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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR           
An International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary

Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World       
 
UKRAINE REMEMBERS -
THE WORLD ACKNOWLEDGES
75th Commemoration Of The Holodomor 1932-1933
Induced Starvation, Death for Millions, Genocide.
November 24, 2007 to November 22, 2008
 
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 887
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2007
 
INDEX OF ARTICLES  ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.               
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article

1.  UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007
 
2UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide
Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007

3UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007

4.  "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007

5UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008 AS
YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007

6.  NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE

ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007

7UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007

8LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007

9UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007

10UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME 
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007

11PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007

12FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN
Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007

13UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007

14UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
 
15 'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD
FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP),
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007
 
16DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007
 
17.  DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007

18AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2, 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all capital cities.
Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007

19JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007
National March of Remembrance, National Committee to Commemorate
the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, October 12, 2007   

20THE UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007 
 
21YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW
ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
 
22UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008
The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007
 
23. 2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE
New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007
 
24DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR 
OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007
 
25UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF MEMORY
OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE 
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007
 
26HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007
 
27UKRAINE: COMMUNIST PARTY SAYS RENAMING OF STREETS
& MONUMENTS WITH SOVIET NAMES IS TOTALITARIANISM
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 2, 2007
 
28HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WILL REVISIT CAVE IN UKRAINE
THAT HID FAMILY FROM CERTAIN DEATH
More than 60 years after surviving the Holocaust by hiding,
Yetta Katz will return to the caves where she spent 344 days.
Holocaust Survivor's Journey: By Jennifer Lebovich
Miami Herald, Miami, Friday, Sat, Nov. 03, 2007
 
29UKRAINE PRESIDENT ORDERS RETURN OF 700 TORAH
SCROLLS CONFISCATED BY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT 
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent,  Israel, Sun, Oct 28, 2007
 
30UKRAINE: UGLY FACE OF EMERGING EXTREMISM
Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine Magazine
Business Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007
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1UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE PASSES RESOLUTION TO
HONOR MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE
According to media, the word "genocide" was removed from the final text

Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 1, 2007

KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO unanimously passed on
November 1 a resolution entitled "Remembrance of the Victims of the Great
Famine (Holodomor) in Ukraine", the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign
Ministry reported on Thursday.

The 34th UNESCO General Conference noted that in the former Soviet Union,
millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and
policies of the totalitarian regime.

The documents reads the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor)
took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national
tragedy for the Ukrainian people.

The resolution of the UNESCO General Conference presented sympathy to the
victims of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and victims of famines
that also took place in Russia, Kazakhstan and other regions of the former
USSR, the Ukrainian press service said.

The resolution was drafted by Ukraine in co-authorship with other 45 member
states of UNESCO.  According to a number of Ukrainian media, the word
"genocide" was removed from the final text of the resolution.
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2.  UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT WELCOMES UNESCO RESOLUTION
TO HONOR VICTIMS OF UKRAINE'S GREAT FAMINE OF 1932-1933
Expressed confidence it would one day be recognized as genocide

Press office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007

KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko welcomes yesterday's resolution by
UNESCO to honor the victims of Ukraine's Great Famine of 1932-1933.

"This resolution shows that the job which has been done by Ukraine, [its]
political forces and diplomats has been recognized in 193 countries of the
world," he said on Friday in an interview with "Dzerkalo Tyzhnya," "Silski
Visti," "Ukrayina Moloda" and "Fakty."

"The international community has for the first time made such a large-scale
consolidated decision regarding the recognition of the Great Famine of
1932-1933."

The president expressed confidence Ukraine's Soviet-era famine would one
day be recognized as genocide against the Ukrainian nation.

Speaking of Ukraine's efforts to persuade parliaments around the world to
pass such resolutions, Yushchenko said: "We deliver dozens of speeches,
the Memory Institute holds dozens of conferences and there is no parliament
in the world which has not received my message regarding the recognition
of the Holodomor as genocide."
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/data/1_20274.html
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3.  UNESCO CALLS ON ITS MEMBER-COUNTRIES TO HONOR
MEMORIES OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 1, 2007

KYIV - The General Conference of UNESCO has called on the member-
countries of the organization to honor the memories of the victims of the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.

The press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this
in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.

According to the statement, the 34th session of the General Conference of
UNESCO adopted a resolution on honoring the memories of the victims of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine on November 1.

According to the resolution, the tragedy of the famine should be a warning
to the present and future generations to abide by democratic values, human
rights, and the law.

It expresses condolences to the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine
as well as the victims of the famines that occurred in Russia, Kazakhstan,
and other former Soviet republics.

Moreover, the General Conference welcomed the initiative of Ukraine to
organize the commemorations on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine and encouraged UNESCO member-states
to take part in those events.

UNESCO also requests that its director-general promote awareness of
remembrance of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine by incorporating this
knowledge into the educational programs aimed at inculcating the lessons
of this tragic event in future generations.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Foreign Affairs Ministry presented
the draft of the resolution on infirming member-states of UNESCO about the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine to UNESCO for consideration on October 4.

President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.

Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25.

Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates.
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4.  "WE ACCUSE: HOLODOMOR GENOCIDE 1932-1933" THE
HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 75TH COMMEMORATION EXHIBITION
WILL BE HELD IN KYIV AT THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE FROM
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 TO THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6

Action Ukraine Report (AUR) #887, Article 4
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, November 4, 2007

KYIV, Ukraine - The "We Accuse: Holodomor Genocide 1932-1933"
International Exhibition for the 75th Commemoration of the Holodomor
1932-1933 (induced starvation, death for millions, genocide) will be held
in Kyiv at the Ukrainian House from Tuesday, November 20 through
Thursday, December 6, 2007.

The Administration of President Viktor Yushchenko is in charge of the
exhibition which is under the direction of Ivan Vasiunyk, First Deputy
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and Vasyl Vovkun, production
and artistic director.

The international commemorative and educational exhibition will feature
four individual Holodomor presentations which will be displayed for
seventeen days in the Ukrainian House in the center of Kyiv.
 
Historical and educational presentations will be made by the:
 
[1] Ukrainian National Institute of Memory, Ihor Yukhnovsky,
     Director;
[2] Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund, Kateryna Yushchenko,
     Head of the Supervisory Board;
[3] Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko,
     Acting Chief, and by the 
[4] Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection, Morgan
     Williams, SigmaBleyzer, Trustee. 
 
The National Institute of Memory will display their newly created
set of sixty-four panels/posters that tell the story of the Holodomor
in documents, historical data, testimonies, photographs and other
historical information. 
 
The Ukraine 3000 International Charity Fund will display a large
number of posters about the Holodomor created by students and
artists this year in response to a Holodomor poster contest organized
by the Ukraine 3000 Fund.  People attending the exhibition will be
able to vote for the posters they think are the most outstanding. 
 
The Security Service of Ukraine (SUB) will display their set of
over 60 panels/posters created from material in their archives about
the Holodomor such as historical decrees, letters, government
documents, photographs, and other items from the SBU archives.
 
The Holodomor Education and Exhibition Art Collection will display
over 100 original art works depicting the "Holodomor Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Artists."  The original artworks will include oil on
canvas paintings, black and white drawings, linocuts, paint on board
poster art and other graphical materials. 
 
Many of the artworks were created between 1989 and 1993, the first
years artists in Ukraine were ever allowed to deal with such subjects
as the major crimes of communism. Some of the poster art will
include works by students at the Art Academy in Kyiv created in
2006 and 2007 under the direction of Professor Vitaliy Shostia, a
program sponsored by the Holodomor Education and Exhibition
Art Collection. 
 
High school students from the Poltava Oblast will also have
some Holodomor works on display.  Movies and documentaries
will be shown throughout the seventeen day exhibition. Books
about the Holodomor will also be on display.  The exhibition will
be the largest Holodomor exhibition ever held in Ukraine and is
open to the public. 
 
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international
community and governments around the world to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime and to declare the Holodomor of
1932-1933 as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.
 
