ACTION ITEM

Genocide memorial

The lessons and memory of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933 should be a permanent fixture within world history. Just recently, newly elected President Viktor Yushchenko stated in Zhytomyr: "When will we learn of our own Holodomor?" No matter how painful, the knowledge of this despicable crime needs to be publicized and passed on to future generations.

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, has introduced a bill to construct a memorial in Washington to honor the memory of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933. The Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS) urges the Ukrainian community to contact their members of Congress in the U.S. House of Representatives and encourage them to co-sponsor H.R. 562. It is critical that each member of the Ukrainian American community encourage his/her legislators to support this critically important project in our nation's capital.

Below is a sample letter to members of Congress. Letters may be e-mailed directly to your member of Congress from the following site: http://www.house.gov/writerep/. For further information readers may contact UNIS by phone at (202) 547-0018 or via e-mail at unis@ucca.org.

SAMPLE LETTER

The Honorable (Name)
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative (Name):

In the 20th century, Ukraine endured several colossal tragedies. Unfortunately, one of the more unknown chapters in world history is the 1932-1933 Ukrainian Famine-Genocide inflicted by the Stalinist regime in order to suppress the national consciousness of the Ukrainian nation. Statistically in those years, one person died every six minutes in Ukraine. Innocent children, the elderly, women and men, starved in the "breadbasket of Europe" while the Soviet Union was exporting grain to the West. Journalists such as Walter Duranty of The New York Times promulgated Soviet propaganda and concealed the facts of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide. The world must know about the horror survived by the Ukrainian people, and the memory of these victims must be honored.

As your constituent, I respectfully urge you to support H.R. 562, a bill to construct a memorial to honor the victims of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 and make every effort to facilitate its passing. As a champion of democracy, the United States must bring to light the crimes of totalitarianism as part of its struggle to end oppression in all corners of the world. I request your support in this vital endeavor.

Sincerely,

(your name)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 13, 2005, No. 7, Vol. LXXIII

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