On 22 November in Kiev, after crossing 33 countries, the "flame of the eternal candle" joined the millions of candles lit in memory of those who starved to death in the Great Ukrainian Famine engineered by the Soviet regime between 1932 and 1933. On 29 November 2006, Ukraine officially instituted the fourth Saturday of November as Holodomor Remembrance Day. With a resolution taken on 23 October 2008 the European Parliament recognized the Holodomor as a crime against humanity.
Letter sent to us by the Consul General of Ukraine
Milan, 21 November 2008
Dear Friends,
In these days the Ukraine is commemorating the 75th anniversary of one of the most tragic chapters in its history – the Holodomor – the artificial famine planned by the Stalinist regime between 1932 and 1933. Millions of people were exterminated without a single sign of their passing on this earth, with neither a name nor a tomb to testify to their memory.
Genocídio do Holodomor - O Crime Soviético
The Holodomor: Stalin's Genocidal Famine that Starved Millions in the 1930s
Mother sitting on a sidewalk in Kharkiv, feeds her starving children. Handwritten caption on photo: “Mother with her starving children”. Photo: Alexander Wienergberger, Kharkiv, 1933.
Hungry Children on a Ukraine street during the famine, 1933.
Quand Staline planifiait la Grande famine d'Ukraine
Holodomor: Unique photos from Austrian engineer
Dead passengers, including an infant, lay on the floor of a railroad boxcar in Russia
The story is unknown behind this shocking image of a family[in the Volga region, a family on the run is found dead in a railway car.]
1921-1922
Remembering Holodomor
Nov 27, 2015
Ukrainians commemorate the 83rd anniversary of Holodomor, a famine planned by the Soviets, Russia’s leadership has no intention of distancing itself from the legacy of Stalin.
Ukrainians are lighting the candles all around the world in order to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the Holodomor, an artificial famine that was cynically planned and pedantically carried out by Stalin’s regime in 1932-1933.
Holodomor Memorial Day in Ukraine and Around the Globe
The fourth Saturday in November is dedicated to the remembrance of the millions of human beings who were murdered in the mass genocide by starvation:Holodomor, translated to mean “killing by starvation.”
Between 1932–1933 approximately 7 million farming families were exterminated by deliberate, centrally-planned, forced famine in Ukraine and another 3 million just outside of Ukraine, totaling 10 million unnecessary deaths of innocent, hard-working people.
Starvation and Cruelty
Sadly, 31 percent of those who starved to death were children under the age of ten. Anyone caught trying to leave was shot. Children were so hungry, they had lost all fear and were shot on the spot when begging for a single grain. Parents swapped children as they had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Most city dwellers had no idea this was happening and those who did know had to remain silent for fear of execution.
The silence was finally broken in 1933 by a brave young man by the name of Gareth Jones from the UK, who exposed the tyranny and famine and was desperate to uncover the truth. He was a hero in the true sense of the word and believed his job as a journalist was to never waver from exposing the truth, no matter what. He received an exorbitant amount of criticism from Walter Duranty, aNY Timesjournalist (and Soviet sympathizer) who deliberately misled the world and denied the famine to collaborate with the Communist regime. He stated that the hunger was due to natural circumstances of malnutrition and disease and not human action.
Lawrence Reed writes, “Duranty penned a piece forThe Timesin which he claimed Jones’s report to be afabrication.” Even today, the danger of fake news and the power of media to cover up stories for personal or political gain are real. Unfortunately, Jones was labeled a liar and discredited by mainstream media. Then tragically, he was shot twice in the back and once in the head in 1935 in China (there is strong evidence suggesting it was orchestrated by Russian Secret Police). He was only 29 years old.
National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide in Kiev, Ukraine
For over 50 years, Holodomor was erased from history through cover-ups and denials and was never memorialized. Finally, In 2006, the United States officially recognized this atrocious historical event as genocide, followed by Canada in 2008. Also in 2008, Gareth Jones was honored and awarded the Ukrainian Order of Merit. This Saturday, November 23, 2019, the world remembers the atrocities inflicted by the horrific communist and socialist policies of Stalin and the USSR. There is nothing more important than human rights and continuing the fight for freedom for every human being.
