Statement on the occasion of Day of Victims of Holodomor in Ukraine
24 November 2012, Helsinki
Your Excellencies,
Dear friends,
I would like to thank all of you who join us at this Service.
Today we remember the victims of Holodomor in Ukraine.
It is a day of remembrance, sorrow and pain. Millions of Ukrainians gather together to pray for the millions of our compatriots killed by the Soviet regime. This memory unites Ukrainians all over the world.
Holodomor was an artificially created genocide.
Organized Famine was an act of mass murder. It killed more than 4 million of civilians. It is terrible to imagine that the entire population of an European country could be killed in half of year. This picture was dead reality for Ukraine.
With this tradition we are too close to our Finnish friends who in two weeks will also place candles on window honoring own compatriots.
Holodomor is a deep wound of the Ukrainian nation. Famine took not only the millions of innocent lives. It undermined the social self-conscience, national identity and historical memory of our nation.
Famine gave birth to fear that paralyzed human will. This fear is still alive nowadays. Even today we feel that this fear is preventing to open the whole truth about the Holodomor.
Today we are not looking for enemies. We have no intention to take any revenge. Our desire is to discover the truth. We only want to raise international awareness of the reasons and consequences of the Holodomor in Ukraine.
We also want to heal our memory. This healing strengthens our national spirit and freedom. Healing the wounds done by famine continues today and will continue for decades.
Today we light the candles to remember the victims and to strengthen our souls. Millions of families in Ukraine put a candle on a window.
This year public campaign in Ukraine is intended to talk about those who during the genocide saved compatriots from terrible death. When famine killed everyone everywhere, to share a piece of bread was an act of self-sacrifice and true heroic deed.
Today we want our friends together with us to pass our pray and pain through their own hearts and souls.
We are very grateful for your solidarity. Thank you.
Oleksii Selin
Ukrainian Embassy in Finland