Delegates of XI UWC Congress participated in state commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor

On 24 November 2018, at the National Cultural-Art Museum Complex “Mystetskyi Arsenal” in Kyiv, the International Forum “Ukraine remembers! The world acknowledges!” was held to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor with the participation of delegates to the XI Ukrainian World Congress (UWC). UWC President Eugene Czolij addressed this forum.

In his address, the UWC President noted that 85 years ago Soviet dictator Stalin created hell on earth in Ukraine, and that the Holodomor-Genocide was a deliberate act of Stalin’s totalitarian regime against the Ukrainian people. He highlighted that the aim of the Holodomor was to liquidate the clergy, intelligentsia, and Ukrainian peasants, while protecting themselves from the resistance of the Ukrainians and the threat of a liberation struggle of the Ukrainian nation for its independence. Eugene Czolij also noted that today, the Russian Federation continues its hybrid war against Ukraine so as to, just as in the 1930s, break its will. Therefore, the UWC President concluded that  the international action “Light a candle of remembrance”, initiated by the UWC with its Ukrainian partners in 85 countries over 85 days with the goal of achieving recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide, is an important part of combating today’s military aggression against Ukraine and the values of humanity.

This forum concluded with a video featuring the international action “Light a candle of remembrance.”

Delegates to the XI UWC Congress also participated in the ceremony “Light a candle of remembrance” at the Holodomor Victims Memorial where hierarchy and clergy of Ukrainian Churches celebrated a requiem in memory of all victims of the Holodomor. Afterword, the President of Ukraine, high-ranking international guests and the UWC President, joined by all participants lit candles of remembrance.

The text of the UWC President’s address can be read HERE.

Video of the entire event can be viewed HERE with the address of the UWC President from 1:00:23 до 1:04:45 and the video “Light a candle of remembrance” from 1:04:45 to 1:07:50.

Video of the participation of the UWC President in the “Light a candle of remembrance” ceremony can be viewed HERE (from 2:18:55 to 2:19:31).

Prior to International Holodomor Memorial Day representatives of the diaspora participated in two additional events in the framework of the International Forum “Ukraine remembers! Тhe world acknowledges!” – a two-day academic symposium on the Holodomor on 22-23 November 2018 and a special session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 23 November 2018, during which UWC Secretary General and Chair of the International Holodomor Coordinating Committee Stefan Romaniw delivered an address.

Video of the entire session can be viewed HERE with the presentation by UWC Secretary General and Chair of the International Holodomor Coordinating Committee from 1:22:52 to 1:29:00.