Gathering commemorates Ukraine’s great tragedy, the Holodomor

The Ukrainian and British communities came out in force at the weekend to support a collective remembering of the Holodomor, the catastrophic famine imposed on the Ukrainian people by Stalin’s regime in the early 1930s, and one of the worst crimes against humanity ever committed, says Krysta Rafalska, who describes the gathering.

Last Saturday evening in Hastings, in a candle-lit space within His Place Church in Robertson Street, there was a gathering of people for whom uncovering the crimes of the Soviet regime is particularly important.

Jeremy Hicks, professor from Queen Mary University, London, brought to light several important historical treasures, aided by a Ukrainian film, Alive, by Serhiy Bukovskyi (2008). The film avoids the most gruesome parts of Holodomor, such as stories of cannibalism, and does not show what happens to human bodies when they are dying from starvation. Instead, it explores the subject by talking to survivors, all of them now Ukrainian pensioners.

Those in attendance saw the director interacting with them, with occasional well-meaning humour – and were easily able to relate to the humanity of the people who survived, despite having lived through the worst trauma imaginable, typically seeing their family starve to death around them, while they by some miracle survived.

The elderly women and one man are filmed at their homes, and we get a glimpse into their lives, their trembling hands pointing to the pictures of their dead relatives on the walls, surrounded by embroidery at home and by cattle and lush vegetation outside.

Juxtaposition

The film juxtaposes these lone figures resting on benches, talking, gesturing, with historical records, and Russian Soviet propaganda, bringing to light the impact that distant policies manufactured in the Kremlin by Stalin had on the lives of these hardworking, decent people, who cried and wailed when their cattle were taken away.

This is how the hunger was created – strange people would barge into your house, and take away not only food, but all your possessions – sometimes even yanking burial clothing stashed away underneath a dying disabled woman from beneath her body. The simple moral values of the nation come through – the strangers that forced themselves into their homes are described as ordinary people, but with a dog’s conscience. That is, one cannot call oneself human, and behave like this, taking away the very last scrap of food from starving people in the middle of winter.

The film was a success and the audience was hooked – everyone stayed for a post-show discussion. We learned from Jeremy Hicks some hidden but obvious truths – that Soviet agriculture never recovered after the Holodomor in Ukraine, never reaching the levels of food production of the 1920s; that only 25 photographs of the famine of the 1932-33 exist, taken in Kharkiv, the then capital of Soviet Ukraine, and smuggled out by Austrian technician Alexander Wienerberger.

No photographs of rural mass deaths by starvation exist – due to the diligent supervision by the Soviet secret services.

Journalist’s voice

We also learned that the only Western journalist to have ever visited starving Ukraine villagers was Gareth Jones, who valued the journalistic value of telling the truth over his own career. His life was ended on the eve of his 30th birthday – he was shot dead elsewhere in the Soviet Union, his body sent home to Wales in a closed casket. All we know is that he was accompanied on his journalistic trip by people provided by Communist Russia.

The audience was stunned when one of the attendees revealed himself to be a great nephew of Gareth Jones – Philip Colley, the writer of The True Story behind the ‘True Story’ of Mr Jones. Philip shared how bitterly his family grieved for their own, and that the family worked tirelessly to bring to light  Gareth’s reporting, which can be found on the above website and at the National Museum Cardiff.

The audience was stunned once again when one of the attendees, Natalya Ovseichuk, narrated her family story of heroic community work that her grandparents undertook during the Holodomor to save the lives of 700 schoolchildren, for which they were persecuted – her grandmother was tortured to death by the Russian secret service and her grandfather was sent to Siberia.

One of the Ukrainian attendees, Nelia Lysenko, a head volunteer at the Holy Trinity Monday soup kitchen for Ukrainians, which has been running since the start of the full-scale invasion, and is now the only remaining weekly Ukrainian gathering in Hastings, had this to say: “Thank you to all who helped organise such an important event. From the archive of my memory, recollections of my grandparents and parents about those dark times rose to the surface, which closely linked with witness testimony on the screen. It was moving… Memory is important, just as is our presence at events such as this” (translated from Ukrainian by the author).

Handling the trauma

The Ukrainian community is not only able to reveal and handle this trauma but to use it as fuel to fight the continuing genocidal ambitions of the Russian Empire, which now calls itself the Russian Federation. The legendary local Ukrainian amateur choir Volya Voices performed at the start of the event. The choir was the highlight of the evening, sharing Ukrainian culture with sincerity; their mission is to raise funds for Ukraine charities. Please have a look at the important work they are doing on their Instagram and Facebook pages.

It was a real pleasure to see how the Ukrainian community came together for this event – volunteers came early to work in the kitchen, to produce delectable treats for the audience; other Ukrainians brought food items to donate to local food banks to highlight how important it is to share food with those who are short of it while commemorating the Holodomor, and also to give something back to the British community as a thank you for the immeasurable support Britain has given to Ukrainian refugees. We also received our very first book donation, from Luba Powell, a book on the Holodomor for the Ukrainian Library, which will also be hosted by His Place Church.

And finally, we must give our thanks to His Place Church, the most inclusive venue in Hastings. They welcomed our community with open arms and did everything necessary for the event to be successful; special thanks to Nicola Roper. The church hosts a number of community groups from Hastings, e.g. this Saturday, 23 November, they are opening their doors to the single parents of Hastings peer support group (organised by the Gingerbread charity).

Hastings Ukraine Support Network, who organised the Holodomor Memorial event, has also been running an inclusive discussion group on Ukrainian Literature in translation, popularising Ukrainian culture, and creating a welcoming space where people can talk about difficult issues such as wars and the immigrant experience in a safe environment. For more information please contact HastingsUkraineSupportNetwork@proton.me.

 

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