Turning the pages back...

October 14, 1984

As the Ukrainian American community prepares to solemnly mark the 69th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, it is worthwhile to recall the testimony delivered 18 years ago before the Subcommittee on International Operations of the House of Representatives regarding a bill to establish the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine. Following are excerpts of testimony, published in The Ukrainian Weekly on October 14, 1984.

• Sen. Dennis DeConcini, co-chair, Democratic Party's Council on Ethnic Americans: ... little is known in the United States or the rest of the world about the details of the 1932-33 Ukrainian famine. I believe that this ignorance is dangerous and needs to be remedied. Present and future generations need to know the events that caused an estimated 7 million people to die. With the knowledge, we could help prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again. Ukrainian American citizens feel that their heritage is being obliterated due to Soviet suppression of the facts and lack of Western interest. We need to give recognition to this holocaust and those who suffered from it. The best way to do this is to set up a commission for the purpose of documenting the causes and consequences of the man-made famine. ...
  
  
• Rep. Marcy Kaptur, co-chair, Democratic Party's Council on Ethnic Americans: ... An estimated 7 million Ukrainians and other ethnic groups living in the Ukraine (including my own Polish great-grandmother who died trying to save orphan children) starved to death between 1932 and 1933 when the Soviet Union seized grain to suppress a nationally conscious peasantry who were struggling valiantly to maintain their national identity and resist the collectivization of their farms.

This massive violation of human rights, however, is one of the world's best-kept secrets. The Soviet Union has effectively denied the occurrence and concealed all evidence. Moreover, the history of this holocaust has received little attention in the West; most Americans know nothing about it. It has been ignored, unreported and forgotten - a gap in the history books.

... The commission is a long-overdue memorial to the victims of the Ukrainian famine - a working monument to their valiant sacrifice - a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. ...

• Rep. James J. Florio, sponsor of H.R. 4459: ...[The Ukrainian people's] tragedy ranks among the great genocides of the 20th century and parallels the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. But because Soviet authorities suppressed information and restricted press reports to the West, very little is known about the famine today. History has given it the name of the "Forgotten Holocaust."

When Allied troops occupied Nazi Germany and entered the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz, the Nazis' unspeakable crime against humanity was uncovered for the world to see. Testimonies of survivors were recorded, photographs taken, memorials planned. This documentation would forever fix the horror in the minds of men, remind them of the evil and, hopefully, prevent a repeat.

In contrast, the Ukrainian tragedy is not given more than a sentence in most history books. Soviet history books refer to it as the agricultural difficulties of the 1930s. Ironically, our nation formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933, as millions were dying of starvation. ...

• Ihor Olshaniwsky, coordinator, Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine: Almost one year ago Congressman Florio introduced H.R. 4459. A companion bill, S. 2456, was introduced by Sen. Bill Bradley on March 21, 1984. ...

There are many reasons we think that the creation of a congressionally chaired commission is important, and I will try to address them here.

This genocidal famine affected hundreds of thousands of Americans who had their roots in Soviet Ukraine. ... Can we ignore the nightmare, the suffering and the loss of dear ones by so many of our countrymen?

We must prevent a Soviet cover-up from prevailing in the recorded history of mankind. ... Only by learning the hard lessons of the past can we hope to prevent recurrences of political genocides in the future.

We Americans must promulgate the principles upon which this great country was founded - principles of democracy, freedom, human rights and human dignity. We have learned immensely from the studies of the Nazi-imposed Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, but we must also acquire an adequate knowledge of the Soviet uses of food as a political tool. ...

Why is it so important that this bill be passed immediately? Because there are still some survivors and witnesses left from the genocidal famine of 1932-1933. These survivors are old and sick. Next year may be too late for many of them to offer testimony. ...

• David Roth, national ethnic liaison, American Jewish Committee:

...In a recent letter to Rep. Dante B. Fascell, American Jewish Committee National President Howard I. Friedman called upon the Committee on Foreign Affairs to support the commission on the Ukraine famine act.

... The work of the Ukraine famine commission will do more than set the record straight. It will bear witness to a monumental crime and give victims a chance to tell their stories; it will give the rest of us a final chance to remember and an opportunity to act, where once we were bystanders to history; it will heal wounds and lower barriers between cultural groups by helping us all to focus on our obligation to the Ukrainian people, and to humanity; and finally, it will deny the Soviets the ultimate victory of our silence.

• John Kromkowski, chairman of the board, National Center for Urban/Ethnic Affairs: In 1983 ... the board of directors of the NCUEA passed a resolution to support and to urge inter-ethnic solidarity in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine...

... Today, we have an opportunity to place the events of 1932-33 in their proper historical perspective. Today we can document the relationship which exists between unbridled imperialism and national genocide. Today we can begin to sensitize the world to the importance of an unbiased and free press in preventing a recurrence of the horrors which befell the Ukrainian people under Stalin.

... It is a noble public act to create the Ukraine famine commission.

Source: "For the record: transcripts of testimony on famine commission bill," The Ukrainian Weekly, October 14, 1984, Vol. LII, No. 42.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 13, 2002, No. 41, Vol. LXX

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