Holodomor Awareness at the University of Western Ontario

November 18^th, 1932: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine began applying stricter grain collectivization methods in select villages which were considered to be underperforming in grain output.  The farmers were required to return any extra grain they previously earned when meeting targets, being forced to part with the grain by state police and Soviet armed forces.
November 18^th, 2011: Seventy-nine years later, the Ukrainian Students’ Club at the University of Western Ontario held its third annual Holodomor Awareness day in the University Community Centre (UCC).  The project was part of an initiative by the 2009 club executive, under the presidency of Illina Frankiv, to educate the UWO student body about the Holodomor.  The commemorative exhibit Holodomor: Famine by Genocide from the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC) was displayed in the main forum of the UCC and drew the attention of many students, professors and tour groups.   The executive and club members were able to answer questions such as: “Why have I not heard about this?”, “Who orchestrated such an event?” and “Where can I get more information?”.  Those who showed more interest were directed to websites and organizations involved with raising awareness about the Genocide.

After informing students on the horrors of the Holodomor, Ana Ostapchuk, Danylo Kostruba, Diana Stepczuk, Bohdan Zariczniak and Alaxandra Lazar had the opportunity to attend Fr. Edward Danylo Evanko’s Holodomor: Murder By Starvation later that night at the Grand Theatre in London.

Another ongoing project is an annual, two-week display of selected posters from LUC’s publication in the D.B. Weldon Library.  With the help of Elizabeth Mantz, the posters were on display from November 15-30^th.  Interested students were granted access to the library’s extensive selection on Soviet history as well as other publications on the Holodomor.

The club executive would like to thank all those who helped make the Holodomor Awareness events successful this year.  In particular we thank Elizabeth Mantz for her continued support at the Weldon Library, Lindsay Harris for her guidance as Student Organizations Events Services Officer and Emily Vereshchak for helping set up the exhibit in the UCC.  The executive would also like to thank Buduchnist Credit Union, Peter Kryworuk, Mykola Wasylko, Jim Kozak and Lew Figol, as without their help, these events would not be possible.

If you would like to learn more about the UWO Ukrainian Students’ Club and its projects or events, email the executive at ukienews@gmail.com.