The Romanian version of the book Why Did He Destroy Us? was recently launched in Bucharest. The book, published in the original Russian as part of The Day’s Library Series, was presented by the author Stanislav Kulchytsky, who is the deputy director of the Institute of Ukrainian History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Kornelia Luskalova, cultural attache at the Embassy of Ukraine in Romania, told The Daythat the book launch at the embassy and the roundtable debate “The Holodomor in Ukraine, 1932-1933: the Need for International Condemnation” was attended by members of the Romanian parliament, historians, researchers from the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania and the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism, representatives of various civic organizations, former president of Romania Emil Constantinescu, who is the leader of the People’s Action Party, as well as local officials and members of the mass media.
“The reason why there is such great interest in the book is that the Romanian public has insufficient knowledge about the Holodomor, so there is a need to disseminate information about the Holodomor,” the attache emphasized. According to Luskalova, representatives of Romanian anticommunist organizations have called for joint efforts against totalitarianism. “When the book was being launched, Romanian pro-democracy organizations and institutes specializing in the struggle against communist regimes promised to support Ukraine’s efforts in the international arena, express sympathy, urge the Romanian parliament and the government to officially classify this phenomenon as genocide, and condemn the Holodomor in Ukraine,” Luskalova said.
It is expected that the local authorities will give broad support to the Inextinguishable Candle campaign in Romania so that all Romanians will know about the Ukrainian tragedy. This is a clear indication that studies of Stalinism and the Holodomor are important to our state’s southern neighbor. In recent months, Europe has witnessed a veritable struggle around this subject. In spite of Russia’s stand and thanks to the efforts of some European politicians, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has resolved to place the question of the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people on the agenda of its fall session.
The struggle around this subject has spilled over to newspapers, a clear sign that Western countries are examining this question. On June 23, 2008, The Times (UK) carried an editorial titled “Ukraine: Long Memories” (sub- headline: The millions who starved under Stalin should not be forgotten” (reprinted in Den on June 24).
Meanwhile, on Moscow’s part there is a markedly different reaction to such articles and Ukraine’s attempts to analyze the past. The latest example is the response to the Times editorial by Yury Fedotov, the Russian Federation’s Ambassador to the UK. In a letter to the British newspaper, dated June 27, he accuses Ukraine of “historical revisionism,” noting that “...Russia rejects attempts to classify and commemorate the famine as a genocide perpetrated against the Ukrainian people. It is no surprise that the many millions of Russians who count their forebears among the victims are objecting so strongly to this manipulation of history. The tragedy is being distorted deliberately in order to further a nationalistic political agenda in Ukraine and therefore drive a wedge between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.”
This is a strange reaction. Well-known Ukrainian historians and public figures have repeatedly stated that Ukrainians are not blaming the Russian people, just the Stalinist regime. Don’t they hear this or is it a case of them not wanting to hear it? Or do they not see a difference?
This state of affairs gives rise to the following question: why are Russian politicians trying to thwart Ukraine’s attempts to tell the world the absolute truth about the Holodomor? Why are they defending Stalinism?
COMMENTARY
Yurii SHCHERBAK, former Ambassador of Ukraine to the US:
“Following his government’s instructions, the Russian ambassador in London, Mr. Fedotov, is trying to accuse Ukraine of ‘historical revisionism’ in his letter to The Times .
“This is a very strange, if not cynical, position, to put it mildly. Can you imagine the government of Poland, where the Nazis killed millions of Poles and Jews during World War II, accusing the state of Israel, which honors the memory of Holodomor victims, of ‘deliberately distortions in order to further a nationalistic political agenda and drive a wedge between the Polish and Jewish peoples?’ Is this absurd? But this is precisely the ‘logic’ of Russian officials, who are denying Ukrainians the right to honor the memory of their ancestors, who were destroyed by the Stalinist regime during the Holodomor years.
“I know about this tragedy not only from hearsay: two of my grandmothers and one grandfather starved to death in 1933. The Holodomor bore all the signs of genocide because in Ukraine it was aimed precisely against the peasantry and the Ukrainian intelligentsia, the nation’s social backbone. I am convinced that every nation (Kazakhs, Russians, et al.) has the right to honor the memory of its Stalinist victims and to assess the past in its own way. The only thing that Russia has no right to do is dictate its will to the former nations of the USSR by exonerating Stalin as a ‘successful manager’ and trying to cast his bloody crimes into oblivion.”
Iulian CHIFU , director of the Conflict Prevention Center, Bucharest:
“This is a really interesting subject. It is important for us to know what happened in those years. The Romanian parliament has already condemned communism and all its consequences. I think that the Ukrainian president, government, and parliament should also fully condemn communism, the entire period of socialism, and its consequences. I am speaking about the entire period of communist rule in the former Soviet Union, not about one historical fact. At the same time, one should not forget that the achievement of independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union was a cause for celebration for Ukraine. Meanwhile, for the other part of the USSR, especially Moscow, it was a most terrible day when the imperialist idea was shattered. Having experienced the Holodomor in 1932-33, Ukraine should go on to condemn all Soviet-era crimes, not only the Holodomor.
“I think that Russia is positioning itself as the successor to the former Soviet Union, in the literal sense of the word, with due account of its own interests. Moscow apparently has not ruled out the possibility that Ukraine and the Ukrainian citizens who lost family members can raise the question of not only acknowledging what happened at that time but also the question of financial compensation by the Russian Federation as the successor to the communist state. That is why I think that Russia is reacting to this type of pressure: Moscow may find itself in a situation where it will have to issue compensation for all the evil that was perpetrated during the Holodomor not just in Ukraine but also in Russia.
“PACE has already passed a resolution condemning communism. The European Union and the European Parliament should support Ukraine’s attempts to have the Holodomor classified as a crime and, in general, to have the entire period of communist rule in the ex-USSR condemned, so that this acknowledgement will close this part of history and reconcile the peoples who were involved in those events.”
