ACTION
UKRAINE REPORT - AUR
An International Newsletter, The Latest,
Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian
News, Analysis and Commentary
Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts,
Business, Religion, Economics,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the
World
HONORING
THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
SATURDAY,
NOVEMBER, 22, 2008, 75TH COMMEMORATION
"I call
upon all who are not indifferent to the feelings
of mercy,
compassion
and justice, who crave the victory of good over
evil,
to
light
up their own candles of remembrance and to join us in
honoring
the victims of the Holodomor." President
Yushchenko
ACTION
UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 918
Mr. Morgan
Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
KYIV,
UKRAINE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2008
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the
title of any article takes you directly to the
article.
Return to Index by
clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article
Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, Official Website,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Nov 21, 2008
Aegis Trust, Laxton, Newark, Nottinghamshire, United
Kingdom, Sat, Nov 22, 2008
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21,
2008
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday,
November 21, 2008
Private Showing on Sunday, November 23, at the Ukrainian
House in Kyiv
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21, 2008
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday,
November 21, 2008
Oleh Oliynyk, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November
19, 2008
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21, 2008
By Oleksandr Skrypnyk, spokesman of the Ukrainian
Foreign Intelligence Service
By Dr. Yuri Shapoval, Ph.D. (History), The Day
Weekly Digest in English #35
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 11 November 2008
14
. "WRETCHED
VICTIMS OF HOLODOMOR WHOSE MEMORY IS BEING BURIED IN THE
LIES OF SOME AND THE POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY
OF OTHERS", RUSSIAN RADIO
Matvey Ganapolskiy, Political Commentator, Ekho Moskvy
Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, Friday, 14 Nov 08
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English, Friday, November 14,
2008
Reuters, Moscow, Russia, Friday, November 14, 2008
UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 20, 2008
Russian government pays little attention to the 1930s famine
& Soviet political repressions in general,
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 19,
2008
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois, Sat,
Nov 22, 2008
AND
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ON THE OCCASION OF THE 75TH
ANNIVERSARY
OF THE HOLODOMOR IN 1932-1933
Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, Official Website,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21, 2008
KYIV - I address you with regard to the 75th Anniversary of the most
tragic incident in the history of the Ukrainian nation - the Holodomor
of 1932-33.
It took decades for the truth about this genocide
deliberately perpetrated by Stalin's regime on fertile Ukrainian land
to make its way to the public.
I want to express my deepest appreciation to all who refused to be
silent during these years when fear bound down Ukraine under Soviet
regime, when the rest of the world preferred to remain complacently
ignorant about one of the gravest crimes against humanity.
Only after cutting the fetters of the communist totalitarianism,
independent Ukraine was able to claim out loud that in the far 1930s an
attempt was made on the life of the entire nation.
Nowadays, the truth about the Holodomor has been made public. It is no
longer possible to hush it up. The gloom of 1932-33 Stalin's night is
fading away.
The Holodomor has been already recognized as crime and condemned by
many countries and international organizations, regional governments
and parliaments, municipal councils all over the world.
I extend my deep respect and gratitude for this manifestation of
humanism and solidarity with millions of innocent victims of genocide.
International support sustains our belief that historical justice will
be restored, and it strengthens our will to ensure its full assertion.
The global community ought to be aware that it will be impossible to
prevent future crimes against humanity unless past crimes are
condemned.
We do not talk about what could have been done 75 years ago if the
world had known the entire truth. We raise our voice about what ought
to be done today in order to honor those who perished and those who
managed to survive in the hell of the Holodomor.
Millions of candles lighted by Ukrainians on November 22 in Kyiv in
memory of fellow countrymen tortured with hunger will merge with the
flame of the "Holodomor Torch" that traveled 33 countries and all
Ukrainian regions absorbing the fire of many human hearts from
different countries and peoples.
I call upon all who are not indifferent to the feelings of mercy,
compassion and justice, who crave the victory of good over evil, to
light up their own candles of remembrance and to join us in honoring
the victims of the Holodomor.
Ukraine remembers ! The World acknowledges !
Victor YUSHCHENKO
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2
. AEGIS TRUST
PUBLIC STATEMENT TO MARK 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOLODOMOR
Aegis Trust, Laxton, Newark, Nottinghamshire, United
Kingdom, Sat, Nov 22, 2008
UNITED KINGDOM - Today is the official day of remembrance marking the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor, the Soviet-made famine which caused
the deaths of an estimated four to six million Ukrainians in the period
1932-1933. The Aegis Trust joins with the survivors
and the people of Ukraine in mourning the men, women and children whose
lives were cruelly taken from them.
The Holodomor involved Soviet confiscation of grain and other
foodstuffs from most of rural Ukraine, combined with border closures
which prevented the starving from fleeing to find food and stopped
international aid from reaching them.
In 1933, the lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to
recognize such mass atrocities against a particular group as an
international crime. He was ignored. A few years later, the Nazi regime
murdered six million Jews, including Lemkin’s own family.
In 1943, Lemkin created a new word to describe such mass killing. He
combined the Greek and Latin words, ‘geno’ (race or tribe) and ‘cide’
(killing). He proposed the United Nations Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved in 1948.
According to the Convention:
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious
group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The first draft of the Convention included political groups as well as
those defined by nationality, ethnicity, race or religion, but
following objections from the Soviet Union and several other countries,
political groups were left out.
It is argued that motivation for Soviet policy to bring about mass
starvation in the Ukraine was the destruction of Ukrainian nationalism.
However, whatever the motivation in targeting them, the victims were
defined by their Ukrainian ethnic identity. The Soviet regime
succeeded in its intention to inflict on the group conditions
calculated to bring about massive physical destruction. This falls
within the definition of genocide provided by the UN Genocide
Convention.
Lemkin himself described the Holodomor as “perhaps the classic example
of Soviet genocide, its longest and broadest experiment in
Russification – the destruction of the Ukrainian nation.”
Regrettably, the debate over whether or not the Holodomor constitutes
genocide often becomes overlaid with political considerations and
continues to distract governments and policy makers around the world
from simply honouring the memory of its victims – and from reflecting
on the lessons it holds for a world in which genocide continues.
NOTE:
The Aegis Trust is the leading UK-based international genocide
prevention organization. Based at the UK Holocaust Centre, it
coordinates the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Genocide Prevention
and is responsible for the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda. Aegis is
at the forefront of the international campaign to end the Darfur
crisis. For more information, contact David Brown in the media office
at the Aegis Trust on +44 (0)7921 471985, email:
[email protected],
link:
www.aegistrust.org.
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3
. YUSHCHENKO TO
OPEN FIRST STAGE OF MEMORIAL TO FAMINES VICTIMS IN KYIV
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21,
2008
KYIV - On Saturday, November 22, Ukrainian
President Viktor Yuschenko will open the first stage of the memorial
complex to victims of famines in Kyiv in 15A Ivan Mazepa Street,
presidential press service informed.
In particular, at 2:55 p.m., Yuschenko together with the invited heads
of foreign states will take part in the ceremony of planting bushes of
arrowwood, then they will participate in consecration of the memorial
and the ceremony of laying candles to the memorial sign on the 75th
anniversary of 1932-33 Holodomor.
On Friday Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Issues Ivan Vasiunyk has
introduced the memorial to journalists. In his words, UAH 133 million
were disbursed from the national budget for construction of the
memorial first stage. "Works in this first part [of the memorial
complex] cost a bit more than UAH 133 million," he said.
Preparatory work is being finished at the memorial now. The
main element of the monument is a candle-like column with a hall of
memory in the base.
Slabs ("black boards") are mounted on the Dnieper hillsides in front of
the symbolic candle.
As to Vasiunyk, names of some 14,000 settlements in Ukraine, who
suffered from the 1932-33 hunger, are carved on these slabs. As
Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine is marking the 75th
anniversary of 1932-33 Holodomor. Six presidents are expected to arrive
to Ukraine for commemorating the Holodomor anniversary.
