Presentations at United Nations library mark anniversary of Holodomor (12/10/06)

Presentations at United Nations library mark anniversary of Holodomor

by Anna Chelak

UNITED NATIONS - In commemoration of the 73rd anniversary of the Holodomor, the man-made Famine-Genocide in Ukraine between 1932 and 1933, the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations held a special memorial event at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium of the United Nations Secretariat on Tuesday, November 21.

The commemoration, hosted by Viktor Kryzhanivsky, chargé d'affaires (ad interim) of Ukraine to the United Nations, was designed to facilitate a better knowledge of the tragedy that claimed 7 million to 10 million Ukrainian lives, as well as to ensure wider international recognition of this genocide that so many have chosen to ignore and deny.

Mr. Kryzhanivsky opened the program by explaining to the audience, which included diplomatic representatives of the U.N. member-states, that "while the Holodomor is ranked among the greatest tragedies in the history of humankind, it unfortunately remains largely unknown to the world. ... We need as many people as possible to learn about this tragedy and believe that this knowledge will strengthen the effectiveness of the rule of law and enhance the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms..."

He praised a number of foreign Parliaments, including the U.S. House of Representatives, for adopting decisions to honor the victims of the tragedy and to condemn the actions of the Stalin regime. He vowed that Ukraine would seize every opportunity to draw attention to this tragic page in its history. He asked all present to observe a moment of silence in honor of the memory of those who died in the Holodomor.

The commemoration featured presentations by Dr. Taras Hunczak, professor emeritus of history at Rutgers University, and Dr. Mark von Hagen, professor and chair of the history department at Columbia University.

The under-secretary-general for communication and public information, Shashi Tharoor, participated in the event as a special guest speaker. A screening of the award-winning documentary "Harvest of Despair," a powerful and revealing film on the Holodomor, followed the presentations.

First to speak was Under-Secretary Tharoor, who stressed the necessity of understanding the concept of genocide as a whole, as well as educating those who are not aware of the immensity of the barbaric tragedy that struck Ukraine more than two years ago.

"If we wish to consign genocide to history," said Mr. Tharoor, "we need to acknowledge and realize evil, but more importantly understand what it is in humanity that allows inhumanity to prosper."

Mr. Tharoor emphasized that the world must ensure a better future through education. In order to avoid new genocides, as in present-day Africa, one must understand the structure of the past. He stressed the duty to focus on informing the present in order to guarantee that barbaric disregard of human rights is never repeated.

Prof. Hunczak began his presentation by noting: "Europe experienced so much knowledge and glory during the age of enlightenment and the era of romanticism, but it is shocking to come to the 20th century and see nothing but tremendous tragedy."

Prof. Hunczak described Stalin's policy of collective agriculture, a system that forced millions of Ukrainians to surrender their food to collective farms, thus proving that a drought did not cause the Famine of 1932-1933 as it had in 1921-1923. In fact, the harvests in 1932-1933 yielded enough grain to feed the entire population of the Soviet Union. When peasants began to migrate for food, Stalin issued a directive in 1933 which ordered the OGPU (secret police) to restrain these peasants from "spreading propaganda against the kolkhoz system." This order prevented any peasants - dubbed "enemy agents" - from fleeing the country.

Yet, Stalin continued to increase grain quotas which individual peasants could not meet. Despite his knowledge of the catastrophic situation in Ukraine, Prof. Hunczak said, Stalin's response was always the same: there is grain in Ukraine, saboteurs are hiding it, the grain must be found and the saboteurs must be punished.

Prof. Hunczak described a visit to Ukraine and his conversations with those who remembered the tragedy. He told of how they remembered the children "dying in the gutter, begging with glazed eyes." He also shared the story of a woman who remembered how one mother ate her daughter and then committed suicide.

"The famine was an instrument of genocide by other means," stated Prof. Hunchak.

Moving the focus from the background of the famine, Prof. von Hagen analyzed why so many deny the occurrence of this tragedy. "Some fail to understand the Famine as genocide and still view Ukraine as a province," stated Prof. von Hagen. "Denial of the Famine is part of the denial of Ukraine's independence."

Many are familiar with the controversy over the revocation of Walter Duranty's Pulitzer Prize. During the Famine, Prof. von Hagen explained, Duranty served as the biggest asset in covering up the devastation occurring in Ukraine. He was fully aware of the death toll as was recorded in private conversations, yet his articles for The New York Times presented a different picture.

Duranty reported on the prosperity in Ukraine and praised Stalin's leadership. He challenged the credibility of writers such as Gareth Jones, the Welshman who slipped into Ukraine and kept a scrupulous diary documenting the Holodomor. Jones was later murdered while in Mongolia.

Prof. von Hagen explained that international acknowledgment of the Famine as genocide is difficult because of a universal cover-up. He explained that in 1937 Stalin went so far as to have the census suppressed in order to cover up any evidence of mass murder.

Not only have archival reports been air-brushed, but those who survived the Famine are no longer with us today, he added. It has only been within the past two decades that archives depicting the truth about the Famine have been uncovered.

Prof. von Hagen said the reason so much testimony could have been previously denied and ignored is that powerful and destructive people were in charge. He expressed hope that those who deny this event will cease rejecting the actuality of this grave tragedy and teach the truth to future generations. He also cautioned that this hope is not assured given that communists in Ukraine are once again in charge of the archives.

Roman Lubkivskyi, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Ukraine, head of the Committee for Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine, and an esteemed writer and poet, concluded the presentations. He spoke of the serious psychological trauma that the Holodomor placed on the collective Ukrainian consciousness but stressed that the truth cannot be abandoned.

He said that the key is to educate and eliminate this kind of destruction, not to avenge the lives that were lost. "Acknowledgment ensures that these events will never repeat themselves," said Mr. Lubkivskyi. Vitaliy Pohribnyi, second secretary (political and media affairs) translated Mr. Lubkivskyi's speech into English.

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