Service at St. Patrick's Cathedral recalls Famine-Genocide (11/28/04)

Service at St. Patrick's Cathedral recalls Famine-Genocide

by Tamara Gallo-Olexy
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America

NEW YORK - The annual commemorative observance of the Ukrainian Famine Genocide of 1932-1933 took place in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday, November 13, with a moving service and program.

Prior to the traditional Ukrainian requiem service, Archbishop Antony, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church opened the proceedings by commenting on the need to remember the Ukrainian Genocide as an act of political means to annihilate the Ukrainian people. A moleben service followed, concelebrated by Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Archbishop Metropolitan Stefan Soroka of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Responses to the moving service were sung by the Dumka Chorus of New York.

Following the religious ceremony, Michael Sawkiw Jr., president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), welcomed the participants of the program and spoke of the reasons for annually commemorating the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933: "We gather in this sacred cathedral to say 'WE REMEMBER.' And most of all, we remember that there was an active campaign to hide this Genocide from the world."

Mr. Sawkiw proceeded to introduce several speakers, including Valeriy Kuchinsky, permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations. Ambassador Kuchinsky acknowledged efforts in the United Nations last year to recognize the "Holodomor" as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.

"We [Ukrainians] have started our work," stated Ambassador Kuchinsky, "I am sure that all the people of our planet will know the history of the Holodomor... Unfortunately, it will not change the past nor will it help the victims. However, this act will restore the historic justice."

A featured speaker of the commemorative observance was Rabbi David Lincoln, senior rabbi of the Park Avenue Synagogue. Rabbi Lincoln spoke of the devastating effect the Ukrainian Genocide had on the developing Ukrainian nation in the early part of the 20th century.

In his address to the assembled, Rabbi Lincoln mentioned the active work of his father in Great Britain who spoke up in the 1930s about Ukraine's right for independence and the suffering of the Ukrainian people. "When I was very young, I asked why he supported what seemed to be forlorn hope of Ukrainian independence," said Rabbi Lincoln. "His answer was a threefold: Firstly, a great and noble people deserved their own country. Secondly, he saw in that struggle similarities with the hopes of the Jewish people for a state in the Holy Land. Finally, he and other Jewish leaders around the world appreciated the support afforded to the Jewish population of Poland by Ukrainian deputies in the Sejm, the Polish Parliament in the pre-war period."

Following Rabbi Lincoln's remarks, a statement was read from President Bush and Ukraine's consul general in New York, Serhiy Pohoreltzev was introduced to read remarks from President Leonid Kuchma.

Much like last year, the highlight of the observance was remarks delivered by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). In describing the need to commemorate the Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933, he spoke of the "cruel despotic act of genocide to wipe out a people." Sen. Schumer accentuated four critical aspects to remember about the Ukrainian Genocide: 1) we must always remember the past to prevent such an act from reoccurring in the future; 2) we, as a world community, have an obligation to speak out about the truth of the Genocide of 1932-1933; 3) we must deplore totalitarianism, since it leads to events such as the Ukrainian Genocide and Jewish Holocaust; and, 4) we must preserve and maintain the freedoms that we have and exercise those rights around the world. The senator's remarks were met with a long period of applause as he again equated the Ukrainian Genocide with the Jewish Holocaust.

To conclude the one-hour program, the final guest speaker was Nigel Linsan Colley, great nephew of Welsh correspondent Gareth Jones who wrote about the devastating Famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s. Basing his remarks on upon the diaries of his great uncle, Mr. Colley emphasized the lack of urgency among Western correspondents to report about the genocide transpiring in Ukraine.

"Gareth set off on an unescorted trip to Ukraine," Mr. Colley explained. "Let me be brief as I quote from his diary, 'before the war [explains a peasant] we had horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now we are ruined. We are doomed. We were the richest country in the world for grain. We fed the world. Now they have taken all away from us.' "

Mr. Colley told of Jones' experiences while in Ukraine and concluded his remarks by expressing hope for the future: "If Gareth had bequeathed a legacy to the world, which eventually allows him to have the final words - those words are 'the truth matters.' It always did and still does today, and this should be a warning from history for every future dictator and journalist to heed."

President Kuchma's message to compatriots

President Bush sends greetings

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