Human Remains in Lviv Confirmed to Be Those of 1947 Famine Victims
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
INSIDE: • “2007: THE YEAR IN REVIEW” – pages 5-35. HE KRAINIAN EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXXVI No. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2008 $1/$2 in Ukraine Human remains in Lviv confirmed Ukraine’s president addresses the nation to be those of 1947 famine victims at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 by Larysa Marchuk Train Stations and Surrounding KYIV – President Viktor Special to The Ukrainian Weekly Territories of Socially Declassified Yushchenko delivered his Elements.” customary New Year’s LVIV – The remains of 500 victims With every passing day, the number address to the nation on of the 1947 famine and Soviet persecu- of people grew and they began over- January 1, speaking at St. tion found near the Pidzamche train sta- whelming the streets of Lviv, the report Sophia Square, and in the tion in Lviv were confirmed in said. waning days of 2007 held his December 2007 by the All-Ukrainian Many froze to death, while several annual press conference on Organization Memorial. hundred were forced by the Soviets national priorities. Excavations reaching between 16 onto cargo wagons and sent to Kharkiv. Speaking on December and 23 feet deep near the station The remainder were allowed onto the 27, 2007, the president unearthed the bones and skeletons of Pidzamche train station territory in expressed his confidence that victims who fled the famine from the order to clear the central station. the democratic coalition and Bessarabia, Bukovyna, Podillia and “I was familiar with people fleeing government would be able to Polissia regions. the famine in the Khmelnytskyi and work successfully. “I think “At the expense of the Lviv railway Vinnytsia oblasts,” Mr. Dubas said. we have a unique opportuni- administration, 250 coffins have been “They tried not to remain in Lviv, ty to present new, concerted prepared for the victims, with the same where the NKVD hunted them, but and effective work of demo- Official Website of the President of Ukraine number remaining to be prepared,” said immediately went to Halychyna vil- cratic forces during the next President Viktor Yushchenko during his press confer- Yevhen Hryniv, the assistant chair of lages and found work among propri- two years,” he stated. ence on national priorities, which was held on Memorial. etors.” Mr. Yushchenko also December 27, 2007. The organization uncovered archives It was only those who had enough addressed such issues as the and historical documents, and inter- strength who managed to find work. appointment of local authorities, which he The December 27, 2007, press confer- viewed witnesses who remember the said must be done without politicizing ence was held at the Ukrainian Home in arrival of close to 900,000 people in “I remember how that winter a 14- year-old girl from the Vinnytsia Oblast such appointments; the moratorium on Kyiv. western Ukraine in the winter of 1946- land sales, which he said should be lifted; On January 1 the president began his 1947, he said. pleaded for work,” Ms. Dubas said. “I still remember her name, Hania pre-term local elections, which he said New Year’s address to the nation by con- Among the witnesses was Mykola must be held in keeping with the law; and Dubas, a writer in Lviv who recalled Babych. She lived with us and helped veying “words of love, gratitude, support with tending the farm, and we fed her.” compensation for losses of Soviet-era sav- and respect to each of you.” seeing passenger trains and cargo wag- ings, which he said should be made with- ons arriving from Kharkiv with people Those who were too weak or ill He noted that 2007 was a difficult year: filled the train stations and begged on out harming 2008 budget indices or the hanging on all sides, on the roofs and economic stability of the country. (Continued on page 36) even riding underneath the cars. the city streets, Mr. Hryniv said. The Many of them died and “frozen flood of hungry people was so large corpses lay along the sides of the rail- that officials couldn’t handle it. road,” Mr. Dubas said. “There were Death squadrons surrounded the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus many especially around the Krasne sta- Pidzamche station, forced the people tion near Lviv, because in that area, the onto the rail station’s side facing the bridge was very low and people who Vysokyi Zamok (High Castle) hill and urges President Bush to visit Ukraine rode on the train’s roof fell off there promised trains would arrive. Trapped and died.” by the NKVD and deprived of help, by Vera M. Andryczyk Other members of Congress who Snow had already begun falling dur- these people slowly died at the station signed the letter to President Bush dated from disease, cold and hunger, Mr. WASHINGTON – Following a meet- December 20, 2007, include: Tim Holden ing that particularly frigid winter. The ing in Washington with representatives of Hryniv