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13.01.2012
In 1932-33 there was a famine in the USSR. Twenty years later Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-American-Jewish lawyer, one of the draftsman of the Convention, offered the following remarks on the twentieth anniversary of that famine in a paper which he entitled “Soviet Genocide in the Ukraine”: “What I want to speak about is perhaps the classic example of Soviet genocide… the destruction of the Ukrainian nation…The third prong of the Soviet plan was aimed at the farmers, the large mass of independent peasants who are the repository of the tradition, folklore and music, the national language and literature, the national spirit, of Ukraine. The weapon used against this body is perhaps the most terrible of all – starvation. Between 1932 and 1933, 5,000,000 Ukrainians starved to death…”... |
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13.01.2012
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress issued the following statement on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the referendum of December 1, 1991, in which over ninety percent of Ukrainians supported independence: "Twenty years ago today, Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence and the creation of a Ukrainian state. Ukrainian Canadians congratulate the people of Ukraine for their decision twenty years ago and stand with them as they have chosen the path of freedom and democracy, as they continue to fight for democracy and human rights in Ukraine. We also commend and thank Canada which was the first Western country to recognize Ukraine's independence for its unwavering commitment to support Ukraine's democratic and economic development as well as human rights in Ukraine."... |
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13.01.2012
 As part of his North American tour in November, 2011, Roman Krutsyk, head of the Kyiv branch of the All Ukrainian Memorial Society, included a visit to Edmonton. He spoke at the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex on Sunday, November 27, 2011, before an audience of some 80 participants. After an exhaustive introduction detailing his many accomplishments by the president of the League of Ukrainian Canadian women, Ivanna Szewczuk, he spoke on the liberation struggle of the Ukrainian nation between 1917-1932, focusing on archival materials from which Memorial has prepared a detailed exposition describing the “National War” oblast by oblast, which he brought with him for display... |
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13.01.2012
 In 2007, as part of the international current of commemorating those who suffered under Communist regimes, various community leaders, government officials and foreign diplomats in Canada suggested building a monument in the nation- al capital region to recognize these victims, and the contribution Canada made in coming to their aid. Why is Tribute to Liberty doing what it is doing? Why is a memorial to victims of Communism import- ant, and why should there be such a memorial in Canada? In Canada, over eight-million people trace their roots to countries that suffered or still suffer under Communism. Since the beginning of the first Communist regime in 1917 Russia, immigrants from Communist countries have flocked to Canada in search of freedom and safety... |
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13.01.2012
Why did this happen? What drives a government to orchestrate an atrocity of such magnitude? The goal of the famine was to break the spirit of the Ukrainian peasantry, and force them into collective farms. During the 1920s, Ukrainians experienced a rebirth of their cultural identity, a renaissance of the national consciousness. Calls for independence and sovereignty were going up around the country, and this threatened the political and social order imposed by the Bolsheviks. The Imperial Russian Tsars had believed that without Ukraine, Russia would cease to be an empire. This belief echoed throughout the decades of the Soviet Union, and unfortunately today, still lingers in some quarters... |
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