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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Vol. LX JUNE 2003 Editor: TAMARA STADNYCHENKO FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT On the 70th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ukraine of 1932-33, the Ukrainian government is discuss ing plans for a museum to honor the victims and to memorialize the tragedy that claimed so many lives and had such devastating consequences on the nation. The museum is to be a monument, a historical record of terrible events that have remained hidden or ignored for too many decades. It is a plan that is long overdue. In 1932-33 Stalin murdered seven million Ukrainians by starvation. The Bolsheviks denied the existence of the famine and the world did not wish to see what was occurring or to hear the cries of the men, women, and children dying as an evil regime allowed the county that was called the bread basket of Europe to starve. In September 1933, the League of Nations held a closed meeting about the famine. Questions about the famine were raised in the British Parliament. A resolution condemning the famine was approved by the 73rd Con gress of the United States on May 28, 1934. All of these actions were useless; in reality, the Soviet Union was never called to account for its acts of terror against the Ukrainian people. None of countries in which the matter was recognized or acknowledged offered to help the victims of the famine; no sanctions against the Soviet regime were proposed or enacted. To the contrary, the matter was dismissed as an "internal affair" that could not be influ enced or regulated by other nations of the world. The United States, despite the Congressional resolution of 1934, acknowledged the Soviet government and accorded the Soviet Union diplomatic status. In 1934, the Soviet Union was invited to become a member of the League of Nations. In November 1933, the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America formed an Emergency Relief Committee, chaired by Dr. Neonilia Pelecovich. The Committee invited prominent members of the Ukrainian community to serve as honorary advisers and members. One member of the Committee was Carveth Wells, a popu lar writer. His book Kapoot describes his travels from Leningrad to eastern Turkey. Traveling through Ukraine and the Caucasus, Wells was an eyewitness to the horrors of the famine. In his book, he describes children eating grass, and people of all ages swollen from starvation. To disseminate information about the famine, the Committee published a brochure entitled “Ukrainians accuse the government of Soviet Russia.” Their efforts to tell the world about the terrible events in Ukraine were given little attention. Here and there, they were supported by journalists who reported truthfully about the situation. Among these was Malcolm Muggeridge who brought the Famine to the attention of the British Parliament. But other journalists chose to ignore the famine or to minimize it for personal or political reasons. The most notorious of these was W. Duranty. In the March 31, 1933 edition of the New York Times, Duranty wrote that there was no famine in Ukraine and that all those insisting there was a famine were exaggerating and engaging in false propa ganda. His account was generally accepted by the American public. Duranty was later awarded the prestigious Pul itzer Prize for his articles on the Soviet Union. A Memorandum on the Famine was written by the Committee and was sent to U.S. President F. D. Roose velt and his wife Eleanor, to the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, to the International Red Cross and the U.S. Red Cross, to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, to various religious and charitable institutions, and to the media. Replies came from the President’s office and from F. Kelley, State Department, Chief, Division of Eastern European Affairs, saying that the United States saw no possible way to help. The Saturday Evening Post wrote that no space was available to publish such information. From Eleanor Roosevelt there was no reply whatsoever. She later wrote a personal letter to L. Margolin-Hansen that she was aware of the famine, but could not do anything about it. The Red Cross responded but did not commit itself to offering any real assistance. Others acknowledged “НАШ Е Ж ИТТЯ”, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 2003 7
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