UCCA sends copies of Famine documentary to Pulitzer Prize Board members, New York Times (11/23/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

UCCA sends copies of Famine documentary to Pulitzer Prize Board members, New York Times

by Tamara Gallo
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

NEW YORK - On November 21, The Pulitzer Prize Board is scheduled to meet in New York City for its semi-annual board meeting, during which it is presumed the fate of Walter Duranty's Pulitzer Prize will be deteremined. In a final effort to strip Duranty of his 1932 Pulitzer Prize, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America has sent copies of the award-winning film "Harvest of Despair" to each member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, as well as The New York Times Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

The documentary film, produced by the Ukrainian Famine Research Committee, was sent accompanied by a letter, which states in part: "The eloquent, yet somber narrative of this documentary film is accompanied by archival scenes that depict the true state in famine-stricken Ukraine in the early 1930s. The scenes shown are contradictory to the lies promulgated by Walter Duranty when he wrote 'There is no famine or actual starvation, nor is there likely to be.' Understanding that Duranty was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his writing in 1931, nevertheless, he was a shill for the Communists before, during and after the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide. This is evident when in 1931 he himself stated that "in agreement with The New York Times and the Soviet authorities" his official dispatches always reflect the official opinion of the Soviet regime and not his own. Such an acknowledgement by Duranty not only discredits his "objective" coverage of the Soviet Union in 1931, but questions his journalistic integrity, for which he was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

| Home Page |