1985: A LOOK BACK: Documentation of the famine (12/29/85)

1985: A LOOK BACK

Documentation of the famine

In 1983, the year in which Ukrainians observed the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine, the community was called upon to "remember and make others aware" of the grisly killing of some 7 million victims of the Soviet-orchestrated famine.

Two years later, people around the world continue to be reminded of the "forgotten holocaust" through film and publications.

"Harvest of Despair," a 55-minute documentary on the Great Famine was screened at some of the world's most prestigious film festivals and competitions. The producers of the film, Slavko Nowytski and Yurij Luhovy, walked away with no less than five awards from competitions held in Canada and the United States.

The award-winning film was screened in October at the 23rd annual New York Film Festival, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcast the film on its national television network in September.

The awards given to "Harvest of Despair" included: the Gold Lone Star Award in the politics, government and world relations category of documentary films at the Houston International Film Festival; the Chris Statuette Award for best social documentary film at the 33rd Annual Columbus International Film Festival; and two awards at the 28th Annual International Film and TV Festival of New York. Three separate awards were given to the film at the 21st Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival.

Meanwhile, two books on the Great Famine were published this year and a third is scheduled for release next year.

"Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust," was the first book on the famine to be released by a major publishing house. It was authored by Miron Dolot, a survivor of the famine, and was released by W.W. Norton & Co. in the spring. The book's front jacket notes: "Seven million people in the 'breadbasket of Europe' were deliberately starved to death at Stalin's command. This story has been suppressed for half a century. Now a survivor speaks." The book was reviewed by many newspapers and magazines in the United States, Canada and Australia, including The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor and Winnipeg Free Press.

A second book on the Great Famine was published by Suchasnist in the fall. Compiled by Nadia Karatnycky, the 144-page pocket-size book includes selected Ukrainian-language articles written by a variety of writers and scholars.

The long-awaited account of the Great Famine by Dr. Robert Conquest will be published in the United States next spring by Oxford University Press.