Ukrainians in the USA commemorated the victims of the Holodomor: how it happened

A prayer sounds in the Ukrainian cultural center of Los Angeles. Representatives of the diaspora and Americans of Ukrainian origin came here who want to remind the world of the word “Holodomor”. Talks about this Voice of America.

Photo: still from Voice of America video

Holodomor Remembrance Day is an annual national memorial day in Ukraine, falling on the fourth Saturday in November. Among the guests at the event in Los Angeles are many whose parents still remember the horrors of 1932-1933.

“I’ll never forget it,” event co-organizer Julia Michaels said. “I remember this from when I was little, listening to my parents talk about it. They didn't hold back on the details."

“I often asked my mother why she never told me about this,” recalls meeting co-organizer Luda Vusik. - Mom was afraid. I remembered how my grandmother cooked “grout”: she threw grass into boiling water, diluted the flour with water and poured it into the cauldron in small streams. This is how they survived."

Lyuda and Yulia have been co-organizers of Remembrance Day since 1986. But this year the 87th anniversary was held online for the first time. Only a few people performed on stage. The hall is unusually empty. The presenters read out the names of deceased Ukrainian immigrants.

“We keep lists so we don't forget about these people. They are very important,” says co-organizer Luba Keske. - They lived in this world. They communicated with us, they were there. We cannot forget about them. These are people who survived the Holodomor, survived the war and came to Southern California.”

Plastuns (members of the national scout organization of Ukraine) bring out flags, a candle burns near a loaf of bread. The director of the Remembrance Day is Yuri Vyginny. He was born to Ukrainian immigrants in Chicago. He has been working in the Los Angeles film industry for a long time. Yuri considers the topic of the Holodomor to be insufficiently covered in the world.

Photo: video frame "Voices of America"

“I think that the whole world should know about our ancestors,” says Yuri. “People don’t know this story.” They don’t know about culture and language. I have a tattoo on my arm that says “tell a story” in Ukrainian so that people can tell their own story, so that we can communicate together.”

Memorial Day on the 87th anniversary thanks to the online format was able to watch the diaspora not only of Southern California, but of the whole world.

On the subject: From Holodomor to the Holocaust: the story of an American family with Ukrainian roots

Washington marks the 5th anniversary of the opening of the Holodomor Victims Memorial in Ukraine

On Saturday, November 7, the US capital, Washington, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the opening of the Memorial to the Victims of the Holodomor Genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, reports Ukrinfrom.

The live broadcast can be viewed here:

“Join us for this virtual memorial ceremony as church officials, government officials, and diplomats pay tribute to the victims of the Ukrainian Holodomor-Genocide at the Memorial in Washington,” the video caption reads. The video also includes speeches by representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States.

On behalf of the Ukrainian government, the virtual event was opened by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova.

“This monument in the heart of the American capital is a tribute to the memory of the victims of one of the largest tragedies not only in the history of my country and the Ukrainian people, but also of all humanity,” Dzhaparova noted.

The First Deputy Minister spoke about the famine artificially created by Stalin, its multimillion-dollar victims, and that conveying the truth about the Holodomor to the world is the moral duty of Ukrainians. She noted that today the world not only knows the truth about this crime against Ukrainians, but also state after state recognizes the Holodomor as genocide.

Dzhaparova also recalled the Soviet regime's deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 - "a genocide that has the same nature as the Holodomor." She noted that this is why the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine called on other states to recognize the deportation of the Crimean Tatars as genocide.

Dzhaparova spoke about the role of the Ukrainian diaspora in the United States in the case of recognizing the Holodomor as genocide in a note on her Facebook page.

“Long before our state gained independence, representatives of Ukrainian public organizations in the United States began our, now common, path to world recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33. in Ukraine by the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Thanks to the painstaking efforts of the Ukrainian diaspora, back in 1988, a special Congress Commission was created to study and analyze those terrible events, the main conclusion of which was: "Joseph Stalin and his entourage committed genocide against the people of Ukraine in 1932-1933." Then there were years of daily work, to which, after Ukraine gained independence, the "diplomatic army" of our country also joined. And today, as a result of this work, we have such achievements as the recognition by the US Congress and almost half of the US states of the Holodomor of 1932-33. in Ukraine by the genocide of the Ukrainian people ”.

She thanked her American partners and friends from Congress for their many years of consistent support and understanding of the importance of this issue for Ukrainians around the world.

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Despite these significant achievements, “we must move on and continue to bring to the world knowledge about all the genocides of the Stalinist regime, such as the Holodomor and Sürgün - the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944. As a result of this crime, more than 200 people were deported, half of them died during the first year of deportation,” Dzhaparova noted.

The First Deputy Minister expressed her conviction that only international recognition can become a guarantee that this will not happen again and “only a clear international position in this regard is the only instrument of the civilized world to counter aggression and crimes against humanity”.

Virtual exhibition of a Ukrainian artist from the USA honors the memory of Holodomor victims

The online exhibition Holodomor: A Remembrance continues in the United States by the American artist of Ukrainian origin Lydia Bodnar-Balagutrak, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holodomor, writes Ukrinfrom.

“In memory of the victims of the Holodomor, the virtual slideshow presents 26 works by Ukrainian-American artist Lydia Bodnar-Balagutrak from Houston (USA), made in mixed media and presented as an exhibition in one place,” says one of the video slides.

The organizer of the virtual exhibition, which will last until November 15, is the Union of Ukrainian Women of America (SUA).

“My art of loss and memory is a response to the Soviet regime's genocide against the Ukrainian people and reflects my ancestral roots. Millions died during the Stalin-orchestrated famine in Ukraine in 1932-33. By combining images of Holodomor victims with images on icons, I honored them,” the artist noted.

Lydia Bodnar-Balagutrak was born and raised in Cleveland (USA) and later moved to Houston. I first visited Ukraine in 1991, and 5 years later I visited Chernobyl. These travels became a turning point in the worldview and creativity of the artist.

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