Category Archives: holodomor

holodomor, radio

Prof. Andrea Graziosi on Stalin and the Holodomor [Interview]

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The following is an interview with Prof. Andrea Graziosi of the University of Naples on Stalin and the Holodomor:

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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Andrea Graziosi is Professor of History at the University of Naples "Federico II" and President (from 2007) of the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History. He is the author, among other things, of:

  • Lettere da Kharkov (Torino, 1991 and Kharkiv, 2007)
  • The Great Soviet Peasant War (Cambridge, MA, 1996 and Moscow, 2001),
  • Bol’sheviki i krest’iane na Ukraine, 1918-1919 (Moscow, 1997)
  • A New, Peculiar State. Explorations in Soviet History (Westport, CT, 2000)
  • Guerra e rivoluzione in Europa, 1905-1956 (Bologna, 2002, Kyiv and Moscow, 2005)
  • L’Urss di Lenin e Stalin, 1914-1945 (Bologna, 2007)
  • L’Urss dal trionfo al degrado, 1945-1991 (Bologna, 2008)

He serves on editorial boards of a number of French, English, Italian, Ukrainian and U.S. specialized journals, co-edits in Moscow, since 1992, the series "Dokumenty sovetskoi istorii" (15 volumes in print) and is a member of the editorial board of the series Istoriia Stalinizma (Rosspen, Moscow).

Telephone interview with historian Dr. Andrea Graziosi, conducted by Roman Brytan, producer & host of Radiozhurnal, Edmonton’s daily Ukrainian radio program on 101.7 World FM.

holodomor, news

Holodomor news round-up – Nov 24 2009

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Highlighting some recent news for Holodomor Awareness Week

National Holodomor Memorial Day – November 28, 2009

TORONTO, Nov. 24 /CNW/ – Saturday, November 28 marks Holodomor Memorial Day in Canada. Canadians will honour the memory of the victims of this famine-genocide with a moment of silence at 9:00 a.m. and light candles of remembrance in their homes. Memorial services will be celebrated in churches across the country on Sunday, November 29.

On Friday, November 27, Holodomor Memorial Day will be marked in schools of the Toronto District, Hamilton-Wentworth District and Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Boards.

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Supporters gather to remember genocide in Ukraine

Every November, Leoniv Korownyk revisits one of the darkest periods in Ukrainian history.

Korownyk, officials and supporters gathered at the legislature yesterday for a service that recognized Bill 37 and commemorated those who died as a result of the man-made famine and genocide of 1932-1933 in the Ukraine.

Bill 37, passed on Nov. 4, 2008, declared every fourth Saturday in November as Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day in Alberta.  The service was hosted by Ken Kowalski, speaker of the legislative assembly of Alberta, and featured Premier Ed Stelmach along with other officials and survivors of the genocide.

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Lemkin: Holodomor ‘classic’ genocide

Because of the horrors committed by Nazi Germany in World War II what is often forgotten, however, is that Lemkin’s thinking about an international law to punish perpetrators of what he originally labeled the “Crime of Barbarity” came not in response to the Holocaust but rather following the 1915 massacres of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians within the Ottoman Turkish empire.

Likewise overlooked were Lemkin’s views on Communist crimes against humanity. In a 1953 lecture in New York City, for example, he described the “destruction of the Ukrainian nation” as the “classic example of Soviet genocide,” adding insightfully:“the Ukrainian is not and never has been a Russian. His culture, his temperament, his language, his religion, are all different…to eliminate (Ukrainian) nationalism…the Ukrainian peasantry was sacrificed…a famine was necessary for the Soviet and so they got one to order…if the Soviet program succeeds completely, if the intelligentsia, the priest, and the peasant can be eliminated [then] Ukraine will be as dead as if every Ukrainian were killed, for it will have lost that part of it which has kept and developed its culture, its beliefs, its common ideas, which have guided it and given it a soul, which, in short, made it a nation…This is not simply a case of mass murder. It is a case of genocide, of the destruction, not of individuals only, but of a culture and a nation.”

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The Man who expaosed Stalin and the nazis

Welsh investigative reporter Gareth Jones believed in the truth. In the early 1930s, he travelled through Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union recording the grim realities of nascent dictatorships. As a new exhibition of his writing opens, Alex Donohue goes in search of Jones’ legacy

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canada, event, holodomor

Holodomor Week Events 2009

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Looking for this year’s Holodomor Week Events?


