Denver hosts three-day commemoration of Ukrainian Famine-Genocide (11/23/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

Denver hosts three-day commemoration of Ukrainian Famine-Genocide

by Ania Savage and Taras Bugir

DENVER - More than 600 people attended a three-day commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide here on November 7-9.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper both sent letters expressing their support for the three-day commemoration. In addition, Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher served as moderator at the two panel discussions on the Famine during the weekend.

The commemoration began with the screening on Friday, November 7, of the documentary "Harvest of Despair" at Regis University. On Saturday the venue changed to the University of Denver, where a workshop on the use of food as a political weapon was held for secondary school history teachers from throughout Colorado. That evening a panel discussion open to the general public was also held on the University of Denver campus. On Sunday, the three-day commemoration culminated with a solemn high mass at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Ghost in downtown Denver.

In addition, a traveling exhibit of Ukrainian breads, books on the Famine, and Ukrainian embroidery and art was featured at each event.

The Denver chapter of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America raised $1,200 in donations and special events earlier in the year to finance the three-day commemoration.

The three-day event was planned by the Colorado Committee to Commemorate the Ukrainian Famine that included representatives of the entire Ukrainian community in Colorado. The committee invited experts to travel to Denver to discuss the Ukrainian Famine.

Dr. Myron Kuropas, who was special assistant for ethnic affairs to President Gerald Ford and was a public member of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, discussed the famine following the screening of "Harvest of Despair." Cheryl Madden, who is completing an exhaustive bibliography of English sources on the Ukrainian Famine, also spoke at both panels. Ms. Madden's research is being funded by the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

The workshop on the subject, "Food as a Political Weapon," was co-sponsored by the Famine committee and the University of Denver Center for Teaching International Relations at the university's Graduate School of International Studies. More than 1,100 Colorado teachers were contacted about the workshop, which ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and earned a continuing education credit for participants. Thirty-eight teachers attended - a number more than double the attendance at similar workshops.

Carol Helstosky, professor of history at the University of Denver, who has written a book about the use of food in free and fascist Italy and is a Fulbright scholar, opened the workshop with an overview of how totalitarian regimes in the 20th century used food as a political tool. Her lecture was followed by Ms. Madden' s presentation of documents and letters of eyewitnesses of the famine.

Dr. Kuropas focused his discussion on the historic and political significance of the Ukrainian famine. Every workshop participant received materials both print and digital that can be used to teach about the Famine in the classroom. The materials were funded by the Ukrainian National Association and prepared by Dr. Kuropas, an honorary member of the UNA General Assembly.

Dr. Kuropas and Ms. Madden led the evening panel discussion at the Univeristy of Denver on Saturday.

On Sunday, the High Mass was celebrated in both Ukrainian and English by Fr. Petro Bohdanowycz of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church, Father James Doran, OMV, of the Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Church and Father Januarius Izzo, OFM, of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, Byzantine-Ruthenian Rite Church. Famine survivors Nadia and Victor Vinych of Lakewood, Colo., attended the high mass. They and other survivors of the famine and their families occupied the front pews of the church. During every stage of the service, there were no fewer than seven co-celebrants and servers at the altar, a symbolic reference to the 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians who died during the Ukrainian famine.

The homily, delivered in English by the Rev. Bohdanowycz, focused on "righteousness and justice." He reminded the faithful "that evil will prevail if good people do nothing." He said that time has come to remind the world about the crime that was committed against the Ukrainian nation.

The Colorado Committee to Commemorate the Ukrainian Famine organized a food collection at the church entrance, the proceeds of which were delivered to the church's ministry to Denver's homeless. A poignant backdrop to this food collection was the elaborate display of traditional Ukrainian breads, linking the tragedy of the Ukrainian peasants with the desperation of the needy in our community today.

During all of November, an exhibit of books on the Ukrainian Famine is on display at Koebel Public Library, the main library of the Arapaho Library System in suburban Denver.

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