This event was organized by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation - USA, the Ukrainian Heritage Club of Northern California, the Ukrainian-American Coordination Council, the Ukrainian Center for the Arts, the House of Ukraine and the Steel Film Company.
About 200 representatives of academic, student and cultural centers of Ukraine, the USA, and Canada took part in the Symposium.
During the opening speech, Consul Alexander Krotenko emphasized the importance of international recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Stalinist totalitarian regime against the Ukrainian people. In this context, he briefed on the measures taken by Ukraine, in particular by diplomatic missions in the United States, to convince the American authorities at the federal level and state levels make a relevant decision. In particular, based on the results of the joint work of the Consulate General with the Ukrainian community of California in 2016 and 2017, the State Assembly adopted Resolutions on commemoration the Holodomor victims in Ukraine on the last Saturday of November. In addition, the Washington State (22.05.2017) and Oregon (15.06.2017) legislatures adopted resolutions, in which the Holodomor is recognized as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
The Consul noted that this issue was raised at the highest political level, in particular, by President of Ukraine P.O.Poroshenko during his meeting with US President Donald Trump (September 21, 2017), as well as by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the USA V.O.Chaly during his meeting with Governor of California E. Brown (September 29, 2007). During that meeting, the head of the diplomatic mission of Ukraine expressed a hope that California will adopt a resolution on recognizing the Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people next year.
Emphasizing the fundamental importance of establishing the historical truth, the Consul informed about the establishment of monuments to victims of the Holodomor, both in Ukraine and abroad. In this context, he mentioned the monuments in the cities of Los Angeles and Washington, constructed respectively in 1986 and 2016. At present, the Ukrainian community, together with the Consular Post, is working on the construction of a Holodomor monument in San Francisco.
Of particular interest among the American audience were the speeches of Ukrainian professors - experts on the issues of history and demography of the Holodomor, including Lubomyr Luciuk of the Royal Military College of Canada, Oleh Wolowyna of the University of North Carolina and Volodymyr Serhiychuk from the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University.
The lively and constructive discussion unfolded after viewing the documentary film by Yurij Luhovy "Genocide Revealed" and George Mendeluk's "Bitter Harvest".