Holodomor: Ukraine's Soviet famine-genocide - memories and revelations

Further to my post of Oct.10, 2007, regarding Ukraine's famine genocide, or Holodomor:

These stories are from the Action Ukraine Report (Nov. 4, 2007):

UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE

According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007

KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO unanimously passed on November 1 a resolution entitled "Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine", the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday.The 34th UNESCO General Conference noted that in the former Soviet Union, millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime. The documents reads the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor) took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people. The resolution of the UNESCO General Conference presented sympathy to the victims of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and victims of famines that also took place in Russia, Kazakhstan and other regions of the former USSR, the Ukrainian press service said. The resolution was drafted by Ukraine in co-authorship with other 45 member states of UNESCO. According to a number of Ukrainian media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text of the resolution.
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UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTIONTO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933

Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide,Press office of President Victor YushchenkoKyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007

KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko welcomes yesterday's resolution by UNESCO to honor the victims of Ukraine's Great Famine of 1932-1933." This resolution shows that the job which has been done by Ukraine, [its] political forces and diplomats has been recognized in 193 countries of the world," he said on Friday in an interview with "Dzerkalo Tyzhnya," "Silski Visti," "Ukrayina Moloda" and "Fakty."" The international community has for the first time made such a large-scale consolidated decision regarding the recognition of the Great Famine of 1932-1933."The president expressed confidence Ukraine's Soviet-era famine would one day be recognized as genocide against the Ukrainian nation. Speaking of Ukraine's efforts to persuade parliaments around the world to pass such resolutions, Yushchenko said: "We deliver dozens of speeches, the Memory Institute holds dozens of conferences and there is no parliament in the world which has not received my message regarding the recognition of the Holodomor as genocide."

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UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007
KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO has called on the member-countries of the organization to honor the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine. The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained. According to the statement, the 34th session of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted a resolution on honoring the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine on November 1. According to the resolution, the tragedy of the famine should be a warning to the present and future generations to abide by democratic values, human rights, and the law. It expresses condolences to the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as well as the victims of the famines that occurred in Russia, Kazakhstan, and other former Soviet republics. Moreover, the General Conference welcomed the initiative of Ukraine to organize the commemorations on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine and encouraged UNESCO member-states to take part in those events. UNESCO also requests that its director-general promote awareness ofremembrance of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine by incorporating this knowledge into the educational programs aimed at inculcating the lessons of this tragic event in future generations. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Foreign Affairs Ministry presented the draft of the resolution on infirming member-states of UNESCO about the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4. President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine. The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006. Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and politicalrepression on November 25. Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, according to various estimates.
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"WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6

Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933" International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor 1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through Thursday, December 6, 2007. The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production and artistic director.The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.

Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:

[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky, Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko, Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, Acting Chief, and by the
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Trustee.

The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other historical information.

The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized by the Ukraine 3000 Fund. People attending the exhibition will be able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.

The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the Eyes of Ukrainian Artists." The original artworks will include oil on canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials.

Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in 2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection.

High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have some Holodomor works on display. Movies and documentaries will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display. The exhibition will be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is open to the public.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008
AS YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS

Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007

KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has proclaimed 2008 as the year of memory of the Holodomor 1932-33 victims. The President announced this in Kharkiv when speaking at the second meeting of the Coordination council for preparation of events on the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor 1932-33. "The next year is proclaimed as the year of immortalizing memory of victims of the Holodomor 1932-33," told the President.
Yuschenko expressed confidence in that 2008 Kyiv and Kharkiv will build new memorials devoted to the 75th anniversary of the tragedy will, the first national museum of the Holodomor will be commissioned and many historical works on this issue will appear. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, when speaking in Kharkiv Yuschenko criticized representatives of different layers of power for insufficient work on immortalizing memory of the Holodomor 1932-33.In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the genocide of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of victims of famines and political repressions.
In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7 million people. Moreover, according to information from different historians, there were famines in 1921-23 and 1946-1947.
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UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007
Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko is expected to ask Israel to recognize the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 1930s by their communist government when he visits here in about two weeks, sources said. Israel is not expected to accede to the request, which has won the support of Jewish community leaders in Ukraine, so as not to damage its relationship with Vladimir Putin's government at a sensitive time. Millions of Ukrainians died of hunger from 1931 to 1932 following thecollectivization of farming in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin. Famine was particularly severe in Ukraine, which was a regional breadbasket and was strongly opposed to the move. At the same time the communist government attempted to wipe out Ukrainian intelligentsia and nationalists, with estimations of the number of victims ranging from a million and a half to 10 million. A number of countries, including the United States, have recognized these acts as genocide, however, Russia vigorously rejects this definition, preferring to use the term "tragedy." Members of the Jewish community in Ukraine say Yushchenko also intends to present a proposal in the parliament in Kiev to recognize the suffering of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and the suffering of the Ukrainian people. The chairman of the General Council of Jewish organizations, Joseph Zisels, who met with Yushchenko last Monday, said yesterday: "Israelis understand more than anyone what genocide is and Yushchenko therefore expects that Israelis will also recognize the Ukrainian genocide. We don't think it is the same as the Holocaust, but it is also a terrible tragedy with seven or eight million murdered." Last week Yushchenko signed a presidential order to return to the Jewish community 700 Torah scrolls that were confiscated from the community by the communists. The move is believed to be an attempt to soften up Jewish and Israeli public opinion ahead of his visit. He is expected to bring some of the scrolls to the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem during his visit. An attempt to organize a visit by Yushchenko to Israel was made about six months ago by Rabbi Moshe Azman, Ukraine's Chabad rabbi, and Mordechai Tzivin, an Israeli attorney active in international Jewish causes. But Israeli government officials postponed the visit, among other reasons because Yushchenko wanted to be in Israel on Holocaust Day and to participate in a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
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UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONALCOMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international community to condemn the crimes committed by the Stalin regime. Yuschenko made the call at a meeting on perpetuation of the memories of victims of political repression.' The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said. He expressed compassion for all the peoples who were part of the former USSR and suffered losses as a result of the policies of the Stalin regime. Yuschenko called on all the former republics of the USSR to join forces to establish the actual scale of the crimes of the Stalin regime. 'We are obliged to clear our land of all totalitarian signs and monuments to criminals who were involved in the destruction of millions of Ukrainians,' Yuschenko said in his speech at the meeting. He welcomed the Kyiv municipal council's decision to name one of the streets in Kyiv after Lesia Kurbas, who was a victim of a totalitarian regime.Yuschenko believes that perpetuation of the memories of victims of political repression is sacred. 'Stalinism destroyed Ukraine with special thoroughness and in special dimensions. These losses are definitely irreparable. Systematic destruction of Ukraine-hood was perpetrated on our land,' Yuschenko said. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko welcomed the General Conference of UNESCO's resolution that calls on the member-countries of the organization to honor the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
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FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN

Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007
MOSCOW - The famine in Ukraine in the 1930s was not genocide directed exclusively against Ukrainians but was part of the then Soviet state's tough policy towards all nationalities of the former Soviet Union, ombudsman in Russia Vladimir Lukin said at a press conference at Interfax' main office [Moscow] on Thursday. "Attempts are being made to portray the great famine in Ukraine in the 1930s as an exclusive action directed against Ukrainians, which is, of course, absolutely untrue," he said. "This [famine] was the toughest action against all Soviet people, Ukrainians were not alone in suffering from it," Lukin added. Earlier, UN coordinator in Kyiv Francis O'Donnell announced that the issue of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, known as Holodomor, was a very important problem for the entire international community. More and more countries officially recognize Holodomor as genocide, he told reporters in Kyiv.
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UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KYIV - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is critical of the opinion statements made by Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers and the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine. Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the ministry.According to the report, the ministry said that provision of expert summarization about the country's past and its inside political life does not correspond to the established diplomatic practice.'We would like to note that Ukrainian politicians and academic elite, as well as the public community, are able to make judgments about the historical and social phenomena of their nation without additional comments which are based on ideological and stereotypical principles,' the report reads.The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requests Chernomyrdin to refrain from statements and actions that can have a negative influence on the development of good neighbor relations between Ukraine and Russia.As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Chernomyrdin said that official recognition of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers as WWII veterans would negatively influence Ukraine-Russia relations.
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UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
KIEV - Ukraine's Foreign Ministry dismissed statements by the Russian ambassador about a Ukrainian WWII army and Soviet-era famine as being against diplomacy.In an interview with Russia's Vremya Novostei popular daily Friday, Viktor Chernomyrdin spoke critically of the attempts to romanticize the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which has been said to cooperate with the Nazis in WWII. He also slammed President Viktor Yushchenko's initiative to prosecute those who deny the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine known as Holodomor. "Ukrainian political and scientific elite and the public can well qualifyhistorical events of their nation without any additional commentaries based on ideological and stereotyped principles," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. The UPA was formed in 1942 on the initiative of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). UPA operated mostly in western Ukraine, historically opposed to Russian domination, and fought against the Soviet Army. UPA is known to have cooperated with the Nazis, even though at the end of the war, it fought against them and the Soviet Army altogether. In 2007, President Yushchenko signed a decree to celebrate the date of UPA formation as a state holiday. He also awarded a title of the Hero of Ukraine posthumously to UPA leader Roman Shukhevich.
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'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD,

FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
MOSCOW - Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is back in fashion inRussia as the Kremlin condones history textbooks that honour the Soviet leader (1878-1953) as renovator of the country. "Children, learn to value Stalin," the Gazeta newspaper recently summed up the message by the textbook's authors. Stalin, the synonym for state-ordered terror and torture, still has his followers, especially among the communists. However, even non-communists seem to long for someone like Stalin,public opinion polls suggest. Historians and human rights activistscomplain about an unprecedented misrepresentation of history andaccuse President Vladimir Putin of ignoring it. "Many now present Stalin as an efficient manager, who did a good thing with his collectivization, industrialization and the Second World War victory," the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Human Rights, 80-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said. This "dangerously flattering picture" ridiculed millions of innocentvictims of the regime, she said. Russian human rights official Vladimir Lukin is deeply concerned that one of the "country's most terrible and ruthless criminals is put on a pedestal." The Academic Education Society for the Arts recently approved two books which were intended to turn pupils into "real patriots," Russianmedia reported.The historian Aleksandr Filippov in his book "A Modern History of Russia: 1945-2006," has called Stalin "one of the USSR's most successful leaders," whose repression helped to get the country out ofa crisis."The modernization of the country needed a responsible power system," the book says. "This is a scandal," individual scholars and teachers said. The authors' collective around Filippov is trying to justify the mass terror with hindsight and rehabilitate its perpetrators, they claim. During a meeting with representatives of the Kremlin, the Education Ministry and authors, historian Andrei Sakharov criticized the book as a "serious methodical mistake.""History follows the state's motto: everything that secures power must also be good for the people," the director of the Institute for Russian History said. Stalin, who also determined the history of Germany before, during and after Hitler's period in power, continues to be well regarded by many Russians, according to a survey by polling firm WZIOM, which is closeto the government. Almost half the Communists - second-largest power in the Russian parliament - dream of a "new Stalin." In the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of populist Vladimir Zhirinovsky 23 per cent feel the same way, and 14 per cent of theKremlin's United Russia do so too. Only 40 per cent of those questioned categorically rejected a return of Stalinism. With the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution coming up onNovember 7, which will be celebrated by thousands of communists, leading members of the opposition have compared the situation in Russia with that of 1917. "Our present-day parliament has no rights, just like back then under the tsar," Kremlin critic and former chess world champion GarryKasparov said. In addition, there was corruption, bureaucracy, a lack of internal mechanisms for a modernization of the country, and political solitude, Jablonko opposition party leader Grigori Yavlinski said. Human rights organizations such as Memorial will this year hold anumber of commemorative events for the millions of victims of the so-called Great Terror under Stalin 70 years ago. Putin has also distanced himself from the cruelties. However, criticshave accused the former civil service head of not fighting hard enough for a public condemnation of the crimes.The Russian president has so far not reacted to calls for a state- runcommemorative and research centre for the victims of Stalin's terror regime.
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DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million. Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
KYIV - The Kyiv city planning council has approved design of the memorial complex to the victims of 1932-1933 Famine on 15A Sichnevoho Povstannia Street in Pecherskyi district of the capital. Kyiv chief architect Vasyl Prysiazhniuk disclosed this at a meeting of the council.The project was worked out by Project Systems Company. Prysiazhniuk marked it is necessary to specify proportions of a campanile, condition of elements of the complex and elements of art features.The concept of the memorial complex foresees construction of 26-meter-high campanile, roads of four granite slabs with two angels on the sides, which would lead to a small round lake, where it is planned to locate museum to Famine victims.The campanile and the museum will be made in the style of left Dnipro River architecture. There will be a circle of 24 stones around the campanile with internal paintings dedicated to bible and four mosaics.Each of the stones will bear 1,000 spikelets, which symbolize the number of Ukrainian victims. The campanile will be opened letting each person to light candle in memory of the tragedy.According to representative of the customer, the approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million [approx. $16 million.]As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the city council of Kyiv had approved architectural feasibility study regarding placement of the monument to American historian, analyst of Famine 1932-1933 in Ukraine James Mace in the Sichnevoho Povstannia Street, Pecherskyi District of Kyiv. According to various estimates, about 3-7 million people died during the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.
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DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor

