For Immediate Release

For Further Information Contact:

Yar (403)342-0161

www.UkrainianHolocaust.org

“Former US President Clinton ponders question about the USA failing to officially recognize the Ukrainian Genocide”

At a recent conference in Calgary featuring former President Bill Clinton, a representative of the website Ukrainian Holocaust.org  managed to question the former leader about the issue many Ukrainians are upset about...why hasn't the US recognized the  1932-33 famines in the Ukraine as an act of genocide? Clinton wondered why Bush had not recognized this event, and stated he would look into the matter and "get back" to the interviewer.

While Canada's House of Commons recently took the lead by recognizing the atrocities of the Ukrainian Genocide, President Bush disappointed Ukrainians with inaction.

One man, Professor Yar Slavutych published several books which describe his accounts of the way the Soviets attempted to destroy the culture and economics of the Ukraine.  The food supplies were exported out of the country, intellectuals were imprisoned or shot, churches were closed and people were not allowed to leave. Millions died of starvation and stories of cannibalism illustrate the extreme conditions that were imposed.

While the Nazi death camps gained worldwide attention, the Ukrainian exterminations have not been as widely recognized.  Most of the Ukrainians who could have made a public outcry at the time were killed. The press was tight-lipped and very few stories slipped out of the area. The problem continues to this day, possibly due to the embarrassment that may affect Soviet and powerful American interest groups.  It took until 2008 for Canada to recognize this event officially as a genocide.

The website www.UkrainianHolocaust.org features stories and photographs from actual survivors and their families, and plans to propose additional memorials to the event which better reflect the horrors experienced. 

Many Ukrainians immigrated to the United States and Canada narrowly escaping the escalation of hostilities against their countrymen in the early part of the last century.