'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine-genocide in
Ukraine, the major terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by
the international community. It is the duty of all countries, political and
public forces that accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.
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U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC): http://www.usubc.com
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5.  UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO PROCLAIMS 2008
AS YEAR OF MEMORY OF HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 VICTIMS
 
Serhii Bobok, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 23, 2007
 
KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has proclaimed 2008 as the
year of memory of the Holodomor 1932-33 victims.

The President announced this in Kharkiv when speaking at the second
meeting of the Coordination council for preparation of events on the 75th
anniversary of the Holodomor 1932-33.

"The next year is proclaimed as the year of immortalizing memory of victims
of the Holodomor 1932-33," told the President.

Yuschenko expressed confidence in that 2008 Kyiv and Kharkiv will build
new memorials devoted to the 75th anniversary of the tragedy will, the first
national museum of the Holodomor will be commissioned and many historical
works on this issue will appear.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, when speaking in Kharkiv Yuschenko
criticized representatives of different layers of power for insufficient
work on immortalizing memory of the Holodomor 1932-33.

In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the
genocide of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of
victims of famines and political repressions.

In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7 million people.
Moreover, according to information from different historians, there were
famines in 1921-23 and 1946-1947.
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6.  NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR
RECOGNIZED HOLODOMOR IN UKRAINE AS ACT OF GENOCIDE


ForUm, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, October 31, 2007

KYIV - On October 30 the National congress of the Republic of Ecuador
adopted a resolution by which the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine was
recognized as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. Chairman of the
subcommittee on interparliamentary relations, bilateral and multilateral
relations of the foreign affairs Committee of the VRU of the fifth
convocation Oksana Bilozir informed.

As it is noted in the statement, the parliament of Ecuador also shows
solidarity with the Ukrainian people, noted that following of principles of
justice, freedom, democracy and mutual respect, which must be the basis in
the relations between the countries in order such phenomena as Holodomor
in Ukraine doesn't repeat again.

Ecuador is the second country after Peru, the parliament of which recognized
Holodomor in Ukraine as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people. 11
countries have already recognized Holodomor in Ukraine.
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LINK: http://en.for-ua.com/news/2007/10/31/132042.html
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7.  UKRAINE URGES WORLD COMMUNITY AT UN TO INTRODUCE
INTERNATIONAL DAY COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE

Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 4, 2007

KYIV - Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy
urged the world community during the 62nd session of the UN General
Assembly to endorse a resolution introducing an international day
commemorating the victims of genocide, the ministry's press service has
reported.

He raised the issue on the need for international recognition of Ukraine's
famine of 1932-1933 as genocide against the Ukrainian people. Khandohiy also
expressed hope that the UN "as a collective and moral voice of the world
community and an effective instrument for observing human rights and
freedoms" would condemn the tragedy the Ukrainian people suffered in
1932-1933.

Furthermore, he stressed the need to step up the international legal
mechanisms and political instruments aimed at preventing the spread of
weapons of mass destruction.

Khandohiy said that frozen conflicts in GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan
and Moldova) countries threatened the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the region's states, and stressed the importance of taking practical
steps, including at the UN, to settle them.

Commenting on the Kosovo problem, he said that in order to resolve the
situation, all parties should refrain from acting unilaterally to resolve
the problem, not involving the UN.

Khandohiy said that hasty actions in resolving the Kosovo issue might
destabilize the situation in the Balkans and have a negative effect on the
whole system of international relations.
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NOTE: Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
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8. LIBYA TO CONSIDER ISSUE OF 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007

KYIV - Libya intends to consider the issue of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine at a session of the Libyan General People's Congress.  The press
service of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced this in a
statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.

According to the statement, the Secretary of the Libyan General People's
Committee for Foreign Liaison & International Cooperation, Suleiman
al-Shehoumi, promised during a meeting with Ukraine's Ambassador to Libya
Hennadii Latyi on Wednesday, October 24, to put the issue to a debate in the
General People's Congress.

The Ukrainian ambassador drew attention to the importance of informing the
international community about the tragedy suffered by the Ukrainian people
as a result of the 1932-1933 famine and expressed the hope that member-
countries of UNESCO will support the relevant resolution that Ukraine
proposed for consideration at a general conference of UNESCO.

Latyi also stressed the importance of the closeness of the two countries'
positions on international politics as well as the constructiveness of
Ukrainian-Libyan cooperation within international organizations.

They also paid significant attention to development of Ukrainian-Libyan
cooperation and the need to quickly sign several important bilateral
agreements.

The Ukrainian ambassador also informed Shehoumi about the problems
that Ukrainian citizens working in Libya are encountering.

Shehoumi assured Latyi that the leadership of the Libyan People's Congress
would facilitate solution of the problems connected with the work of
Ukrainian citizens in Libya.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine has called on UNESCO
member-countries to support its resolution entitled "On Honoring the
Memory of the Victims of the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine."

President Viktor Yuschenko has declared 2008 as the year of remembrance
of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian parliament declared the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine as an
act of genocide against the Ukrainian people in 2006.

Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25.  [Actually it is Saturday, November 24th]

Between 3 million and 7 million people died in the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine, according to various estimates. Moreover, according to several
historians, there were famines in Ukraine in the 1921-1923 and 1946-1947
periods.
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9.  UKRAINE TO SEEK ISRAELI RECOGNITION FOR 1930'S GENOCIDE

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz, Israel, Sunday October 28, 2007

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko is expected to ask Israel to recognize
the genocide of the Ukrainian people in the 1930s by their communist
government when he visits here in about two weeks, sources said.

Israel is not expected to accede to the request, which has won the support
of Jewish community leaders in Ukraine, so as not to damage its relationship
with Vladimir Putin's government at a sensitive time.

Millions of Ukrainians died of hunger from 1931 to 1932 following the
collectivization of farming in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin. Famine was
particularly severe in Ukraine, which was a regional breadbasket and was
strongly opposed to the move.

At the same time the communist government attempted to wipe out Ukrainian
intelligentsia and nationalists, with estimations of the number of victims
ranging from a million and a half to 10 million. Advertisement

A number of countries, including the United States, have recognized these
acts as genocide, however, Russia vigorously rejects this definition,
preferring to use the term "tragedy."

Members of the Jewish community in Ukraine say Yushchenko also intends
to present a proposal in the parliament in Kiev to recognize the suffering
of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and the suffering of the Ukrainian
people.

The chairman of the General Council of Jewish organizations, Joseph Zisels,
who met with Yushchenko last Monday, said yesterday: "Israelis understand
more than anyone what genocide is and Yushchenko therefore expects that
Israelis will also recognize the Ukrainian genocide. We don't think it is
the same as the Holocaust, but it is also a terrible tragedy with seven or
eight million murdered."

Last week Yushchenko signed a presidential order to return to the Jewish
community 700 Torah scrolls that were confiscated from the community by
the communists.

The move is believed to be an attempt to soften up Jewish and Israeli public
opinion ahead of his visit. He is expected to bring some of the scrolls to
the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem during his visit.

An attempt to organize a visit by Yushchenko to Israel was made about six
months ago by Rabbi Moshe Azman, Ukraine's Chabad rabbi, and Mordechai
Tzivin, an Israeli attorney active in international Jewish causes.

But Israeli government officials postponed the visit, among other reasons
because Yushchenko wanted to be in Israel on Holocaust Day and to
participate in a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
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LINK: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917798.html
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10.  UKRAINE: PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITY TO CONDEMN CRIMES OF STALIN'S REGIME
 
 
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, November 2, 2007

KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has called on the international community
to condemn the crimes committed by the Stalin regime. Yuschenko made the
call at a meeting on perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression.

'The crimes of the Stalin regime - the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine the major
terror of the 1930s - should be fully condemned by the international
community. It is the duty of all countries, political and public forces that
accept the values of democracy,' Yuschenko said.

He expressed compassion for all the peoples who were part of the former
USSR and suffered losses as a result of the policies of the Stalin regime.

Yuschenko called on all the former republics of the USSR to join forces to
establish the actual scale of the crimes of the Stalin regime.

'We are obliged to clear our land of all totalitarian signs and monuments to
criminals who were involved in the destruction of millions of Ukrainians,'
Yuschenko said in his speech at the meeting.

