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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 27, 2023 10:48 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Maria Collett and Sen. Art Haywood, Sen. Tracy Pennycuick |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Month |
| In the near future, we plan to introduce a resolution designating November 2023 as “Ukrainian Genocide Remembrance Month” in Pennsylvania. The world has looked on in horror as Ukraine has suffered an onslaught of Russian aggression. As we continue to focus our attention and efforts on this ongoing war, it is more important now than ever before to remember past atrocities against the Ukrainian people. Ninety years ago, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his totalitarian regime committed an act of genocide through the implementation of an engineered famine, confiscating land, grain and animals from the Ukrainian people resulting in deaths of up to 10 million innocent men, women, and children. This genocide, Holodomor, meaning “Murder by Starvation”, was specifically designed by the Soviet regime to punish independent-minded Ukrainians for their resistance to its economic, political, and social oppression. During this genocide, the Soviet regime acted intentionally to destroy Ukraine’s national identity by deporting and executing Ukraine's religious, intellectual, and cultural leaders, prosecuting or executing any others who dared to speak of the famine or to speak against the Soviet authorities publicly, further destabilizing Ukraine’s political structure. Under the global theme “Holodomor Then, Genocide Now, Justice When?” it is necessary that the Ukrainian Genocide, Holodomor 1932-1933, be officially recognized by the global community as a tragic and heinous crime against humanity in order to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future. The official recognition of the Holodomor as a genocide by the government of Ukraine represents a significant step in reestablishing Ukraine’s national identity and the advancement of efforts to establish a democratic and free Ukraine. Please join us in co-sponsoring this resolution to urge all individuals, organizations, and institutions to remember the Holodomor with appropriate activities designed to honor its victims and educate the world about this tragic episode in the world’s history. |
Introduced as SR204