EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Commission Efforts and Accomplishments

The purpose of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine, as defined by its enabling legislation, is “to conduct a study of the 1932-1933 Ukrainian Famine in order to expand the world’s knowledge of the famine and provide the American public with a better understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet role” in it Its duties, as mandated by federal law, are
(1) to study the Famine by gathering all available information about the Famine, analyzing its causes and consequences, and studying the reaction of the free world to the Famine;
(2) to provide interim reports to Congress;
(3) to provide information about the Famine to Congress, the executive branch, educational institutions, libraries, the news media, and the general public;
(4) to submit a final report to Congress on or before April 23,1988; and
(5) to terminate 60 days thereafter.

The Commission on the Ukraine Famine has held hearings throughout the nation and heard testimony from 57 eyewitnesses to the Famine of 1932-1933. Thus, the hearings have in themselves collected an impressive body of material documenting the tragedy which befell Ukrainians. Full texts of these hearings have been published as interim reports and are available to the public. 1

The Commission has also transcribed and is preparing for publication a supplement of over 200, in-depth interviews with eyewitnesses. Unlike the statements made in public hearings, which must be brief because of time constraints, the oral histories were as necessary for the narrators to tell their stories. Some have lasted over two hours. The majority of the oral histories were collected directly by Commission staff; others were collected by Leonid Heretz as part of a pilot project which James Mace directed in 1984 under the sponsorship of the Ukrainian Professionals and Businesspersons Association of New York and New Jersey. In addition, the Ukrainian Famine Research Committee in Canada and a number of private individuals gave the Commission additional tapes which they collected. The full text of these interviews and statements in the original language will run to over 2,000 pages, constituting an invaluable source for future scholarship on the Famine. The transcripts will be published and made available to the public Ten sample oral histories were translated in full and appear as an appendix to this report
Important aspects of our mandate are to make the Famine more widely known and to provide information on request to government agencies and private individuals. Dissemination of information about the Famine was facilitated by the forging of links between the Commission and the scholarly community through the participation of members and staff in various conferences, lecture, and publications.

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1 First Interim Report of Meetings and Hearings of and before the Commission on the Ukraine Famine Held in 1986 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1987); Second Interim Report of Meetings and Hearings of and before the Commission on the Ukraine Famine Held in 1987 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1988).