He welcomed the Kyiv municipal council's decision to name one of the streets
in Kyiv after Lesia Kurbas, who was a victim of a totalitarian regime.

Yuschenko believes that perpetuation of the memories of victims of political
repression is sacred. 'Stalinism destroyed Ukraine with special thoroughness
and in special dimensions. These losses are definitely irreparable.
Systematic destruction of Ukraine-hood was perpetrated on our land,'
Yuschenko said.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko welcomed the General
Conference of UNESCO's resolution that calls on the member-countries of the
organization to honor the memories of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in
Ukraine.
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11.  PRES YUSHCHENKO CALLS ON ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENTARY
AUTHORITIES TO ASSIST IN THE RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR
1932-1933 AS GENOCIDE AGAINST UKRAINIANS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 31, 2007

KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko is calling on Romania's parliamentary
authorities to assist in the recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-33 as
genocide against the Ukrainian nation.

The Presidential press service announced this in a statement, a copy of
which Ukrainian News has obtained. According to the statement, Tuesday
Yuschenko met Nicolae Vacaroiu President of the Senate of Romania, the upper
house of the Romanian Parliament, and Bogdan Olteanu president of the
Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Romanian Parliament.

At the meeting the sides discussed Ukraine's domestic political situation,
interparliamentary cooperation, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of
Ukraine. Besides, the talkers discussed collaboration in the national
minorities issues.

Yuschenko expressed hope that the Romanian Parliament will be assisting,
within the scope of its competence, improvement of condition of the
Ukrainian national minority in Romania.

The President also called on the Romanian side to adjoin recognition of the
Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide against the Ukrainian nation. Yuschenko
invited heads of the Romanian Parliament to pay a visit to Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko left for Romania to attend a
meeting of the Yuschenko-Basescu Ukrainian-Romanian commission.

In 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the Holodomor 1932-33 as the genocide
of Ukrainian people. November 24 Ukraine honors memory of victims of famines
and political repressions. In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of about 3-7
million people. Moreover, according to information from different historians,
there were famines in 1921-23 and 1946-47 in Ukraine.
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12.  FAMINE OF THE 1930'S WAS NOT GENOCIDE AGAINST
UKRAINIANS SAYS RUSSIAN OMBUDSMAN VLADIMIR LUKIN

Interfax Ukraine Focus, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 25, 2007

MOSCOW - The famine in Ukraine in the 1930s was not genocide directed
exclusively against Ukrainians but was part of the then Soviet state's tough
policy towards all nationalities of the former Soviet Union, ombudsman in
Russia Vladimir Lukin said at a press conference at Interfax' main office
[Moscow] on Thursday.

"Attempts are being made to portray the great famine in Ukraine in the 1930s
as an exclusive action directed against Ukrainians, which is, of course,
absolutely untrue," he said.

"This [famine] was the toughest action against all Soviet people, Ukrainians
were not alone in suffering from it," Lukin added.

Earlier, UN coordinator in Kyiv Francis O'Donnell announced that the issue
of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, known as Holodomor, was a very
important problem for the entire international community.

More and more countries officially recognize Holodomor as genocide,
he told reporters in Kyiv.
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13.  UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY CRITICIZES RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR VIKTOR CHERNOMYRDIN'S STATEMENTS
ABOUT UPA SOLDIERS AND 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, November 3, 2007

KYIV - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is critical of the opinion statements
made by Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin about the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army soldiers and the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine.
Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the ministry.

According to the report, the ministry said that provision of expert
summarization about the country's past and its inside political life does
not correspond to the established diplomatic practice.

'We would like to note that Ukrainian politicians and academic elite, as
well as the public community, are able to make judgments about the
historical and social phenomena of their nation without additional comments
which are based on ideological and stereotypical principles,' the report
reads.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requests Chernomyrdin to refrain
from statements and actions that can have a negative influence on the
development of good neighbor relations between Ukraine and Russia.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Chernomyrdin said that official
recognition of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers as WWII veterans
would negatively influence Ukraine-Russia relations.
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14.   UKRAINE LASHES BACK AT RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
OVER HISTORY DURING WWII AND SOVIET-ERA FAMINE

NIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007

KIEV - Ukraine's Foreign Ministry dismissed statements by the Russian
ambassador about a Ukrainian WWII army and Soviet-era famine as being
against diplomacy.

In an interview with Russia's Vremya Novostei popular daily Friday, Viktor
Chernomyrdin spoke critically of the attempts to romanticize the Ukrainian
Insurgent Army (UPA), which has been said to cooperate with the Nazis in
WWII.

He also slammed President Viktor Yushchenko's initiative to prosecute those
who deny the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine known as Holodomor.

"Ukrainian political and scientific elite and the public can well qualify
historical events of their nation without any additional commentaries based
on ideological and stereotyped principles," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
said.

The UPA was formed in 1942 on the initiative of the Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). UPA operated mostly in western Ukraine,
historically opposed to Russian domination, and fought against the Soviet
Army.

UPA is known to have cooperated with the Nazis, even though at the end of
the war, it fought against them and the Soviet Army altogether.

In 2007, President Yushchenko signed a decree to celebrate the date of UPA
formation as a state holiday. He also awarded a title of the Hero of Ukraine
posthumously to UPA leader Roman Shukhevich.
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LINK: http://en.rian.ru/world/20071103/86547995.html
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Ukraine Monthly Macroeconomic Report From SigmaBleyzer:
http://www.sigmableyzer.com/index.php?action=publications 
========================================================
15.  'CHILDREN, LEARN TO VALUE STALIN,' RUSSIAN PUPILS TOLD

FEATURE: Agence France Presse (AFP)
Moscow, Russia, Saturday, November 3, 2007

MOSCOW - Former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is back in fashion in
Russia as the Kremlin condones history textbooks that honour the
Soviet leader (1878-1953) as renovator of the country. "Children, learn
to value Stalin," the Gazeta newspaper recently summed up the message
by the textbook's authors. Stalin, the synonym for state-ordered terror
and torture, still has his followers, especially among the communists.

However, even non-communists seem to long for someone like Stalin,
public opinion polls suggest. Historians and human rights activists
complain about an unprecedented misrepresentation of history and
accuse President Vladimir Putin of ignoring it.

"Many now present Stalin as an efficient manager, who did a good thing
with his collectivization, industrialization and the Second World War
victory," the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group for Human Rights,
80-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, said.

This "dangerously flattering picture" ridiculed millions of innocent
victims of the regime, she said.

Russian human rights official Vladimir Lukin is deeply concerned that
one of the "country's most terrible and ruthless criminals is put on a
pedestal."

The Academic Education Society for the Arts recently approved two
books which were intended to turn pupils into "real patriots," Russian
media reported.

The historian Aleksandr Filippov in his book "A Modern History of
Russia: 1945-2006," has called Stalin "one of the USSR's most
successful leaders," whose repression helped to get the country out of
a crisis.

"The modernization of the country needed a responsible power system,"
the book says. "This is a scandal," individual scholars and teachers said.

The authors' collective around Filippov is trying to justify the mass
terror with hindsight and rehabilitate its perpetrators, they claim.

During a meeting with representatives of the Kremlin, the Education
Ministry and authors, historian Andrei Sakharov criticized the book as
a "serious methodical mistake."

"History follows the state's motto: everything that secures power must
also be good for the people," the director of the Institute for Russian
History said.

Stalin, who also determined the history of Germany before, during and
after Hitler's period in power, continues to be well regarded by many
Russians, according to a survey by polling firm WZIOM, which is close
to the government.

Almost half the Communists - second-largest power in the Russian
parliament - dream of a "new Stalin."

In the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of populist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky 23 per cent feel the same way, and 14 per cent of the
Kremlin's United Russia do so too. Only 40 per cent of those
questioned categorically rejected a return of Stalinism.

With the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution coming up on
November 7, which will be celebrated by thousands of communists,
leading members of the opposition have compared the situation in
Russia with that of 1917.

"Our present-day parliament has no rights, just like back then under
the tsar," Kremlin critic and former chess world champion Garry
Kasparov said.

