Shadows of a Forgotten World

My parents in Chicago have some neat posters from the late Soviet period  announcing various artistic and cultural events in Kyiv. Poster from 1987 Performance of Kupala rituals at the Folk Architecture Museum in Kyiv Organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Міністерство культури української РСР Українське товариство охорони пам'яток історії та культури Музей народної архітектури та побуту УРСР *** Poster from 1989 Academic conference marking the 90th birthday anniversary of Vasyl Sedliar at the Rylsky Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology Спілка художників України Київська організація спілки художників України Інститут мистецтвознавства фольклору та етнографії ім. М. Т. рильського АН УРСР (нині Мистецтва,фольклористики та етнології інститут ім. М. Рильського) *** Poster fom 1981 Exhibition of graphics by Heorhiy Ivanovych Narbuta at the National Art Museum o...

My paternal grandmother was from central Ukraine, which for centuries was under the Russian Empire, and then from 1922 the Soviet Union. As such, unlike the rest of my ancestors who lived in western Ukraine (under Austria and then Poland), they experienced the Holodomor (Famine-Genocide) in 1932-3, a man-made famine which left millions of people in Soviet Ukraine dead. Five years ago I traveled to Kamianske (until a few months ago Dniprodzerzhynsk) to meet my grandmothers sisters who were still alive. It was a very interesting experience, as it was my first encounter with relatives who were not from Galicia, and thus with relatives who had a different history, language, and culture. They shared with me stories and old photographs of my ancestors. To commemorate the victims of this horrible tragedy, I want to share my family's account of their experience of the Holodomor, for it's these personal stories which should never be forgotten. Below is an excerpt about the Holodomor...