Ukraine commemorates Holodomor victims

Holodomor Remembrance Day is marked annually on the fourth Saturday of November under the presidential decrees of 1998 and 2007, Ukrinform reports.

In the 20th century, Ukrainians three times were subjected to a mass famine: in 1921-1923, 1932-1933, and 1946-1947. However, the Holodomor of 1932-1933 was the most devastating one – it has been recognized as the genocide of the Ukrainian people under Stalin’s regime.

The famine terror that lasted in Ukraine for 22 months took lives of almost 4 million people.

For decades, the subject of the Holodomor has been tabooed. As long as the communist regime existed, even discussing the issue of famine of those years was strictly forbidden. Research into this tragedy began only in the late 1980s.

According to the law adopted on November 28, 2006, "On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine," the famine of 1932-1933 is regarded as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people, while its public denial is recognized as an insult to the memory of millions of Holodomor victims, humiliation of dignity of the Ukrainian people, and deemed illegal. "

On December 7, 2016, Ukrainian lawmakers called on other states to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people. To date, 22 states have officially recognized the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

According to tradition, on this day, Ukrainians light candles of remembrance in their homes in honor of victims of the artificial famine.

iy