Commemorating the Famine web-sites.

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: Who knows web-sites in Ukraine with a documents and facts collection about Genocide 1932-1933, their implementors, names e.t.c. ? : http://www.brama.com/lists/politics/0111/msg00043.html : : 1. Opinion: Famine Remembrance Day : : Saturday, November 24 2001 will be Famine Remembrance Day in Ukraine. : : In fact, Famine Remembrance Day has been an annual event, since president Kuchma issued Decree No. 1310 on November 26, 1998. The : : decree states that every fourth Saturday of November is designated as the official, national memorial day for the millions of victims of : : the engineered Famine of 1932 - 33. : : In New York, Ukrainian Americans attend memorial services at St. Patrick's Cathedral. In Canada, Ukrainian Canadians commemorate the Famine in almost every major city. Memorials to the Famine stand before the city councils in Winnipeg and Edmonton - larger and more prominent than the otherwise beautiful monument in Kyiv, near St. : : Michael's Sobor. U.S. president Bill Clinton laid a wreath there during his June 2000 visit to Ukraine. : : In Ukraine, ceremonies for Famine Remembrance Day have been limited to perfunctory wreath laying ceremonies, poorly attended concerts and : : academic conferences. True, the Famine did receive substantial attention when incumbent president Leonid Kuchma squared off against : : Communist leader Petro Symonenko in the second round of presidential elections in 1999. In fact, anti-Communist activists look back at : : those few weeks with great pride. The state-controlled information outlets gave them all the media attention and air-time they wanted. : : But apart from politically expedient times, the Famine has never received consistent, nationwide and just attention. : : The president, Government and Verkhovna Rada would do well to take note of the state of Israel's commitment towards ensuring that future : : generations, and the rest of humanity, never, ever forget about the Holocaust. In 1953, the Knesset passed a law creating Yad Vashem, : : the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. In April of every year, Israel commemorates Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' : : Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew). : : Yad Vashem is responsible for organizing Yom Hashoah events. The state agency's website describes Yom Hashoah memorial day as follows: : : "Places of entertainment are closed and memorial ceremonies are held throughout the country. The ceremonies are broadcast on the television. Marking the start of the day, the President of the State of Israel and the Prime Minister, dignitaries, survivors, children of : : survivors and their families, gather together with the general public to take part in the memorial ceremony. The following morning, the : : ceremony begins with the sounding of a siren for two minutes throughout the entire country. For the duration of the sounding, work is halted, people walking in the streets stop, cars pull off to the side of the road and everybody stands at silent attention in reverence to the victims of the Holocaust. Other sites of remembrance : : also host memorial ceremonies, as do schools, military bases, municipalities and places of work. Throughout the day, both the television and radio broadcast programs about the Holocaust. In : : recent years, other countries and Jewish communities have adopted Yom Hashoah, to mark their own day of memorial for the victims of the : : Holocaust." : : What does November 24 have in store for Ukraine? "Something will take place," assured the lady from the state information committee, : : "but we haven't received the governmental order yet." Together with the Ministry of Culture, the state information and state religious : : issues committees initiated Famine Remembrance Day. Neither the minister's office, nor the offices of the state committee chairmen : : were able to provide information about what is planned for November 24. "Please call this number, they may know." And so on. : : It may be unreasonable to expect the Ukrainian state to emulate Israel's approach, particularly when the president just liquidated 29 : : superfluous governmental bodies. Still, the state could find a way to employ the Famine legacy in its efforts to forge a message for : : national unity. That message does not necessarily have to be "Pity us, look at how much we, Ukrainians, have suffered." It can be a : : more proactive pledge for the future: "We, Ukrainians will never again allow for events like the Famine and Stalinist terror to : : transpire on the territory of Ukraine." : : Commemorating the Famine and ongoing Famine education should play an important role in cultivating the ever-illusive national "idea" and : : 'identity." : : "Many nations have their own special wounds inflicted upon them by history, and remembering them is a unique part of their sense of who : : they are, what gives them their identity," wrote Professor James Mace in his column in The Day. Mace worked as staff director for the U.S. : : government commission on the Ukrainian Famine in the late 1980s. He collected and published three volumes of oral histories of the Famine. : : Some Ukrainians suffer from what Mace calls "historical amnesia," when they vote for Communist candidates in the parliamentary and : : presidential elections. Among the amnesiacs are 7,500 Sevastopol residents who signed a petition earlier this year, demanding that city council erect a monument to none other than the evil author of genocide, Joseph Stalin. In May of this year, Sevastopol mayor Vasyl Parkhomenko stated that he would honor the request made by Ukraine's equivalent of neo-Nazis. Thankfully, reason prevailed and the city council reversed the decision in mid September. : : Nevertheless, the mere fact that there are people who worship Stalin is very disturbing. Coupling this with Mace's diagnosis, it seems that Ukrainian society's silent acceptance of this issue is a symptom of mass historical schizophrenia. It is unclear whether official : : Kyiv played a part in reversing the Sevastopol decision. But official Kyiv's silence on the matter was, and still is, deafening. : : A public, nationwide statement should have been issued, condemning Stalin and the idea of erecting a Stalin monument in Ukraine. A : : public condemnation, one heard loudly and clearly from Luhansk to Lviv, should have sent a clear sign that any pro-Stalinist activities : : will not be tolerated in Ukraine, just as anything pro-Hitler is condemned worldwide. That would have been a healthy dose of medicine : : to treat the disease. : : Another example of a fundamental split in the collective Ukrainian personality can be found in the justification of forcing the Land : : Code through parliament. "Lenin promised land to the peasants, and we delivered." Private land ownership should reverse the damage done : : by the Soviet system, and help deal with the collective memory of Stalin's terror. That should be applauded. : : However, by using Lenin as a reference, Ukrainian officials may have tried to be clever and steal some of the Communists' thunder. Unfortunately, the choice of words also betrayed an ingrained, if not overt, reverence of another Communist leader. That sends mixed signals to an already mixed-up society. It definitely does not : : contribute to making a clean break with a totalitarian past. : : When will Ukraine condemn Stalin's terror and make a definitive, resounding break with Communism once and for all? November 24, 2001 : : will provide an excellent opportunity.