In addition, there was corruption, bureaucracy, a lack of internal
mechanisms for a modernization of the country, and political solitude,
Jablonko opposition party leader Grigori Yavlinski said.

Human rights organizations such as Memorial will this year hold a
number of commemorative events for the millions of victims of the so-
called Great Terror under Stalin 70 years ago.

Putin has also distanced himself from the cruelties. However, critics
have accused the former civil service head of not fighting hard enough
for a public condemnation of the crimes.

The Russian president has so far not reacted to calls for a state- run
commemorative and research centre for the victims of Stalin's terror
regime.
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LINK: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/135533.html
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16.  DESIGN OF MEMORIAL COMPLEX TO FAMINE VICTIMS
OF 1932-1933 APPROVED BY KYIV CITY PLANNING COUNCIL
Approximate cost of the project will amount to over UAH 80 million.

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, October 17, 2007

KYIV - The Kyiv city planning council has approved design of the memorial
complex to the victims of 1932-1933 Famine on 15A Sichnevoho Povstannia
Street in Pecherskyi district of the capital. Kyiv chief architect Vasyl
Prysiazhniuk disclosed this at a meeting of the council.

The project was worked out by Project Systems Company. Prysiazhniuk
marked it is necessary to specify proportions of a campanile, condition of
elements of the complex and elements of art features.

The concept of the memorial complex foresees construction of 26-meter-high
campanile, roads of four granite slabs with two angels on the sides, which
would lead to a small round lake, where it is planned to locate museum to
Famine victims.

The campanile and the museum will be made in the style of left Dnipro River
architecture. There will be a circle of 24 stones around the campanile with
internal paintings dedicated to bible and four mosaics.

Each of the stones will bear 1,000 spikelets, which symbolize the number of
Ukrainian victims. The campanile will be opened letting each person to light
candle in memory of the tragedy.

According to representative of the customer, the approximate cost of the
project will amount to over UAH 80 million [approx. $16 million.]

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the city council of Kyiv had approved
architectural feasibility study regarding placement of the monument to
American historian, analyst of Famine 1932-1933 in Ukraine James Mace in the
Sichnevoho Povstannia Street, Pecherskyi District of Kyiv. According to
various estimates, about 3-7 million people died during the 1932-1933 famine
in Ukraine.
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17.  DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 1056/2007
Commemorating in 2007 the Day of Memory for Victims of Holodomor
 
Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday November 2, 2007
Action Ukraine Report #887, Article 15 (In English)
Washington, D.C., Sunday, November 3, 2007

To ensure adequate organization and conduct of events related to the Day
of Memory for the victims of Holodomor on November 24, 2007, I hereby
decree:

1. To set up an Organizing committee to prepare and mark in 2007 the Day
of Memory for the Holodomors victims. To appoint Ivan Vasiunyk, first
deputy head of presidential secretariat, and Dmytro Tabachnyk, Vice-Premier
of Ukraine, co-heads of the Organizing committee.

Within three days, the Organizing committee co-heads are to agree with the
prime minister their proposals on the Organizing committee line-up.

2. The Organizing committee must approve within one week a plan of
events to be held to prepare for and commemorate in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the victims of Holodomors.

3. A one-minute silence shall be observed at 16.00 on November 24, 2007
to remember the victims of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, by stopping
the work of central and local executive bodies, industrial companies,
institutions and organizations (except the organizations where stoppages of
work are technologically excluded). All public and private vehicles in
cities and towns shall stop and blow their horns for one minute.

The Ukrainian state flags on the territory of the country shall be lowered
to half mast on November 24, 2007. Entertainment events in concert halls,
on radio and TV must be restricted.

4. The Council of Ministers of the Crimean Autonomous Republic, the state
administrations of the Kyiv oblast and cities Kyiv and Sevastopol are to lay
mourning wreaths made from rye and wheat ears at the graves of Holodomor
victims and remember them by observing a minute of silence, candle lighting,
holding remembrance events and other mourning events.

5. The Cabinet of Ministers shall:
- jointly with the Kyiv city administration accelerate designing and
erecting in Kyin the Memorial to the victims of Holodomors in Ukraine;

- allot funding in the finalized 2008 budget for the Memorial construction
and research on the history of Holodomors by the Ukrainian Institute of the
National Memory;

- accelerate designing and erecting a monument to the 1932-1933 Holodomor
victims in Washington, DC as well as similar monuments and remembrance
plaques in other countries.

6.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall:
- oblige its foreign missions to hold the events to mark in 2007 the Day of
Memory for the Holodomor victims, inviting foreign diplomats stationed in
Ukraine to participate in commemoration events inside the country;

-  render any assistance to the International Coordinating Committee of the
World Ukrainian Congress in preparing and conducting by public diaspora
organizations the events to commemorate the Holodomor victims.

7. The State Committee on television and radio broadcasting shall provide
wide coverage of events held in preparation and remembrance in Ukraine
and worldwide of the Day of Memory for the Holodomors victims.

8. The decree comes into force on publication.

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko
November 2, 2007
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/6934.html
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18.  AUSTRALIA - HOLODOMOR COMMEMORATIONS
NOVEMBER 17 THROUGH DECEMBER 2007
Nation-wide Observances will be held in all Australian capital cities.

Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations
Australia, Saturday, November 3, 2007

PERTH ---------
Nov 17 - opening of "Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was
Then and This is Now" - Holodomor Exhibition  at the Perth Town Hall.
Nov 24 - Combined Panachyda at the UOAC (followed by a showing of the
"Ukrainian Migrants in Western Australia: That was Then and This is Now"
Holodomor Exhibition in the UOAC church hall...
VICTORIA ----------
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide - Famine 1932-1933
Ukraine Remembers the World Acknowledges
Association of Ukrainians in Victoria appeals to all to commemorate
and acknowledge the 75th Anniversary of the Great Famine - Genocide
1932-1933.
Mourning Service & Requiem Concert of Religious Songs
Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 4:00 p.m.; Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
of Sts. Peter & Paul, 35 Canning Street, North Melbourne
NEW SOUTH WALES -----
WE MUST NOT FORGET THE HOLODOMOR OF 1932-1933
Programme of the NSW/Sydney/ Observance on Saturday December 1st,
10.00am  Solemn Panachyda - Requiem Ecumenical Service   St. Mary's
Cathedral (45 min)
Encompassing Ecumenical Prayer service with Homily, and Declaration
of Commencement of the Year of Holodomor 32-by the Chair of the
Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, AFUO / SUOA.
10.50 am  March  through Hyde Park  ( a distance of less than 200 m)
11.00 am  Public Rally  in  Hyde Park  at Archibald Fountain
 Addresses by public figures, reminiscences of Holodomor survivors,
expressions of solidarity
12.00 pm  Conclusion of Rally , viewing of  Exhibition
4.00  pm  All Exhibition stands and platforms to be removed

SOUTH AUSTRALIA ----------
November 24, 2007, Program to be available soon.
Full National program will shortly be available on www.ozeukes.com.
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19.  JOIN THE SOLEMN MARCH TO HONOR THE UP TO 10
MILLION VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE OF 1932-
1933 BEING HELD IN NEW YORK CITY, SAT, NOV 17, 2007

National March of Remembrance
National Committee to Commemorate the
75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933
New York/Washington, Friday, November 2, 2007   

NEW YORK - One of the darkest pages in Ukraine's history is the
Genocide of 1932-33, during which up to 10 million innocent victims
were starved to death through a deliberate Soviet policy to crush the
nationally conscious Ukrainian peasantry.

The Ukrainian Genocide ranks among the worst cases of man's
inhumanity towards man, and is perhaps the most extreme example
of the use of food as a weapon.

