[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2067-E2068]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONOR THE VICTIMS OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, October 10, 1998

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 stands as 
one of the most tragic events of this century.
  Millions of Ukrainian men, women and children were starved to death 
in one of the cruelest acts of inhumanity every recorded.
  Ukraine was the breadbasket of Europe. Its land was rich and 
productive. Its farmers helped to feed the world.
  So it made no sense in 1932 when peasants began to scavenge around in 
harvested fields for food--or when their diets were reduced to nothing 
but potatoes, beets and pumpkins.
  Peasants began leaving Ukraine, trying to search for food in Russia 
and other neighboring territories, but they were soon turned back.
  Instead of planting seeds for the next crop, peasants were reduced to 
feeding those seeds to their children.
  As a result, little grain was harvested for the next crop, and the 
situation grew worse.
  Soon, people began dying--millions of people.
  Incredibly, as many as ten million may have died in this famine.
  That's fully one-quarter of the people in rural Ukraine.
  Of course, the truth about the famine was not revealed for far too 
long a time.

[[Page E2068]]

  The Kremlin was starving the people of Ukraine to death, because 
Josef Stalin and the Soviet dictators wanted to avoid mass resistance 
to collectivization.
  So they killed the peasants--slowly, deliberately, diabolically--
through mass starvation.
  The West did little at the time to put an end to the man-made famine. 
They continued to buy grain at cheap prices from Russia, taking more 
food away from the Ukrainian people.
  We should never forget this tragedy.
  We should honor the memory of the millions of victims.
  And we should support the efforts of the people of Ukraine, who were 
subjected to the famine and to decades of oppressive Soviet rule, as 
they continue on their path to democracy, respect for human rights, and 
economic progress.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important 
resolution and stand together with the people of Ukraine.

                          ____________________