November 24, 2017

Recognition of the Holodomor

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The following guest editorial is by Michael Sawkiw Jr., chairman of the U.S. Committee for Ukrainian Holodomor-Genocide Awareness. It is adapted from his remarks at the Holodomor commemoration held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Saturday, November 18.

“To defeat the enemy, only one solution was possible: they would have to be starved out.” The preceding statement describes a conclusion about the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, or Holodomor, from “The Black Book of Communism,” a book that illuminated the unspeakable horrors of Communist tyranny worldwide.

For decades in Ukraine, the Holodomor – Stalin’s genocide that took the lives of 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians by starvation in 1932-1933 – was spoken of only in whispers, if at all. There was no mention of it in the newspapers or history books, or memoirs. How did the Soviet Union accomplish this? By using the communication channels of the era, they created fake news.

Imagine if you would, the five boroughs of New York City – a population of approximately 8.2 million people (according to the 2010 census), vanishing in 18 months without the world knowing or caring. Unfathomable, would be the immediate reaction of any human being with a conscience and a love for mankind.

But slowly, and in measured steps, knowledge of the Holodomor has begun to be disseminated throughout the world. The term itself – Holodomor – has now become a part of the American, if not world, lexicon. With the decade-long process of establishing a memorial in Washington to the victims of one of the world’s least known genocides completed, since 2015 thousands of passers-by are now made aware of Stalin’s crimes against humanity.

Similar awareness campaigns have begun to mandate that the Holodomor be part of the curriculum in American public high schools, while efforts are under way to rescind and revoke The New York Times Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty’s Pulitzer Prize for praising Stalin’s economic plan that led to the genocide in Ukraine.

But one of the biggest challenges to greater awareness and recognition of the Ukrainian Holodomor as genocide is the evil acts of Russian disinformation. Massive denial of the Holodomor was commonplace during Soviet times. A phrase within the recent major feature film “Bitter Harvest” spoke volumes about Moscow’s intent regarding the Holodomor: “Reality is the enemy.”

Our understanding of that stark reality is made all the more clear in an assessment by the consul general of Italy in 1933: “The Ukrainian people are about to go into an eclipse, which could well turn out to be a night without end, because Russian imperialism, with its present tender mercies, is capable of wiping a nation – nay, a civilization – right off the face of the earth if we aren’t very careful.”

That pervasive threat of reality as it regards Holodomor disinformation continues in today’s Russia; the Kremlin’s propaganda and psychological operations are sophisticated and effective. But our generation owes our ancestors and the world the names and stories of the innocent victims of 1932-1933. We are forever indebted to the survivors who spoke out.

As we enter the 85th commemorative year of the Holodomor, our ever-lasting theme is clear: “Ukraine remembers – the world acknowledges!” Let us pledge to one another that we will always recall the victims of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide and their incredible sacrifice. Let us also remember to thank those who continue to bring this tragic episode of “man’s inhumanity to man” to the world’s attention. For theirs is a noble and righteous path.

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