ALBANY, N.Y. – The New York State Senate on May 1 passed a legislative resolution commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide.
Sponsored by Kathleen A. Marchione (43rd Senate District) and co-sponsored by James Tedisco (49th Senate District), Resolution J4882 notes: “The Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933, known as Holodomor, was a man-made famine that caused the deaths of at least 5 million innocent men, women and children in Ukraine, resulting in the annihilation of an estimated 25 percent of the rural population of that country, at the time one of the most productive agricultural areas of the Soviet Union.” The resolution adds that the Holodomor “also resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1 million to 2 million people in regions outside Ukraine, mostly in the largely ethnically Ukrainian North Caucasus territory.”
The legislative resolution cites the final report of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, dated April 22, 1988, which concluded that the victims “starved to death in a man-made famine” and that “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against
the Ukrainians in 1932-1933.”
The resolution’s text also reads: “be it resolved, that, this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933, known as Holodomor, and to solemnly remember and honor its millions of victims; and be it further resolved, that this Legislative Body pause further to encourage individuals, educators, businesses, groups, organizations and public institutions to observe Holodomor Remembrance Month with appropriate activities designed to honor the victims and educate New Yorkers about this tragedy.”
A similar resolution is to be introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman John McDonald III.
Natalia Baran
Members of the Capital District Committee for the Commemoration of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide at the Holodomor exhibit in the Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.Y. From left are: Lubomyr Zobniw, Dr. Andrij Baran, Roman Karpishka Jr., Victor Holovashchenko, Elizabeth Baran, Zina Smith and Oleh Omecinsky.
According to Dr. Andrij Baran, chairman of the Capital District Committee for the Commemoration of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, the Holodomor, the resolution is “the result of a nationwide effort by the Ukrainian American community to the commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor.”
To honor this genocide’s victims, Dr. Baran said, the national committee is trying to obtain resolutions in all 50 states. State resolutions and proclamations have already been passed in Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and California.
In New York state, the Capital District’s Ukrainian American community opened an exhibit at the south end of the Empire State Plaza in Albany to help raise awareness of the Holodomor, which Pope Francis characterized as one of “the three biggest genocides of the last century,” along with the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. The exhibit was on display through May 10.