Genocide against Ukrainians condemned in Catalonia

Information about an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 1932–33 keeps spreading and finds response across the world, as an increasing number of countries condemn the Holodomor.

Naturally, those who have experienced something like this are the quickest to respond. For a number of years Spain was under General Franco’s dictatorship and repressions. In conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian people’s tragedy, the City Council of Santa Susanna (Catalonia) voted to recognize the historical fact of the Holodomor.

In their resolution the council members condemn the famine of 1932–33. The document reads that “despite the international recognition of the fact, this wound is not healing. We must not forget about reprisals against civilians so as to protect human rights, liberties, and ideals and to demonstrate our condemnation of the totalitarian regime.”

The resolution refers to research results obtained by Ukrainian such memories is a moral duty of those who survived this horrible period in Ukrainian history. This is also important for the sake of the present and future of humankind, lest such mistakes and past horrors recur. We pay homage, above all, to those who stood up, put up resistance, and died defending their right to life and human dignity. The generations to come must remember these people and their lives.” By a majority vote Santa Susanna’s City Council supported efforts aimed at international peaceful coexistence.

Prior to this, on June 13, 2008, the Catalonian Parliament adopted an institutional declaration in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine to commemorate its 1932–33 victims and unanimously condemned any manifestations of genocide or violations of human rights today and in the future.

More than 70 countries have recognized the historical fact of the Ukraine Holodomor in their official documents. It has been acknowledged an act of genocide by the presidents, prime ministers, and parliaments of 26 countries. In 2003, marking the 70th anniversary of the famine in Ukraine, the UN General Assembly recognized it as a national tragedy. Since then the international community has referred to this event as the Holodomor.

Stanislav KULCHYTSKY, Professor of History, deputy director for research, Institute of Ukrainian History, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:

“It is especially important for us to have the Holodomor recognized by parliaments across the world, for this will support what the Ukrainian Parliament did in 2006, when it passed the bill ‘On the Holodomor,’ which reads that the Holodomor of 1932–33 was an act of genocide. Since then we have been campaigning for all parliaments to back this resolution. If they recognize it, we will have the moral right to submit the issue to the UN and eventually have it included in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

“I might as well point out that the Jews spent several decades struggling to have the Holocaust internationally recognized as genocide. The countries of the world are so far not very eager to recognize the Holodomor, so every such recognition is of utmost importance to Ukraine. Catalonia is part of Spain, although Catalonians consider themselves to be a separate body politic. Therefore, their opinion and their resolution are very significant.

“I know that the Ukrainian embassy in Armenia, a country that has also suffered from genocide, is trying to have the Armenian Parliament recognize this crime against the Ukrainian people. My book Why Did He Destroy Us? Stalin and the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932–33, part of The Day‘s Library Book Series, has been translated into Armenian and will be published as a book in early June.

“It is important for the United States to clearly state that the Holodomor was an act of genocide. Today’s congressmen are reluctant to define the Holodomor themselves and refer instead to the findings of the US Congress Commission on the Ukraine Famine (with Dr. James Mace as Executive Director). In 1988 this commission did acknowledge the fact, but the Congress and the modern generation of congressmen have not done this yet.”

Vasyl KYRYLYCH, spokesman, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine:

“The international recognition of the Ukraine Holodomor by parliaments and world organizations is proof that it is a continuous process. What is especially important is the fact that there is an increasing number of national parliaments and municipal communities that recognize and condemn the 1932–33 genocide in Ukraine, committed by Stalin’s totalitarian regime.

“In this particular case we have a resolution by the city of Santa Susanna in Catalonia. Therefore, systemic and consistent work aimed at condemning the Holodomor throughout the world continues. Every step, big or small, that we take in this direction is of utmost importance to us. The Santa Susanna resolution may become yet another step taken toward Spain’s national decision to condemn the Holodomor in Ukraine.”