Truth is independent
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs receives copies of new publication on the Holodomor![](/sites/default/files/main/openpublish_article/20071127/436-6-1.jpg)
Remembering the horrors of totalitarian dictatorships means accelerating and facilitating the process of their final annihilation. Totalitarianism does not perish when a “decisive and lasting transition to democracy” is officially announced. It dies when living and active - militant, if you will - memories about unforgivable crimes can strengthen a spiritually free individual, a person of conscience and empathy for the sufferings of others.
This is not some abstract, academic conclusion. At issue here is the inexpressible and excruciating pain that Ukrainians want to convey to the rest of the world, despite all the opportunistic machinations of the political players with dirty hands. It is the pain of a nation that experienced the horrific drama of the Holodomor seven and a half decades ago. This was the topic that was discussed a reception at which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine received part of the print run of the book Why Did He Destroy Us? Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor. The author of the book, which was issued in spring 2007 as part of The Day’s Library Series, is the historian Stanislav Kulchytsky, a frequent contributor to our newspaper. Proof of the public importance of this ceremony was the presence of Volodymyr Ohryzko, First Deputy Foreign Minister and numerous media people.
Dr. Kulchytsky was the first to address the audience. He stressed that the 1932-33 Holodomor is undoubtedly the most horrifying of all the blank spots that once existed in the history of Ukraine in the 20th century. Scholars at the Institute of Ukrainian History, National Academy of Sciences, have been doing a great deal of work to investigate and thoroughly analyze this heinous and well-camouflaged crime of the Stalinist regime, particularly the reasons behind it. While working on the book, Kulchytsky said, it was important to depoliticize this red-hot issue, especially since scores of incompetent pseudoscholars have appeared in the field: “A certain number of facts concerning the Holodomor have been established, but the main thing now is to understand why it came to pass.” It is necessary, of course, to continue researching the archives, but the problem is that even formerly top secret sources, like those in Russia, cannot provide a satisfactory answer to this question. Stalin and his associates usually communicated in an Aesopian language. There is a lot of painstaking work to be done, particularly in terms of analysis. Dr. Kulchytsky emphasized that we must express our special gratitude to those people who have done so much to expose the secrets of the Holodomor - above all to our unforgettable friend James Mace, who was an outstanding American, Ukrainian, historian, journalist, and Citizen.
Larysa Ivshyna, editor in chief of The Day, began her address by paying tribute to the work of Dr. Mace. She recalled his lead article of Feb. 18, 2003, entitled “Candle in the window,” which launched the nationwide action to honor the memory of the Holodomor victims, which is now an event marked on a national level.
“All of us have to learn to live with our past,” Ivshyna said, “and we must learn to do this, although some people simply don’t want to remember.” (“Cynicism” seems too mild a qualifier for this kind of position - I.S.). “Others are practically crushed under the burden of the past, and there is a danger of becoming stuck there. We have to move forward, so we have to learn to live while knowing and remembering everything. The important thing is that the very purpose for which Stalin’s horrific punitive action was engineered failed historically and will never succeed because the ‘freedom-loving gene’ in Ukrainians is indestructible. Another amazing thing is the strength of human empathy: people in the west, Halychyna and Volyn, shared the pain and sufferings of their fellow countrymen, even though none of their families died of starvation in 1932-33,” said the editor of The Day.
There is no question that the Holodomor subject calls for further investigation that may take dozens, even hundred, of years. Ivshyna noted: “The previous generation could learn about this evildoing only from family albums; today, young Ukrainians can learn about it at the start of their life. One doesn’t have to ask why we need the truth because it is independent.”
Volodymyr Ohryzko, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, warmly thanked The Day’s editor and her team for persistently devoting serious attention to history, particularly to the problems of the Holodomor in Ukraine. This has great political significance (especially with regard to Prof. Kulchytsky’s new book) because Ukrainian diplomacy considers explications of the essence and genocidal nature of the Holodomor as one of its highest priorities vis-a-vis such leading world bodies as the UN General Assembly, European Union, and UNESCO - the latter body passed a resolution on the Holodomor on Nov. 1. This is a step forward, even if we are not happy about all the clauses of this document. Ohryzko assured his listeners that Ukraine’s foreign ministry will circulate copies of the book Why Did He Destroy Us? Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor to all Ukrainian diplomatic missions, especially in the former Soviet republics. Even if the print run is 1,000 or 4,000 copies, there will surely be a demand for it. He added that the Day to Commemorate the Victims of the Holodomor and Repressions (Sat., Nov. 24) will be marked by lighted candles in every Ukrainian embassy’s window.
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On Nov. 20 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recommended that its Russian colleagues should read more books on history. This was how Andrii Deshchytsia, the head of the Ukrainian foreign ministry’s press service, commented on a recent statement of Russia’s foreign ministry in connection with the attempt to destroy the Holodomor exhibit at the Ukrainian Library in Moscow: “I understand that this statement is a response to our statement about the events that transpired at the Ukrainian Culture Center in Moscow. However, I believe that throwing around statements on the issue in this manner would be absolutely tactless; by doing so we would denigrate ourselves.” Deshchytsia added that for Ukraine there is no doubt about recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide: “We have acknowledged the fact, we know it. However, I would like to give a piece of friendly, business partnership advice to my Russian colleagues, especially those at the Information and Media Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, to read books on history.”
Part of the statement issued by Russia’s foreign ministry reads: “...the topic of the 1930s famine in the Soviet Union, among whose victims were people of many nationalities, including Ukrainians, Russians, Kazakhs, and other peoples of the USSR, is increasingly becoming subject to various kinds of speculations on the part of certain political circles in Ukraine. The proclamation of the tragic events during those years as “an act of genocide” against the Ukrainian people is a one-sided, distorted view of history that serves current political-ideological conjunctures. In addition, this is an insult to the memory of the victims of other nationalities, people who perished during the famine of 1932-33 in the former Soviet Union.”