The Cabinet of Ministers allocated in October UAH 60 million to the
Ukrainian Institute of National Memory to complete the construction of
the first stage of the memorial to victims of famines.
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4
. OUTSTANDING
DIRECTOR BUKOVSKY SHOOTS FILM "THE ALIVE" ABOUT
HOLODMOR
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21,
2008
KYIV - An outstanding film director, Serhiy Bukovsky, who shot
around 50 documentaries and television films over 25 years, presented
the premiere of his new historical and documentary film entitled "The
Alive," at Cinema House in Kyiv on Friday, ahead of the day of
commemoration for the victims of the Famine of 1932-1933.
Bukovsky said that he had worked on the film for nearly a year. Before
shooting the film, he carried out a substantial research work during
which he polled several hundred witnesses of the Holodomor in various
regions in Ukraine. Apart from the search of famine witnesses, a film
crew conducted a great deal of work in the archives of Ukraine, Poland,
Russia, Italy, and Wales.
NOTE: Your AUR editor attended the premiere of
"The Alive" on Friday evening at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv. This is a
major, important and outstanding film you will want to see.
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5
. UKRAINE FORUM TO SHOW WORLD UNITY IN
COMMEMORATION OF FAMINE VICTIMS
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday,
November 21, 2008
KYIV - Up to 40 official delegations that will take part in an
international forum in Ukraine on November 22 will demonstrate that the
whole of the world community is ready to pay homage to the victims of
the Great Famine of 1932-33, Ukraine's acting First Deputy Foreign
Minister Yuriy Kostenko told a briefing on Friday.
It is crucial that "friend-countries that realize the importance of
this event" will be with Ukraine as it pays its respects to the victims
of the Holodomor, he said. "We will pay homage to millions of
Ukrainians. We will address the coming generation. We will say that
such crimes must not be committed on this planet," Kostenko said.
Delegations from various countries will spend more than one day in
Ukraine, the acting first deputy foreign minister said. They will also
attend an unveiling ceremony for a monument commemorating Holodomor
victims and take part in a forum, during which a declaration will be
made public calling on people across the globe to pay their respects to
the victims of the 1932-33 Holodomor.
"It will demonstrate countries' respect and their understanding of the
nature of the Holodomor. It will also draw everyone's attention to the
fact that such crimes must never take place," Kostenko said. "We are
expecting nearly 200 people," he added.
NOTE: Your AUR editor will attend
the international forum on Saturday in Kyiv
as a representative of the International
Holodomor Committee (IHC) of the Ukrainian World Congress
(UWC).
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6
. "HOLODOMOR:
THROUGH THE EYES OF UKRAINIAN ARTISTS" EXHIBITIONPrivate
Showing on Sunday, November 23, at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv
Action Ukraine Report, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21,
2008
KYIV - On behalf of the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor: induced
starvation, death for millions, genocide, 1932-1933, the
Exhibition
subcommittee of the International Holodomor Committee
(IHC) of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) invites you to
attend a private showing of the
'HOLODOMOR: THROUGH THE EYES OF UKRAINIAN
ARTISTS" EXHIBITION at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv,
Ukraine on Sunday, November 23rd
Third Floor, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The "Holodomor: Through The Eyes of Ukrainian Artists" exhibition at
the Ukrainian House in Kyiv consists of over 250 original artworks by
outstanding Ukrainian artists which show in a very moving, compelling
and visual way all aspects of this tragedy against the Ukrainian
people. Several of the artists will be at the private showing on
Sunday.
The exhibition consists of artworks assembled in a
collection over the past 12 years in Ukraine and is the
largest exhibition of artworks ever held about the Holodomor.
The collection was founded in 1997 by Morgan Williams who now serves
as trustee. The artists exhibition opened in the Ukrainian
House on Tuesday, November 18th and will close on Sunday, November
30th.
There are several other Holodomor historical, informational and
dramatic exhibitions now at the Ukrainian House including those from
the Ukrainian Institute of Memory, Ukraine 3000 Foundation, Security
Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukrainian State Archives, and the Ministry of
Culture. All of the exhibitions together comprise the largest
exhibition ever held to commemorate the millions of victims of the
Holodomor and to remind one about the political system and the
government leaders that caused millions to die....and nobody wanted to
die.
The Exhibition Subcommittee of the International Holodomor Committee
(IHC) issues you this special invitation to attend the private showing
of the "Holodomor: Through The Eyes Of Ukrainian Artists" exhibition at
the Ukrainian House, Third Floor, 2 Khreshchatyk, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on
Sunday, November 23rd, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Please come and
participate in the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor, 1932-1933.
Donors to the "Holodomor: Through The Eyes of Ukrainian Artists"
Collection and Exhibitions program since year 2000 have included the
Bahriany Foundation, Michael and Natasha Bleyzer, Lydia
Bodnar-Balahutrak, Dr. Zenia Chernyk, DAAR Foundation, Eugenia Dallas,
Orest Deychakiwsky, Yuri Deychakiwsky, David Holpert, Kyiv-Atlantic
Ukraine, ODUM-Minneapolis, Michael Sarkesian, SigmaBleyzer, David and
Tamara Sweere, John Swift, Swift Foundation, Ukrainian Federation of
America (UFA), Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, Ukrainian Orthodox Church
of the USA, Bohdan Vitvitsky, Morgan Williams, WJ Agricultural Group,
Alex and Helen Woskob, and The Woskob Foundation.
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7
. BOOK ON
HOLODOMOR IN EARLY 1930S PUBLISHED WITHPARTICIPATION
OF UKRAINIAN AND POLISH AGENCIES
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21, 2008
KYIV - The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Polish
Institute of National Remembrance have presented a book of archive
documents on the Holodomor Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933, according to
the head of the SBU Special State Archive Department, Volodymyr
Viatrovych.
The book includes more than 200 documents from the SBU state archive,
and also the central military archive in Warsaw, the regional archives
of Soviet security organs, the Polish intelligence service, and
materials from Japanese and Italian diplomats, the police and local
administrations.
The book is the seventh volume of a joint Ukrainian-Polish project
entitled: "Poland and Ukraine in the 1930s and 1940s of the 20th
century. Unknown documents from the archives of the special services."
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8
. POLISH
HISTORIAN PUBLISHES DOCUMENTS ON UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1930S
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday,
November 21, 2008
KYIV - Polish historian Jan Jacek Bruski has published records
by Polish diplomats and Polish Intelligence Service on the Famine of
1932-1933 in Ukraine, which were found at the Central Military Archive
in Krakow. The book entitled "The Holodomor of 1932-1933" will be soon
on sale in Ukraine.
"The Polish documents have remained unstudied by historians for a long
time.
However, they contain more information about the famine in
Ukraine, than documents found in the West. The Polish intelligence
service and Rzeczpospolita thoroughly monitored events that happened in
Ukraine in the 1930s," the historian said while presenting his book on
Thursday.
Bruski said that two consulates in Kharkiv and Kyiv had monitored the
famine. "Polish diplomats regularly sent their reports on the situation
in Ukraine to Poland. They obtained most records during their trips
across Ukraine, which they made under various pretexts. The book
includes 236 yet unknown documents brightly illustrating the famine and
its consequences," he said.
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9
. IN 1930S
UKRAINIAN POPULATION WAS SUPPOSED TO GO THROUGH HOLODOMOR'S
GHETTO SAYS DIRECTOR OF SBU SPECIAL ARCHIVE
Oleh Oliynyk, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November
19, 2008
KYIV - In the early 30s of the 20th century Ukrainian
population was supposed to go through some kind of Holodomor's ghetto,
director of special archives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
Serhiy Kokin told a press-conference.
He noted that the SBU was involved in inventory of documentary sources
about this tragedy. According to Kokin, there are some documents
proving premeditation of such situation and a particular system of
measures which may be observed.
In particular, blocking of the Ukrainian territory - “we did
not see similar documents regarding other republics”. “Why was Crimea
supposed to be closed from Ukraine starting from February 1932.
