Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine (26/11)

Every year on the fourth Saturday of November, Ukraine celebrates the mournful memorable date — Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor.

Initially, the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor was established by the Decree of the President of Ukraine of November 26, 1998 on the last Saturday of November, then by the Decree of October 31, 2000, this day became known as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor and Political Repression. And in 2007, it was decided to change the name of the Day again, and by Presidential Decree № 431/2007 of May 21, 2007 it became known as «Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Holodomor».

In 2002, when Ukraine celebrated the sad 70th anniversary of the mass death of residents of the republic from starvation in 1932-1933, during the events held, the republic’s leadership insisted on the international official recognition of this «holodomor» as genocide of the Ukrainian people. Back in 2006, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people.

The first «holodomor» of 1921-1922 in post-revolutionary Russia is better known in history as the «hunger of the Volga region», although as a result of the loss of crops due to severe drought, not only the Volga region, but also many provinces of the Southern Urals, Siberia, the northern regions of Kazakhstan, Crimea, Ukraine and a number of other regions and territories.

According to some reports, the total number of hungry people reached 30 million people. In total, for 1921-1922, the population of the entire country, according to statistics from P.N. Popov, decreased by 5.2 million people, according to other estimates — by 7 million people.

Even more severe was the famine of 1932-1933, when drought destroyed the harvest of almost all grain regions of the USSR. In the «second Holodomor», according to official data, about 9 million people died, and according to unofficial —, up to 13 million residents of the Soviet Union.

Today, on this memorable day, commemorative and mourning events and ceremonies are held in different cities of Ukraine at memorial complexes and iconic places. Also on this Day, thematic scientific, informational and cultural-artistic events, exhibitions, presentations, documents, photo and video materials are envisaged. At 16:00 on the Day of Remembrance for Holodomor Victims, a national minute of silence takes place.

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