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09 November 2009 14:32

Ukraine 3000 Foundation Members Take Part in Conference on Famines in Ukraine and Ireland

Head of the History Lessons program by the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Olesia Stasiuk took part in the Holodomor in Ukraine and Great Famine in Ireland: Histories, Representations and Memories conference.

The conference was held November 6-8 at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, supported by the Embassy of Ukraine to Ireland. The conference was organized by the National University of Ireland, Center for the Study of Wider Europe at NUI, and Foras Feasa: the Institute for Research in Irish Historical and Cultural Traditions. Researchers from Ukraine, Ireland, Poland, the US, Canada, and Great Britain participated in the event.

The keynote speech was given by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Ireland Borys Bazylevsky. He placed an emphasis on the national and international condemnation of the Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 and thanked Ireland for its support of a number of resolutions by international organizations, commemorating the victims of Holodomor. Ambassador Basylevsky expressed his hope that the conference would become the next step to inform the Irish and global communities on the tragedy of the Ukrainian people.

In their speeches the conference participants compared historiographies, histprical periods, and political processes, connected with the Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and the Great Famine of 1845-1849 in Ireland.

The conference’s goal was to create additional conditions for Ireland’s approving on the state level of certain decisions on recognizing Holodomor, as well as presenting unbiased information on Holodomor to the state, parliamentary, and scholarly communities, as well as to the broad public.

As part of the conference, the Executed by the Hunger: the Unknown Genocide of the Ukrainian exhibition, created by Ukraine 3000 Foundation, was presented at the Embassy of Ukraine to Ireland. November 8, the participants of the conference visited the Strokestown Park House museum, dedicated to the Great Famine.