We know what system of measures was adopted for closing
borders with Poland and Romania in the west,” director of the special
archives underscored.
S. Kokin noted that starting from 1920s suppression of powerful rebel
movement, suppression of peasantry as a basis of the
national-liberation movement in Ukraine took place. In parallel,
repressions against the Ukrainian intellectuals were held starting from
figures of the Ukrainian Central Rada.
In 1926-1928, repressions were held both in cities against
the Ukrainian intellectuals that represented interests of the Ukrainian
peasantry and in the villages by dispossession of kulaks (prosperous
peasants), collectivization of individual farms, state grain
procurements.
However, according to Kokin, political repressions were efficient to
some extent only. “After that the total repression against all people
had to be implemented and then Stalin knowingly made repressions
through Holodomor. The documents prove it,” director of the SBU special
archives summarized.
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10
. BRITISH
POLITICIANS EXPRESS SYMPATHY WITH UKRAINIAN
PEOPLE OVER FAMINE OF 1930S
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21, 2008
KYIV - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has
expressed deep sympathy with the Ukrainian people in connection with
the 75th anniversary of the Famine of 1932-1933 and said he hopes that
memorial events around the world will be a worthy tribute to the
victims of this tragedy, the Ukrainian Service of the BBC reported on
Friday.
He expressed hope that memorial events would help avoid similar events
in the future. The statement reads that the United Kingdom will
continue to work top increase awareness about this terrible human
tragedy.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in turn, said that the
Holodomor was a terrible tragedy for humanity, which cruelly killed
millions of innocent victims in Ukraine and abroad. Events dedicated to
the famine will be held at the UK Parliament in London on November 22.
A memorial service will also be held at Westminster Abbey.
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11
. UKRAINIAN
NATIONAL REPUBLIC (UNR) INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
WAS AGAINST HOLODOMOR
By Oleksandr SKRYPNYK, is spokesman of the Ukrainian Foreign
Intelligence Service
The Day Weekly Digest in English #35, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
After searching for and studying documents of this country’s historical
and cultural heritage, the departmental archive of Ukraine’s Foreign
Intelligence Service (FIS) has just declassified materials that make it
possible to open another, hitherto unknown, page about the 1932-1933
manmade famine in Ukraine.
These documents are part of a multivolume archival folder
titled UNR Materials for 1932-1933, which gives a detailed account of
the structure, objectives, forms and methods of operation, and top
executives of the Ukrainian National Republic’s State Center in exile,
including the intelligence service.
Of special importance are notes on the attempts of UNR
intelligence agents to gather information on the famine in Ukraine in
order to put this across to the European public and resist in some way
the negative tendencies in their fatherland.
Although the found and declassified documents do not make a
complete picture, they are new ample proof of this large-scale tragedy
that struck the Ukrainian people. And the destiny of some
patriotically-minded representatives of the diaspora, who tried hard to
find the truth and were persecuted for this by the Soviet totalitarian
system, is worthy of thorough research, reconsideration and honoring
today.
AT THE HEAD OF THE UNR
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
The yellowish archival pages are full of secret information and reports
on the arrests by Soviet counterintelligence of the emissaries who
headed for Ukraine from Poland, Rumania and other countries on an
intelligence mission as well as on the planting of Soviet agents and
operatives in foreign emigre centers. Naturally, in the Soviet era some
were considered spies, i.e., negative characters, and others were
positive.
A today’s unbiased look at these matters makes us admit that the
history of any intelligence service of those times should not be
painted in black and white colors alone.
What can prove this is an almost 20-year-long history of the
UNR intelligence which comprises romantic and utopian plans, as well as
intentions to bring down the Soviet government and establish an
independent Ukraine, the tragic and pessimistic realities caused by the
necessity to be on the payroll of foreign secret services, obey their
rules of the game and have to overcome internal disputes and
contradictions.
The archival materials emphasize that, after the assassination of the
chief otaman Symon Petliura in 1926, the UNR secret services were
essentially reorganized. The key role was now played by Section 2, in
charge of tactical, intelligence and counterintelligence activities of
the UNR State Center(SC) in exile. The analytical document of Soviet
Ukraine’s secret police “On the Structure, Activities and Top
Executives of the ‘UNR Chief Staff’” gives a detailed account of this
section’s organizational structure and operational areas.
It consisted of three components. The intelligence sector Nastup
(Offensive) was in charge of gathering information on the overall
situation in Ukraine; selection, training and planting agents, station
chiefs and messengers. The counterintelligence sector, known as Oborona
(Defense), dealt with preventing “communist agents” from penetrating
into UNR organizations as well as with doing certain work inside the
other émigré organizations, especially those whose political stand was
diametrically opposed to that of the UNR.
The third sector, Studii (Studies), analyzed, studied and
summed up information on the situation in the industry, agriculture,
the financial and military fields, the Communist Party and executive
bodies of Soviet Ukraine. This kind of analysis was made on the basis
of open printed sources and the information gained by first sector
operatives.
This was in turn the basis for reports to the General Staff
of the UNR SC Ministry of War, leaflets and other propaganda literature
which was illegally shipped to the Ukrainian SSR and spread among
Ukrainian émigrés and at international forums.
The intelligence and counterintelligence service was especially
effective when it was run by Ensign-General Vsevolod Zmienko (on
photo). His name is mentioned in many documents — and deservedly so. In
1924, still in the period of the national liberation struggle, Zmienko,
as an active resistant to Soviet power, was put on a list of political
criminals wanted by the GPU (State Political Directorate, i.e., Soviet
secret police).
The figure of Zmienko deserves a special scrutiny if we are to
understand why he took so much to heart all the woes that befell his
fatherland, especially a large-scale famine.
Vsevolod Zmienko was born in Odesa on Oct. 16, 1886. He graduated from
the Kyiv Sergeant School and Nicholas General Staff Academy. He saw
service in the Russian tsarist army during the First World War. Was
awarded orders of St. Anna, St. Stanislav and St. Prince Vladimir, and
St. George’s Weapon of Honor.
In the Central Rada and UNR Directory period, he held such
offices in the Ukrainian Army as chief of staff of the 83rd Infantry
Division, the Odesa Haidamaky Division and the 1st Division of Sich
Riflemen, military commissar of Odesa, commanding officer of a number
of large units of the South-Eastern Front, and many others. Zmienko was
also on the UNR Army’s General Staff, where he was closely involved in
intelligence.
As the UNR Army units were retreating to Poland, he found himself in an
internment camp. He soon received a letter from a close fellow
serviceman in his native Odesa. All his kinsfolk still stayed there: he
had failed even to say goodbye to and had no news from them because
they were also unaware of where to look for him.
He read that letter over and over again with a feeling of
sorrow and desperation. His comrade wrote that his mother, wife and
almost all the relatives had died of typhus in January 1922. Only three
children survived: the four-year-old Halyna, the seven-year-old Oleh,
and the 10-year-old Vsevolod. Zmienko knew only too well what typhus
was, for he himself had contracted it in 1919.
The children were being brought up by Maria Riabinina-Sklarevska, his
wife’s sister, whose husband, a general, had held various posts in the
Ukrainian army in 1918-1920. They soon found an opportunity to send his
daughter to him, but failed to do so in the last minute. Zmienko was
then in dire straits: he was looking for a job, offering himself as a
journalist or a teacher. They thought that it would be very hard for a
little girl to live in such conditions.
The internment camp in Oleksandriv-Kuyavsky, in which there
had been 1,500 soldiers of the White Army Gen. Nikolai Bredov, then
hosted 2,500 Cossacks and almost 1,000 sergeants of the 6th Sich
Division. A little later the camp received the Cossacks and sergeants
of Yurko Tiutiunnyk’s 4th Kyiv Division and Oleksandr Udovychenko’s 3rd
Iron Division. They quickly saw what it is to live in a crammed camp
unsuited for winter.
