Existing comment:
An Act of Congress:
Establishing a Memorial
Ukrainian-Americans had for years been urging Congress to create a memorial to Holodomor victims. Two events in the early 2000s helped make the tribute a reality.
First, in 2003, the 7oth anniversary of the manmade famine, United Nations delegations issued a joint statement commemorating the tragedy and stating without equivocation that the Soviet regime was guilty of killing millions of Ukrainians.
Then, in 2004-2005, a popular uprising, the Orange revolution, swept away the pro-Russian Ukrainian regime, drawing support from the United States Congress. The country's new President, Viktor Yushchenko, stressing that the world must never forget the Holodomor, vowed that his government would fund and maintain a DC memorial to the tragedy if Congress approved its creation.
The time was ripe, and in 2006, Congress authorized "the Government of Ukraine to establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of the manmade famine that occurred in Ukraine in 1932-33." |