LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (11/25/01)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Famine-Genocide must not be forgotten

Dear Editor:

As co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, I join Ukrainians all over the world in prayer and commemoration of the millions of innocent victims ruthlessly murdered at the tyrannical hands of Joseph Stalin and other Soviet Communists. This year marks the 68th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide perpetrated by Stalin in an attempt to subjugate the people of Ukraine.

In order to achieve his vision of a strong industrialized Soviet Union, Stalin sought to force Ukraine into compliance. However, his policy of forced collectivization was strongly resisted by the freedom-loving peasantry. In an effort to break the spirit of the Ukrainian people, Stalin used food as a weapon, starving between 6 million and 8 million people to death, while confiscating and exporting massive quantities of grain. This was a naked act of genocide against Ukraine and its people.

The famine was entirely the creation of Stalin's totalitarian policies. The Communist State's prohibition of private land ownership and Stalin's excessive seizures of agricultural products created an intolerable life for the Ukrainian peasantry. This situation escalated when state-sanctioned production quotas could not be filled. The quotas were designed to guarantee failure. The failure of quota fulfillment was interpreted, by Stalin, as anti-Soviet behavior, as treason, and acted upon accordingly.

Stalin ordered the Soviet secret police, the GPU (State Political Directorate), later the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), to enforce his quotas by whatever means necessary. The GPU, with the help of local party officials, seized all the available food and seed, rendering the peasantry incapable of producing even enough to feed themselves in the most fertile regions of Europe and Asia. As a result, a mass migration of peasantry loomed. Many sought a chance for survival in the cities, others merely brought their children to urban areas and left them in the hope they would survive, returning, themselves, to their villages to die.

To prevent the migration, "social parasitism," Stalin implemented a passport system, which forced the peasantry to remain in their villages. Those caught hiding food were either deported to Siberian labor camps or shot. Often, the grain collected would begin to rot while it waited for pick-up. Those trying to steal even the rotting grain faced the same fate as those hiding it. Anyone who did not appear to be starving was suspected of hording food and faced death or deportation. Unable to eat, under penalty of death, the peasants starved to death.

The fate of these victims is a lasting testament to the failure of the Soviet system. Stalin's quote, "a single death is a tragedy, a million are just a statistic," responding to a question about the reported deaths of millions of Ukrainians, is evidence of the horror Ukraine faced.

In 1986, the U.S. Congress appointed a Commission on the Ukraine Famine. After two years, the commission confirmed these terrible events did occur and constituted an act of genocide against Ukrainians. Over 200 courageous Ukrainian survivors testified before the commission. Their testimony is preserved in the Congressional Record. These terrible events must not be forgotten. Because of the courage of survivors and the commitment of those who remember and commemorate this tragedy, they will not be.

Bob Schaffer
Washington

The letter-writer is a member of Congress representing Colorado and co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus

Thank you for helping save cultural heritage

Dear Editor:

Please accept my deepest gratitude for the assistance given by your newspaper to our non-governmental, privately initiated campaign for the return to Ukraine of the priceless relics - mosaics and frescoes - of the 12th century St. Michael's Cathedral of the Golden Domes, which were removed and unlawfully shipped to Russia prior to the final destruction of the shrine by bolshevik barbarians in 1937.

I am firmly convinced that, thanks to the concerted and unflinching efforts of Ukrainians worldwide, these unique art treasures, which are such a valuable part of our cultural heritage, will be returned to their homeland and to their original places in the complex of buildings that comprise St. Michael's Monastery, newly rebuilt by independent Ukraine.

In terms of historical justice, this would re-establish bonds and spiritually tie together, into a single and unbreakable chain, the past and the present of the Ukrainian nation.

I would especially like to warmly thank those in the Ukrainian American community who have already helped organize and finance the first phase of our struggle for the return to Ukraine of St. Michael's relics.

It is thanks to the generosity and personal assistance of Oleksandra Melnyk, Viktor Kachur, Andriy Melnyk, Michael Heretz, Vitali Vizir, Taras Kozbur and Ariadna Terletska that Ukrainian scholars were able to travel to Russia and work in the archives and art collections of various Russian institutions. This allowed them to gather essential data on the current location and condition of St. Michael's frescoes and mosaics - an important step in the process of their prospective return to Kyiv.

I would also like to acknowledge the work of the St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Society and thank their members for their deep commitment to our common cause. They spare no efforts on behalf of our cultural heritage and want to see St. Michael's art treasures come home - a wish we all fervently share.

Dr. Serhiy Kot
Kyiv

The letter-writer is chairman of the Research Center for the Return and Restitution of Cultural Treasures, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

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