After some time Polish repatriates helped smuggle his sons from the
Soviet Union. The former managed to persuade Soviet bureaucrats that
they were the boys’ relatives. After a long-awaited and emotional
reunion, the father and the sons plunged into everyday hardships and
frantic search for daily bread. It was not until some time later that
Zmienko could live a more or less trouble-free life. All through his
remaining lifetime, until his death in 1938, he was doing his utmost to
help his impoverished compatriots.
INFORMATION
COLLECTED GRAIN BY GRAIN
It follows from the Soviet intelligence documents that in 1932-1933 the
UNR government was aware of the famine in Ukraine, but there was no
sufficient information about its extent and causes. It was therefore
decided to gather as much information as possible on the situation in
Ukraine.
The task was to activate spy networks, organize the dispatch
of messengers across the border, and, what is more, find documentary
evidence of the real state of affairs. This was necessary to draw the
attention of the world public to the events in Ukraine and thus affect
the USSR top party leadership.
One of the ways to do this was participation of the UNR intelligence in
preparing the All-Ukrainian Congress. A special report of the USSR OGPU
Foreign Department, dated Sept. 25, 1933, and titled “On the Projected
Convocation of an All-Ukrainian Congress,” pointed out, “The idea of
convening an All-Ukrainian Congress, put forward by the League of
Ukrainian Journalists and Writers in Exile, continues to be heavily
debated upon in Ukrainian imigre circles.
Supposedly, the congress will be widely discussing the
question of ‘famine’ in Ukraine and of aiding the famine-stricken.”
Another document cites plans to set up the so-called Lesser Bureau of
Fast Information on Ukraine: “It is intended for this purpose to
organize a group of field correspondents out of ethnic Ukrainians and
Poles, who could make trips, both legal and illegal, to Ukraine.”
That the UNR intelligence used journalists as a disguise is proved by
an excerpt from another document: “Zmienko was instructed to train two
UNR intelligence agents who are supposed to make a journey to the USSR
as part of a delegation of Polish journalists.” There were very few
journeys of this kind in 1932-1933.
But when the British newspaper Manchester Guardian published
a number of articles by its correspondent Malcolm Muggeridge on the
famine in Ukraine, the VKP (b) Central Committee passed a resolution,
“On the Trips of Foreign Correspondents across the USSR,” on February
23, 1933, which forbade journalists to visit certain territories.
Given this kind of restrictions and a strict cross-border and
counterintelligence regime, the UNR intelligence service was forced to
seek new ways of gathering information on the real state of affairs in
Ukraine. A declassified reference note, “Operations of Foreign
Ukrainian Intelligence and Insurgency Centers,” from a 1933 folder
notes, “Zmienko has divided Ukraine into areas that roughly correspond
to the old povits. There is a code for each area, as well as an encoded
description of public, cooperative and other institutions and
organizations.”
Judging by the below-quoted document which the Soviet
security service must have seized from a courier who had arrived from
abroad, the UNR intelligence drew up a set of certain questions that
were sent to its agents. The answers to them were recorded in what may
be called area passports. The document is titled “What the UNR
Intelligence Is Interested In.”
Here are some of its items.
“1. Find out the way grain is being consigned, how much is
being taken from a collective farm and from an private farmer, who
takes over the grain, where it is stored, what measures are being taken
with respect to the farmers who fail to consign grain, who issues
receipts for the consigned grain, at what price it is being taken over,
what is the percentage of grain consignment non-fulfillment in 1932.
2. On taxes. How much does a collective and a private farmer pay?
3. How is the autumnal sowing campaign going on? What and how much have
the collective farms and private farmers sown, to what extent is the
soil prepared for sowing?
4. How did the harvesting campaign come off? How much has been and is
still to be threshed?
9. On cooperative trade. Prices of consumer goods and bread.
13. What kind of bread are collective and private farmers eating now?
Get some samples of this bread.
14. Find out how many people have died of or otherwise suffered from
starvation as of today.
15. The current mood of the populace. What is the attitude of
Ukrainians to the Soviet power?”
If the results of that “sociological survey” were still available
today, this would make it possible to give a much more detailed account
of the situation in the Ukraine of that day. But this information must
have been lost somewhere abroad. On the other hand, as far as Soviet
archives are concerned, it was not the practice of those days to
preserve any documents that confirmed the Holodomor.
On the contrary, every effort was made to conceal the truth.
Therefore, the archival documents that have survived and are kept in
the Departmental Archive of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service can
spotlight just a few trends in the Communist Party’s rural policy at
the time.
It follows from the documents that it was not easy even to gather open
information in Ukraine. It even occurred that UNR intelligence agents
could not get to some populated areas because these were blocked by
police and security units. One could only guess about what was going on
there. Also on the rise were instances when agents were apprehended
because they had not been thoroughly trained to accomplish missions. So
it was necessary to look for new people and new, unconventional, ways
to penetrated into the territory of Ukraine.
It was especially difficult to work after the trial of Ukraine
Liberation League members. Before that, agents had mostly used written
communication, codes and cryptograms. Every station chief had his own
recipe for making invisible ink. But then they had to abandon this form
of communication because this was no longer a secret for Cheka
operatives. Emphasis was now put on messengers and on recruiting
Ukrainian re-emigrants who were returning, for some reason, to Ukraine.
SOLOVKY
ESCAPEES
Among the declassified documents are copies of the minutes of
interrogations of Hryhorii Mamchiy, which were held in 1932-1933 as
part of the criminal proceedings instituted against him by the Soviet
secret police. He was one of those whom the UNR intelligence tried to
use as a collector of information about the situation in Ukraine.
Mamchiy arrived in Warsaw from Finland together with two
Ukrainian comrades. They had all escaped from the Solovky prison camp.
They met leaders of the UNR government and intelligence service, who
asked them in detail about the circumstances of their trial, serving
the sentence in the camp and escape, and helped them financially.
Mamchiy said that he had been sentenced in 1929 to four years’
imprisonment for some abuse of office, but he thinks it was a frame-up.
He comes from the village of Khrystynivka, Cherkasy oblast, where his
family still resides. He does not know what has happened to them. He
heard that region is now famine-stricken.
Yet it is hard for him to imagine that a famine can strike
the countryside, where the soil is so fertile and people are so
industrious. During one of these conversations he said his friends and
he were ready to offer their services for clandestine operations.
Some time later they were sent to the internment camp in Kalish. UNR
intelligence officers provided them with normal living conditions there
and began to train them for a special intelligence mission on the
Soviet territory.
After the training, Hryhorii was sent to the place where the
Kamianets-Podilsky border security unit was stationed. In July 1932 he
crossed the border without any problems and headed for Uman, where he
was to gather information on the situation in the Uman-Cherkasy-Mliiv
area and, at the same time, to secretly see his family.
He carried 1,000 rubles, 2,000 leaflets, a revolver with
cartridges, forged documents, and the address to send the information
to. As it follows from the interrogation minutes, he had been
instructed to write that the crop was good, while in fact it was bad,
that the public mood was good, while in reality it was bad, that
mushrooms are growing after the rain, which means that the soil is good
and some insurgency cells have been organized, etc.
In Khrystynivka, Mamchiy met his old friends and acquaintances whom he
could take into his confidence. We can read about one of such meetings
with his fellow countryman in the interrogation minutes of Dec. 9,
1932.
He “painted the situation in the countryside in black
colors, said that peasants were starving and there were even instances
of famine-induced death. Taxes and grain consignment targets were too
high, and all this has brought about a situation when peasants are
almost openly showing hostility to the Soviet power.”
Finally, we can learn from other materials of this case that Mamchiy
was arrested in the village of Yanove, when he was heading for
Korosten, and then he and two more individuals involved in the
Pryshelets (alien) “insurgency plot” were eliminated by Soviet secret
police. That was the way the Soviet totalitarian systems suppressed
those who tried to gather and put through the “iron curtain” the true
information on the Ukraine famine.
Warsaw came to know about his destiny much later. Zmienko agonized over
every loss of his men. He was very well aware that Soviet intelligence
and counterintelligence units looked far stronger, more organized and
all-embracing in this face-off.
