75th Anniversary -Ukrainian Genocide-Holodomor
Commemoration Committee - Chicago

"HOLODOMOR"- Ukrainian term for "death by starvation"
Ukrainians refer to the Genocide of 1932-1933 as the Holodomor.  The term "genocide" was not introduced into language until 1947.
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UGFF-USA, Inc. 2008
Katya Mischenko-Mycyk
webmaster

International Holodomor Remembrance Flame Torch
Ukrainian Genocide Monument - Bloomifgdale, IL
Sunday, May 11, 2008

BLOOMINGDALE, IL
Katya Mischenko-Mycyk

It was a windy and wet Sunday when the International Holodomor Remembrance Flame Torch visited the Chicagoland Ukrainian Genocide Monument on
Sunday May 11th, 2008.  The Monument, the only one of its kind in Illinois, is located on the grounds of St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church.  It was
built by funds raised by the Chicagoland Ukrainian-American Community as a permanent memorial to the over 10 million victims of the Ukrainian
Genocide of 1932-1933.

The Monument depicts a starving Ukrainian mother sitting beneath a granite cross with her emaciated child curled up across her lap and truly echoes
the pain and suffering of the Ukrainian nation during the 1932-1933 Genocide.  It was appropriate that the International Holodomor Remembrance
Flame visited the Monument on Mother’s Day given that one third of all children born during the Ukrainian Genocide died of starvation.

Following Sunday’s liturgy, the International Holodomor Remembrance Flame Torch was lit inside St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church and was
carried out to the Monument by Consulate General Vasyl Korzachenko and Lida Tkaczuk.  Ms. Tkaczuk was one of the Co-Chairs of the Chicagoland
International Holodomor Flame Torch Relay event that took place at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago on Saturday, May 10th, 2008.
A memorial wreath, carried by Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation – USA President Nicholas Mischenko and St. Andrew’s parishioner Olha
Diachenko, followed behind the Torch.  The wreath was placed at the base of the Monument as a tribute to the memory of the Ukrainians whose lives
were abruptly taken from them during the Ukrainian Genocide.

A short panachyda memorial service was sung by the St. Andrew Choir and Father Bohdan Kalyniuk.  Following the panchyda, Consulate General Vasyl
Korzachenko gave a moving speech about the cultural impact of the Ukrainian Genocide on the generations of Ukrainians who were born after the
genocide.  Consulate General Korzachenko stressed the importance of never forgetting this tragic page of Ukrainian history and the importance of
teaching each new generation about the price that Ukrainians had to pay for their freedom.

The International Holodomor Remembrance Flame Torch was handed over to Ukrainian Genocide survivors Luba Maleshyk and George Kolomayets.  
Mrs. Maleshyk and Mr. Kolomayets carried the Torch to the base of the Monument where a separate torch was set into the ground waiting to be lit from
the International Holodomor Remembrance Flame Torch.  Unfortunately, the stormy weather prevented the Holodomor Remembrance Flame from being
transferred to the Monument’s torch.

None the less, those who braved the elements during the memorial ceremony stood witness to the International Holodomor Remembrance Flame’s final
stop in Illinois before departing on to the next leg of its international public awareness campaign – Detroit, Michigan.  The Torch will eventually arrive in
Kyiv, Ukraine in November of 2008 to officially commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933.



Photos of the Millennium Park Event and the Ukrainian Genocide Monument in Bloomingdale, IL Event are viewable by clicking the navigation bar below:
                                       (The Ukrainian Genocide Monument event can be found in Torch Album Page 5)