Chicago Ukrainians mark 70th anniversary of Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 (10/19/03)

Chicago Ukrainians mark 70th anniversary of Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933

by Katya Mischenko-Mycyk

CHICAGO - This year marks the 70th anniversary of Stalin's deliberate starvation of as many as 10 million Ukrainians during the years of 1932-1933. The Chicago-based Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation organized a weekend's worth of programs to both remember those who perished during the "Holodomor" (death by forced starvation) and to educate the public about the tragic events of 1932-1933, which were hidden from the world's eyes.

On Saturday, September 20, the foundation arranged an educational program that attracted approximately 300 Ukrainian Saturday school children from St. Volodymyr Ukrainian School, Ridna Shkola at St. Nicholas Cathedral, and Ridna Shkola at Palatine of the branch of Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM). The program, which took place in the auditorium of Ss. Volodymyr and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church, consisted of a lecture and screening of the 1984 documentary film "Harvest of Despair."

Prior to the screening, Lida Tkachuk, co-secretary of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation, welcomed the Ukrainian school students to the screening and introduced guest speakers Laryssa Tschaikowsky and Mathew Marciniak. Ms. Tschaikowsky and Mr. Marciniak presented a brief historic overview of the events that caused the Famine-Genocide to occur.

For many of the children in attendance, this was their first exposure to the Famine-Genocide. Andrea Sajewych, a seventh grader at Ridna Shkola at St. Nicholas Cathedral, said after watching the film "Harvest of Despair" that she believes that American schools should be required to teach students about the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide to make sure that it never happens again.

Ms. Sajewych commented that the 10 million victims of the Famine "never got a proper burial and they at least deserve some (type of) remembrance" from the Ukrainian community.

Following the screening, students were taken to the Ukrainian National Museum to view a new and permanent exhibit documenting the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. The exhibit includes recently declassified KGB photographs and documents providing evidence that the Soviet leadership in Moscow deliberately orchestrated the Famine as a means to break the Ukrainian nation. Official documents recording the number of deaths per village and cases of cannibalism are also included in the exhibit. Documents were secured with the help of Ukraine's consul general in Chicago Borys Bazylevsky.

Roman Krutsyk of the Kyiv-based Memorial Society contributed many photographs and documents to the exhibit. In addition to the archival display, the Ukrainian National Museum is displaying a rarely seen Famine painting by Canadian artist William Kurelek. The painting, which depicts a scene of famine-ravaged Kyiv, is now on permanent loan to the Museum from the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.

On Sunday, September 21, an estimated 1,000 people congregated at St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bloomingdale, Ill., for an ecumenical memorial service for the millions of Ukrainians who perished during the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. The service was lead by clergy from Chicago's Ukrainian parishes.

A solemn procession made its way from the church to the Famine monument at the base of the St. Andrew's cemetery where approximately 40 Famine survivors were seated. SUM's female youth choir group Vinok beautifully sang both the Ukrainian and American national anthems.

Nicholas Mischenko, president of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation, began the program by noting that he had planned to greet the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches at this event. Unfortunately, the bishops did not attend the ecumenical memorial service as they were busy. Mr. Mischenko thanked all those in attendance for coming together as one unified community to remember our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who perished in the Famine.

Master of ceremonies Tamara Kuzyk-Story introduced Republican Illinois State Rep. Paul D. Froehlich. Rep. Froehlich pledged to work on behalf of the Ukrainian American community to see to it that Illinois schools are required to teach students about the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 just as they are required by law to teach about the Jewish Holocaust.

Consul General Bazylevsky urged all present to never forget the tragedy of the century.

Hollywood Trident Foundation co-founder Peter Borisow gave the keynote address. Mr. Borisow's parents were the sole survivors from their respective families of the Famine-Genocide and the purges that followed. Mr. Borisow's speech was well received by the crowd of Ukrainian Americans that encompassed all social and religious groups - Catholics, Orthodox, members of SUM, Plast and ODUM, new immigrants, old immigrants, and those born in the United States.

Mr. Borisow stressed that it is imperative for the future of the Ukrainian nation that the Ukrainian American community come together as a united front - not Catholics versus Orthodox, Plast against SUM, new immigrants versus old. According to Mr. Borisow, the continual division of our Ukrainian community by religion, social groups and immigrant waves is only another tactic to keep us squabbling and unable to focus on what is really going on.

To quote Mr. Borisow, "Russia's hope is that, consumed in our little squabbles, we won't even notice that Russia is taking over everything in Ukraine and soon there will be nothing left to fight for. We see this every day in our own communities as well as in Ukraine." Russia is slowly forcing its yoke back onto the Ukrainian nation - economically, politically and socially, he explained.

The crowd cheered when Mr. Borisow said that the Ukrainian American community must demand that President George W. Bush tell Russian President Vladimir Putin: "Ukrainians have suffered enough! Keep your hands off Ukraine! Ukraine must remain free!"

The speeches were concluded with the annual presentation of memorial ribbons. Each year, representatives of numerous Chicago area Ukrainian organizations pay their respects to the 10 million victims of the Famine-Genocide by adorning two wreaths with black ribbons. More than 70 organizations, including all of the Chicago area churches along with their respective sisterhoods and brotherhoods, the local Ukrainian schools, professional organizations and social groups, financial institutions and non-profit organizations.

Following the memorial services, a luncheon and drama presentation took place in the St. Andrew's auditorium.

Marika Klimchuk, radio host on Chicago's "Ukrainian Wave" radio program on AM 1240 presented a moving speech that drew on the documented facts and eyewitness accounts of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide.

Many of the audience members were moved to tears by the afternoon's performance of "Tears of the Virgin Mary" by members of the Lviv Regional Theater Group named in honor of Yurii Drohobycha. The powerful drama portrays the plight and terror that engulfed a peasant family during the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. "Tears of the Virgin Mary" is a Ukrainian adaptation of the novel "Mariya" by Ulas Samchuk, who was born in 1905 in the Volyn region of Ukraine before moving to Canada.

The Ukrainian Genocide Famine foundation is a non-profit organization established in December 2002. The mission of the Foundation is to educate the American public about the Famine of 1932-1933, to support ongoing research about this genocide, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Famine-Genocide.

Information about becoming a member or supporter of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation may be obtained by e-mailing Nicholas Mischenko at [email protected] or calling (847) 699-9484.

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