OREGON LAWS 2017 SCR 3

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 3 tablishment of Ukraine’s national identity and the advancement of efforts to establish a democratic and free Ukraine that is fully integrated into the West- Whereas the Ukrainian famine-genocide of ern community of nations; and 1932-1933, known as Holodomor, was a man-made Whereas whether it was political oppression or famine that caused the deaths of at least five million religious persecution that caused Ukrainian immi- innocent men, women and children in Ukraine, re- grants to pursue better lives for themselves and sulting in the annihilation of an estimated 25 per- their families, their desire to live in peace and enjoy cent of the rural population of that country, at the liberty was so strong that it drew generations of time one of the most productive agricultural areas Ukrainian immigrants to Oregon and elsewhere in of the Soviet Union; and the United States in an effort to rebuild their lives; Whereas the man-made famine also resulted in and the deaths of an estimated one million to two million Whereas Oregon is now home to tens of thou- people in regions outside Ukraine, mostly in the sands of Ukrainian-Americans, and Ukrainians liv- largely ethnically Ukrainian North Caucasus terri- ing in Oregon have enriched our state through their tory; and leadership and contributions in agriculture, business, Whereas these people were starved to death by academia, government and the arts; and forced agricultural collectivization and grain sei- Whereas since 2006, Ukraine has marked the zures by the Soviet Union; and fourth Saturday of November as an annual day of Whereas Western observers and scholars who commemoration for the victims of the famine; and accurately reported on the existence of the famine Whereas in August 2015, a memorial to the as it was occurring were subjected to disparagement millions who perished in the Holodomor was erected and criticism; and in Washington, D.C., and the dedication ceremony Whereas the Soviet Union and many scholars in took place in November of the same year; now, the West denied the existence of the famine until therefore, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 made access Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of to Soviet Union archives, and thereby the documen- the State of Oregon: tation of the premeditated nature of the famine and That the millions of victims of the man-made its harsh enforcement, possible; and Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-1933, known as Whereas the final report, delivered to Congress Holodomor, should be solemnly remembered and on April 22, 1988, of the United States Commission honored; and be it further on the Ukraine Famine concluded that the victims Resolved, That we, the members of the Seventy- “starved to death in a man-made famine”; and ninth Legislative Assembly, designate Saturday, No- Whereas although the famine resulted in one of vember 25, 2017, as Holodomor Remembrance Day in the largest losses of human life in the 20th century, Oregon and encourage individuals, educators, busi- its occurrence remains insufficiently known in the nesses, groups, organizations and public institutions United States and throughout the world; and to observe Holodomor Remembrance Day with ap- Whereas the official recognition of the famine by propriate activities designed to honor the victims the government of Ukraine, including by the and educate Oregonians about this tragedy. country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Filed in the office of Secretary of State June 26, 2017 Ukraine, represents a significant step in the rees-

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