HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

168

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

Remembering the 90th anniversary of ukrainian genocide (holodomor) by the soviet union in 1932-1933.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, 90 years ago, in 1933, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin and his totalitarian regime committed an act of genocide through the implementation of an engineered famine, confiscating all foodstuffs from the Ukrainian people resulting in the deaths of 7-10 million innocent men, women, and children; and

 

     WHEREAS, this genocide, Holodomor, meaning “murder by starvation”, was specifically designed by the Soviet regime to punish independent-minded Ukrainians for their resistance to Stalin’s political, economic, cultural, and social subjugation; and

 

     WHEREAS, even as the Soviets continued to export Ukraine’s grain to the rest of the world, Ukrainian farmers, who tended to the farms in the breadbasket of Europe, were purposefully starved in a slow and painful death; and

 

     WHEREAS, hundreds of archival KGB documents created during this genocide detailed and described the Soviet regime’s actions and intention to destroy Ukraine’s national identity by deporting and executing Ukraine's religious, intellectual, and cultural leaders, and prosecuting or executing others who dared to speak of the Holodomor; and

 

     WHEREAS, through a recently released major motion film entitled “Mr. Jones,” depicting Welsh journalist Gareth Jones who witnessed and reported on the Holodomor, the world is afforded an opportunity to understand the realities of the Soviet crime; and

 

     WHEREAS, the official recognition by the government of Ukraine of the Holodomor as a genocide represents a significant step in adjudicating Soviet crimes and in reestablishing Ukraine’s national identity and the advancement of efforts to establish a democratic and free Ukraine that is fully integrated into the Western community of nations; and

 

     WHEREAS, the current war in Ukraine has been referred to as a genocide and is yet another example of relentless Russian aggression attempting to suppress a freedom-loving nation and its social, cultural, historical, economic, and national development; and

 

     WHEREAS, in relating the historical context of the 1932-1933 Holodomor and the current war in Ukraine, the poignant theme as we approach the upcoming  90th anniversary commemoration of the Holodomor remains profound and significant:  “Holodomor Then, Genocide Now, Justice When?”; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that all individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions are urged to remember the Ukrainian Holodomor-Genocide of 1932-1933 with appropriate activities designed to honor its victims and educate about this tragic episode in the world's history; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States, and members of the Ukrainian Caucus in the United States Congress.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Remembering the 90th anniversary of Ukrainian genocide (Holodomor) by the Soviet Union in 1932-1933