Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the man-made famine that occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 356) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the man-made famine that occurred in Ukraine in 1932-1933.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. HYDE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, this resolution recognizes and remembers the victims of one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, namely, the more than 5 million men, women and children in Ukraine who were deliberately starved to death by the Soviet regime in the terrible decade of the 1930s. That regime perpetrated many horrors in its seven decades of existence, but surely this must rank among its most damnable.

It is important to stress that this famine was not a natural phenomenon, but was instead deliberately engineered. Virtually all sustenance in the targeted area was seized, even as the availability of food elsewhere in the Soviet Union remained sufficient to prevent the famine. The export of grain never ceased even at the height of the death tolls.

Nor was this the result of mere indifference to life, but an uncaring regime. Soviet troops and secret police forces were deployed to forcibly prevent the starving population from leaving the area in the desperate search for food. A sentence of mass death had been pronounced and was mercilessly enforced.

The purpose of the artificial famine was to break resistance to the regime's policy of forced collectivization of agriculture, but this was coupled with a murderous determination to destroy Ukraine's national identity, which the regime considered as a mortal threat to its empire and, therefore, brutally suppressed.

There is a legacy of shame that the West must bear. Many prominent Westerners, including journalists and scholars who had firsthand knowledge of the famine, deliberately falsified their reporting to cover up and refute evidence of the tragedy in order to suppress criticism of the Soviet regime. We know their actions were deliberate because they confessed their knowledge at the time to confidantes and to their diaries. The most notorious of these was Walter Duranty, a correspondent for The New York Times who had won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from the Soviet Union. But he was far from alone.

Those few who accurately reported on the famine were subject to considerable abuse from their colleagues and others in the West, and their reports were generally disregarded. That lamentable record continued until after the fall of the Soviet regime in 1991, with Robert Conquest's book, The Harvest of Sorrow, being a lonely exception.

In remembering and honoring the victims, I must stress that in addition to millions of ethnic Ukrainians, the dead included large numbers from many other ethnic groups, including Russians, Jews, and a host of others large and small.

It is also important to note that other areas of the Soviet Union were also subjected to this man-made famine, especially those neighboring regions where an estimated 1\1/2\ million people of many ethnic origins were starved to death.

This tragedy knew no artificial divisions, no insulating borders, no refuge. All who perished were equal in their innocence, but the blow fell heaviest in Ukraine.

I would like to take this opportunity to praise the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) for his resolution on the famine in Ukraine, H. Res. 254. His has long been one of the most important and influential voices in Congress for ensuring that Ukraine and its people remain prominent in our thoughts, and we owe him our gratitude for his many labors.

Ukraine's reermergence in 1991 from the Soviet prison house was of momentous significance, not merely for Ukraine, but for the entire world, because its independence signaled the death of that empire.

But I regret to say that Ukraine's great and continuing importance to the United States and to the West remains largely unmeasured here. For an independent Ukraine is an indispensable element in ensuring the freedom and security of Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.

Our interests and those of the West as a whole require that Ukraine complete its transformation into a true democracy; that it establish a vibrant economy equal to its national and natural wealth and the talents of its people; and that it assume its rightful place in the Western community of nations. Although we can provide assistance towards these ends, the first two must remain largely the responsibility of the Ukrainian people.

But Urkaine's accession to the institutions of the West can only occur with our active support and encouragement. It is my hope we will have the wisdom to understand our own interests and

will act to secure these with permanence.

Our long-delayed recognition of Ukraine's suffering is also a recognition of its emergence from darkness and the reestablishment of its independence and is one more step in extending to it our embrace. Let us remember that as we now honor the victims of a terrible past that it is hopefully gone forever.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may

have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H. Res. 356, the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I would like to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for their extraordinarily generous remarks, and I wish to say the sentiment that animated those is indeed reciprocated.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, first, I want to join in the words of the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) regarding our colleague from Illinois. His eloquence and his civility mean a great deal to us, both when we agree with him and when we do not. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) has, I think, set a standard for everyone to follow in discussion of issues on the floor of the United States House and helps us be proud that we are Members of this institution.