He also knew that there were a lot of problems and drawbacks
in the UNR intelligence service: for example, he took a dim view of
some points related to the status and funding of the secret service.
But he was doing his utmost so that, under any circumstances, the UNR
intelligence could only deal with top-priority matters in line with the
problems and interests of the Ukrainian nation.
LINK:
http://www.day.kiev.ua/256757/
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12
. CONTACT:
MOSCOW HOSTS MEETING OF UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN COMMISSION
By Dr. Yuri SHAPOVAL, Ph.D. (History), The Day Weekly Digest
in English #35
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 11 November 2008
HISTORY OF UKRAINE, OUTLINE OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
As promised, here is my story for The Day about the meeting of the
Ukrainian-Russian historical commission. It took place on the Leninskie
Gory (Lenin Hills), in the Institute of General History which is part
of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Aleksandr Chubarian, a member of
this academy and the head of the Russian delegation to our joint
commission, said in his opening address that apart from its scholarly
value, our work is also a contribution to understanding between our
peoples.
The Russian president’s special representative Mikhail
Shvydkoi concurred, adding that “A real future can be built only on the
basis of the real past. The more responsible our approach to the
history of our countries will be, the quicker we will reach
understanding.”
In fact, an indicator of this approach was work on two books: Ocherki
istorii Rossii (Outline of Russian History) written by our Russian
colleagues and Narys istorii Ukrainy (Outline of Ukrainian History)
penned by Ukrainian historians who belong to the joint commission.
The books were presented by Chubarian and Valerii Smolii, an
academician of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences (NAN) and the
head of the Ukrainian delegation to the joint commission. The
Russian-language Outline was translated into Ukrainian and published by
the Nika Center Publishing House in Kyiv in 2007. The
Ukrainian-language Outline was translated into Russian and recently
published by OLMA Media Group in Moscow.
What one notices immediately is the difference in size: the Russian
book has 799 pages while the Ukrainian one, 1,069. Smolii drew the
commission’s attention to the fact. One of the Russian historians
offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation: this is probably because
“Ukraine is such a big country.” In reality, the explanation is simple.
Initially, our Russian colleagues were reluctant to cover events after
August 1991, i.e., what happened in Russia after the Soviet Union
collapsed. Aleksei K. Tolstoy once fittingly wrote in his rhymed
history of the Russian state:
Sometimes stepping on slippery stones
Is a risky business,
So it’s best to keep silent
About what’s close to us ...
However, it did not work — at one of the previous meetings in Kyiv
there was a heated debate about the Russian historians’ maneuver and
our colleagues promised to bring the text up to date. They did,
although their [final] version has turned out to be rather sketchy
(thus, only 2.5 pages are dedicated to Vladimir Putin’s presidency and
the development of the Russian Federation since 1992 is squeezed into
18 pages). By way of comparison, the Ukrainian Outline covers the
1991-2008 period on 166 pages.
“It is very important to understand each other, maintain discussion,
and compare each other’s views,” said Smolii. This is precisely what we
did for two days. It was a professional debate dealing with various
historical periods. In the end everyone agreed that we had created a
good foundation for subsequent academic dialog. Dr. Aleksandr Shubin of
Russia stressed: “The main thing is that neither book attempts to give
rise to national animosity.”
Prof. Efim Pivovar, the rector of Russian Humanitarian
University, recalled the first time he and his colleagues came to Kyiv
to discuss Russian and Ukrainian [history] textbooks: “Many
Moscow-based historians simply didn’t want any part of it. Now the
situation is totally different, as is the atmosphere. I showed the
Ukrainian [book] to my friends and fellow researchers. The overall
response was positive and we are prepared to hold reading conferences
for both publications.”
Viktor Mironenko, the head of the Ukrainian Research Center at the
Russian Academy’s Institute of Europe and the editor in chief of the
journal Sovremennaia Evropa, admits: “I have felt skeptical, but after
the publication of these two books I highly value the works and
cooperation of Russian and Ukrainian historians.”
Prof. Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva of St. Petersburg University, the
author of a book about Ivan Mazepa published in the Russian series
Zhyzn zamechatelnykh liudei (The Lives of Remarkable People), stressed
the importance of the Outline written by Ukrainian historians and said
that in Russia there is practically no literature on Ukraine: “An
average Russian college student does not have knowledge of Ukraine, so
for him — and for Russian teachers — this publication is an important
event.”
Dr. Ivan Danilevsky, one of leaders of the Russian delegation to the
joint commission, noted that “both books are in front of us and we can
hear each other.” This aspect was also stressed by my colleagues from
Kyiv, namely Dr. Stanislav Kulchytsky, Dr. Oleksandr Lysenko, Dr.
Ruslan Pyrih, Dr. Vladyslav Verstiuk, and Dr. Oleksandr Udod. We
agreed with our Russian colleagues in that both publications provide
impetus for further intensive debate, rather than mark the end of the
scholarly quest.
For me, the most important thing was to realize that our work had been
read (finally!) by authoritative Russian experts. It is very important
to have your paper read and understood by your colleagues and make sure
they are familiar with your standpoint (even if they disagree with it).
One of the Russian colleagues frankly admitted that he had
been unaware of Ukraine’s own systematic approach to the distant and
recent past, although he complained that the Ukrainian book exhibited
“nationalization” of history and a noticeable degree of
“ethnocentrism.” Anyway, for me it was further proof that our research
efforts and our discussions badly need to be brought to the attention
of our colleagues (in this case, in Russia) and effectively circulated
outside Ukraine.
At a certain point during our debate I allowed myself to bring it
closer to the ground, so to speak, and drew the audience’s attention to
the fact that not everything in these books is nice and dandy, or
accurate. Thus, we write about the Ukrainian Central Rada and Ukrainian
revolution in detail, while the Russians mention the Rada just once, in
the chapter entitled “Period of Half-Disintegration.”
Russian historians emphasize that the famine in the early 1930s was not
purposefully targeted against Ukraine: “Some researchers have
suggested that Stalin consciously organized this famine to deal a blow
to the Ukrainian peasantry, overcome its resistance to
collectivization, or retaliate for its resistance during the civil war.
However, this thesis lacks evidence... Peasants of various
nationalities suffered from starvation — the Stalinist regime pursued
social goals.” I was surprised to learn that some 1,500,000 peopled
died in Ukraine (contrary to statistics recognized by prestigious
Russian historians), while two million perished in Kazakhstan.
In describing the Second World War (which Russian historians, of
course, term “the Great Patriotic War”) and trying to be “political
correct,” they go as far as avoiding any references to the Ukrainian
national liberation movement, although they mention Andrey Vlasov’s
army.
Another amazing thing is the manner in which they describe the April
1986 Chornobyl tragedy. There is been so much written about its
environmental and political consequences and the fact that it gave a
strong impetus to the Ukrainian independence movement. However, the
Russian Outline doesn’t mention any of this. Instead, the book says
that in the conditions of Mikhail Gorbachev’s “acceleration,” they
encouraged “bold experiments.”
“One of them led to the disaster,” says the document,
implying that Gorbachev and his liberalization were to blame. [Our
Russian colleagues] seem to forget that the nuclear power station was
built with violations of safety regulations which served as a prologue
to the tragedy and was, essentially, a crime.
Speaking about the collapse of the USSR, the Russian historians insist
that “the nationalistically minded intelligentsia gained control of
mass media which resulted in massive pressure on the population in
favor of withdrawing from the USSR.” And then they cite just one
example: “On Dec. 1, 1991, during a referendum, 90 percent of Ukraine’s
residents voted for secession from the USSR.” Apparently Ukraine is at
fault here again, as if there had not been any separatist movements in
the other former Soviet republics.
I could go on, but I guess you can already understand that we have
quite a few things to debate with our Russian colleagues. In fact, we
have worked out a plan for the debates. I hope that they will yield
good results.
