Ukraine commemorates Holodomor victims today

Many people could not get to the Memorial in Kyiv due to the methods of work of the state guard.

In different cities of the country, including in Kyiv, the events to commemorate the victims of Holodomor, the man-made famine organized by the Soviet leadership in 1932-33, took place. According to the latest data, four million people were killed.

At 16:00, the nationwide minute of silence and the traditional public action “Light a Candle of Memory” started. Anyone, who wants to honor the dead, can light a candle right on the window at home. In Kyiv, people brought candles and flowers to the Memorial to Holodomor Victims and put the candles on the Independence Square.

“Today we traditionally light the candles to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor… Holodomor is nothing but a manifestation of a centuries-old hybrid war, waged by Russia against Ukraine,” President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said while participating in the commemorative events in Kyiv.

According to Radio Liberty, the President also noted that Russia had not recognized Holodomor as the genocide of the Ukrainian people and “still exerts relevant pressure on foreign states.”

Leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev on his Facebook page described Holodomor as one of the biggest crimes of the Soviet communist regime.

“During the years of the Soviet rule, there were several man-made famines organized by the government – in 1921-1923, 1932-33 and 1946-47. In all the cases, these famines had political aims, that is, were aimed at strengthening the power of the Communist Party due to painful death of millions of people,” Dzhemilev wrote.

Volodymyr Viatrovych, director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, was outraged by the fact that the guards did not let many people to the Memorial. The access was limited because of the visit of the President of Ukraine, and people were not able to properly honor the memory of the victims.

“’Go away, you are not on the list!’ People heard this phrase not at the entrance to the elite club but on the way to the National Holodomor Memorial. Thanks to the efforts of the ‘valiant’ state guards, many people have not been able to honor the millions of their fellow citizens, who were tortured in 1932-1933. This is unacceptable!” Viatrovych wrote.

He noted that he regarded with favour the security measures, but he would officially resort to the Office of State Guard, the Interior Ministry and the Presidential Administration with the request to explain why it happened so and punish those responsible.

As a reminder, during the events of 1932-33, the Soviet government began to take away the grain from people by force, dooming them to starvation, to perform excessive grain procurement plans. There were cases of armed resistance of the peasants, but they were not widespread.

The cases of cannibalism were registered. Even after years, the witnesses, who survived the tragedy, do not always dare to recall those events.

According to the results of the study, conducted by the Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in cooperation with American researchers, the residents of Kyiv and Kharkiv regions were most affected by this tragedy.

Ukraine and another 24 countries have officially recognized Holodomor as the genocide of the Ukrainian people.