Starting Point: St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church
(7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, New York City)
March begins at 11:45AM, Friday, November 17, 2007
Final Destination: St. Patrick's Cathedral
Solemn Requiem Service at 2PM
To commence the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor!
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th 2007, NEW YORK CITY
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NOTE: For further information contact Tamara Olexy at [email protected].
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20.  UKRAINIAN HOLODOMOR & THE DENIAL OF GENOCIDES
International Conference, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 9, 2007
 
Professor Federigo Argentieri, John Cabot University
International Conference: Organized by Guarini Institute for
Public Affairs-John Cabot University With the cooperation of
Comitati Pro Libertatibus and the Italian Association for the
Study of Central and Eastern European History (AISSECO)
Rome, Italy, November 1, 2007 
 
ROME, Italy - An international conference entitled, "The Ukrainian
Holodomor and the Denial of Genocides, is being held in Rome, Italy
on Friday, November 9, 2007. 
PROGRAM:
 9:30: Welcoming and opening addresses
10:00: First session (Chair: prof. Eric Terzuolo, JCU)
-- Prof. Taner Akçam (University of Minnesota)
   Turkey and the Armenian Genocide
-- Prof. Federigo Argentieri (John Cabot University)
  Hiding, Denying, Minimizing – The Slow and Difficult
  Truth About the Ukrainian Famine
-- Dr Frediano Sessi (independent author)
  La negazione della Shoah (in Italian)
Discussant: Dr Dario Fertilio, („Corriere della Sera”), Milan
13:15   Lunch break
15:00: Second session (Chair: Prof. F.Argentieri)
-- Prof. Roman Serbyn, (Université du Québec a Montréal)
   Is there a "Smoking Gun” for the Holodomor?
-- Prof. Georgiy Kasianov (Kyïv-Mohyla Academy),
  The Great Famine of 1932-33: Academia and Politics 
-- Dr. Mykola Ryabchuk, (co-editor of Krytyka, Kyïv)
   Holodomor, Politics of Memory and Political Infighting
   in Contemporary Ukraine 
Discussant:  Prof. Olena Ponomareva, La Sapienza (in Italian)
17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 Concluding Round Table Discussion, chaired by Ambassador
Luigi Vittorio Ferraris, President of AISSECO
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21. YUSHCHENKO'S PUSH FOR A HOLODOMOR DENIAL LAW

ANALYSIS: Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007

President Yushchenko announced last week his intention to push for laws
criminalising the denial of the Ukrainian Holodomor terror famine of the
1930s. This would be the latest step initiated by Yushchenko in addressing
the crimes of the Soviet era, but it also threatens to infringe on freedom
of speech

Since becoming Ukraine's third president in 2005, Viktor Yushchenko has
made a fresh appraisal of the country's history and the crimes of the
Communist regime one of his broad policy objectives.

This has seen previously muted remembrance services enter the national
consciousness and led to the benchmark November 2006 parliamentary vote
which saw lawmakers overwhelmingly support a bill to recognise the famine
as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The next step, it seems, is to be the introduction of legislation making it
a criminal offense to cast doubt on this version of events.

During an official visit to Kharkiv last week, President Yushchenko declared
his intention, as soon as the new parliament convenes, to call for the
introduction of laws making it a crime to deny the 1932-33 famine.
A EUROPEAN TREAD
Such legislation would be very much in line with the general trend towards
genocide denial laws already in place in many European Union member states.

These existing laws currently focus on denial of the Holocaust, or genocide
of European Jewry during WWII. Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have all made
denying the Holocaust a criminal offense punishable by anything from fines
to serious prison time.

Other forgotten or unrecognised genocides of the 20th century are also
coming up for reappraisal, not least the murder of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during the First World War.

A preliminary vote by the American House of Representatives earlier this
month branding the deaths an act of genocide provoked international
political repercussions that are now threatening to impact on the precarious
peace of northern Iraq. A similar vote in France in 2006 led to a major
diplomatic row between the two countries.
FEARS OVER ALIENATING RUSSIA
Given the sensitivity to charges of crimes against humanity in today's
Russia, the self-appointed successor state of the Soviet Union, many
Western nations are cautious about offering any official acknowledgement
of the Holodomor.

Numerous resolutions have been passed sympathetic to the claims of
genocide, but international legislation recognising the Holodomor remains
largely elusive.

President Yushchenko has called on foreign governments to recognise it as
genocide in time for the beginning this November of a year of memorial
events to mark the 75th anniversary of the tragedy, but few appear ready to
do so.

Denial laws similar to those in place across the EU governing denial of the
Jewish Holocaust could only be introduced once official recognition for
Ukraine's Holodomor has been granted.

However, with recognition within Ukraine already achieved in November
2006, there are no legal constraints which could act as barriers to the
introduction of denial laws domestically.
REOPENING THE DEBATE?
In light of the highly charged political debate surrounding the Ukrainian
Holodomor, it will not be long before any new denial legislation is put to
the test.

Apologists for the Soviet regime have repeatedly claimed that the famine,
while acknowledged as a real historical event, was in fact a product of a
number of factors and was not a systematic genocide perpetrated specifically
against the Ukrainian people.

With support in Ukraine relatively high for pro-Russian politicians and
resistance to attacks on the Soviet past still robust, there will likely be
no shortage of activists and academics prepared to test any new denial laws
by contradicting the official government line over the Holodomor publicly.

Whereas Holocaust denial is largely the preserve of minority extremist
groups in most Western countries, millions of Ukrainians still refuse to
adopt the official government position that the Soviet authorities willfully
ordered the destruction of the Ukrainian population. The size of this
constituency would appear to pave the way for large scale opposition to the
plan.

The irony is that any new laws will doubtless be attacked as infringements
on Ukraine's new-found freedoms of speech by the same political forces
which previously fought to curtail press and public freedoms.

Advocacy groups throughout the Muslim world have successfully attacked
Western perceptions regarding freedom of speech by pointing out the
contradictions inherent in Europe's widespread Holocaust denial laws, and
there is every reason to believe that Kremlin loyalists in Ukraine and
across the former Soviet Union would use any new Holodomor denial
legislation to undermine the moral stance of the pro-democracy camp.

Sergiy Ilyin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Communist Party in Donetsk,
slammed the idea of Holodomor denial laws, commenting, "Yushchenko has
no right to impose his way of thinking on entire nations. There was famine
but to see the hand of Moscow in engineering it is wrong.

"Genocide cannot be recognised in this way. If governments can do this, then
the policy of the United States towards the indigenous American Indian
population can equally be labeled an act of genocide."
LEGAL COMMUNITY HESITANT
Lawyers are also unsure over the plans to introduce anti-denial legislation.

Sergei Konnov, the Senior Partner at Kyiv's Konnov & Sozanovsky law firm,
comments, "If the President wants everyone in Ukraine to have the same
opinion about the Holodomor then he should try to educate people about the
historic facts, but not punish those who do not agree that it was the result
of Moscow policy against Ukraine.

"By all means explain the facts to anyone in doubt but don't send them to
court. Criminalising denial of the Holodomor would demonstrate that Ukraine
is still not ready to be a truly civilised country. Or at least its leaders
are not."

Konnov's colleague Ronald G. Marks adds, "In a democracy, the people
'hold the stick', and in some countries they have used it to 'beat' the
politicians into passing anti-holocaust denial laws.

"I can't imagine a democracy in which the president would force the
population into living under such a law, where there is no demonstrable
evidence that a compelling majority have demanded such a restriction on
civil liberty."

Beyond the argument about the need for Holodomor denial legislation is the
issue of priorities, and there is a further debate about how urgent the
issue is given the very real practical problems facing the country.

Alex Frishberg of Frishberg & Partners attorneys summed up this sentiment,
commenting, "Ukraine's President should be focusing on economic and
corruption issues (particularly in the judicial sphere) rather than seeking
to appease the nationalists with a populist measure like this.
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LINK: http://www.businessukraine.com.ua/yushchenko-s-push-for-a-denial
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22.  UKRAINE: TRUTH ABOUT HOLODOMOR IN KHERSON
OBLAST TO BE REVEALED IN EARLY 2008

The Day Weekly Digest #30, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, October 30, 2007

KYIV - In February 2008 the residents of Kherson oblast will become widely
acquainted with the latest materials on the Holodomor tragedy of 1932-33.

This announcement was made by the governor of Kherson oblast Borys
Sylienkov, as he commented on the Oct. 24 session of the Coordinating
Council, which has been tasked with preparing measures dedicated to the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor, Liga reports.

