BRAMA, April 2, 2003, 9:00 am ET
In search of justice: a man with a mission chronicles 74 years of Soviet repression
— by Hanya Krill
Roman Krutsyk is by profession an attorney specializing in legislation. He was elected to Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada in 1994, was a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Committee, argued against Russia's war against Chechens, and worked to provide humanitarian assistance for the victims of the conflict in Chechnya. He is, in a word, a man concerned. His concerns for truth and justice have led him on an investigation of archival materials that have only recently become public, archives that condemn the actions of the most repressive regime that the world has known - the Soviet Union.
© National Tribune, Luka Kostelyna
Roman Krutsyk speaks at the opening of "Not To Be Forgotten". The exhibition is on permanent display
at the "Memorial" Society facility in Kyiv, Ukraine. Visit their website: www.memorial.kiev.ua.
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Traveling across the United States with an exhibition titled "Not To Be Forgotten - A Chronicle of the Communist Inquisition in Ukraine 1917-1991", Mr. Krutsyk is hoping to build awareness about this dark period in Ukraine's history. He hopes also that it will generate interest in funding further investigations into the extensive archives that had until now been closed to scholars and the public alike. His own research, Mr. Krutsyk believes, has touched only about 1/10th of the archives that may be available, and that does not include what he believes is still classified as confidential.
Children pictured circa 1932-33 from the archives.
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The chronicle that Mr. Krutsyk compiled shows a graphic and often shocking picture of life and death under the Soviet regime which was determined to break the will of independent-minded Ukrainians. Beginning with the Bolshevik coup in 1917, the exposition illustrates the violent beginnings of the USSR, forced collectivization, the Holocaust (Famine Genocide) of 1932-33, Stalin's "Great Terror", repressions in the 60's, the exhibition leads right up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It is an ambitious project that can only be considered the start of an investigation into the truth. One of Mr. Krutsyk's goals is to open legal proceedings in Ukraine against the guilty as crimes against humanity. Even though many of the guilty are no longer alive, he says, "it is important to have them judged in the courts so that the communist repressions are recorded in history."
Check Brama's Calendar of Events to find out when "Not To Be Forgotten" will be displayed in your area.
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