By OLENA SADOVNIK
The early November sunshine shone brightly on the Empire State Plaza. A stage with flowers, wheat sheaf, and a steel cross towered above the gathered community at the plaza’s southern end Ukrainian Americans and guests came together Saturday, Nov. 2 to commemorate the millions of victims who died during the Ukrainian Famine Genocide, or Holodomor in Ukrainian, in 1932-33. Attention to this genocide has grown since Ukrainian independence in 1991.
Holodomor survivor Anna Kulbida, who now lives in Niskayuna, was only 8 when the famine, allegedly deliberately induced by Stalin, hit the eastern part of Ukraine in 1932.
“I remember myself slowly walking to school. There had been a horse dray with eight corpses riding in front of me, I didn’t want to get any closer to them, not to see them…so I slowed down,” said Kulbida.
As the famine struck hard, mass graves became increasingly common. People had nothing to eat; all food had been taken away by the armed squads of communist party. Kulbida said that it was very difficult to find any food. Her father was one of the lucky ones who was able to leave their village before the restriction of freedom of movement came into force in November 1932. It was designed to prevent villages from going into cities to seek food.
Kulbida’s father left to the country of Georgia to find a job and support their family. From there, he sent hard-earned money to his friend in Vladivostok, a town close to Russia’s border with China, who sent it to Ukraine. Kulbida remembered that they had to go to the neighboring village to pick up the money to make sure no one would steal it.
“By the spring of 1933 I saw neither dogs nor cats in our village, they were all eaten by our people that winter, but not just their pets but their children, even the dead were dug up from the cemeteries and eaten,” said Michel Korhun, a Holodomor survivor.
Ukrainians usually light a candle in their windows on the fourth Saturday of November as a sign of remembrance. Today, Ukrainian Andriy Shevelyov, who came to Pine Hills this summer with his family, joined the Ukrainian-American community at this heart-wrenching event. Shevelyov’s grandmother, Olena, survived Holodomor when she was 10- years-old.
“I don’t like to initiate conversation with her about Holodomor. She always cries thinking about it. There are things she is much more eager to talk about,” Shevelyov said. “I know that her body was swollen by hunger, but she survived.”
Today the Shevelyov-Kulchynky family were faced by a challenge to explain to their 4-years-old daughter Katrusia about Holodomor. After the ceremony Katrusia said that children didn’t eat, “they were hungry,” she pointed at the picture on the leaflet.
“Unfortunately very view people know about this tragedy that happened. Some may know it was a famine, and only view know that it’s real genocide and intentional murdering of the whole class of people,” said Andrij Baran, chairman of the NYC Capital District Holodomor-Ukrainian Genocide Commemoration Committee. His parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1949. Growing in Manhattan, Holodomor was a frequent topic of conversation in Baran’s family.
“It was one of the reasons why I am in America and not in Europe,” he added.
The topic of Holodomor is politically charged and surrounded by historical and political debates. But it was not until the 1980s when Glasnost opened up the Soviet Union and the world learned about the forced collectivization and unspeakable atrocities of Stalin’s regime. The number of victims varies from three to 10 million, depending on the calculation. The Soviet Union always denied the fact of Holodomor.
In 2003 Ukrainian Parliament recognized Holodomor as genocide. Since then, the Parliament, supported by many Ukrainians and Ukrainian diasporas, has actively sought international recognition of this crime as genocide. In 2003 U.S. Congress House of Representatives adopted a resolution on the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, which accepted it to be an act of terror and genocide against the Ukrainian people. As of now, 24 countries have officially recognized Holodomor as genocide against Ukrainians.
The commemoration was followed by the requiem service in the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception. At the end of the service the day turned dark, cold and grey, which seemed to reflect on the mood of the tragedy.
“We will do our best that education about Holodomor becomes a mandatory part of the New York state education curriculum,” said Baran. “And by that we’ll do our duty to those who have died.”
I didn’t know anything about Holodomor, and thank you for making us aware of it. I guess by admitting the atrocities committed against people, we are facing the reality. And the next step is to work together in order to prevent something like this happening ever again. I’m also glad that in the United States the Ukrainian people got the opportunity to pay respect to the brave people who underwent so much suffering.