This week is National Holodomor Awareness Week in Canada. Here’s a list of events that are happening around the country, it’s a little messy but only because there so many events happening this week:

National Events
November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
November 28, Holodomor Memorial Day, 9:00 a.m.  A moment of silence and candle lighting in homes
November 29  A requiem service in all Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches across Canada with solemn tolling of bells 10 times in memory of 10 million
Calgary, Alberta
November 22, 2009 4:30pm – Calgary Premier of “Okradena Zemlya: Famine Genocide 1932-33”; Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Parish at 704-6th Street N.E. Clagary
Program Details
November 29, 11:00 a.m. – 1932-33 Holodomor Anniversary Commemoration presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Calgary Branch,??Commemorative Service at
St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre?411 Meredith Rd. NE?
Contact: info@calgaryucc.org, http://www.ucccalgary.org
Edmonton, Alberta
November 20, 7:00 p.m. Seminar: Andrea Graziosi,?Department of History, University of Naples “Frederico II”??The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1931-33? Contact: Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, (780) 492-2972, e-mail: cius@ualberta.ca, http://www.cius.ca
November 23, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Alberta Legislature, and coordinated by UCC-Alberta Provincial Council,??Rotunda?Legislative Assembly of Alberta?10800 – 97 Ave., Edmonton??Open to public. Program TBA??Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
November 28, 12:00 noon Annual Holodomor Commemoration Ceremony sponsored by UCC-Edmonton Branch;?Clergy will celebrate a Memorial Service, guest speaker is Sen. Raynell Andreychuk.??Edmonton City Hall,?1 Sir Winston Churchill Square?Edmonton, AB??Contact: UCC-Edmonton Branch, tel/fax: (780) 423-5422, e-mail: ucc_edm@yahoo.ca
November 28, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Presented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, Edmonton City Hall?1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,?Edmonton, AB?? Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
Hamilton, Ontario
November 23, 7:00 p.m. Film: FAMINE – 33, Ukrainian with English subtitles; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 241 Kenilworth Avenue North
November 25, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Visit the newly opened first Holodomor museum in Canada in the Metropolitan Wasyly Learning Centre, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir, 855 Barton Street East;  Hear eyewitness accounts from Holodomor survivors, Schools welcome.
November 27, 12:00 a.m. – November 28, 9:00 a.m.  33-hour fast in commemoration of Holodomor victims, Student Centre, McMaster University
London, Ontario
November 22 2:30pm – London Premier of “Okradena Zemlya: Famine Genocide 1932-33”; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 247 Adelaide Street London
Program Details
Oshawa, Ontario
November 29 12:30pm – Joint Community Holodomor Commemorative Program; St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox  “Odesa” Hall 31 Bloor St. East, Oshawa, Ontario
Sponsored by the Durham Region branch of the UCC
Ottawa, Ontario
November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
November 29, 7:00 p.m.  Film screening of Ukrainian language documentary “Okradena Zemlya”, Ukrainian Community Centre, 913 Carling Avenue
St. Catharines, Ontario
November 28, 8:45a.m. – Candle Lighting Ceremony, St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church, 91 Lakeshore Road
November 28, 8:45am – UCC St. Catharines will have a candle lighting ceremony and display 33 black flags in front of St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on 91 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines during Holodomor Awareness Week
November 29 – All other churches in the Niagara region will toll their bells and have Panachydy
Toronto, Ontario
November 16-29  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Scarborough Civic Centrel; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 17, 6:00 p.m.  Annual Ukrainian Famine Lecture,
Andrea Graziosi (University of Naples, Italy) “The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1932-1933”, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, & the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine; Combination Room, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 6 Hoskin Avenue; Contact a.makuch@utoronto.ca
November 22-26  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Toronto City Hall; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 23, 7:00 p.m. Holodomor Education Week Opening Ceremonies; The week is sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association with the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Consulate General of Ukraine; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
November 24-28, 10:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. daily, Holodomor Education Week program sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association; includes the newest films on the Holodomor, exhibits, meetings with survivors, lectures and poetry readings on the Holodomor; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
Program details
November 27  Holodomor Memorial Day to be marked in schools of the Toronto District School Board
November 29, 3:00 p.m.  Commemorative Concert, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416-323-4772, ucctoronto@bellnet.ca
Windsor, Ontario
November 15, 1:00 p.m.  Memorial Service and Commemorative Program at the Holodomor monument and St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Parish Hall. Sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Windsor Branch; Contact 519.256.8778
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sunday November 22, 2009 Premier of a film from Ukraine: “Zhorna” will be shown at the Museum of Man and Nature (Planetarium) at 4:00pm
Saturday November 28, 2009 Memorial Service in front of the Famine Monument at City Hall at 1:30 pm

National Events

  • November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
  • November 28, Holodomor Memorial Day, 9:00 a.m.  A moment of silence and candle lighting in homes
  • November 29  A requiem service in all Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches across Canada with solemn tolling of bells 10 times in memory of 10 million

