Remarks by U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (11/23/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

Remarks by U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Below are remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte at the requiem service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Foreign Minister Gryshchenko, Sen. Schumer, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

We gather here to commemorate the terrible assault on a great people 70 years ago when millions of innocent souls lost their lives through the devices of tyranny.

Today is a day of remembrance, but we know that the cruel methods employed did not confine their sufferings to a single day.

The protracted agony of expropriation, deportation and famine extended the bounds of evil past human understanding, lasting not a day, or a month, but years.

It is good, then, that we should shelter ourselves in a church this afternoon, for we must rely on higher orders of comprehension to come to grips with the Ukrainian tragedy.

The United States bears witness to humanity's loss through Resolution 356 of the U.S. House of Representatives, passed last month. House Resolution 356 emphasizes what I take to be a critical point: that what happened must be acknowledged.

I quote: "... although the Ukrainian Famine was one of the greatest losses of human life in the 20th century, it remains insufficiently known in the United States and in the world."

The exhibition currently at the U.N., "Holodomor: The Great Man-Made Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933," responds to this objective, and we are gratified by its contribution to international understanding. As the exhibit's documentation testifies, "Amazingly, while millions of people were dying in Ukraine, the world hardly noticed."

Sadly, these words need to be said.

Today, almost a million Ukrainian Americans live in the United States, have fought for freedom in our armed forces, have helped build our communities and economy, and have demonstrated the Ukrainian people's enduring valor, grit and courage.

In the public eye, football legend Mike Ditka and actor Jack Palance have conveyed something of the Ukrainian spirit, but those Ukrainian Americans who have led lives of private accomplishment have been just as important to our democracy.

This is why Stalin victimized common men and women: it is they who have the ultimate power to turn back tyranny, it is they who stand strongest for freedom and know the true worth of precious human life.

Our burden is simply to give these martyrs a voice in time; it is not too much to ask that we acknowledge what they have lost and we have learned.

Thank you very much.

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