I also want to join with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) in his comments, as well as the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), regarding this issue, and also with what the gentleman from Illinois had to say about the present and future of Ukraine. As we look back, it is important also that we look forward, and the challenge before Ukraine today is an important one, both their steps forward and sometimes backward. We all join in hoping that the steps forward will increase as Ukraine joins fully the ranks of the democratic nations of this globe. They have an important role to play.

But we also have to look back because if we do not look back, we will not effectively face the future. So I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to join my colleagues in commemorating the 70th anniversary of the tragedy of the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33. This resolution recalls the incredible suffering and loss sustained by the Ukrainian people, and others, as the gentleman from Illinois pointed out, as a result of intentional policies implemented by the former Soviet Union which led to the deaths of at least 7 million people. Even today, the magnitude and gravity of this atrocity remains unknown to too many in the world. And this is why every 5 years, at least, we introduce a resolution to mark the anniversary.

As mentioned, more than 7 million women, men, and children died; and it was not because of drought or pestilence or crop failure. It was because of the deliberate policies of Joseph Stalin and other leaders in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Government ruthlessly employed policies of forced collectivization and grain seizures to suppress and politically neutralize Ukrainian aspirations for independence. Red Army soldiers performed systematic house-to-house searches where every scrap of food was taken. Grain silos were guarded by military troops, and police denied access to even those who had harvested the grain in the immediate area, while trains loaded with food left that area.

The seizures were so harsh that villages were often left with no food for their citizens, making the crisis even worse. Soviet authorities ordered the borders of Ukraine sealed to prevent anyone from escaping the famine and preventing any international food aid from providing relief to the starving. Witnesses spoke of Ukrainians eating bark, weeds, and even insects to survive.

Observing the commemoration of this anniversary is significant because Stalin and his closest associates concealed the artificially created famine for decades. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has learned more and more about the harsh reality of life under a totalitarian regime, and the truth surrounding this atrocity has been revealed.

We gained greater knowledge after the congressionally mandated U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine began its work in 1985 to ``provide the American public with a better understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet role in the famine.''

I had a chance recently to go back and read a summary of that report, and I urge my colleagues to do likewise. That commission issued its final report in 1988, noting 19 findings, including that, and I quote, ``Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-33.''

We also gained knowledge through the recollections of survivors. Dr. Walter Lyzohub of Redford Township, Michigan, wrote me a letter explaining that he survived the famine, but that the famine took the lives of his sister Vera as well as his brother Ivan. His sister and brother were aged 10 and 9 respectively. It was heartbreaking, heartbreaking, to read that letter. Dr. Lyzohub and all the victims of this famine, this atrocity, must never be forgotten or ignored. Only through remembrance of the victims and recognition of that famine can such acts of senseless cruelty and violence against humankind be prevented from happening again.

I also would like to recognize Michael Sawkiw of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, who has been in the forefront of helping to bring this issue and all important issues regarding Ukraine to the attention of Members of Congress. So, Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 356 provides us once again with an opportunity for remembrance and for recognition; and I urge all my colleagues to join the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and me in supporting this resolution.

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I might consume, and I rise in strong support of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, at the outset I would like to express publicly my delight at the decision of the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations to continue his service in this Congress and for our Nation. This is the best news of the weekend, and I know that all of my colleagues on this side of the aisle join me in saying how proud and pleased we are that the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) will continue his wit and wisdom and extraordinary statesmanship to the work of this body.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) for introducing this very timely resolution, which marks the 70th anniversary of the atrocity that Joseph Stalin committed against the people of Ukraine. We must never forget that Joseph Stalin killed more citizens of the Soviet Union through his inhumane and murderous policies than any invader of the Soviet Union, or Russia before.

I also want to commend my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), for introducing a similar resolution; and he will speak to this issue in just a moment.