After the meeting in Moscow was over, I asked Dr. Stanislav Kulchytsky
what stood out for him as the key point in this meeting. His reply was
brief: “Contact.” I agreed. Contact is much better than another word
that begins with a C-I mean confrontation.
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13
. RUSSIAN
PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV WROTE TO THE PRESIDENT
OF UKRAINE VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO ABOUT HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATION
Will not participate in activities surrounding 75th
commemoration of Holodomor
President of Russia, Official Web Portal, Moscow, Russia, Friday,
November 14, 2008
Dear Viktor Andreyevich,
In response to your messages concerning the so-called Holodomor as well
as the steps taken by the Ukrainian leadership on the issue, I consider
it necessary to elaborate on our views of and approaches to the issues
at hand.
I would immediately note the following. We clearly see that in recent
years this topic combined with persistent attempts to receive a NATO
«membership action plan», have become a central element of Ukrainian
foreign policy. We also note the intention of the political elite and
leadership of Ukraine to use this issue as a "test for patriotism and
loyalty".
In your messages, you call for "removing the ideological layers from
history". Naturally, I share this approach. But at the same time I
propose that we be absolutely consistent and guided by the principle of
fair, honest and non-partisan treatment of historical heritage.
In connection with this, I am forced to point out that, in our opinion,
the tragic events of the early 1930s in Ukraine are being used to
achieve immediate short-term political goals. In this regard, the
thesis on the "centrally planned genocidal famine of Ukrainians" is
being gravely manipulated. As a result, including thanks to your
personal efforts, this interpretation has even received legislative
support. In particular, I am referring to the law passed on 28 November
2006 by the Verkhovnaya Rada [Ukrainian parliament] that you signed,
which states that "the famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was a genocide
against the Ukrainian people".
I would also mention your initiative to criminalize the denial of the
events of the period as they are outlined in the law. Therefore without
waiting for the results of a comprehensive study of the issue by
competent experts, you imposed a single interpretation on this history.
And dissenters are threatened with prosecution – just as they were in
the totalitarian past. To put it mildly, according to this "one-sided
logic" any citizen of Ukraine that claims that in addition to
Ukrainians, Russians, Kazakhs and Belarusians died of starvation in the
same period is, in your opinion, a criminal.
It is unlikely that such steps can be explained by the desire to
restore historical justice or to honour the memory of the victims.
These efforts rather seek to divide our peoples as much as possible,
peoples united by many centuries of historical, cultural and spiritual
ties, by special feelings of friendship and mutual trust.
The most difficult pages of our common history undoubtedly need to be
fully explained. But this is only possible on the basis of objective
professional studies. However, we see that those who push through the
thesis of «Holodomor-genocide» are not in the least interested in
historical accuracy. Various manipulations and distortions are
occurring, data on the actual number of deaths are being falsified.
Representatives of the Ukrainian authorities are making public
statements that contribute to distorting the picture.
Thus in an interview in November 2007 you refer to census data from
1929 and 1979 to argue that Ukrainians were the only nation whose
population was halved during this period, and declined from 81 million
to 42 million. Yet according to the All-Union census which,
incidentally, was not held in 1929 but in 1926, the total number of
Ukrainians in the USSR, including residents of the western areas, was
about 30 million.
We are open for discussion and don't want academics to take on
political "attitudes". In our country the theme of the famine of
1932-1933 - as well as other difficult historical questions - can be
discussed freely, without fear of becoming an "enemy of the nation".
Russia has long ago destroyed the "Iron Curtain of silence" about which
you write.
The famine in the Soviet Union in 1932-1933 was not aimed at the
destruction of any one nation. It was the result of a drought, forced
collectivization and de-kulakization [campaign of political repressions
of the better-off peasants and their families] and affected the entire
country, not only Ukraine. Millions of people in the middle and lower
Volga regions, northern Caucasus, central Russia, southern Urals,
western Siberia, Kazakhstan and Belarus died.
We do not condone the repression carried out by the Stalinist regime
against the entire Soviet people. But to say that it was aimed at the
destruction of Ukrainians means going against the facts and trying to
give a nationalist subtext to a common tragedy. As to referring to
"qualitative differences" between the famine in Ukraine and that in
Russia and other regions of the USSR, it is, in our view, merely
cynical and immoral.
I would note that the decisions taken about collectivization were made
by the multinational leadership of the Soviet Union and the Soviet
republics, while the policy of enforced food requisition was carried
out in the Ukrainian Republic by predominantly Ukrainian personnel. The
latter both zealously acting on instructions from the centre as well as
often making "counterplans", including reprisals against their
brothers, Ukrainians themselves.
Historical truth demands that we adopt a responsible approach. But
attempts to resort to the "national factor" are unfair to the memory of
the victims, not to mention the questionable legal basis of such claims.
With regard to steps taken by the Ukrainian side in international
organizations to "ascertain the nature and ensure the condemnation of
such crimes" I would note that the UN and UNESCO have already expressed
themselves on this subject. The 2007 UNESCO General Conference paid
tribute to the millions of deaths from starvation in the 1930s
regardless of the victims' nationality and refused to recognize this
tragedy as a "genocide of the Ukrainian people".
And at the 58th UN General Assembly most of the CIS member states
including Russia, Ukraine and many other nations issued a joint
statement in which they expressed their deepest sympathy to millions of
Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and representatives of other nations,
victims of starvation in USSR.
The statement refers to the events of the 1930s as a "tragedy". I
believe that further discussion of this topic in international
organisations would not be beneficial and will not produce any results.
Therefore, as I have already said, we should focus on correcting a
dangerous disparity which has arisen, whereby the slogan "condemnation
of the genocide of Ukrainians" belittles the tragedy of other affected
peoples of the former Soviet Union. I propose to begin work on a joint
approach to these events. In doing so, it would be useful to involve
experts from Kazakhstan, Belarus and other interested CIS countries.
Meanwhile, in the light of the above, I do not consider it possible to
participate in the activities surrounding the 75th anniversary of the
"Holodomor" in Ukraine.
For my part I would like to confirm my sincere desire to build a
positive atmosphere of cooperation in the cultural and educational
spheres, and to substantiate this cooperation with concrete actions
that are understandable to our citizens and benefit the traditionally
friendly relations between our countries and peoples.
Sincerely, Dmitry Medvedev.
LINK:
http://www.kremlin.ru/eng/text/docs/209178.shtml--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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14
. "WRETCHED
VICTIMS OF HOLODOMOR WHOSE MEMORY IS BEING BURIED IN
THE LIES OF SOME AND THE POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY OF OTHERS", RUSSIAN RADIO
Matvey Ganapolskiy, Political Commentator,
Ekho Moskvy
Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, Friday, 14 Nov 08
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English, Friday, November 14,
2008
In his commentary on the Russian president's decision not to attend the
events in Kiev dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the famine of
1932-1933, Matvey Ganapolskiy, political commentator of the Ekho Moskvy
radio station, said:
"Yushchenko and Medvedev are worth each other. The first wants the
victims of bloody maniac Stalin to be exclusively Ukrainians. In other
words, he does not care a damn about the fact that everyone was dying
from famine and that the very essence of the famine mechanism was not
to eliminate someone but to eliminate all for the sake of the bright
idea of world communism.
This has been proven a thousand times, but we know that any president
for the benefit of his own country would not even stop at deceiving his
own people. And since the benefit in question is immediate accession to
NATO, the fairy-tale about exclusive Ukrainians still goes on.
"But Yushchenko has a spitting image. His name is Dmitriy Medvedev. He
does not want to stand next to nationalist Yushchenko, so he writes a
letter to him in which he explains how everything should be interpreted
and understood. He does not go to the remembrance ceremony but teaches
how the event should be remembered. It is reminiscent of his speech on
the eve of Obama's victory. The latter had not yet won the election but
Moscow had already issued instructions.
"Anyway, Medvedev could have attended the ceremony in Kiev and the two
countries may have reconciled. But the Putin-Medvedev duet is hiding in
the bushes, waiting for these devil incarnates - Yushchenko and
[Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili - to disappear. And now they
will be waiting not for eight but 12 years.