Sylienkov said that the work of the Coordinating Council, created by
presidential decree on March 14, 2007, has enabled researchers to reveal the
whole truth about the Holodomor of 1932-33, which "raged in Kherson region
too.

Ukrainian society must consolidate around its own history," said the
governor, who added that "for 75 years the Communist Party concealed the
tragic truth and spread propaganda that there was no Holodomor in our
region.

Thanks to the president's position, confirmation of tens of thousands of
deaths as a result of the genocide of 1932-33 was found in the archives.
Many unmarked graves were discovered.

We have published information about the Holodomor in the Kherson lands
based on evidence provided by eyewitnesses and disseminated it among
local communities," the governor of Kherson oblast emphasized.

According to Sylienkov, the truth about the events connected to the
Holodomor must be conveyed first and foremost to the communities of
southern and eastern Ukraine.

"Following in the footsteps of historians and researchers in Kharkiv oblast,
the residents of Kherson oblast will be widely familiarized with materials
on the study of the Holodomor of 1932-33," he summarized.

On Oct. 23 President Yushchenko arrived on a working visit to Kharkiv
oblast, where he chaired a session of the Coordinating Council to prepare
measures dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor.

The main goal of the council is to draft proposals for coordinating tributes
to the Holodomor victims, which will be organized by the Ukrainian
government, and academic and social institutions.
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/190507/
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23.  2008 DECLARED AS NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR
REMEMBRANCE BY PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, STATES NEED
TO RESTORE HISTORICAL TRUTH ABOUT SOVIET-ERA FAMINE

New Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Monday, October 29, 2007

BRUSSELS - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he was going to
propose a bill criminalising the denial of the Holodomor and Holocaust,
instructing Ukraine's central and local authorities to hold events on
November 24, 2007 to honour the victims of the Soviet-era famine and mark
its 75th anniversary, according to a press statement from the Mission of
Ukraine to the EU, released to New Europe on October 2.

Ukrainians all around the world will again light candles to pay tribute to
the victims of the 1932-1933 Great Famine and political repressions, he
added.
NATIONAL YEAR OF HOLODOMOR REMEMBRANCE
The year 2008 should be declared as a national year of Holodomor
remembrance, Yushchenko said during the second meeting of the
Holodomor Commemoration Coordinating Council in Kharkiv on
October 23.

Yushchenko said it was important to restore the historical truth about the
country's Soviet-era famines. "Time demands that we honour the historical
truth, with no wrath but in sorrow," he said, adding that the Ukrainian
people's appreciation of those tragic events was a test showing whether
Ukrainians will ever become a real nation.

The head of state underlined that the Ukrainian villages had more victims
because of Famine then of the IIWW, Interfax reported.Yushchenko said
Ukraine must "take key steps" in honouring the victims of those man-made
famines in 2007-2008, seventy-five years after them.

"If we don't say a truth about years of 1932-33, it would be very difficult
for us to find an answer what is good or what is evil".
NATIONAL MEMORY BOOK
He said it was crucial to publish a National Memory Book with the names of
each victim and each village and town hit by the famine.

This book must become a "core" of the Holodomor Memorial which is expected
to be unveiled next autumn, he said.In 1932-1933 an unprecedented famine
struck Ukraine - a country, which was previously known as the "Breadbasket
of Europe".

Unlike in numerous cases of famines in European history, caused by natural
disasters, bad harvest, or consequences of wars, Ukrainian famine of
1932-1933 was an artificial measure, undertaken by the regime of Joseph
Stalin within the implementation of the Soviet project.

This policy implied practical elimination of national ideas and identities
that could have impeded the creation of the Soviet state on the vast
territories of many nations, which had been earlier seized by Russian empire
and failed to maintain their independence in the struggle with the
Bolsheviks - the virtual successors of tsarist imperialism.

Ukraine, which after long sanguinary battles for the statehood was captured
by Bolsheviks and joined the Soviet Union as Ukrainian Socialistic Soviet
Republic in 1922, still remained a country with strong national traditions
and European social model.

The 20 years of the last century were marked by a new wave of Ukrainian
cultural revival under the paradoxical leadership of the Communist party of
Ukraine.

The national traditions of Ukrainian society and autonomist tendencies
demonstrated by the leadership of Soviet Ukraine could not have possibly
coexist with the Stalinist vision of the Soviet future.
FAMINE WAS NO ACCIDENT
Thus, Ukraine was condemned.The Famine of 1932-1933 was by no means
an accident. Quite opposite, it was the result of systemic totalitarian state
terror by starvation - in other words, the result of genocide.

The mass physical extermination of Ukrainian farmers by artificially caused
starvation to death was a deliberate act of political system against
innocent civilians, the statement said.

It led not only to disappearance of a whole stratum of wealthy and
economically independent farmers-entrepreneurs, but whole generations
of rural population, it explained.

In 1932 the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered his government to seize
crops from Ukrainian peasants in a campaign to collect money for
industrialisation and militarisation of USSR.

Kremlin raised Ukraine's grain procurement quotas by 44 percent. In
practice, this meant that the harvest, which was extremely rich that year,
was to be completely deprived from the peasants in order to execute the
directives of Moscow.
CREATING COLLECTIVE FARMS
This was also a way to destroy traditional agriculture culture and create
kolkhoz type agriculture. This resulted in famine with between seven to 10
million Ukrainians, mostly peasants, starving to death in the very country
known as "the breadbasket of Europe."

At the same time the grain was exported to obtain funds for military buildup
and speedy industrialisation.Only in 1933 Soviet regime dumped 1.7 million
tonnes of grain on Western markets.

Soviet officials, with the aid of regular troops and secret police units,
waged a merciless war against peasants. Even indispensable seed grain was
forcibly confiscated from households.

Any man, woman, or child caught taking even a handful of grain from a
collective farm was to be executed or deported. Those who did not appear
to be starving were often suspected of hoarding grain.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
24.  DONETSK OBLAST GOVERNOR CONSIDERS DISASSEMBLING
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIAL SIGNS TO THOSE WHO
PARTICIPATED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE HOLODOMOR 

OSTROV, Provider: Research Center of Donbass Social Perspectives
Donetsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, October 30, 2007

KYIV - The Donetsk oblast governor, Vladimir Logvinenko, gave
an assignment to the heads of regional administrations and city executive
councils to prepare and submit for consideration the issue on dismantling
of monuments and memorial signs devoted to persons who participated
in the organization of Golodomor in 1932-1933 in Ukraine.

This was talked about at the governors' meeting with heads of regional
administration, chief of law-enforcement bodies of the Donetsk oblast.

Vladimir Logvinenko noted that for the due honoring of Golodomor victims,
there shouldn't be preserving of old soviet paraphernalia of Bolshevik
system.

 Due to that, the city heads and regional administrations have been
scheduled to consider at their sessions 'Issues connected with installation
of memorial signs, crosses and other objects in places of mass people's
death because of famine.

The next issue was disassembling of monuments and memorials for the people
who participated in organization and performing the Famine of 1932-1933 in
Ukraine, renaming streets, squares, avenues, parks and settlements of the
Donetsk oblast, which are related to such people.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://ostro.org/index.php?Array
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[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
25. UKRAINE PRES YUSHCHENKO CRITICIZES AUTHORITIES
FOR INSUFFICIENT WORK OVER PERPETUATION OF
MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF 1932-1933 FAMINE 

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 23, 2007

KHARKIV - President Viktor Yuschenko has criticized authorities for
insufficient work over perpetuation of memory of 1932-1933 Famine.

The president disclosed this in Kharkiv taking floor at the second meeting
of the Coordination Council for the issues on preparations for the 75th
anniversary of 1932-1933 Famine.

"You do not correspond to requirements of the society," Yuschenko said
addressing participants of the meeting. He marked that worthy perpetuation
of memory of the Famine is one of the obligations of the power.

"There has not been a more considerable tragedy than Ukrainian Famine in the
whole world," the president said. He also marked that the Famine took lives
of more people than the number of people killed in WWII.

According to the president, the Famine brought not only death to Ukrainian
lands, but also fear people have lived with for 75 years, earthliness,
amorality and lawlessness. "Why don't ministries having any reference to
this tragedy work?" he said.

