BOSTON – The Holodomor, the Famine-Genocide perpetrated by Joseph Stalin against the people of Ukraine in 1932-1933, continued to receive attention in Boston’s annual Walk Against Genocide.
The fourth annual walk on April 30 began at the New England Holocaust Memorial, located near historic Faneuil Hall. Participants, consisting of representatives of other nations that were victims of genocides and the public, listened as Ukrainian American attorney Paul Thomas Rabchenuk explained the roots of the term “Holodomor.” It was apparent that, although the crowd appreciated Mr. Rabchenuk’s definition of death by hunger, the term itself had already achieved familiarity.
The progress made by the Greater Boston Holodomor Remembrance Committee, which Mr. Rabchenuk chairs, through its aggressive educational efforts had moved the Holodomor from an unknown or forgotten genocide to a recognizable historical event.
Following the presentation of brief historical background, Mr. Rabchenuk also shared the experiences of Ivan J. Danilenko, a Holodomor survivor who testified before the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine. He concluded by saying, “We are marching today to show the despots of the world that genocides like this will never be ignored again.”
Participants of the gathering later marched to the Armenian Memorial, on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, where they heard representatives speak about the genocides of Rwanda, Cambodia, Darfur, Armenia, Congo, Sudan, Bosnia, Kurdistan and Native Americans, and the Holocaust.