BRAMA, Oct 2, 2003, 9:00 am ET
Press Release
Chicagoland Ukrainians commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine of 1932-1933
— by Katya Mischenko-Mycyk
Chicago, Illinois - This year marks the 70th anniversary of Stalin's deliberate starvation of as many as 10 million Ukrainians during the years of 1932-33. The Chicago based Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation organized a weekend's worth of programs to both remember those who perished during the Holodomor and to educate the public about the tragic events of 1932-33 which were hidden from the worlds eyes.
Famine memorial service in Chicago
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On Saturday, September 20th, the Foundation arranged an educational program that attracted approximately 300 Ukrainian Saturday school children from St. Volodymyr's Ukrainian School, Ridna Shkola at St. Nicholas Cathedral, and Ridna Shkola at CYM Palatine. The program, which took place in the auditorium of St. Volodymyr and Olga's Ukrainian Catholic Church, consisted of a lecture and screening of the 1984 documentary film "Harvest of Despair".
Prior to the screening, Lida Tkachuk, co-Secretary of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation welcomed the Ukrainian school students to the screening and introduced guest speakers Laryssa Tschaikowsky and Mathew Marciniak. Ms. Tschaikowsky and Mr. Marciniak presented a brief historic overview of the events that caused the Genocide Famine to occur.
St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church
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For many of the children in attendance, this was their first exposure to the Genocide Famine. Andrea Sajewych, a seventh grader at Ridna Shkola at St. Nicholas Cathedral, said that after watching the film "Harvest of Despair" she believes that American schools should be required to teach students about the Ukrainian Genocide Famine to make sure that it never happens again. Miss Sajewych said that the 10 million victims of the Genocide Famine "never got a proper burial and they at least deserve some (type of) remembrance" from the Ukrainian community.
Following the screening, students were taken to the Ukrainian National Museum to view a new and permanent exhibit documenting the Genocide Famine of 1932-1933. The exhibit includes recently declassified KGB photographs and documents providing evidence that the Soviet leadership in Moscow deliberately orchestrated the Genocide Famine as a means to break the Ukrainian nation. Official documents recording the number of deaths per village and cases of cannibalism are also included in the exhibit. Documents were secured with the help of Ukrainian Consulate General Borys Bazylevsky.
Roman Krutisk of the Kyiv based Ukrainian "Memorial" Foundation contributed many photographs and documents to the exhibit. In addition to the archival display, the Ukrainian National Museum is displaying a rarely seen Genocide Famine painting by Canadian artist Kurylak. The painting, which depicts a scene of famine ravaged Kyiv, is now on permanent loan to the Museum from the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.
Nicholas Mischenko
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On Sunday, the 21st of September, an estimated 1,000 people congregated at St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bloomingdale, Illinois for an ecumenical memorial service for the millions of Ukrainians who perished during the Genocide Famine of 1932-33. The memorial service was lead by clergy from the Chicagoland Ukrainian churches. A solemn procession made it's way from the church to the Genocide Famine monument at the base of the St. Andrews cemetery where approximately 40 Genocide Famine survivors were seated. The CYM female youth choir group "Vinok" beautifully sang both the Ukrainian and American national anthems.
Nicholas Mischenko, President of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation, began the program expressing that he had planned to greet the Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholic Churches. The Bishops did not attend the ecumenical memorial service - they were "occupied". Mr. Mischenko thanked all those in attendance for coming together as one unified community to remember our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who perished in the Genocide Famine.
Master of Ceremonies, Tamara Kuzyk-Story introduced Republican Illinois State Representative Paul D. Froehlich. Representative Froehlich pledged to work on behalf of the Ukrainian American community to see to it that Illinois schools are required to teach students about the Ukrainian Genocide Famine of 1932-33 just as they are required by law to teach about the Jewish Holocaust. Chicago-based Ukrainian Consulate General Borys Bazylevsky urged all those present to never forget the tragedy of the century.
Peter Borisow
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Hollywood Trident Foundation co-founder Peter Borisow gave the keynote address. Mr. Borisow's parents were the sole survivors from their respective families of the Genocide Famine of 1932-33 and the purges that followed. Mr. Borisow's speech was well received by the crowd of Ukrainian Americans that encompassed all social and religious groups - Catholics, Orthodox, CYMivtsi, Plastuny, Odumivtsi, new immigrants, old immigrants, and those who were born here in the United States.
Mr. Borisow stressed that it is imperative for the future of the Ukrainian nation that the Ukrainian American community come together as a united front - not Catholics versus Orthodox, Plast against CYM, new immigrants versus old immigrants. According to Mr. Borisow, the continual division of our Ukrainian community by religion, social groups, and immigrant waves is only another tactic to keep us squabbling and unable to focus on what is really going on. To quote Mr. Borisow, "Russia's hope is that consumed in our little squabbles, we won't even notice that Russia is taking over everything in Ukraine and soon there will be nothing left to fight for. We see this every day in our own communities as well as in Ukraine". Russia is slowly forcing its yoke back onto the Ukrainian nation - economically, politically, and socially.
The crowd cheered when Mr. Borisow said that the Ukrainian American community must demand that President Bush tell Russian President Putin "Ukrainians have suffered enough! Keep your hands off Ukraine! Ukraine must remain free!"
The speeches were concluded with the annual presentation of the memorial ribbons. Each year, representatives of the numerous Chicagoland Ukrainian organizations pay their respects to the 10 million victims of the Genocide Famine by adorning two wreaths with black ribbons. More than 70 organizations included all of the Chicagoland churches along with their respective sisterhoods and brotherhoods, the local Ukrainian schools, professional organizations and social groups, financial institutions and non-profit organizations. Following the memorial services a luncheon and theatrical presentation took place in the St. Andrews auditorium.
Famine memorial service in Chicago
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Mrs. Marika Klimchuk, radio host on Chicago's "Ukrainian Wave" radio program on AM 1240 presented a moving speech that drew on the documented facts and witness accounts of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine.
Many of the audience members were moved to tears by the afternoon's performance of "Tears of the Virgin Mary". Members of the Lviv Regional Theater Group in the name of Yurij Drohobycha performed the powerful drama. The play portrays the plight and terror that engulfed a peasant family during the Genocide Famine of 1932 to 1933. "Tears of the Virgin Mary" is a Ukrainian adaptation of the novel "Mariya" by Ulas Samchuk. Samchuk was born in 1905 in the Volynia region of Ukraine before moving to Canada.
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The Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation is a non-profit organization established in December 2002. The mission of the Foundation is to educate the American public about the Genocide Famine of 1932-33, to support ongoing research of the Genocide Famine, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Genocide Famine. Information about becoming a member or supporter of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation can be obtained by emailing Nicholas Mischenko at nickm34@juno.com or calling (847) 699-9484.
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