Office of the President of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007To ensure adequate organization and conduct of events related to the Day of Memory for the victims of Holodomor on November 24, 2007, I hereby decree: 1. To set up an Organizing committee to prepare and mark in 2007 the Day of Memory for the Holodomors victims. To appoint Ivan Vasiunyk, first deputy head of presidential secretariat, and Dmytro Tabachnyk, Vice-Premier of Ukraine, co-heads of the Organizing committee. Within three days, the Organizing committee co-heads are to agree with the prime minister their proposals on the Organizing committee line-up. 2. The Organizing committee must approve within one week a plan of events to be held to prepare for and commemorate in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the victims of Holodomors. 3. A one-minute silence shall be observed at 16.00 on November 24, 2007 to remember the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, by stopping the work of central and local executive bodies, industrial companies, institutions and organizations (except the organizations where stoppages of work are technologically excluded). All public and private vehicles in cities and towns shall stop and blow their horns for one minute.The Ukrainian state flags on the territory of the country shall be lowered to half mast on November 24, 2007. Entertainment events in concert halls, on radio and TV must be restricted. 4. The Council of Ministers of the Crimean Autonomous Republic, the state administrations of the Kyiv oblast and cities Kyiv and Sevastopol are to lay mourning wreaths made from rye and wheat ears at the graves of Holodomor victims and remember them by observing a minute of silence, candle lighting, holding remembrance events and other mourning events. 5. The Cabinet of Ministers shall:- jointly with the Kyiv city administration accelerate designing and erecting in Kyin the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors in Ukraine;- allot funding in the finalized 2008 budget for the Memorial construction and research on the history of Holodomors by the Ukrainian Institute of the National Memory;- accelerate designing and erecting a monument to the 1932-1933 Holodomor victims in Washington, DC as well as similar monuments and remembrance plaques in other countries. 6. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall:- oblige its foreign missions to hold the events to mark in 2007 the Day of Memory for the Holodomor victims, inviting foreign diplomats stationed in Ukraine to participate in commemoration events inside the country;- render any assistance to the International Coordinating Committee of the World Ukrainian Congress in preparing and conducting by public diaspora organizations the events to commemorate the Holodomor victims. 7. The State Committee on television and radio broadcasting shall provide wide coverage of events held in preparation and remembrance in Ukraine and worldwide of the Day of Memory for the Holodomors victims. 8. The decree comes into force on publication. President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, November 2, 2007.
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UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
KYIV - In February 2008 the residents of Kherson oblast will become widely acquainted with the latest materials on the Holodomor tragedy of 1932-33. This announcement was made by the governor of Kherson oblast BorysSylienkov, as he commented on the Oct. 24 session of the Coordinating Council, which has been tasked with preparing measures dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Liga reports. Sylienkov said that the work of the Coordinating Council, created b ypresidential decree on March 14, 2007, has enabled researchers to reveal the whole truth about the Holodomor of 1932-33, which "raged in Kherson region too. Ukrainian society must consolidate around its own history," said thegovernor, who added that "for 75 years the Communist Party concealed the tragic truth and spread propaganda that there was no Holodomor in our region. Thanks to the president's position, confirmation of tens of thousands ofdeaths as a result of the genocide of 1932-33 was found in the archives. Many unmarked graves were discovered. We have published information about the Holodomor in the Kherson lands based on evidence provided by eyewitnesses and disseminated it among local communities," the governor of Kherson oblast emphasized. According to Sylienkov, the truth about the events connected to theHolodomor must be conveyed first and foremost to the communities of southern and eastern Ukraine." Following in the footsteps of historians and researchers in Kharkiv oblast, the residents of Kherson oblast will be widely familiarized with materials on the study of the Holodomor of 1932-33," he summarized. On Oct. 23 President Yushchenko arrived on a working visit to Kharkivoblast, where he chaired a session of the Coordinating Council to prepare measures dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor. The main goal of the council is to draft proposals for coordinating tributes to the Holodomor victims, which will be organized by the Ukrainian government, and academic and social institutions.

