The following is a guest editorial by Andriy Futey, president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. The text is adapted from his remarks at the Holodomor memorial service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on November 12.
It has become our tradition to gather each year within the sacred walls of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pray for and honor the memory of the millions of innocent victims lost in one of the worst tragedies that befell the Ukrainian nation – the Holodomor, the Genocide of 1932-1933.
What occurred 83 years ago in Ukraine was evil in its design and brutal in its methods. It was deliberate act with the intent to destroy the Ukrainian nation. Through a carefully orchestrated mass collectivization effort, the Soviet regime imposed unreachable grain quotas upon the Ukrainian people, confiscated all foodstuffs and even sealed Ukraine’s borders, trapping Ukrainians within their own country, with no food and no chance of escape. This barbarous act resulted in the deaths of 7-10 million people. And thus, in the very heart of Europe, in a country that boasts some of the world’s most fertile soil and has often been referred to as “The Breadbasket of Europe,” at the height of the Famine in 1933, Ukrainians were dying at the rate of 25,000 per day.
This was a deliberate, premeditated effort by the brutal Communist regime of Joseph Stalin to subjugate an entire nation. This was, in fact, an act of genocide as later defined by the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
Raphael Lemkin, the Polish-American-Jewish lawyer, educated in Lviv, coined the word “genocide” and spent his life working to develop the international law against such crimes. Lemkin applied the concept of genocide to the tragic events in Ukraine in 1932-1933. He stated:
“What I want to speak about is perhaps the classic example of Soviet genocide, the longest and broadest experiment in Russification – the destruction of the Ukrainian nation… the attack has manifested a systematic pattern, with the whole process repeated again and again to meet fresh outbursts of national spirit. The first blow is aimed at the intelligentsia, the national brain, so as to paralyze the rest of the body… Going along with this attack on the intelligentsia was an offensive against the churches, priests and hierarchy, the ‘soul’ of Ukraine. The third prong of the Soviet plan was aimed at the farmers, the large mass of independent peasants who are the repository of the tradition, folklore and music, the national language and literature, the national spirit of Ukraine. The weapon used against this body is perhaps the most terrible of all – starvation. This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation. ”
Today, we must also recommit ourselves to exposing the truth, the whole truth about the Holodomor.
It is our solemn responsibility to pass the torch to the next generation, as they must continue to stand firm in honoring the millions who needlessly suffered at the hands of a dictator, and to help to educate the world – especially now as we watch with horror the rise of modern dictators and tyrannical regimes around the world. The Holodomor cannot remain merely a Ukrainian issue – it must be a global one so that such tragedies do not reoccur.
It is also our solemn responsibility to serve as the voice of the millions of innocents who were silenced and can no longer speak of their tortures.
And it is our solemn responsibility to remember – so that the world never forgets.
The Holodomor is but one example of Russia’s ongoing campaign to enslave Ukraine. As we mark the 83rd anniversary of the Genocide of 1932-1933, we also commemorate the third anniversary of Ukraine’s “Revolution of Dignity” and we note that Russian aggression against Ukraine, in violation of international law and the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, continues into the present. Yet the Ukrainian people’s endurance during the horrors of the Holodomor, their bravery during the Maidan, and their steadfast fortitude during the present-day struggle in Crimea and eastern Ukraine are all testimonies to the commitment of the Ukrainian people to live with dignity in a democratic and sovereign nation.
As Russia continues to whitewash its inhumane crimes, we must uphold the principles of honor and truth. Because truth and an informed public are the linchpins of a free society, ensuring that despotism does not triumph over democracy.
To those who were fortunate enough to survive the Holodomor, we thank the Lord for sparing your lives. And to the millions of innocent victims who perished as a result of Stalin’s brutal genocide policy, may you rest in peace. You will always be remembered and honored. Vichnaya yim pamiat! (May their memory be eternal).