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19 November 2008 10:38

Ukraine 3000 Foundation Presents Holdomor Exhibition

The Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation presented an exhibition of Holodomor-themed works as part of the Holodomor of 1932-1933: the Genocide against the Ukrainian People all-Ukrainian exhibition, unveiled November 18, 2008.

The display, prepared as part of the History Lessons program, consists of three parts.

The first part presents 60 best works submitted for the Candle in the Window posters competition dedicated to Holodomor in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Recall that in 2003 402 works were presented to the contest, with around 200 submitted in 2007. For the third competition, ending September 28, 2008, 227 works were sent by students of secondary and higher professional schools. Every visitor can vote for the work he or she considers the best.

The second part is the French language version of the Executed by Hunger: the Unknown Genocide of the Ukrainians exhibition prepared by Ukraine 3000 Foundation. Its goal is highlighting the genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-1933 by the Bolshevik regime and Joseph Stalin, and informing foreign spectators about it. The exhibition is based on the materials from Ukrainian archives and witness accounts complemented with documented facts. Presented in March 2007 at the European parliament in Brussels, Belgium, the exhibition has received a considerable feedback. At present, there exist German, English, French, and Ukrainian versions, with Russian and Spanish ones being prepared.

The third part presents ersatz food owing to which millions of Ukrainian peasants were able to survive. It is meant to prepare the spectators emotionally for perceiving the subject, letting them feel the horror and disgust people had to overcome in order to survive. The mini display presents the Holodomor bread baked from husk, dry leaves, and grinded acorns; gruel made of boiled flour, pulp, grass roots, bass bark, cattle cake, chestnuts, acorns, dried flies, shellfish. In the famine years people were brought to a stage where they ate not only things they never thought of eating before, but also things that used to be tabooed: mice, spiders, flies, marmots, forest birds, etc.

The Holodomor of 1932-1933: the Genocide against the Ukrainian People all-Ukrainian exhibition was unveiled November 18, 2008, at the Ukrainian House. President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko took part in the unveiling ceremony along with high officials, scholars, and public figures. A presentation of the National Book of Memory and special franking of an original postmark for the 75^th anniversary of Holodomor in Ukraine were held within the exhibition’s framework. The visitors can also see an exhibition of Ukrainian regional media outlets dedicated to Holodomor, the Declassified Memory documents exhibition of the Security Service of Ukraine, an exhibition of artwork dedicated to Holodomor, a show of artwork from Morgan Williams’s private collection, etc.