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Our Life | Наше життя November | Листопад 2020 3 In the early 1930s the UNWLA was a young organization, evolving and finding its role in the Ukrainian American community as its members recovered from the effects of the Great Depression. When the horrific news of the famine in Ukraine crossed the ocean, it was no surprise that the UNWLA engaged its members to take action – but the speed and the efficiency of its work can only be deemed impressive and invaluable! Milena Rudnytska, a renowned Ukrainian civic and political activist and a deputy to the Polish Sejm, wrote an appeal to “women of all nations, countries, and continents, all classes, parties, and faiths (confessions)” that was printed in the October 1933 issue of Zhinocha Dolia , a women’s journal published in Kolomyia, Ukraine, and landed in New York in November 1933. She wrote, “we, the Ukrainian women of Galicia, are turning to you, our sisters of the World, for support and help!” The UNWLA’s extensive archives document that the organization reacted quickly and with much determination to this plea. The UNWLA led a vigorous writing campaign to bring attention to this atrocity and also created the Emergency Relief Committee for Starving Ukrainians – a concrete attempt to assist those affected. While Ukrainian Americans mobilized, the response of the American community was, unfortunately, lukewarm at best. While we will not be able to attend annual commemorations in our communities this year due to COVID-19, or to gather and acknowledge the very meaningful accomplishment of the brilliant Holodomor Memorial in Washington, DC, five years ago, one of the UNWLA’s most important missions continues to be preserving the memory of those who died or suffered during the Holodomor by sharing information about the tragedy and keeping its campaign of awareness alive. With the current issue of Our Life dedicated to the victims of the Holodomor of 1932 –1933, let’s take a moment to review some of the UNWLA’s more important accomplishments in this area: We sent copies of our archives documenting our extensive efforts in 1933 – 1934 to the US Congress Commission on the Ukrainian Famine, and dedicated an issue of Our Life to UNWLA archival materials, to document this historical period ... Funded the translation of Svicha Pamyaty, an oral history of the Ukrainian Genocide by historian Dr. Valentyna Borysenko, and mailed the translated book, A Candle in Remembrance , to leading US, Canadian, and British universities; UNWLA branches also donated copies to their local libraries ... In 2013, the UNWLA was honored as a “Pioneer of Holodomor Studies” during the New York City conference “Taking Measure of the Holodomor,” which included more than 50 of the world’s top Holodomor scholars ... Many members attended both the groundbreaking ceremony and the unveiling of the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, DC, and worked behind the scenes to ensure the success of these events ... Branch 111 in Los Angeles co-sponsored an academic symposium on the Holodomor at California State University in Fresno ... Our VP of PR led the organizing committee for the International Holodomor Forum in Philadelphia, where participants discussed strategy around such Holodomor awareness projects as curriculum, media outreach, Duranty revocation, and global recognition ... Made history in Naples, FL, last year with the opening of a Holodomor exhibition at the Holocaust Museum and Cohen Educational Center of Southwest Florida. This first-ever Holodomor exhibition at a Holocaust museum in the Western Hemisphere was curated in partnership with Branch 136 of Naples ... Took on primary financial sponsorship of the digitization of Gareth Jones’s diaries, notebooks, and photographs, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation. Jones was the Welsh reporter and eyewitness to the Holodomor who, at great personal risk, wrote the truth about the tragedy ... The UNWLA has been an active member of the US Holodomor Committee since its inception, supporting each of its “calls to action” ... UNWLA state branches have offered continued support for adding the topic of the Holodomor to social studies curricula ... Members continue to participate in annual commemorations in their local communities and to serve on their local Ukrainian Famine Committees. It is impossible to encapsulate the dedication and efforts of our organization and its members in a few paragraphs, but these examples clearly demonstrate that, as members of the UNWLA, an organization that binds generations and immigrations of women of Ukrainian descent, we continue to be steadfast in our commitment to be a vehicle of awareness and education about the Ukrainian genocide known as the Holodomor. Marianna Zajac REFLECTIONS FROM THE UNWLA PRESIDENT
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