Calgary, Alberta

  • November 29, 11:00 a.m. – 1932-33 Holodomor Anniversary Commemoration presented by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Calgary Branch,Commemorative Service at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre 411 Meredith Rd. NE. Contact: info@calgaryucc.org, http://www.ucccalgary.org

Edmonton, Alberta

  • November 23, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Alberta Legislature, and coordinated by UCC-Alberta Provincial Council, Rotunda Legislative Assembly of Alberta 10800 – 97 Ave., Edmonton. Open to public. Program TBA??Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca
  • November 28, 12:00 noon Annual Holodomor Commemoration Ceremony sponsored by UCC-Edmonton Branch; Clergy will celebrate a Memorial Service, guest speaker is Sen. Raynell Andreychuk. Edmonton City Hall, 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,Edmonton, AB Contact: UCC-Edmonton Branch, tel/fax: (780) 423-5422, e-mail: ucc_edm@yahoo.ca
  • November 28, 12:00 noon Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Presented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, Edmonton City Hall,1 Sir Winston Churchill Square,Edmonton, AB Contact: UCC-APC office tel.: (780) 414-1624, e-mail: info@uccab.ca

Hamilton, Ontario

  • November 23, 7:00 p.m. Film: FAMINE – 33, Ukrainian with English subtitles; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 241 Kenilworth Avenue North
  • November 25, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m.  Visit the newly opened first Holodomor museum in Canada in the Metropolitan Wasyly Learning Centre, Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir, 855 Barton Street East;  Hear eyewitness accounts from Holodomor survivors, Schools welcome.
  • November 27, 12:00 a.m. – November 28, 9:00 a.m.  33-hour fast in commemoration of Holodomor victims, Student Centre, McMaster University

Oshawa, Ontario

  • November 29 12:30pm – Joint Community Holodomor Commemorative Program; St. John’s Ukrainian Orthodox  “Odesa” Hall 31 Bloor St. East, Oshawa, Ontario
  • Sponsored by the Durham Region branch of the UCC

Ottawa, Ontario

  • November 24, 6:30 p.m.  Holodomor Commemoration on Parliament Hill
  • November 29, 7:00 p.m.  Film screening of Ukrainian language documentary “Okradena Zemlya”, Ukrainian Community Centre, 913 Carling Avenue

St. Catharines, Ontario

  • November 28, 8:45a.m. – Candle Lighting Ceremony, St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church, 91 Lakeshore Road
  • November 28, 8:45am – UCC St. Catharines will have a candle lighting ceremony and display 33 black flags in front of St. John the Theologian Ukrainian Catholic Church on 91 Lakeshore Rd. in St. Catharines during Holodomor Awareness Week
  • November 29 – All other churches in the Niagara region will toll their bells and have Panachydy