"As we can see everyone plays their own game. And in this game
everything is important, except the main thing, the wretched victims of
Holodomor, whose memory is being buried in the lies of some and the
political expediency of others."
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15. RUSSIAN
PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV CONDEMNS UKRAINE
OVER STALIN-ERA FAMINE COMMEMORATION
REUTERS, Moscow, Russia, Friday, November 14, 2008
MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Ukraine’s
pro-Western leader yesterday of distorting history for political gain
by commemorating a famine engineered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
The dispute over next week’s anniversary of the 1932-33 famine is part
of a long series of rows between the ex-Soviet neighbours over Kiev’s
shift towards the West which includes seeking membership of NATO and
the European Union. Historians say about 7.5 million people
died in the famine, intended to break the spirit of Ukraine’s
independent farmers.
Ukrainian authorities, led by President Viktor Yushchenko, have sought
to have the famine declared internationally a “genocide”. Russia
denounces such an interpretation, saying the events at that time hit
many ethnic groups in the Soviet Union.
“We clearly see that this theme, along with persistent attempts to
secure an invitation to NATO’s ‘prep classes’ has in recent years all
but become the main element of Ukrainian foreign policy,” Medvedev told
the Ukrainian leader in a letter.
“Such steps can hardly be explained by a bid to restore historical
justice or to honour the victims’ memory. They are more likely aimed at
dividing our peoples as much as possible.”
Medvedev said the famine was “the consequence of drought and forced
collectivisation...To suggest that the main aim was to destroy
Ukrainians is to fly in the face of the facts and paint a general
tragedy in nationalist tones.”
Russia has repeatedly been at odds with the pro-Western leaders swept
to power by the 2004 “Orange Revolution” mass protests against election
fraud.
Moscow is highly critical of moves by Ukraine and pro-Western Georgia
to join NATO and said on Friday it would pull out of the Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty if the two ex-Soviet states were placed
on the path to membership.
The Kremlin was deeply angered by Yushchenko’s support for Georgia in
the brief war pitting it against Russia in August. The foreign ministry
in Moscow this week denounced a decision by Ukraine to halt the
screening of a Russian film on the conflict.
Border demarcation disputes further divide the neighbours as does
Ukraine’s intention to end in 2017 the presence of Russia’s Black Sea
Fleet in the Crimea peninsula. Several days of commemorations next week
include a conference to be attended by regional leaders, the unveiling
of a monument and a solemn procession to honour victims.
The famine, one of three to strike Ukraine last century, is
particularly sensitive as it touched many regions in a country usually
divided into a nationalist west and Russian-speaking east. Soviet
authorities denied for years that it had occurred.
It was created by authorities setting impossibly high harvest quotas
and requisitioning crops and livestock. Farmers were left to die in
their own homes.
At its height, 25,000 people perished every day. Soldiers dumped bodies
into pits and cannibalism became rife.
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16
. RADICAL
UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST HRACH SUPPORTS RUSSIAN PRESIDENT'S
REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN "SABBATH" OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933
UkrInform - Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Friday, November 14, 2008
KYIV - The leader of the Crimean Communists, radical and deputy of the
Ukrainian Parliament Leonid Hrach supported Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev's position who officially refused today from an invitation
from Kyiv to participate in the events to perpetuate the memory of the
Holodomor victims of 1932-33.
Hrach had repeatedly accused President Viktor Yushchenko of
“falsification of historical facts of the Soviet period” and in a
“cynically-refined Russophobian policy”.
The Parliamentary deputy from the CPU faction called memorial events on
the Holodomor in Ukraine as a “Sabbath”. “Medvedev's refusal is a
signal to the Ukrainian society so that it looked attentively at its
leaders, who lead it apparently not to right side, lead it to
confrontation with Russia actually in all the spheres, turning it into
a state ideology”, Hrach said.
As UKRINFORM earlier reported, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated
in an address to President Viktor Yushchenko that the famine in Ukraine
in the early 1930ies has been used for reaching short-term political
aims. According to the Russian President, the Holodomor,
alongside with the course towards NATO, is a part of Ukraine's foreign
policy.
Dmitry Medvedev once again confirmed the Russian position
that rejects availability of genocide during the famine of 1932-1933.
Large-scale memorable events will take place in Ukraine on November
18-22, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor 1932-1933,
recognized by about 15 countries as genocide, participation of thirty
foreign delegations is expected, including at the highest level.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (of the Moscow Patriarchy) recognized the
Holodomor of 1932-33 as act of genocide at the Holy Synod over these
days.
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17
. NEW YORK CIVIL
LIBERTIES UNION: WHY WAS STALIN BANNER
REMOVED FROM SCHOOL?
By Marcus Franklin, Associated Press (AP), New York, NY,
Friday, November 14, 2008
NEW YORK - The New York Civil Liberties Union has demanded that city
officials explain why they ordered a private art school to remove a
banner displaying an image of Josef Stalin.
In a letter Thursday to the Department of Buildings, NYCLU executive
director Donna Lieberman expressed concern that the banner was taken
down from The Cooper Union after some residents of the local Ukrainian
community complained that it "seemed to promote" the Soviet dictator on
the 75th anniversary of a famine he imposed. The famine, called the
Holodomor, killed millions of Ukrainians.
The banner was part of an art exhibit, "Stalin by Picasso, or Portrait
of Woman with Mustache." Lene Berg, the artist who created the banner,
said it was intended to provoke discussion about the relationship
between art and politics.
The 52-foot-by-36-foot banner features a reproduction of a 1953 Pablo
Picasso portrait of Stalin. At the time, the image was viewed as a
critique of the Soviet leader.
But the Ukrainian community found it offensive, said Tamara Olexy,
president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. "It's like
hanging a portrait of Hitler in a synagogue or in a Jewish community,"
she said.
After receiving several complaints, the Department of Buildings
investigated the banner's legality and determined it violated
construction and zoning regulations, the agency said Friday.
"We determined the sign was too high, too large, lacked a permit and
blocked the building's windows," buildings spokeswoman Kate Lindquist
wrote in an e-mail. "The department does not regulate sign content."
But Lieberman said the NYCLU's understanding was that the complaints
were about the banner's content, not its size. "The question remains as
to whether the building code was enforced because of objections to the
content. If so, that raises questions about censorship," Lieberman said
in a statement.
In a Nov. 13 letter to buildings department community affairs director
Donald Ranshte, Lieberman said the banner's removal would raise First
Amendment concerns if regulations had been selectively enforced based
on complaints about its content.
Buildings officials told the school Oct. 31 to remove the banner
because it didn't have a permit, Cooper Union spokeswoman Jolene Travis
said Friday. The school immediately took down the banner, which had
been put up on Oct. 26.
Cooper Union initially planned to apply for a permit to display the
banner again, but not until after Nov. 15, when the Ukrainian community
in the nearby East Village plans to hold events commemorating the
famine, Travis said. But the school abandoned the effort after being
told by buildings officials that banners can't block windows because of
fire hazards.
The banner controversy comes less than six months after a Roman
Catholic watchdog group protested a Cooper Union student art exhibition
that included what the group considered vulgar depictions of religious
symbols such as a crucifix and a rosary.
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18
. YUSHCHENKO
BELIEVES RUSSIAN PRESIDENT HUMILIATED MILLIONS
OF UKRAINIAN MURDER VICTIMS
UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, November 20, 2008
KYIV - The President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko calls the
refusal of Russian President to attend events on commemoration of the
75th anniversary of the Ukrainian great famine a humiliation for
millions of Ukrainian murder victims. According to the President`s
press-office, he said this in an interview with El Pais newspaper
(Spain).
Victor Yushchenko claimed he “does not have any big desire to comment”
on the statement of his Russian counterpart, who shows “an inadequate
attitude to the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation”, which could have been
explained “with a historical misunderstanding”.
