FOR THE RECORD: Philatelic society's letter to its members (11/30/03)

THE 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAMINE-GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE

FOR THE RECORD: Philatelic society's letter to its members

Below is the text of the letter sent out to all UPNS members with e-mail addresses on the society roster.

Dear UPNS Member or Concerned Citizen:

I have just been informed of the incredibly inappropriate stamp design that Marka Ukrainy has proposed to issue in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine (Holodomor). Although some may quibble about details of the overall design, the blatant use of a photo showing a starving Russian family instead of Ukrainian victims cannot be left unchallenged. (Details of the stamp design and verification that the persons depicted are Russian appear below.)

If such a stamp were to appear it would be an insult to the 7 million to 10 million Ukrainian victims who were the victims of this Soviet Russian-instigated horror.

I am sending this letter to all UPNS members with e-mail addresses as well as to others who I hope will be able to help in a letter-writing campaign to change the stamp design. Unfortunately, the time is short. The anniversary of the Holodomor is commemorated during the fourth weekend of November every year. I imagine the stamp would be issued a couple of weeks ahead of this time. That only leaves about six to seven weeks to cancel the present design and undertake a stamp change. Please join me in contacting Marka Ukrainy as soon as possible!

The address of the head of Marka Ukrainy is: Valentyna Khudoliy, Khreshchatyk, 22 Kyiv-1, 01001, Ukraine.

The e-mail address I was able to find at the Marka Ukrainy website (www.stamp.kiev.ua) was: markaua@ukr.net.

Please send copies of this request to anyone you can think of who would be willing to drop a line to Marka Ukrainy to see that the impending philatelic travesty does not occur.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Sincerely,
Dr. Ingert Kuzych, President
Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society

Attached to this missive was information supplied by Morgan Williams documenting the fact that the persons shown on the stamp were Russian peasants from a photograph of 1921.

In a distinct understatement Ms. Khudoliy allowed that, "The Americans were very worried about [the stamp]." As it turns out, they had every right to be. Marka Ukrainy planned to print 200,000 copies of the Holodomor stamp with a face value of 45 kopiyky. Whether these had to be destroyed is currently unknown.

Nevertheless, some basic information - as well as the new stamp design - has emerged. The new Holodomor stamp was prepared by Kost' Lavro, Marka Ukrainy's highest-paid designer.

Unlike the earlier design, the new main image does not utilize any historical photos. Instead a simple, powerful, symbolic representation is used. Shown is a Kozak-style granite cross, out of which emerges the ghostly head of a child with a frozen expression that can be interpreted as grief, regret and/or despair. The expression is haunting and is somewhat reminiscent of Edvard Munch's "The Scream." The single word "Holodomor" says all that is necessary and the blood red year numerals contrast sharply with the grays and black of the rest of the design. A few spindly stalks of grain add to the poignancy of the image." All in all, it is a very effective and heart-rending design.

Only 100,000 copies of the new 45-kopiyka Holodomor stamps were reportedly printed, a ludicrously small quantity for a nation with a population of just under 50 million. Why such a minuscule amount was produced remains a puzzle. Once an acceptable Holodomor stamp design was approved, this particular issue should have been printed in far larger numbers to help educate the populace - and the world - of this greatest of Ukraine's tragedies. One can only hope that Marka Ukrainy will wise up and reprint further quantities.

* * *

The authors wish to thank the many people who took the time to contact Marka Ukrainy and express their views on the unsuitable original Holodomor stamp.

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