Yuschenko made an example of Kharkiv region, where monuments to
Famine victims are not located in all districts.

At the same time, the president marked insufficiency of efforts of archives,
schools, historians, press and film industry on perpetuation of memory of
the tragedy.

"Tomorrow, a decree will be drafted to make order in the district, where
nothing has been done," Yuschenko said. The president urged all
representatives of the government to take all necessary measures to fully
pay tribute to the memory of Famine victims.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in 2006, the Verkhovna Rada declared the
1932-1933 Famine as the genocide of Ukrainian people. On November 25[date
should be November 24] , Ukraine pays tribute to the victims of famines and
political repressions.

In 1932-1933, the famine took lives of 3-7 million people. Besides, a number
of historians say that there were other famines in 1921-1923 and in
1946-1947.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
26.  HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL SECRETARIAT VIKTOR BALOHA
WARNS REGIONAL GOVERNORS THEY MAY BE REPLACED IF
THEY IGNORE PRESIDENTS ORDER TO PERPETUATE MEMORY
OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1932-1933 FAMINE IN UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, October 26, 2007

KYIV - The Presidential Secretariat's head Viktor Baloha has warned regional
governors that they may be replaced if they ignore President Viktor
Yuschenko's directive on perpetuating the memory of the victims of the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine. The presidential press service announced this
in a statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.

At the same time, Baloha considers fair and timely the disciplinary measures
that were taken against the regional governors that are not satisfactorily
implementing Yuschenko's decree on preparation for measures for
commemorating the 75th anniversary of the famine.

According to Baloha, Yuschenko said during a meeting of the coordinating
council on preparation for a ceremony that will honor the victims of the
famine that certain senior regional officials were indifferent to this
historical tragedy.

"They attempted to throw dust in the eyes of the President, but this attempt
was in vain. The criticism that he voiced in Kharkiv regarding regional
leaders did not hang in the air. The reprimands that were issued today
should serve as a palpable inoculation against apathy," the press service
quoted Baloha as saying.

Baloha also believes that painstaking work is necessary for restoration of
historical justice. At the same time, Baloha warned regional governors
against imitation of work on measures for preparation for the anniversary
of the famine.

"Any window dressing or insincerity will require adequate personnel
decisions. The tragedy of the people is not a reason for loud reports. The
pain and sorrow of those cruel years should be recognized by the current
and future generations of Ukrainians," Baloha said.

He also said that Yuschenko intended to personally oversee the preparation
for commemoration of the anniversary of the famine.

"If bureaucrats allow themselves to have a depreciating attitude to
presidential directives and orders, they will not get away with reprimands
alone," Baloha said.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko has asked the heads of 10
regional administrations to bring to account officials in charge of
preparation of the events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the
1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.

Yuschenko earlier criticized officials for insufficient work on perpetuation
of the memory of the 1932-1933 famine. Yuschenko has declared 2008 as
the year of remembrance of the victims of the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine.

Ukraine will honor the memories of the victims of famines and political
repression on November 25. Between 3 million and 7 million people died in
the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine, according to various estimates. Moreover,
according to several historians, there were famines in Ukraine in the
1921-1923 and 1946-1947 periods.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
27.  COMMUNIST PARTY SAYS RENAMING OF STREETS
& MONUMENTS IN UKRAINE WITH SOVIET NAMES IS
TOTALITARIANISM

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 2, 2007

KYIV - The Communist Party believes that the renaming of streets, squares,
and monuments that bear Soviet names is a manifestation of totalitarianism.
The press service of the party announced this in a statement, a text of
which Ukrainian News obtained.

The press service said that the Presidential Secretariat's head Viktor
Baloha sent to regional and district administrations on October 6 the letter
No. 02.02/3262 in which he demanded that the administrations provide the
Presidential Secretariat with a list of population centers, monuments,
streets, squares, parks, and squares named after events and activists of the
Soviet era.

According to information from the Communist Party, the heads of regional
administrations have demanded that the relevant districts and cities provide
such information by 12:00 on November 5.

Serhii Hmyria, a parliamentary candidate for the Communist Party, suggested
that officials who failed to fulfill this demand would be dismissed.

The Communist Party believes that the Presidential Secretariat demanded a
list of facilities with Soviet names with the aim of renaming them.

'According to the laws of Ukraine, only members of one territorial community
or another have the right to decide which names that are acceptable for
which monuments. Why then are Yuschenko and his restless deskman
attempting to usurp this integral constitutional right of citizens,' the statement
said.

The Communist Party believes that the actions of the Presidential
Secretariat and President Viktor Yuschenko should be taken to the people's
court.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Kyiv municipal administration's
commission for renaming of streets and erection of monuments and memorial
plaques is initiating renaming of 131 streets with Soviet names.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
28. HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR WILL REVISIT CAVE IN
UKRAINE THAT HID FAMILY FROM CERTAIN DEATH
More than 60 years after surviving the Holocaust by hiding,
Yetta Katz will return to the caves where she spent 344 days.

Holocaust Survivor's Journey: By Jennifer Lebovich
Miami Herald, Miami, Friday, Sat, Nov. 03, 2007

MIAMI - The depths of a Ukrainian cave shielded Yetta Katz and her
family from almost certain death during the Holocaust.

She spent 344 days -- from May 5, 1943, to April 12, 1944 -- in the dank
space, sleeping between her sister and mother for warmth and cooking
meager meals of potato soup.
TRAVEL TO CAVE IS PART OF A FILM DOCUMENTARY
In May, Katz, now 84, is set to travel back to the Ukraine and Priest's
Grotto, the 77-mile-long cave where her family and a few others lived out
the war, as part of a film documentary.

''I am very sad to go to the city where my friends were, where my neighbors
were,'' Katz said at her Hallandale Beach condominium, where she spends
half the year. The rest of the time she lives in Montreal.

"It's a terrible thing to go through such a horror. I don't feel good to go
there. It will hurt me a lot. . . I don't know how I will go in those
caves.''

Before the war, Katz (born Stermer) lived in Korolowka, Ukraine, with her
mother, father, three brothers and two sisters. When the war broke out,
about 500 Jewish families came under German occupation.

As the Nazis began killing Jews in the town, Katz's family went into hiding.
They took spots under the roof of the family's home and in other villages.

Then the Nazis rounded up the Jews from two towns into a ghetto, but
Katz's mother, Esther, believed this meant death for her family. She told
her oldest son to find a place in nearby caves, a tourist attraction before
the war.

But the first cave where they made a home for 150 days had no potable
water or ventilation to cook, and living out the winter was trying.

As the spring thaw came, Germans found potatoes and onions near the cave
that the men had tried to haul back at night, giving away the secret of the
families inside.
FLED THROUGH TUNNEL
The Gestapo came, threatening to kill those inside, and they fled through
an emergency tunnel the family had dug.

The families, including small children, searched for a new place -- some
hiding under the roof of a farmhouse -- while the young men in the group
went looking for somewhere else to conceal them. A local hunter told the
men a fox had run into a hole in a field and there might be a spot to hide.

''They went with ropes and candles to see what was there,'' Katz said. They
came upon a spot of earth and began to dig. It turned out to be Priest's
Grotto, one of the largest caverns in the world.

''They got so excited for the first time in six months,'' she said. The men
took the families -- 38 people in all -- to the cave.

Each family brought some things for survival -- her family brought a pot, a
small stove, tools and candles. It was the last time Katz saw the light of
outside for nearly a year.

Recently, Katz has had flashbacks of her horrific experience because the
hurricane shutters on the condo next door block the afternoon sun and part
of the view of the sky. ''For so many days I didn't see the daylight, now
not to see the sun,'' she said.

''It's terrible,'' she said. ''I've suffered so much. I didn't see the
daylight.'' While in the cave, they slept more than 20 hours a day,
cooking the few potatoes and water they had into soup.  Sometimes, Katz
would sing Polish songs.

The men would go out foraging every five or six weeks, bringing back grain
and wood. ''We weren't scared, we were together,'' Katz said.

