It was a solemn evening of prayer and remembrance at St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on Saturday as Prince Albert residents of Ukrainian decent marked Holodomor.
Holodomor was the man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 that saw countless Ukrainians perish. Following the prayer meeting, there was an educational portion, along with a moment of silence at 7:32 p.m. at the request of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
Veselka member Dennis Ogrodnick gave the educational presentation on Holodomor. His presentation was inspired by his work as a teacher at Ecole St. Mary High School.
Saskatchewan first recognized Holodomor as a genocide in 2008, and Ogrodnick began teaching students about it in his History 20 class shortly after. The lecture examined why the famine happened, how it happened, and the aftermath.
“I slowly added and added (to the lecture),” he said. “Then for tonight I’ve added a little bit more of the background of why it happened.”
The Ukrainian famine was part of a larger famine that hit Soviet grain growing regions from 1931 to 1934. However, the Soviet government made the famine worse through a series of political decrees and decisions that were aimed mostly or only at Ukraine.
In acknowledgement of its scale, the famine of 1932–33 is often called the Holodomor, a term derived from the Ukrainian words for hunger (holod) and extermination (mor).
Ogrodnick draws a distinction between collectivization which was the larger project and Stalin-ization which played a larger role because it was what fueled the oppression in Ukraine.
“Ukrainian farmers resisted because they entered into this agreement that they were allowed to have private ownership of land, right, and then all of a sudden (it) was being taken away,” Ogrodnick explained. “They resisted because Stalin was ridding the entire USSR of Leninism completely, and he succeeded.”
By early 2019, 16 countries as well as the Vatican had recognized the Holodomor as a genocide, and both houses of the United States Congress had passed resolutions declaring that “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932–1933.”
Before the memorial event there was a prayer service in the church itself led by Father Harry Salahub. The prayer service was called “Sung in Times of War” with a supplicatory prayer “For the Suffering Land of Ukraine and Her Children.”
The prayer service also marked over 1,000 days of war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s very important that as a community, we gather together for prayer and for peace in our world and especially in Ukraine, where there’s so much suffering and so much death,” Salahub explained. “We just want to offer our prayers to Christ to say ‘please may this end soon.’
“This is kind of a double time for us to remember the forced famine that happened 1932-1933, absolutely we should pray for that as well,” he added.
There were certain sections of the nearly half hour prayer that stood out for Salahub.
“It uses some older language and stuff, but I think that the parts that really stick out for me is just the last parts with the prayer where the where the Priest is kneeling and it’s a real time that we just need,” he explained. “It’s just the depth of our souls that are saying ‘please let’s have peace in our land’, and so we’re praying to God for that.”
The memorial event was emceed by Veselka President Charlene Tebbutt. After opening with “O Canada” and the Ukrainian National Anthem there was another prayer led by Salahub. The event
included speeches by Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross, Saskatchewan Rivers MLA Eric Schmalz and Prince Albert Mayor Bill Powalinsky.
Poems were read by Teena Polle and Zenik Rabiej and the Veselka Choir, who were without their director, sang a few songs and invited the crowd to join in.
The Holodomor Memorial Day is set aside to remember the millions of Ukrainians who died as a result of starvation from man-made famine caused by policies enacted by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Ogrodnick was pleased that the memorial event packed the Parish Hall.
“People want to remember, and it’s good that a lot of our newcomers are here,” he said. “I had some of them thank me for presenting and for acknowledging and reminding and sharing to the non-Ukrainian population.”
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