underlined that each of the Famine's victims had a name, but today those names are not known, "there were far too many of them."

The day's events were organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and the Civic Committee to Remember the Victims of the Famine in Ukraine, formed under the aegis of major organizations of the New York metropolitan area.

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