CONNECTICUT TO COMMEMORATE UKRAINIAN FAMINE AND GENOCIDE WITH EXHIBIT AT STATE CAPITOL
Contact: Myron Melnyk (201) 264-9793
New Haven, Connecticut, Feb 10th 2010 - On Ash Wednesday, February 17th, at 12:00 Noon, Connecticut legislators, human rights activists and Ukrainian-American community leaders will be gathering in Hearing Room 1C in the Legislative Office Building on Capitol Avenue to pay homage to the victims of the 1932-33 "Holodomor" - the manmade famine and genocide that took the lives of up to 10 million innocent men, women and children in Ukraine and in targeted ethnic Ukrainian areas in the Soviet Union. The "Holodomor", meaning "Murder by Hunger" was orchestrated and implemented by Joseph Stalin to achieve his twin aims of collectivization and subjugation of the Ukrainian people.
The solemn opening ceremony is timed to coincide with a special Holodomor Exhibit that will be displayed in the Lower Concourse of the Legislative Office Building from February 15th thru the 26th. Participating in the February 17th ceremony will be His Excellency Bishop Paul Chomnycky, Ukrainian Catholic Bishop of Stamford, co-sponsors and supporters of the exhibit: the Honorable State Senators John Fonfara and Jonathan Harris, the Honorable State Representatives David McCluskey and Peter Tercyak, other legislators and human rights activists, members of the clergy, Ukrainian youth, and members of the Connecticut Ukrainian-American community. Supporters unable to attend include His Grace Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of America (USA) and co-sponsor Honorable State Representative John Geragosian.
In recent years, the Committee has also received support from leading political figures including Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, U.S Senator Joseph Lieberman, U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, U.S. Congresswoman Rosa Delauro, and Dr. Lawrence DeNardis, It should be noted that Senators Dodd and Lieberman were both sponsors of the U.S. Senate Resolution 202 recognizing the Holodomor as Genocide.
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary commemoration of this tragedy in 2008, Governor M. Jodi Rell expressed her support: “The Ukrainian Holodomor is among the least known genocides of the 20th century. The truth needs to be told. I stand with and support Ukrainian-Americans throughout the State of Connecticut in bringing recognition to this human tragedy”
Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro commented, “The death of millions of Ukrainians because of starvation imposed by Joseph Stalin is a crime against humanity. It is long past time for this tragedy to be fully recognized and as we mark the 75th anniversary of this atrocity, I can think of no better way to honor the lives of these men and women than for countries around the globe to recognize this tragedy. I commend the Connecticut Committee for the Commemoration of the Holodomor/Genocide for their efforts to bring attention to this issue.”
Senator Christopher Dodd, a sponsor of the U.S. Senate resolution recognizing Holodomor as Genocide has said, “The Holodomor Genocide sacrificed the lives of untold millions of ethnic Ukrainians... The world needs to hear your account of that time, because it is your words that will inspire others to be ever mindful of what was, and to be ever vigilant against the forces of oppression that are still with us on this earth. My father, Senator Thomas Dodd, was one of the lead prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials. He taught me at a very young age, the danger of sitting idly by while innocent people suffer. Let us use this opportunity to reaffirm our determination to speak out against discrimination and oppression wherever they exist...”
Today a resurgent Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, continues to deny the deliberate genocidal Soviet policies that led to the Holodomor, a tragedy of such enormity that U.S. Senator Charles Schumer stated: “Truly this was the Ukrainian Holocaust” . Shockingly, a majority of Russian citizens today still hold Josef Stalin in high regard as a symbol of past Russian strength and glory - this in spite of the well-documented evidence of his brutality that resulted in the deaths of millions of his own people.
New evidence from declassified Soviet archives provides overwhelming evidence that the Soviet government sealed the borders of Ukraine and specifically targeted ethnic Ukrainian areas such as the Kuban region of Russia, confiscated all foodstuffs and blocked humanitarian shipments in a deliberate attempt to starve Ukrainians and to break their independent national spirit. Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev admitted in his speech to the 23rd Communist Party Congress that Stalin harbored such antipathy towards the Ukrainian nation that he would have deported all Ukrainians to Siberia except that this would have been logistically impossible.
Committee chairwoman Lidia Choma of New Haven calls upon all citizens of Connecticut to attend the solemn opening ceremony on February 17th at 12:00 noon: “ Help us to speak out in defense of the truth and against the falsification of history. Join us in honoring the memory of the millions who perished in this genocide”
