PRESS RELEASE

UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS URGES INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF HOLODOMOR

         In its recent correspondence with the Chairman of the “Bundestag” of Germany dated September 24, 2007, the Ukrainian World Congress stated, “In 2007-8 the world community will commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine, when more than 7,000,000 Ukrainian men, women and children lost their lives. This tragedy was not the result of a natural disaster, but the consequence of a calculated policy by the Soviet communist regime under Josef Stalin in Moscow to break the will of the Ukrainian people. To date some ten non-Ukrainian parliaments have passed resolutions condemning this event as Genocide against the Ukrainian people and instructing their appropriate ministries to develop an educational program on this subject. We request that you manifest your concern and solidarity by passing a similar resolution in the parliament of Germany. In the contemporary world, the most effective defense against intolerance and oppression is joined cooperation and the good will of the world community. We humbly request that you consider our request as an attempt to foster a better understanding among nations.” The UWC letter was accompanied by sample text of a resolution in the German language. Copies of the UWC correspondence were forwarded to representatives of all political parties constituting the parliament of Germany.

     Recently, similar letters with sample texts had been forwarded to the parliaments of France, Greece and Italy. To date Australia, Argentina, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Peru, Poland, Spain and the United States have enacted similar resolutions commemorating the 1932-33 Holodomor. The UWC has made model resolutions available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian.

October 9, 2007               

Contact: Askold S. Lozynskyj