Toronto, Ontario

  • November 16-29  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Scarborough Civic Centre; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 17, 6:00 p.m.  Annual Ukrainian Famine Lecture, Andrea Graziosi (University of Naples, Italy) “The Holodomor and the Soviet Famines, 1932-1933”, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch, the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, & the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine; Combination Room, Trinity College, University of Toronto, 6 Hoskin Avenue; Contact a.makuch@utoronto.ca
  • November 22-26  Exhibit – Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, Toronto City Hall; Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 23, 7:00 p.m. Holodomor Education Week Opening Ceremonies; The week is sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association with the support of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress and the Consulate General of Ukraine; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com
  • November 24-28, 10:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. daily, Holodomor Education Week program sponsored by the League of Ukrainian Canadians, League of Ukrainian Canadian Women and Ukrainian Youth Association; includes the newest films on the Holodomor, exhibits, meetings with survivors, lectures and poetry readings on the Holodomor; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416.516.8223 or luc@lucorg.com,
  • All events take place at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre on 83 Christie Street with the exception of the youth roundtable scheduled for 6:30pm on Tuesday at St. Vladimir Institute on 620 Spadina Avenue.
  • Monday, November 23 – 7pm:  Opening Ceremonies for Holodomor Education Week, starting at 7pm and including Canadian politicians who championed the recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide
  • Tuesday, November 24 - 10am – 10:30am – Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch ( Canadian author for young adults), topic: Holodomor: the Last Forbidden Subject
  • – 10:30am – 2:30pm – Films for elementary and high schools, including Harvest of Despair ( English) and Technology of Genocide – Part 2 ( English)
  • – 6:30pm – 8:30pm – Youth Roundtable on the Holodomor hosted by USC at St. Vladimir Institute, 620 Spadina Avenue, topic: Holodomor Awareness, Recognition and Education: What next?
  • The Ukrainian Students Club at U of T, together with other youth organizations from around Toronto, will be hosting a roundtable discussion and debate on the role of Ukrainian youth in today’s efforts to raise and promote awareness, recognition and education about the Holodomor. People of all ages, especially students and Ukrainian youth, are encouraged to come and take part in this constructive and important discussion.
  • Wednesday, November 25 – 4pm – 8:30pm
  • – 4pm – 6pm – Meeting with Holodomor survivors
  • – 6pm – 7pm – Eugenia Sakevych Dallas ( survivor), reading of prose on the Holodomor
  • – 7pm – 8:30pm – Film Закляття безпам’ятствa ( Ukrainian),
  • produced by Iryna Mahrytska and sponsored by the BCU
  • Foundation
  • Thursday, November 26 – 2:30pm – 8:30pm
  • – 2:30pm – 3:30pm – Mykola Latyshko ( survivor), reading of poetry on the Holodomor
  • – 3:30pm – 5pm – Film Хлібна гільйотина ( Ukrainian)
  • – 6:30pm – 6:45pm – Video presentation by Italian scholar and Holodomor expert Andrea Graziosi
  • – 6:45pm – 7:30pm – Andrew Gregorovich ( Holodomor researcher, bibliographer and editor of FORUM, A Ukrainian Review ), topic: Holodomor Resources and Research in English
  • – 7:30pm – 8:15pm – Iroida Wynnyckyj ( Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre archivist), topic: UCRDC Holodomor Archives and Projects
  • Friday, November 27 – 10am – 8:30pm
  • – 10am – 10:30am – Orest Steciw ( Holodomor Projects
  • Coordinator, LUC/LUCW), topic: Creation of the Holodomor: Genocide by Famine Exhibit
  • – 10:30am – 2:30pm – Films for elementary and high schools, and general public, including Technology of Genocide – Part 3 (Ukrainian) and The Living ( Ukrainian with English subtitles)
  • – 3:30pm – 8:30pm – Films for general public, including
  • Голод-33-33 (Ukrainian), James Mace ( Ukrainian), Брати (Ukrainian) and І тоді пролунав постріл ( Ukrainian)
  • Saturday, November 28 – 10am – 4pm
  • – 10am – 2pm – Ukrainian Saturday Heritage Schools (Рідні Школи) on the Holodomor
  • – 2pm – 4pm – Film Okradena Zemlya for parents and students,
  • including introduction of film by its producer and director, Yurij Luhovy
  • Sunday, November 29 – 3pm
  • – Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Toronto Holodomor commemoration, starting at 3pm
  • November 27  Holodomor Memorial Day to be marked in schools of the Toronto District School Board
  • November 29, 3:00 p.m.  Commemorative Concert, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Toronto Branch; Ukrainian Cultural Centre, 83 Christie Street  Contact: 416-323-4772, ucctoronto@bellnet.ca

Winnipeg, Manitoba

  • Saturday November 28, 2009 Memorial Service in front of the Famine Monument at City Hall at 1:30 pm

[Ukrainian Canadian Congress]

holodomor, video

Holodomor Survivors Part 2

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A few weeks ago we brought you some testimonies for Holodomor Memorial Day this Saturday. Here are a few more, couresty of HolodomorSurvivors.ca:

These interviews are in Ukrainian, but full English translations are available by going to their YouTube pages and clicking ‘more info’.

Viktoria Kaluschny (nee Titarenko)


Explains that many villagers tried to escape central Ukraine to the Donbas. Describes how she and a friend collected scraps of food outside a hospital.
Click here for the YouTube page, and then ‘more info’ for the English translation

Mykhailo Klendukh

Describes his maltreatment at school as the son of a kulak. Describes how grain was being exported in the Crimea during the Famine.

Click here for the YouTube page, and then ‘more info’ for the English translation

Nina Kohut (nee Petrenchuk)

Describes rumors of cannibalism in Odessa, and a search by the NKVD of her parents apartment.

Click here for the YouTube page, and then ‘more info’ for the English translation

[HolodomorSurvivors]

holodomor, video, weekend-watching

Weekend Watching: Holodomor Survivors Part 1

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This month as we approach Saturday November 28th: Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, across all of Canada and some cities in the US – we are going to highlight some survivor testimonies from HolodomorSurvivors.ca

These interviews are in Ukrainian, but full English translations are available by going to their YouTube pages and clicking ‘more info’.

Maria Firman (nee Martyniuk)

Describes harassment of her father by the authorities. Describes her mother being beaten by a brigadier for taking grain stalks from a field. Describes her mother’s and sister’s death from starvation.

[YouTube]

Stefan Horlatsch

Describes how his mother hid food to feed her family, and the harassment she faced at the hands of the authorities.

[YouTube]

Oleksandra Jamniuk (nee Leyba)

Describes the collection of corpses from the streets of Kharkiv, where she was attending university. Describes how she was unaware that the Famine was man-made until arriving in Galicia in the late 1930s.

[YouTube]

[HolodomorSurvivors.ca]