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“The Emergency Relief Committee for Starving Ukrainians.” Dr. Neonilia Pelecovich was elected chair, and other UNWLA members were elected to serve on the committee. Among them were Pavlyna Avramenko, Petrunella Kostetski, and Julia Jarema. A Committee of Honor was formed, and distinguished individuals within the Ukrainian and American communities were invited to become members of this committee and assist the UNWLA in its relief efforts. Many prominent Ukrainians responded to the UNWLA’s appeal and agreed to serve on the commit tee. Also among those who agreed to serve on the committee were Florence G. Cassidy, Foreign Com munities Secretary of the YMCA, and writer Carveth Wells. Not all of those invited, however, agreed to help in any formal capacity. Some did not even respond to the invitation. Others, while not interested in being part of the committee, were willing to help. One of the latter was sculptor Alexander Archipenko, who donated one of his sculptures to be raffled off to help the starving Ukrainians. Soon after the committee was formed, Dr. Pelecovich and the committee members prepared a memo randum on the famine in Ukraine. The text of the memorandum follows: “During the past year, several millions of the inhabitants of Ukraine under the Soviets have died from actual starvation, ” so reports Professor Richard Sallet of Northwestern Univer sity of Chicago. The existence of the terrible famine in Ukraine has been repeatedly proven by the leading European and American press. Although we are grief-stricken at the realization that millions of our kinsmen have starved to death, and other millions are facing the same terrible doom, of particular horror to us is the shocking condition of the children of Ukraine, whose tender years are no defense to the cruelty and rapacity o f the Bolshevik oppressors of the Ukrainian people. Perhaps no other children have suffered so terribly and for such a long period of time. Carveth Wells, in his recent book, the “Kapoot, ” states: “We ourselves happened to be passing through Ukraine and the Caucasus in the very midst of the famine in July, 1932. From the train windows, children could be seen eating grass. The sight of small children with stomachs enormously distended is not at all uncommon in Africa or other tropical countries, but this was the first time I have ever seen white children in such a state. ” And therefore, in view of all of these circumstances, so briefly outlined, and further in view of the fact that the Bolshevik authorities in their efforts to screen this terrible famine do not permit the sending of any help whatsoever to the famine-stricken Ukraine, we, American women of Ukrainian descent appeal and beg of you to take measures leading toward the establishment of a Red Cross base in Ukraine, which shall serve as a medium of help sent by Ukrainians and other peoples throughout the world. The memorandum was signed by Helen Lototsky, president of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, and by Nellie Pelecovich and Petrunella Kostetski, chair and secretary of the Emergency Relief Committee. On November 21, 1933, this memorandum was sent to President Franklyn D. Roosevelt. A reply, from the office of the Acting Secretary of State, came from Robert F. Kelley, Chief, Department of State, Washington Division of Eastern European Affairs, who acknowledged receipt of the memorandum. Mr. Kelley noted that he would bring the matter to the attention of the President. A second letter from the ad ministration, dated December 15, 1933, stated that “there does not appear to be any measure which this Government can appropriately take at the present time in this matter.” It too was signed by Robert F. Kelley. The committee then sent a letter to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt: We the Ukrainian mothers and sisters of America, having in mind the precious lives of our dear ones, appeal to you as to a mother who will appreciate our apprehension of the future of our sisters in Soviet Ukraine, where they and their children are doomed to death from starvation. We would like to quote the massive correspondence of our dying friends, relatives, and their children, but space does not permit. We beseech you to consider the enclosed text of the heart rending conditions depicted in the memorandum. Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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