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Commemoration to Mark the 70th Anniversary of the Artificial Famine in Ukraine
1932 - 33
Officially announced in 1998, the fourth Saturday in November is the Ukrainian National Day of Sorrow. On this day, we remember the 7 million victims of the man-made Famine in Ukraine, in 1932-33, a famine instigated by the Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin's policy of forced collectivisation.
Since 2000, when this act was broadened to include the commemoration of other political repressions, the Bradford Branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain have ordered a Mass and Memorial Service in the Ukrainian Catholic Church on the fourth Saturday in November.
2003 marks 70 years since the Artificial Famine and CYM in Bradford chose to commemorate this tragic event in its own way. Following the Mass, during the Memorial Service, seven sumivti stood in the formation of a cross at the front of the church, each one holding a lighted candle. Deputy Leader of CYM, podruha Hania Szlachetko, opened the programme of remembrance. Two young sumivky then recited poems "The Famine of 1933" and "Kiev - 1933". Seven sumivti in turn read accounts from survivors of the Artificial Famine, each representing one million victims. Podruha Szlachetko closed the programme with the words of Taras Shevchenko, from his poem "At the Cemetery".
On Sunday 23rd November, to complete this act of remembrance, sumivti planted a red gelder rose in the gardens of the Ukrainian Club in Bradford, in memory of the 7 million innocent victims who died as a result of this genocide.
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