[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2018-E2019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMEMORATION OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MAURICE D. HINCHEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 6, 2001

  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, today, November 6, 2001, we remember one of 
the most

[[Page E2019]]

horrific events the world has ever seen: the induced famine that was 
forced on the Ukrainian people by the Soviet government between 1932 
and 1933. Ukrainians live all over the world now, but their homeland 
was under a non-conventional attack whose purpose was to eliminate the 
Ukrainian nation from existence. Seven million people were killed 
through starvation while a surplus of grain sat in warehouses. Despite 
the magnitude of this crisis, the Ukrainian Famine remains largely 
unknown outside the Ukrainian community. The truth has been hidden from 
us for far too long and now it must be brought to light.
  Under the reign of Josef Stalin, the Ukrainians resisted the 
unimaginable atrocities that befell them. After the heroic efforts of 
the Ukrainian independence movement toward the end of World War I, 
Stalin forced a famine on the ``breadbasket of Europe,'' Ukraine. One-
fourth of its population was killed during this horrendous act of 
genocide.
  A reporter from the Manchester Guardian managed to slip inside the 
famine area and described it as, ``A scene of unimaginable suffering 
and starvation.'' He witnessed the terror and suffering that the people 
endured and attempted to show it to the world. Until 1986, the Soviet 
government did not admit to the man-induced famine. For two years 
people starved to death and the survivors were forced to eat rodents, 
eat the leather from shoes, and in extreme cases they were forced to 
eat the dead. The seven million deaths over two years was the highest 
rate of death caused by any single event, including any war that the 
Ukrainian people have ever fought. There is no precedent of such a 
hideous act in recorded history.
  Ukraine and the United States have witnessed human suffering and 
newly independent Ukraine is helping the United States during our time 
of mourning. Ukrainian Americans lost people in the attacks of 
September 11 who were as innocent as those that died in the famine. 
They will join together on November 17 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in 
New York to commemorate the terrible acts perpetrated upon Ukrainians 
nearly three-quarters of a century ago. The survivors will always 
remember the past in order to prevent such suffering from occurring 
ever again.

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