The Chronicles Of Grant County
Holodomor Remembrance
2023
Part Two
The Holodomor Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, on November 7, 2015. (The photo was provided courtesy of the National Park Service.)
Seven to ten million people were victims of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 – the Holodomor, according to the United States of America. A memorial was dedicated to the victims of this genocide on November 7, 2015. The bronze and granite monument is located at Massachusetts Avenue NW and North Capitol Street NW in Washington, DC.
This past Saturday, November 25, 2023, the U S Department of State issued a statement "In Remembrance of the Holodomor Famine":
Today marks the annual day of remembrance of the 1932-1933 Holodomor famine in Ukraine. During Joseph Stalin's regime, harsh and repressive policies were imposed upon Ukraine, including a deliberate famine that killed millions of innocent Ukrainian women, men, and children. We honor all the lives lost in this horrible tragedy and the determination of Ukraine's people who overcame these hardships to ultimately create a free and democratic society."
The day has different names throughout the world: "Holodomor Awareness Day," "Memorial Day of Holodomor Victims," "Holodomor Memorial Day," and "Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holodomor." In some locales, the remembrance of the Holodomor takes place during a specific week in November or throughout the month; other communities remember this genocide at other times during the year.
Through recent years, leaders of the U S have acknowledged the Holodomor as an atrocity against the Ukrainian people.
On October 3, 2018, according to the U S Congress, the U S Senate passed by Unanimous Consent "A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, should serve as a reminder of repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine."
The resolution stated that "in 1932 and 1933, millions of Ukrainian people perished at the will of the totalitarian Stalinist government of the former Soviet Union, which perpetrated a premeditated famine in Ukraine in an effort to break the nation's resistance to collectivization and communist occupation."
"...The Soviet government deliberately confiscated grain harvests and starved millions of Ukrainian men, women, and children by a policy of forced collectivization that sought to destroy the nationally conscious movement for independence," the resolution continued. "[The Senate]...supports the continuing efforts of the people of Ukraine to work toward ensuring democratic principles, a free-market economy, and full respect for human rights, in order to enable Ukraine to achieve its potential as an important strategic partner of the United States in that region of the world, and to reflect the will of its people."
On December 11, 2018, the U S House of Representatives Agreed to Without Objection a resolution, according to the U S Congress, "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the 85th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-1933, known as the Holodomor, should serve as a reminder of repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine."
This resolution stated that "…the Soviet Government deliberately confiscated grain harvests and starved millions of Ukrainian men, women, and children by a policy of forced collectivization that sought to destroy the nationally conscious movement for independence…Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the borders of Ukraine sealed to prevent anyone from escaping the manmade starvation and to prevent the delivery of any international food aid that would provide relief to the starving…[and] nearly a quarter of Ukraine's rural population perished or were forced into exile due to the induced starvation, and the entire country suffered from the consequences of the prolonged famine…"
Each of the recent Presidents of the U S have acknowledged the criminal actions of the USSR in killing millions of people in Ukraine during the Holodomor. While the wording has varied, the tone from each did not minimize the killing of people through famine.
On October 13, 2006, President George W. Bush signed legislation into law that allowed "...the Government of Ukraine to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of the manmade famine that occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933."
On November 7, 2015, on the occasion of the dedication of the Holodomor Memorial authorized by President Bush, President Barack Obama issued a statement detailing that "It was the Soviet regime's deliberate seizure of Ukrainian crops and refusal to provide food relief that turned Europe's breadbasket into a land of immeasurable human suffering."
On November 7, 2018, President Donald Trump issued a "Presidential Message on the National Day for the Victims of Communism." In this statement, President Trump stated that "Communism subordinates inherent human rights to the purported well-being of all, resulting in the extermination of religious freedom, private property, free speech, and, far too often, life. These horrors have included Ukrainians deliberately starved in the Holodomor, Russians purged in the Great Terror, Cambodians murdered in the killing fields, and Berliners shot as they tried to escape to freedom."
On November 21, 2023, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U S Representative to the United Nations, stated that "This month, we mark the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, which translates to 'death by starvation.' Death by starvation. Millions of Ukrainian women, men, children perished because of the Stalin regime's harsh and repressive policies. Because of a man-made, deliberate famine. It has become a cautionary tale of what happens when we let cruelty and tyranny go unchecked."
On November 25, 2023, in a "Statement by President [Joseph] Biden in Remembrance of Holodomor," the President noted that "On this anniversary, we remember and honor all those, both past and present, who have endured such hardship and who continue still to fight against tyranny. We also recommit ourselves to preventing suffering, protecting fundamental freedoms, and responding to human rights abuses whenever and wherever they occur. We stand united with Ukraine."
Nations throughout the world recognize the Holodomor as genocide.
Individual states within this country have done likewise.
New Mexico is one of those states.
The Governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, issued a proclamation on September 28, 2022, declaring "...November 20 through November 26, 2022, as 'Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Week.'" The proclamation noted that "hundreds of archival KGB documents created during the genocide detailed and described the Soviet regime's actions and intention to destroy Ukraine's national identity..."
Holodomor Museum in Ukraine summarizes how what happened in 1932-1933 impacts what we witness now:
"Today, we hear most objections to the Holodomor as a crime of genocide from Russia, which is the legal successor of the Soviet Union. This trend is very worrying for the citizens of Ukraine. The annexation of Crimea and Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine were preceded by statements by the Russian leadership about the 'one nation' of Russians and Ukrainians, as well as the non-recognition of Ukrainians as a separate nation. All this causes great concern among Ukrainians who survived the genocide. The world, where totalitarianism in one form or another continues to exist, must know the truth about the Holodomor, because this knowledge will allow us to avoid similar tragedies in the future. As world experience proves, denying genocides and ignoring them is an extremely dangerous phenomenon that cannot be ignored."
The Holodomor Memorial includes images of stalks of wheat in the bronze sculpture. (The photo was provided courtesy of the U S Department of State, November 17, 2017.)
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