"What could we do? All our village had been killed. We didn't think about
it. We couldn't worry what would happen. We were together.''

They lived in the cave until April 12, 1944, when a Ukrainian family living
in the woods left a message in a bottle at the cave: The Russians had come.

''We came out, full of mud, and walked to the city. All of the houses were
broken,'' she said, pausing for a moment. Tears come to her eyes as she
points to glossy photos of her children and grandchildren from her
grandson's wedding.

"Because of my brothers, I survived and my two grandchildren got married.''
After the war, her family went to a displaced person's camp in Germany.

That's where she met her husband, Abraham Katz, who died 18 years ago.
They married in Munich, Germany, and she had her daughter, Faye Gallat,
in 1947. Two years later the family moved to Montreal.
MIRACLES
''So many miracles and coincidences occurred for them to survive,'' said her
son, Saul Katz. Katz's children will make the trip back to the Ukraine with
her in May.

When the families left the cave, they left behind some of their
belongings -- shoes, keys, pots and pottery. In 1993, New Yorker Christos
Nicola was exploring with a Ukrainian caver when he found some of the shoes,
a millstone and earthen steps in the cave, indicating people might have
lived there.

He heard stories from local farmers that Jews lived in the cave during the
war and spent years trying to find out if people really lived there and
tracking down the families. About 10 years later, a relative of one of the
survivors contacted Nicola over the Internet.

Since then, Nicola has recorded hours of interviews with them and cowrote
the book "The Secret of Priest's Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story,"
telling the story of life in the cave.

''They only had light in the form of kerosene or candles two or three times
a day for no longer then a few minutes,'' said Nicola, who has gone inside
the caves with family members of those who survived.

"Temperature of 52 degrees, 100 percent humidity. If you're not properly
dressed [a person] can become hypothermic . . . People ask how they
survived. They taught themselves. They weren't afraid to think outside of
the box."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four Photos: Jared Lazarus/Miami Herald Staff: Holocaust survivor Yetta
Katz, 84, of Hallandale Beach, hid in underground caves in the Ukraine for
two years during World War II. Here, she wipes away tears when talking
about how her neighbor's room addition on the balcony (in the background)
blocks her view and light, and makes her feel like she's in a cave again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Lebovich: [email protected]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/294188.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
29.  UKRAINE PRESIDENT ORDERS RETURN OF 700 TORAH
SCROLLS CONFISCATED BY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT 

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent,  Israel, Sun, Oct 28, 2007

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed last week a presidential order
to return an estimated 700 Torah scrolls confiscated from Jewish communities
during the Soviet Union's Communist rule. The decision is seen as an attempt
to mollify Jewish and Israeli opinion in advance of a visit to Israel by
Yushchenko next week.

The issue of state-held Torah scrolls has touched many nerves over the last
year. The Jewish communities in Kiev and Zhitomir have been using scrolls on
loan from the government, but, a few months ago, the state archive in Kiev
demanded the return of the scrolls, citing misuse.

Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Moshe Asman, who has connections in the President's
office, intervened, and the local synagogues were allowed to continue using
the scrolls. Simultaneously, efforts were made to recover all the estimated
700 scrolls confiscated by the Communist authorities in Ukraine, culminating
in Yushchenko's order on Wednesday.

Yushchenko incurred the anger of Jewish activists two weeks ago after
honoring a Ukrainian nationalist who was also a virulent anti-Semite, and
his latest step is seen as an attempt to improve relations before his visit
to Israel next month.

The countries of the Soviet Union, especially Russia and Ukraine, still hold
considerable cultural and religious treasures - both those confiscated by
the Communists and those that were pillaged by the Nazis during World
War Two and captured later on by the Red Army.

Israeli attorney Mordehai Tzivin, who is active in cases of restitution of
Jewish cultural property, said that "we should praise President Yushchenko
for taking the feelings of the Jewish people in consideration, this was a
brave move by him. We hope that other nations of the former Soviet bloc
will take the same attitude and return the Jewish treasures they are still
holding."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917483.html
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[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
30.  UKRAINE: UGLY FACE OF EMERGING EXTREMISM

Peter Dickinson, Business Ukraine Magazine
Business Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, October 29, 2007

For centuries Ukrainian nationhood was suppressed and even erased.
Its renaissance over the past twenty years is to be broadly welcomed,
but urgent action needs to be taken to rein in an extremist fringe
which has interpreted this renewed sense of identity as license for
appalling excesses

Last week's Champions League football clash between Dynamo Kyiv and
Manchester United saw yet more violent clashes between visiting fans
and local hooligans. Manchester supporters were apparently identified
at isolated locations and systematically attacked by well-organised
gangs of skinheads who inflicted serious injuries, leaving many fans
in need of hospital treatment.

This follows on from similar scenes of coordinated violence that
accompanied the visits of the Scottish national football team and
Glasgow Celtic over the past year.
HOOLIGAN SMOKESCREEN FOR XENOPHOBIA
Football violence in itself is not a Ukrainian disease, of course,
but given the extent of similar unprovoked attacks on physically
recognisable foreigners in Ukraine over the past few years, it is clear
that a dangerous culture of xenophobic violence is emerging from
the shadows.

Earlier this month on the same day that ultra-nationalists joined a mass
march in favour of recognising the WWII-era UPA Ukrainian Insurgent
Army, a Bangladeshi man was brutally murdered in Kyiv in an apparent
racially motivated attack, while three Chinese girls were stabbed in a
separate incident.

Ukrainian officials are loathe to admit that this rising tide of violence
against foreigners is racially or nationalistically motivated, preferring
to categorise all such attacks as common hooliganism, but the organised
nature of the violence and numerous eye-witness accounts of individual
attacks, citing large groups of teenagers screaming racial epithets,
would seem to confirm that this is a far bigger and more sinister issue
than simple youthful excess.
RECRUITING THE DISAFFECTED
Kyiv's skinhead community, although embryonic compared to the alarming
underground culture in neighbouring Russia, is growing, and the number
of ultra-nationalistic pseudo-political organisations that offer
the shield of respectability to angry young men is also on the rise.

They do not have to struggle hard to find potential recruits in the
ideological laboratory that is today's Ukraine.

Young Ukrainians with few personal prospects and a smoldering resentment
at the perceived third-class status they are afforded in western Europe
make for enthusiastic recruits, while the highly uneven distribution of
Ukraine's new-found wealth only adds to the resentment.

The lack of any previous interaction with non-Europeans has also served
to heighten racial tensions since the appearance of an international
community in the 1990s.
EMBASSIES FORCED TO TAKE ACTION
Taken together, these factors make for a potent, potentially deadly
cocktail and the results have been explosive. No matter how long
the Ukrainian government turns a blind eye to the problem, there is no
denying that it has already impacted on perceptions of the country.

International organisations in Kyiv now routinely notify staff and
other members of the international community ahead of planned marches
by nationalist groups.

Many embassies have taken to advising non-white members of staff
to avoid certain areas and try not to get caught alone at night
anywhere in the city.

Non-European ambassadors who previously relished the strolling culture
of the Ukrainian capital are now reluctant to set foot outside without
protection.

It is only a matter of time before the wider world starts to view Ukraine
through the prism of racial hatred and xenophobia.

Ultimately this damaging trend could pose a threat to the opportunities
presented by Euro 2012. The coming football championships represent
a chance for Ukraine to demonstrate just how progressive and European
this country really is, and also guarantees a captive audience.

However, no matter how well the infrastructure renovation plans proceed,
if visitors are subjected to violent attacks and racial assaults, then
Ukraine will be slaughtered in the international media as a backward,
savage land to be avoided at all costs. That may well be exactly what
the thugs would like to see, but it is up to the authorities to make sure
that the interests of decent Ukrainians are protected.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.businessukraine.com.ua/ugly-face-of-emerging-extremism
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
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PUBLISHER AND EDITOR - AUR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs
Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer, The Bleyzer Foundation
Emerging Markets Private Equity Investment Group;
President, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, Washington;
Trustee, Holodomor Education & Exhibition Collection
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 903, Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: 202 437 4707
[email protected]; www.SigmaBleyzer.com
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Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
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