Special commemorative edition of journal dedicated to Holodomor (11/16/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

Special commemorative edition of journal dedicated to Holodomor

IDYLLWILD, Calif. - Publisher Charles Schlacks Jr. recently published a special commemorative edition of Canadian-American Slavic Studies (Vol. 37, No. 3, Fall 2003) dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine.

The journal features the following articles:

Foreword: "1933. Genocide. Ten Million. Holodomor" by Peter Borisow, president of the Hollywood Trident Foundation and the Genocide Awareness Foundation, focuses on the fact that it is necessary to correct the erroneous perception that Holodomor (literally death by forced starvation) was a weather-generated event, as is the common public perception gained through the use of the term "famine."
"Gareth Jones: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness" by Margaret Siriol Colley and Nigel Linsan Colley is based on the Welsh reporter Gareth Jones' articles (including those that first broke the news of the Famine to the west), diaries and letters, as well as official British government documents, and letters from former Prime Minister David Lloyd George.
"Images and Evocations of the Famine-Genocide in Ukrainian Art" by Dr. Daria Darewych is enhanced by 16 exemplary illustrations. Dr. Darewych is the president of the Shevchenko Society of Canada and is a professor of art history at York University. Her article explains that, because of the political oppression pervasive in the USSR, there was a dearth of artistic images dealing with the Holodomor until the recently achieved freedom of expression permitted the subject to be artistically addressed.
Dr. James E. Mace, professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, contributed the article "Is the Ukrainian Genocide a Myth?" Citing Stalin's letter to Kaganovich of September 11, 1932, he points out the unquestionable fact that the genocidal aspects of the Holodomor were both known and condoned at the highest level of the Stalin regime.
"The Holodomor: 1932-1933" by guest editor Cheryl A. Madden, provides an overview of the Holodomor, and makes use of a variety of international and multi-ethnic sources to support its various points. Ms. Madden also contributed the Introduction, "A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Books in English Regarding the Holodomor and Stalinism" and a review of the book of primary source famine-appeal letters, "We'll Meet Again in Heaven: German-Russians Write Their American Relatives, 1925-1937" by Ronald J. Vossler.
"Holodomor and the Ukrainian Indentity of Suffering: The 1932-1933 Ukrainian Famine in Historical Culture" by Johan Ohman, a Ph.D. candidate at Lund University in Sweden, addresses the ways in which Ukraine's subjugation by the USSR, especially as demonstrated by the ravages inflicted upon the populace by the Holodomor, influenced the formation of both national and personal identities. He also discusses how these subjects, as well as Ukrainian history in general, are presented in Ukrainian textbooks.
"The Holodomor of 1932-1933, as Presented in Drama and the Issue of Blame" by Dr. Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych, president of the Shevchenko Scientific Society of the U.S., explores the Holodomor-related works of the playwrights Yuriy Yanovskyi, Serhiy Kokot-Ledianskyi and Bohdan Boychuk. As with visual arts, the problem of Soviet control of all aspects of life prohibited these writers, and others, from presenting the Holodomor in its horrible truth and vastness. While in the thrall of the Soviet Union, these writers could mention the ravages of the Holodomor only through the use of veiled allusions, or in publications written by the diaspora and/or published in the West. Once the collapse of the Soviet Union removed the threat of fast and sure reprisals against writers and artists, their work and their family members, they were freed to relate the once-captive history of their people.
In "Testimony - from 'Holod 33' " Orysia Paszczak Tracz translated primary source testimonies from the book edited by Lidia Borysivna Kovalenko and Volodymyr Antonovych, "Holod 33: A National Memorial Book." Ms. Tracz is a Ukrainian ethnographer, translator and frequent contributor to The Ukrainian Weekly. The variety, and yet universality, of experiences suffered by those providing testimonies for this book express the profound influence of the terrors these people witnessed and never forgot.

Copies of "Holodomor: The Ukrainian Genocide, 1932-1933," may be ordered from the publisher for $5, plus $2 (U.S.) postage ($3 in Canada and $4 foreign). To order, write to: Charles Schlacks, Jr., Publisher, P.O. Box 1256, Idyllwild, CA 92549-1256.

| Home Page |