MINNEAPOLIS – The Ukrainian American community in Minneapolis-St. Paul commemorated the 85th anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s genocide by famine with an event titled “Holodomor: Our History, Our Stories.”
Inspired by the goal of the Ukrainian World Congress to use this anniversary year to ensure that the story of the Holodomor continues to be shared by future generations, the Twin Cities Holodomor Commemoration Committee planned a program focused on oral history as a way to capture and convey the personal stories of community members.
The program on October 28 began with the singing of the national anthems and an ecumenical “litiya” prayer service performed by priests from the local Orthodox and Catholic churches, Fathers Yevhen Kumka Petro Siwko and Roman Voronchak.Afterwards, committee Chair Zina Poletz Gutmanis took the stage at the Ukrainian American Community Center in Minneapolis to challenge the audience to think differently about their relationship to the Holodomor.
“We may know the facts, but what I’ve noticed is missing is an emotional connection,” she said. “The Holodomor should not just be something we teach others, but to share our personal stories and have compassionate conversations together to better understand how being a post-genocide people has transformed our families and our community.”
The Wall of Remembrance included the names and photos of Twin Cities community members whose relatives died in 1932-1933 and community members who lived through the Holodomor and World War II, then came to the U.S. as refugees and made new lives as American citizens.
To illustrate her point, she shared a personal story about her discovery just last year that her grandparents were Holodomor survivors. She added that she did not know if any of the Ukrainian American friends she grew up with had family who experienced the Holodomor.
“When people forget who they are they become easy to manipulate. When we own our history, we plug back into the power of our Ukrainian ancestors,” Ms. Gutmanis emphasized.
In her final remarks, Ms. Gutmanis announced the launch of a new oral history project in Minnesota, funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and administered by the Ukrainian American Community Center. The project will record on video the stories of local Holodomor survivors and their descendants, while also documenting the history of previous Holodomor commemorations in the Twin Cities. The audience viewed a three-minute clip of the first interview in this project with Oleksiy Khrystych and his sister Alla Khrystych, grandchildren of a Holodomor survivor.
Next, a letter of greetings to the community from Ukrainian Consul General Larysa Gerasko was read by Volodymyr Anastazievsky, along with the text of proclamations from Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, which recognized the Holodomor as genocide and declared October 28 as a day of remembrance.
Next, the audience viewed video testimony from local Holodomor survivor Kira Tsarehradsky. She recounted how her family survived the genocide by sharing the rations the Soviet government provided to their Doberman pinscher, a watchdog registered with the Red Army. She was unable to attend in person due to a health condition.
John Gutmanis
Twin Cities Holodomor survivors Olga Chorolec (left) and Wanda Bahmet at the program “Holodomor: Our History, Our Stories.”
Master of Ceremonies Oleksiy Khrystych asked any Holodomor survivors in the audience to stand. The committee had identified a few survivors in the Twin Cities but was not expecting any of them to attend. Yet, two well-known community members, who had not been identified, rose to their feet – Wanda Bahmet and Olga Chorolec. The audience recognized them with applause.
This emotional moment was followed by a keynote address on the topic of “Transgenerational Consequences of the Holodomor: What Oral History Accounts from the Diaspora Tell Us,” by Sophia Isajiw. She is the interviewer for the “Children of Holodomor Survivors Speak” oral history project conducted by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center in Toronto, the first project in North America to interview the second generation of Holodomor survivors. Using video snippets from the project’s oral histories Ms. Isajiw touched on themes of fear, post-traumatic stress disorder, resilience, and other findings of the Holodomor’s long-term effects from her research.
A group of young women – Irene Zibrova, Marika Voronchak, Halya Voronchak, Olya Voronchak, Olya Predko, Natalia Predko – then performed a medley of songs and poems about the Holodomor.
The formal program ended with a moment of silence and a final prayer, “Bohze Velykyi Yedynyi.” Audience members were then invited to visit the adjoining room for a display about the Holodomor and a Wall of Remembrance. The Wall of Remembrance was spearheaded by committee member Alexander Poletz, who conducted outreach to local parishes to identify relatives of community members who had died during the Holodomor, as well as departed community members who made their way to Minnesota after surviving the Holodomor and World War II. More than 100 individuals were identified and commemorated by name (and photo, if available) on the wall. Blank wall tiles were available for those viewing the exhibit to add names that were missing. The exhibit and wall will be displayed at each parish in the Twin Cities over the coming months.
The exhibit room also featured an informational video created by Oleksandr Komarenko with local children from the Cheremosh dance group who read the names and ages of children who perished during the Holodomor. This was part of the community’s participation in the Ukrainian World Congress Candle of Remembrance campaign.
Twin Cities Holodomor Commemoration Committee members included Ms. Gutmanis, Taras Pidhayny, Mr. Poletz, Paula Cayemberg, Zenon Dawydowycz, Mr. Komarenko, Ms. Khrystych, Lesya Lucyk, Mykola Sarazhynskyy and Mr. Khrystych.