[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 165 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNITION OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932

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                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 1999

  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 starved to death in one of the cruelest acts of 
inhumanity ever recorded.
  The rich and productive soil of Ukraine once fed the world. Ukraine 
was known then as the breadbasket of Europe. It was inconceivable that 
in 1932 peasants would be forced to scavenge in harvested fields for 
food and that their diets would be reduced to nothing but potatoes, 
beets and pumpkins. Instead of planting seeds for the next crop, 
peasant 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.
  Peasants began leaving Ukraine, trying to search for food in Russia 
and other neighboring territories, but they were turned back.
  Soon, millions began to starve to death.
  As many as ten million people may have died in this famine. That's 
fully one-quarter of the people in rural Ukraine. 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 and 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. Today we honor the memory of the 
millions of victims. And we 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.

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