The following statement was released by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America on August 7.
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) deeply mourns the loss of acclaimed historian, academic and author Robert Conquest, who passed away on Monday, August 3, 2015, at the age of 98. As an outstanding scholar, he is credited by many as being the first to expose the true horrors of Soviet communism, particularly under the totalitarian regime of Joseph Stalin. He is also celebrated, particularly by Ukrainians around the world, as a pioneer of truth for his seminal work “The Harvest of Sorrow; Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine,” a groundbreaking study that documents one of the darkest chapters in Ukraine’s history – the Holodomor – Ukraine’s Famine Genocide of 1932-1933.
Sadly, Dr. Conquest passed away only a day before the long-awaited sculpture dedicated to the victims of the Holodomor – the Ukrainian Holodomor Memorial – was installed in Washington, D.C. We believe he would have been proud to see this monument dedicated to the millions of victims for whom he spoke so valiantly.
The UCCA is grateful to Dr. Conquest for his many years of research and study, but most particularly for serving as a harbinger of truth for the millions of innocent victims of the Holodomor, when few other non-Ukrainians would dare to speak the facts. Dr. Conquest – we thank you and we honor you for your enormous contribution to history and to justice. May the Lord grant you eternal rest.
Vichnaya pamiat!