said (D-Pa.), Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.), 1947 famine was regional and emerged the Ukrainian Federation of America, Searches and excavations of the Steven R. Rothman (D-N.J.), Chris Smith as a result of extraordinary tempos of Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) agreed collectivization. famine victims’ remains took two years, (R-N.J.), Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.), to be the lead sponsor on a letter to As evidence pointing to the Soviet he said. The Lviv railway administra- Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.), Lincoln President George W. Bush urging him to government’s role in murdering the 500 tion actively helped and supported Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Joe Knollenberg (R- visit Ukraine either before or after the victims, Mr. Hryniv referred to a report Memorial’s efforts. Mich.), Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), prepared by a Gen. Voronin, who led In the process of identifying the NATO Summit in Bucharest in April. Rep. Gerlach noted that President Bush Allyson S. Schwartz (D-Pa.), Candice S. the Lviv NKVD (People’s human bones, a local prosecutor led a Miller (R-Mich.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), judicial-medical analysis and Lviv had previously mentioned a possible visit Commissariat for Internal Affairs) at James R Langevine (D-R.I.), Charles W. Medical Academy experts helped in to Ukraine prior to the last NATO the time. Dent (R-Pa.), Tom Davis (R-Va.) and People from Ukraine’s oblasts to the determining there were 500 victims, Summit, which was held in Budapest in among them 96 adolescents and chil- June 2007. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.). east and Bessarabia filled the square of The letter stated in part: “As the NATO the Lviv passenger train station, the dren. Congressman Gerlach approached summit in April 2008 approaches, we report stated. “Covered with lice and Bullet holes were present in 29 other members of the Congressional respectfully ask that you consider making plagued with typhus, they are burning skulls. Among the items found were Ukrainian Caucus to join him in signing benches and fences,” the report said. crosses, medallions and Soviet kopeks the letter. Ukraine Caucus Co-Chairs a visit to Ukraine as a sign of support for They were burning wood, presumably issued in 1945 and 1946. Gerlach, Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Roscoe this newly elected, pro-reform, pro-West to keep warm. Memorial has informed the Bartlett (R-Md.) and Marcy Kaptur (D- government and the Ukrainian people. “On the night of March 20, 1947, Presidential Secretariat about its dis- Ohio) were joined by 16 other members Given that you have cited the Orange alone, more than 2,500 people gathered covery and will hold a May requiem of the caucus in urging the president to Revolution as an expansion of democracy at the train station.” service to rebury the victims at Lviv’s visit Kyiv as a sign of support for abroad that the United States should sup- Local nationalists were giving them Lychakiv Cemetery. Ukraine’s new pro-reform, Western-ori- port, your visit to Ukraine would under- literature, something the government Among the survivors was Ms. ented government and its commitment to score and reinforce the pro-democracy most feared, Mr. Hryniv said. Babych, who returned home in the sum- democracy, the rule of law and member- efforts in that Central European country A February 1947 document obtained mer of 1947. “A year later, her parents ship for Ukraine in both the European and would further solidify the growing by Memorial described how NKVD visited us and brought a gift – a bag of Union and NATO. relationship between our two nations.” forces received the order to “Clean dried apples,” Mr. Dubas recalled. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2008 No. 2 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Yushchenko’s choice of Bohatyriova Coal mining industry to be audited (plots of land, shares in joint stock compa- nies where the state’s stake does not leads to rumors about split in PRU KYIV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia exceed 50 percent, houses and apart- Tymoshenko said on January 8 that she ments), or using the deposits to repay will order a comprehensive financial audit by Pavel Korduban PRU’s list for the 2007 parliamentary housing and utility bills. (RFE/RL of the coal-mining industry’s operations election. She chaired the PRU caucus in Newsline) Eurasia Daily Monitor over the past five years, RFE/RL’s the Verkhovna Rada before the election, Ukrainian Service reported. Ms. Yulia: Naftohaz near bankruptcy Ukrainian President Viktor and she has been the PRU’s main candi- Tymoshenko instructed the Control and Yushchenko has appointed Raisa date for the post of Parliament’s vice- Audit Department, the Audit Chamber and KYIV – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Bohatyriova as secretary of the National chair.