[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 8, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE ON 
       THE OCCASION OF THE WALK AGAINST GENOCIDE IN NEW YORK CITY

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 8, 2008

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 
75th anniversary of the genocide perpetrated on the Ukrainian people by 
Joseph Stalin's murderous Soviet regime. This month, countless 
Ukrainian-Americans and persons of goodwill, including members of the 
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the United Ukrainian 
American Organizations of New York, join together in a Walk Against 
Genocide in New York City in remembrance of the terrible events in the 
Ukraine in 1932-33 that took the lives of millions. Participants in the 
Walk are honoring the Ukrainians who perished in the famine by 
observing a moment of remembrance.
  Three quarters of a century ago, the Ukrainian genocide, also 
referred to as the Holodomor, or ``Death by Starvation,'' was 
consciously inflicted upon the Ukrainian people by the totalitarian 
tyranny of dictator Joseph Stalin. With its radical agricultural 
collectivization policies, Stalin's brutal Soviet regime caused 
widespread famine and mass starvation, systematically murdering 
millions of innocent men, women and children.
  The Holodomor was an intentional act perpetrated against the 
Ukrainians as punishment for their resistance to Soviet control. 
Evidence in the form of recently released KGB archival documents reveal 
the Soviet government's ruthless plans. The Commission on the Ukraine 
Famine created by the United States Congress in 1985 issued a report 3 
years later confirming the existence of a deliberate policy to starve 
the Ukrainian people and concluded in 1988 that ``Joseph Stalin and 
those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-1933.''
  In sheer numbers, this genocidal tragedy ranks among the worst 
examples of man's inhumanity towards man, and offers one of history's 
starkest examples of the devastation that is wrought by oppressive 
governments when they use food as a weapon. The Holodomor was perhaps 
the greatest national catastrophe in the history of the Ukraine, and 
its emotional repercussions still affect the Ukrainian people to this 
day.
  By remembering that horrific period, we work towards a day when such 
atrocities will never again occur in the world. This year, the 75th 
anniversary of the famine was commemorated in Kiev and indeed 
throughout the world. All Americans should join in remembering this 
historical atrocity and resolve to act against future crimes against 
humanity. The Walk Against Genocide not only serves to commemorate the 
innocent men, women and children of the Ukraine who lost their lives, 
but also to take a stand against acts of genocide that still occur in 
the world today. The Walk Against Genocide is thus an uplifting 
manifestation of the enduring resilience of the human spirit.
  Madam Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me in 
saluting the participants in the Walk Against Genocide and in 
recognizing the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the United 
Ukrainian American Organizations of New York on the occasion of the 
75th anniversary commemorating the Ukrainian genocide.

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