FAMINE WAS NO ACCIDENT
Thus, Ukraine was condemned. The Famine of 1932-1933 was by no means an accident. Quite opposite, it was the result of systemic totalitarian state terror by starvation - in other words, the result of genocide.The mass physical extermination of Ukrainian farmers by artificially caused starvation to death was a deliberate act of political system against innocent civilians, the statement said.It led not only to disappearance of a whole stratum of wealthy and economically independent farmers-entrepreneurs, but whole generations of rural population, it explained.In 1932 the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered his government to seize crops from Ukrainian peasants in a campaign to collect money for industrialisation and militarisation of USSR.Kremlin raised Ukraine's grain procurement quotas by 44 percent. In practice, this meant that the harvest, which was extremely rich that year, was to be completely deprived from the peasants in order to execute the directives of Moscow.

CREATING COLLECTIVE FARMS
This was also a way to destroy traditional agriculture culture and create kolkhoz type agriculture. This resulted in famine with between seven to 10 million Ukrainians, mostly peasants, starving to death in the very country known as "the breadbasket of Europe." At the same time the grain was exported to obtain funds for military buildup and speedy industrialisation. Only in 1933 Soviet regime dumped 1.7 million tonnes of grain on Western markets. Soviet officials, with the aid of regular troops and secret police units, waged a merciless war against peasants. Even indispensable seed grain was forcibly confiscated from households.Any man, woman, or child caught taking even a handful of grain from a collective farm was to be executed or deported. Those who did not appear to be starving were often suspected of hoarding grain.
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DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR

OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
KYIV - The Donetsk oblast governor, Vladimir Logvinenko, gave an assignment to the heads of regional administrations and city executive councils to prepare and submit for consideration the issue on dismantling of monuments and memorial signs devoted to persons who participated in the organization of Golodomor in 1932-1933 in Ukraine. This was talked about at the governors' meeting with heads of regional administration, chief of law-enforcement bodies of the Donetsk oblast. Vladimir Logvinenko noted that for the due honoring of Golodomor victims, there shouldn't be preserving of old soviet paraphernalia of Bolshevik system. Due to that, the city heads and regional administrations have been scheduled to consider at their sessions 'Issues connected with installation of memorial signs, crosses and other objects in places of mass people's death because of famine. The next issue was disassembling of monuments and memorials for the people who participated in organization and performing the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, renaming streets, squares, avenues, parks and settlements of the Donetsk oblast, which are related to such people.

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Let's not forget.
And, may Shaw and Duranty rot in hell.

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