This Saturday marks the annual Holodomor Memorial Day, a time of great significance to the people of Ukraine.
Starting in the early 1930s, the Soviet Government under Joseph Stalin, became engaged in the collectivization of farms, forcing people from their land and creating a man-made famine which claimed the lives of millions.
Ukraine, one of the largest grain-producing regions in the former Soviet Union, was among the hardest-hit.
Vice President of the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, Brian Cherwick says while the famine occurred 90 years ago, the impact on families resonates to this day.
He travels to Ukraine frequently and has spoken to family and friends whose parents and grandparents lived through that period. One friend’s parents said that at that time there was no bird song in some villages because people had to eat them to survive, in another story they could remember their mother making porridge from tree bark because there was nothing else to eat.
The annual Holodomor Memorial Service is taking place this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in St. John’s. Everyone is welcome.
