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Bohdan Vitvitsky
Letter to the Editor
The Ukrainian Weekly
The Ukrainian National Association
Parsippany, New Jersey
Sunday, December 29, 2002
Dear Editor:
Your editorial about the need for a proper memorial to the Famine
(December 8), in which you endorse the suggestion of Morgan Williams
that any Ukrainian World Congress memorial should include an
educational and research center that would house a museum and library
is not only right on point but extraordinarily important.
The bizarre current state of affairs in which, some 70 years after the
Famine took place, most people don't even know it happened, while
some scholars who do know about it take great pains to deny that it
was part of the Russo-Soviet genocidal campaign against Ukraine,
requires a remedy.
That remedy should be modeled upon Yad Vashem in Jerusalem
and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
Bohdan Vitvitsky
Summit, N.J.
The "letter to the editor" above refers to the following editorial:
A PROPER MEMORIAL, EDITORIAL
The Ukrainian Weekly
Sunday, December 8, 2002
It is inexcusable that Kyiv lacks a proper memorial to the victims of
the Great Famine, the artificially induced mass starvation that took the
lives of 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians in 1932-1933. We welcome
the recent announcement by the Ukrainian World Congress that it would
erect a suitable monument in Kyiv in time for its gathering in Kyiv next
August. Yet we believe that the time has come to develop a broader
plan and vision.
Seventy years after Stalin and the Soviet regime eradicated a good
portion of the Ukrainian population, the world knows little of what
occurred and how the nation suffered. Few governments officially
recognize that such a tragic event took place, much less label it the
genocide that it was. Even in Ukraine most schoolchildren do not know
what happened during those years of Stalin's terror.
A commentary appearing in the English-language newspaper Kyiv
Post, written by Morgan Williams, a public relations professional living
in Kyiv, suggests a broader approach to a memorial to the Great Famine.
He believes Ukraine needs an educational and research center in the
heart of the country's capital.
Citing the lack of knowledge on the man-made cataclysm of 1932-
933, Mr. Williams, states: "The basic plan should, therefore, include the
construction of adequate facilities for research, documentation, education
and study, including a library and museum. Such a facility would create,
for the first time in Ukraine, a suitable venue for scholarly research into
the Famine-Genocide and other crimes of communism."
Mr. Williams suggest taking the idea for a memorial and expanding
it to include a complex of facilities in the center of Kyiv. He states that
the project for a proper Great Famine memorial in Kyiv could be
pushed back from a deadline of next year to 2008, which would allow
sufficient time to plan the project, gather the funds and build the
facility. It would also allow for a memorial complex to open on the
75th anniversary of the tragedy.
We believe this to be not only a superb idea, but one that is long
overdue. A research and education center would provide those
researchers who have investigated the Great Famine with a facility
to continue their work. Such a center would also allow for a
concentration of material and energy, a critical mass of information
and documentation that would become an effective counterpoint to
those who would continue to maintain that no Great Famine ever
existed or if it did it was either a natural calamity or the result of
human error in establishing a collective farm infrastructure.
While it is obvious that such a center would be an expensive
proposition, the Great Famine is a historical event of such magnitude
that we must do whatever it takes to preserve its memory and enter
it into the world's historical record.
While it is open to question as to what degree current state
and government authorities in Ukraine would actively support and
fund such an undertaking, we duly note here that in the past they
found sufficient funds in the state budget for such grandiose, and
worthy, projects such as the rebuilding of St. Michael's Golden-
Domed Sober and the Dormition Sobor in the Monastery of the
Caves complex.
Yet the government need not be the single or even primary
source of the funding for such an undertaking. Many in our diaspora
have backed away from financial support for Ukraine in light of the
financial abuses and corruption that have marked Ukraine's difficult
transformation into a European society. Contribution to a research
and education center on the Great Famine would give many of us a
way to reignite our efforts on behalf of Ukraine and our great nation.
We believe that a Famine Center in Kyiv is a project worthy of
the Ukrainian World Congress. The idea deserves serious
consideration by the UWC and a public debate within our diaspora
on how it might develop.
The Ukrainian Weekly, Roma Hadzewycz, Editor-in-chief, an English-
language newspaper published by the Ukrainian National Association.
P. O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054, December 29, 2002
Tel: 973 292 9800; Fax 973 644 9510
The Ukrainian Weekly Archive: http://www.ukrweekly.com
Check out the large archive of material about the Famine on this site.
NOTE: You will find below the commentary mentioned in the above
editorial. The commentary appeared in the English-language
newspaper Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 28, 2002,
written by Morgan Williams:
A FAMINE MONUMENT IS NOT ENOUGH
Plans for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Famine
should be expanded to include construction of an educational and research
center, Morgan Williams argues
By Morgan Williams
Category: OPINION
The Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine
November 28, 2002
http://www.kpnews.com/main/12378
The Ukrainian World Congress announced on Sept. 27 that it had "decided
to honor the memory of the millions of victims of the Great Famine in
Ukraine 1932-1933 by erecting in the name of all Ukrainians who live
around the world (the Diaspora) a suitable monument in the city of Kyiv."