While the official estimates of the number of Ukrainians killed by Stalin's vicious policies during the 2 years of the Ukrainian famine is about 5 million, the more considered unofficial estimates suggest that about 7 million Ukrainians could have been killed because of a deliberately induced policy of starvation on the people of Ukraine. This act of terror and mass murder was designed to squash the national aspiration of the Ukrainian people. Grain shipments were seized, the borders of Ukraine blockaded, and all the while the Soviet regime continued to export large quantities of grain and suppress the news of Ukraine's suffering.

The Soviet Government successfully hid this famine from the West, and only since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 have we been able to obtain access to documents confirming the deliberate and premeditated murder of vast numbers of the innocent men, women, and children of Ukrainian heritage by Stalin's Soviet dictatorship.

It is a joy, Mr. Speaker, to see Ukraine take its proper place among the free and independent nations, no longer a part of the Soviet Union but a proud and independent nation, which, after the enormous difficulties of the Soviet period, is building a new future for the Ukrainian people; and so I urge all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 356.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), my friend and colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be an original cosponsor of H. Res. 356. I thank and commend Mr. Hyde for introducing this resolution commemorating and honoring the memory of victims of an abominable act perpetrated against the people of Ukraine in 1932-33. Seventy years ago, millions of men, women and children were murdered by starvation so that one man, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, could consolidate control over Ukraine. The Ukrainian people resisted the Soviet policy of forced collectivization. The innocent died a horrific death at the hands of a tyrannical dictatorship which had crushed their freedom.

In an attempt to break the spirit of an independent-minded Ukrainian peasantry, and ultimately to secure collectivization, Stalin ordered the expropriation of all foodstuffs in the hands of the rural population. The grain was shipped to other areas of the Soviet Union or sold on the international market. Peasants who refused to turn over grain to the state were deported or executed. Without food or grain, mass starvation ensued. This manmade famine was the consequence of deliberate policies which aimed to destroy the political, cultural and human rights of the Ukrainian people.

In short, food was used as a weapon in what can only be described as an organized act of terrorism designed to suppress a people's love of their land and the basic liberty to live as they choose.

Mr. Speaker, I recall back in the 1980s seeing the unforgettable movie, Harvest of Despair, which depicted the horrors of the Famine, as well as the fine work of the congressionally-created Ukraine Famine Commission, which issued its seminal report in 1988. Their work helped expose the truth about this horrific event. I am pleased that the resolution notes that there were those in the West, including The New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, who knowingly and deliberately falsified their reports to cover up the Famine because they wanted to curry favor with one of the most evil regimes in the history of mankind.

The fact that this denial of the Famine took place then, and even much later by many scholars in the West is a shameful chapter in our own history.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important resolution which will help give recognition to one of the most horrific events in the last century in the hopes that mass-murders of this kind truly become unthinkable.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 356, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that millions of Ukrainians, who were deliberately and systematically starved in the early 1930's, should be remembered and honored today. To properly commemorate Ukrainians who starved at the hand of Joseph Stalin, we must first acknowledge that this genocide was not only ignored but was also concealed and perpetuated under Stalin's regime.

In its darkest hour, Ukraine was viewed by Stalin as a source of dissent against the Soviet Union. Its rich tradition of open political discourse and cultural splendor were threats to his tyrannical and oppressive regime. To preempt Ukrainian opposition, Stalin wielded a heavy hand in enforcing an ironclad policy of collectivization, in which peasant farmers were forced to turn over the grain they produced. Any man, woman or child caught with even a handful of grain from a collectivized farm

would be swiftly executed or deported. Stalin's policy resulted in the one of the worst episodes of genocide in the history of the world as an estimated 7 to 10 millions Ukrainians perished in the course of just a single year.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of 4,300 constituents of Ukrainian descent, I offer my solemn remembrance to the victims and people of Ukraine. In tribute to the millions who witnessed their family members perish before succumbing to their own starvation, we must always remember and honor the victims of genocide so that mankind never again turns an unseeing eye or an unfeeling heart. I join my colleagues in Congress in remembering this tragic chapter of human history.