BRAMA, Feb 5, 2004, 1:00 am ET
Press Release
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UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL
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MAIN OFFICE:
142 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Tel.: (212) 505-1765
Fax: (212) 475-6181
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WASHINGTON OFFICE:
733 15th St., NW, Suite 1027
Washington, DC 20005
Tel.: (202) 737-6090
Fax: (202) 737-6091
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February 4, 2004
The Editor
The New York Times
New York, N.Y.
Re: Gibson to Delete a Scene in “Passion”
There is a reference to Ukraine by Abraham Foxman that Ms. Waxman includes in
her discussion of the Gibson film “Passion” that I cannot let pass in good
conscience without a response.
While it is certainly appropriate to avoid the fruitless exercise of
“competitive martyrdom,” one should not claim that the suffering of a Jewish people is
somehow “marginalized” or “diluted” if the Jewish Holocaust of World War II,
for example, is mentioned in a series of other major holocausts.
The Jewish Holocaust was without a doubt one of the most horrendous events in
all of history, but the slow, painful death by starvation, which befell millions of
Ukrainians in 1932-33 was the result of a planned, methodical, and relentlessly
carried out crime by the Soviet regime against the Ukrainian people. This
too was a genocide and should not be “marginalized”.
Sincerely,
Ihor Gawdiak
UACC President
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