The UWC said the 70th anniversary of the famine should be marked by
construction of a monument that would be dedicated during the Seventh
World Congress of Ukrainians in Kyiv during August 2003. It also called
upon the Ukrainian and other governments to recognize the famine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people and to condemn the
perpetrators.
The country is unquestionably in need of such a monument. It would quickly
become known and recognized around the world, and would serve as a
potent symbol of the terrible crimes committed against Ukraine and her
people and of the hope that such crimes will never be repeated.
The program to build such a monument is welcome, but it is important to
consider the larger picture and the totality of needs that exist in Ukraine
today. Scholars who have studied the great famine and related issues insist
that much more than just a new monument is needed. Those working on the
great famine in Ukraine have said that construction of an educational and
research center is the first priority and should be included in any plans to
honor the memory of the famine victims.
"The enforced famine of 1932-1933, engineered by the Soviet regime in
which 7 million to 10 million Ukrainians perished, qualifies as one of the
most massive genocides the world has ever seen and as one of the most
heinous mass crimes ever committed by man against man," the UWC said.
Prior to 1990, the majority of research on the famine had to take place
outside Ukraine. It is now high time for domestic scholars and researchers
to document the crimes of communism from within Ukraine. The resources
made available to the Association of Famine Researchers of Ukraine and
other worthy organizations for their work over the past 11 years have been
totally inadequate. Considering the importance of these issues, the meager
resources allocated have been an embarrassment. There is work that urgently
needs to be done now before the last of those survivors who have personal
knowledge of the famine die. This work cannot be done without more support.
The basic plan should, therefore, include the construction of adequate
facilities for research, documentation, education and study, including a
library and museum. Such a facility would create, for the first time in
Ukraine, a suitable venue for scholarly research into the famine-genocide
and other crimes of communism.
The UWC is being asked by many in Ukraine to consider extending its
program from a one-year to a six-year initiative. It would thus be completed
in time for the 75th anniversary of the great famine in the fall of 2008.
Such an extended program, involving a variety of organizations, businesses
and leaders in Ukraine and around the world, could raise the funds necessary
to build the proposed monument and the educational and research complex.
If such a major historical project is undertaken over the next six years,
the UWC should take into account the following considerations:
A very central, important and visible location should be found and offered
by the city of Kyiv. The UWC should not settle for anything less.
The location selected in Kyiv should be large enough to allow for the
construction of the monument and also the construction of the research,
education, library and museum center over a five- to six-year period.
The design of the sculpture-monument and the educational complex must
be world-class with a creative and inspiring design. The sculpture cannot
be allowed to be as mediocre and disappointing as some of those raised in
Kyiv in recent years. The complex must be "for the ages," and must honor
appropriately the famine victims.
Adequate funds must be committed for building the monument and the
educational complex. The UWC should state that it is prepared to raise, in
cooperation with a variety of governmental and private organizations,
including those from Ukraine, whatever it takes to fulfill the program.
The UWC is to be congratulated for its drive to have the famine recognized
as genocide and to build a new monument. The UWC should indeed lead this
project. But while the UWC should certainly focus on the Ukrainian Diaspora
for support and help in raising the necessary funds, it should also open
their program to include selected individuals in Ukraine who have studied
these historical issues, representatives of leading Ukrainian organizations
and businesses, and government leaders. The UWC should also include those
individuals, organizations and businesses around the world that have shown
they are friends of Ukraine and that want to participate and provide
support. Participation should not be limited to those of Ukrainian heritage.
The UWC may also wish to consider including in the 70th to 75th-anniversary
program annual food drives that would raise a large quantity of food and
funds. Unfortunately, political famines still occur today, 70 years after
Stalin used an artificial famine as a tool in his overall plan to crush the
people, culture and spirit of Ukraine. The food and funds collected would be
distributed to those around the world who are starving due to the policies
of inept and corrupt governments that continue to engage in repression,
murder and genocidal actions to achieve their goals.
A program like that outlined above, when completed, would be a major step
in the long effort to ensure that the million of victims of the 1932-1933
famine-genocide and the many other repressions against Ukraine and her
people over a long period did not die in vain.
A business, government and public affairs consultant, Morgan Williams is the
president of the Ukraine Market Reform Group. He is also publisher of the
ArtUkraine.com Web site and the ArtUkraine.com Information Service. He
has been involved in Ukraine economic development issues for 10 years.
OPINION: The Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 28, 2002
http://www.kpnews.com/main/12378
For personal and academic use only
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