[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 154 (Thursday, November 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        68TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN FAMINE OF 1932 TO 1933

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                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 8, 2001

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 68th 
anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932 to 1933, which took the 
lives of at least seven million Ukrainians.
  It is too little known that 68 years ago leaders of the former Soviet 
Union deliberately employed the ruthless policies of forced 
collectivization and grain seizures to suppress and politically 
neutralize the Ukrainian people. The Soviets hoped to crush the 
nationalist spirit of Ukraine and replace it with a politically 
homogeneous Russian realm.
  Historians have named this the ``harvest of sorrow.'' Harvests in the 
early 1930s yielded solid crops but the Soviets imposed such harsh 
levies on the crops that villages were often left with nothing. The 
situation worsened when border checkpoints were established to prevent 
starving Ukrainians from entering Russia, and to prevent any food from 
being brought into Ukraine.
  More than seven million people were cruelly starved to death because 
of these repressive measures. Survivors spoke of eating weeds and the 
bark of trees to survive and of Red Army soldiers confiscating food and 
livestock from the people. Eyewitnesses reported the depopulation of 
entire villages.
  Even today the Ukrainian population has not yet fully recovered. For 
decades after these events, the deaths were covered up and this man-
made atrocity denied by the government of the former Soviet Union. 
Today we remember.
  As Ukraine celebrates its 10th year of independence this year, public 
recognition of the famine is vitally important. A national 
commemorative service will be held on Saturday, November 17, 2001, at 
St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
  We must remember and do everything we can to prevent similar 
tragedies from happening again.

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