At the same time, the President of Ukraine stressed: “The President of
Russia humiliates millions of people, who are dead as of today, those
innocent murder victims, who did not hurt anybody”.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on November 14, D.Medvedev claimed that the
Ukraine’s famine of 30s is used to achieve an immediate political aim,
and refused to attend the events on commemoration of the Holodomor 75th
anniversary.
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19
. RUSSIAN
PRESIDENT COULD AT LEAST BOW HIS HEAD RESPECTFULLY
UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, November 19,
2008
KYIV - Leading representatives of the Ukrainian
intelligentsia disagree with the position of Russian President Dmitriy
Medvedev on Holodomor in Ukraine.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, Mykola Zhulynskiy, director of the
Institute for Literature at the National Shevchenko University, claimed
this to a press conference in UNIAN.
“Tomorrow the Ukrainian intelligentia will publicize its statement, in
which we will express a categorical position, a categorical
disagreement with the position voiced by Dmitriy Medvedev”, he said.
At the same time, M. Zhulynskiy stressed that, in his opinion, “the
Russian President, as Russia considers itself the successor of USSR,
could at least bow his head respectfully before memory of Holodomor
victims, because they were citizens of USSR, and, by doing so, to show
his friendly attitude to us”.
M. Zhulynskiy stressed that, among representatives of the Ukrainian
intelligentsia, who will sign the statement to D.Medvedev, will be
Ukrainian Intelligentsia Congress chairman Ivan Drach, academician Ivan
Dzyuba, Borys Oliynyk, Nina Matviyenko, and others. M.Zhulynskiy
invited other Ukrainian intellectuals to join the move.
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20
. FAMINE IN
SOVIET UNION WAS NOT A GENOCIDE SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN
Russian
government pays little attention to the 1930s famine & Soviet
political repressions in general
Interfax Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, November 19,
2008
MOSCOW - The attempts to portray the 1930s famine in the
Soviet Union as genocide against the Ukrainian people are a gross
distortion of historical facts and a 'crime', Russian ombudsman
Vladimir Lukin told Interfax on Wednesday.
"The desire of Ukrainian nationalists to prove that Russians were
killing Ukrainians is false. Clearly, this is an attempt to create some
national buzz at the expense of the fraternal neighbor who also
suffered from the Stalinist regime," Lukin said.
"The 1930s famine was a grave crime by the Soviet authorities against
their own Soviet people, not just Ukrainians. Talking like this and
turning all these events inside out is also a crime," the Russian
ombudsman said. The famine of the 1930s affected Russia, Ukraine,
Kazakhstan and other parts of the Soviet Union, he said.
"Arguing with Ukrainian nationalists whether the famine did happen is
terrible. Of course, it did. The totalitarian Soviet regime
deliberately caused mass famine during peace, particularly, in the most
developed agricultural areas. This is one of the most horrendous crimes
of the Stalinist regime," said the Russian ombudsman.
There is a lot of evidence from the Soviet period showing that, "this
crime was not genocide or aimed against a particular ethnicity," he
said. "Among those who killed and those who were killed were
Ukrainians, and Russians, and the people of other Soviet ethnicities,"
Lukin said,
When asked why the Russian leaders are not going to attend the mourning
ceremony in Ukraine on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the
Holodomor, Lukin said: "I would have commemorated this horrible famine
with Ukrainian friends, were it not for this terrible political
context."
The Russian government is paying little attention to the 1930s famine
and Soviet political repressions in general, he said. "There can be no
positive progress without considering lessons from the past, and not
just those that we like," Lukin said.
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21
. HOLODOMOR
THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD: THE FAMINE REMEMBERED
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois, Sat,
Nov 22, 2008
CHICAGO - The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art respectfully
invites you to the opening of the next exhibition: Holodomor Through
the Eyes of a Child:
The Famine Remembered on Sunday, November 23rd from 12 to 4
p.m. A children's program of music, readings and
poetry to begin at 2:00 pm.
This exhibition reflects the FAMINE as interpreted through the heart
and hand of over 300 young Ukrainian students. For more information
please contact Luba Markewycz:
[email protected].
THE
UKRAINIAN FAMINE THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN
By Luba Markewycz, Ukrainian Institute of
Modern Art, Chicago, Illinois, Sat, Nov 22, 2008
Holodomor – death by hunger, death by starvation. A most
frightening concept. Yet we assigned to schoolchildren the
task of interpreting their
understanding of this horrendous period in our nation’s
history.
It is difficult for me to write an introduction to this exhibit, not
only because is it an exhibit of children's art, but also because it
was an experience and a journey, both for the children involved in the
project – and for me.
This project was the result of efforts to find a unique way to
commemorate Holodomor – the Famine of l932-1933. One of the best ways
to honor the memory of all the lives lost and to keep it alive for
generations to come is to show our children what happened, and what
caused this genocide.
Children, students and young people speaking to each other
and with their teachers about Holodomor learned about the past, so they
could teach future generations and make certain that such an event
would never again occur. Thus the journey began.
The journey took me to nine cities throughout Ukraine, to over twenty
schools, which also included regional centers. I spoke to and met with
hundreds of students, their teachers and school administrators. I asked
children from grades seven through eleven to visualize and interpret
their understanding of Holodomor.
What made the experience unique was that I, as a teacher, a Ukrainian
from America, was asking teachers in Ukraine to work with their
students on art work whose theme was the Ukrainian Holodomor. Teachers
in schools willingly accepted the idea and promised that they would
prepare lessons for their students, so that they could learn about and
understand that part of history and begin the process of visualizing
the event and recording their interpretation of it on paper.
There were cities where juried children’s art shows where held with
Holodomor as their theme. As the projects developed across Ukraine,
students and teacher began to discover and delve deeper into the
history of this most tragic aspect of Ukraine's history and this event
of worldwide significance. For them this was an enormous learning
experience.
This exhibit is the culmination of this tremendous project, a
testimonial to their ancestors who died during the tragedy of Holodomor
by the children of the first generation born in Ukraine since its
independence seventeen years ago.
In these works of art you can see the deep involvement of the students
as they created their art and interpreted their understanding of the
atrocities of death by hunger. They poured their minds, hearts and
souls into each depiction of the tragedy as they understood it.
I bow my head with deep respect to all the teachers who prepared their
students to achieve this body of work. I thank all the students for
their efforts, which have met with great success. I fervently hope that
the lessons they learned will be remembered by future generations.
Hospody pomylui.
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22
. COLLECTION OF WORKS BY AMERICAN RESEARCHER
OF HOLODOMOR
JAMES MACE PUBLISHED IN UKRAINE, "YOUR DEAD HAVE CHOSEN ME.."
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 21,
2008
KYIV - A collection of works by well-known American researcher
of the Holodomor 1932-1933 James Mace “Your Dead Have Chosen Me...” has
been published in Ukraine. The book presentation took place
within the frames of the events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of
the Holodomor.
The name to this book was taken from one of the most emotional
articles by the historian and journalist who was the first among
western researchers to seriously prove and publicly state that the
Holodomor 1932-1933 was an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.
A collection of Mace's little known works have been gathered
for the first time, where the reasons and trends have been analyzed
that brought to this tragedy. Articles “Political Reasons of Holodomor
in Ukraine (1932-1933), “Ukraine as Post-Genocide State”, “Wild Spirit
of Shot down Renaissance”, “Great Experiment (about History of National
Communism in Ukraine)” and others reveal political reasons of the
Holodomor.
James Mace is a historian, political scientist and researcher of the
Holodomor in Ukraine. In 1982, he stated at the international
conference that the Holodomor has been organized by Stalin to
exterminate the Ukrainians as a nation and Ukraine as a state and
consequently is genocide of the Ukrainian people.
In 1986-1987, Mace headed a commission of researchers under the U.S.
Congress that studied archive documents and collected testimonies of
the people about the Holodomor. In 1993, Mace moved from the USA to
Ukraine, lived and worked in Kyiv, lectured at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy,
married a Ukrainian. He died on May 3, 2004, and was buried in Kyiv.
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