A prayer unites everybody around the tragedy of Ukrainian p

A divine service in the memory of the victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) 1932-1933 in Ukraine was celebrated in Brussels at the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. Attending the service were officers of Ukraine's diplomatic institutions, representatives of the Ukrainian community in Belgium, international institutions and Belgians. Ukraine was represented the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine Yevhen Bersheda and the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaychenko. The presence of the SBU chief is not accidental as it is Nalyvaychenko, who by means of declassifying archival documents of the service systematically provides the renewal of historical truth about totalitarian times, as well as Holodomor 1932-1933. The commemoration of Holodomor victims in prayer was organized by parish of The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Volodymyr UGCC (The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church), Brussels, together with Ukrainian Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mission of Ukraine to the European Union and Mission of Ukraine to NATO. The event is a regular step aimed at recognition of Holodomor as a genocide of Ukrainians by the word community. During requiem Yevhen Bersheda said, that parliament of 21 country commemorated Holodomor victims. Parliaments of 13 countries pointed out in their resolutions that Holodomor had signs of a genocide of Ukrainian people. Opportunely I want to remind that recently in the Irish town of Maynus an international conference has been hold in the National University if Ireland named ‘Holodomor in Ukraine and the Great Famine in Ireland: history, estimates and memory’. Attending the conference were investigators from Ukraine - The SBU State Archives Department officers, as well as investigators from Ireland, Poland, the USA, Canada and the UK. A divine service in Brussels has become a regular public important international event of informing of the world community of historical truth on the Great Famine 1932-1933 in Ukraine that took nearly 10 million lives in Ukraine. Unfortunately, several post-Soviet countries did not take a democratic way, hiding the historical truth from their own people. Ukraine chose the way of society democratization that is impossible without providing legal treatment of classified pages of the past. Declassifying of previously confidential archival data on Holodomor in Ukraine, opening by the SBU a criminal case with the aim of social legal treatment of actions of those guilty in the tragedy give an opportunity to assess the events of the past in a new light. “Our main goal – is to purify Ukrainian history from lie, falsification and to work only with true documents”, - Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said. Conduction of measures on commemoration of Ukrainian Holodomor victims abroad gives an opportunity to draw attention of the word community to terrifying crimes against humanity. Without providing legal treatment to these events, condemnation of those guilty in the tragedy it is impossible to crystallize out a perfect European democratic society ,and Ukraine with its people and its history is an integral part of it.

- Posted by Polychevsky from Ukraine on Nov 19th, 2009