Highlighting the U.S. Holodomor Committee’s plans and activities for 2019 will be a Holodomor convention scheduled for October 5-6 in Philadelphia. The two-day convention will be an opportunity to bring together experts on Holodomor-related issues. It will feature workshops delving into the practical topics of advancing a Holodomor curriculum; political recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide; social and mass media awareness campaigns about the Holodomor; and, efforts to rescind The New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer Prize for his articles wrought with Soviet propaganda.
The U.S. Holodomor Committee is an organization of nearly 30 affiliated organizations and individual volunteers. In addition, regional community committees have also been formed in Connecticut, Florida, Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oregon, the Capital District of New York State, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Yonkers, N.Y.
Commemorations of the Holodomor’s 85th anniversary were initiated in the U.S. with a March of Remembrance in New York City in November 2017. Observances continued throughout 2018 with communities participating in the international Candle of Remembrance campaign; advocating for resolutions and proclamations from states and major cities throughout the U.S.; and lectures, concerts, and exhibits offered at various public venues and universities.
The U.S. Holodomor Committee commissioned the making of a short documentary called “When We Starve.” The 17-minute film reviews the medical, psychological and spiritual effects of starvation. It includes interviews with acclaimed author Anne Applebaum; Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine Dr. Ulana Suprun; Bishop Borys Gudziak, soon to be installed as the metropolitan-archbishop of the Philadelphia Archeparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church; and, Dr. Borys Buniak, gastroenterology specialist. The film also includes first-hand accounts by some of the few remaining survivors of the Holodomor.
In 2019, the U.S. Holodomor Committee continues its mission.
To promote awareness of the Ukrainian genocide, the U.S. Holodomor Committee also engages in public advocacy. For example, Amazon.com carries in its inventory Soviet style T-shirts and other apparel. Soviet-era symbols such as the hammer and sickle that are displayed on these products are especially disturbing. (Similar items were available at Walmart Inc., but were recently discontinued after public outcry.) The U.S. Holodomor Committee is calling upon all Ukrainian Americans to send a clear message to Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, Inc., to demand that these products be immediately removed from the company’s inventory. An Action Item is available on the U.S. Holodomor Committee’s website at www.UkraineGenocide.com.
After several attempts to have Duranty’s Pulitzer Prize revoked, the U.S. Holodomor Committee has sought to meet with the Pulitzer Committee to discuss that discredited correspondent’s unfitness for this coveted prize in journalism. The U.S. Holodomor Committee is requesting community response to this affront through mass mailings and contacts with editors of newspapers, magazines, television, radio stations and social media. The committee has drafted a sample letter and suggests that similar letters to be sent to the news media.
An ongoing U.S. Holodomor Committee project is advancing a Holodomor curriculum in each state. Since the U.S. educational system is not centralized, advancing a Holodomor curriculum must be accomplished on a state-by-state basis. The committee has formed a curriculum subcommittee tasked with preparing a standardized curriculum that can be used throughout the 50 states.
An additional focus of the committee’s work is the formation of a network of Holodomor survivors and their descendants as part of the International Holodomor Committee of the Ukrainian World Congress. All communities are requested to provide information about Holodomor survivors and their descendants for purposes of disseminating information about the Holodomor.
As distribution of information is important to promote awareness about the Holodomor, the committee: has a new website, www.ukrainegenocide.com; is making a tri-fold brochure available free of charge to communities advocating for Holodomor recognition; encourages the use of social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – and asks community members to share photos, links to articles, and information about events.
Community members may donate their time and resources to disseminate Holodomor awareness throughout the country. Donations and inquiries may be sent to: U.S. Holodomor Committee, 311 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Lower Level, Washington, DC 20002. To initiate a campaign in your city, join monthly conference calls, or purchase Holodomor-related items that help defray the costs of the projects listed above, readers may contact the U.S. Holodomor Committee at [email protected].