Remembering the
Ukrainian Holocaust
Remarks by Hon. David Kilgour,
Member of Parliament for Edmonton – Mill
Woods - Beaumont
City Hall
Edmonton
November 27, 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen –
DOBRA DEN
Permit me to extend my
heartfelt sympathy to the community on
this solemn occasion commemorating the
Ukrainian holocaust of 1932-1933.
We are gathered here
today to remember one of the cruellest
chapters in the long history of Ukraine
and the twentieth century.
Seventy-one years ago,
the Ukrainian people became victims of a
conscious and deliberate genocide, the
full nature of which has few precedents
the history of humankind.
In order to destroy the
Ukraine’s then aspiration towards
independence, and to crush its
opposition to collectivization, Joseph
Stalin resorted to the physical
extinction of most probably ten million
human beings by starvation.
Ten million is the
estimate of the Historical Research
Group Memorial.
A report by a prominent
Belgian daily, Le Flandre Liberale,
published on September 2, 1933, captured
graphically the tragedy then unfolding
in Ukraine.
“…So Ukraine is dying.
The Ukrainians are dying of hunger.
This is a great calamity not only for
the culture of Russia, Europe and even
the world. For this dying land was once
a great production centre of
agriculture. The soil is not changed,
only the people have. This is where we
have to look for the causes of the great
drama in which a whole nation has become
a sacrificial victim.”
Stalin’s inhumanity was
taking place right before the eyes of
the democratic world. With few
exceptions, most world leaders of the
day chose to look the other way and
remain silent – to their enduring
shame. By the way, I understand that
there has never been a famine in a
genuine democracy! How the famine in
Ukraine and the current election
problems in Ukraine relate and you will
all understand very well.
But, the terrible
atrocity and the suffering of the World
War II did not break the spirit of the
proud Ukrainian people. In the face of
this terrible hardship and oppression,
Ukraine rose from the devastation like
the mythical phoenix.
In 1991, the whole world
watched the spectacular rebirth of the
country for so long under foreign
oppression. Today, Ukraine faces
another challenge - a new threat to its
democracy…in large part from Moscow –
and this time from that great democrat
from the KGB, Mr. Putin.
Permit me to repeat from
what I said in Kiev on November 4th
about Mr. Putin’s repeated interferences
in the Ukraine election:
“How can President Putin
and his government treat Ukraine as if
it were today a province of Russia
during this very important presidential
campaign?
“Here are only a few of
his well-known interferences with the
election thus far, which have been
brought to the attention of our
delegation:
“Three days before the
first vote on October 31, President
Putin came to Kiev to support Viktor
Yanukovych. Leaders of democratic
countries do not interfere openly in the
elections of other countries. This is
why Paul Martin, our own Prime Minister,
did not come to Kiev recently although
he was in the region – to avoid giving
anyone the impression that he was
interfering in your election.”
“As everyone knows,
government-owned television stations in
Russia, which broadcast into this
country, are campaigning openly for Mr.
Yanukovych. Our delegation was told
that there are billboards up in central
Moscow which give the same message. Is
such interference not shockingly
inappropriate to any fair-minded
democrat anywhere? It is.”
“There are, as you know,
good indications that Mr. Putin’s
advisors are working for Mr. Yanukovych.
Russian money – large amounts of it –
has evidently also been enlisted in the
same cause. If so, are such tactics not
illegal under Ukraine’s election laws –
and back firing with proud Ukrainians
everywhere in this country?”
“One young Kiev resident,
who voted for Mr. Yanukovych in the
first round, told me that she is
concerned about the role of Mr. Putin in
Ukraine’s election. Another Kiev
resident, who did not even vote in round
one, is so appalled by Mr. Putin and the
abuses by President Kuchma’s government
that he said he will vote in round two.”
“In conclusion, the role
of our delegation is not to support any
candidate. Like all international
observers, we want only to see a free
and fair run-off election after the
abuses evident in the first in some
oblasts such as Lubansk.”
“It was not encouraging
to learn yesterday that eleven senior
officials, who are responsible for the
counting of the votes, were fired
without explanation when all of
them are in oblasts where voters
favoured Mr. Yushchenko. Election
fairness must not only exist, but must
be seen to exist by voters. That is the
goal of all fair-minded democrats in
this election”
In closing, thank you to
the community for again holding this
event. We must do it always.
God bless Ukraine!
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