called it genocide. It was his definition that was incorporated into the International Genocide Convention. That convention has been ratified by the Soviet Union, the United States, and many other countries. The Ukrainian Famine presents almost a textbook case of such collective victimization.

There was great lack of public awareness of exactly what took place in Ukraine over half a century ago, because of a campaign of disinformation. A number of Western correspondents stationed in Moscow were threatened or coerced into remaining silent At the same time, Stalin’s subordinates engaged in an aggressive campaign of denial. Today, when we read in the Soviet press that AIDS is a form of biological warfare developed by the U.S. military, when we read this and other absurdities, we realize that in this too, the past is prologue to what we see today.

Today’s hearing is an important part of the Commission’s effort to fulfill the Con¬gressional mandate. But it is by no means the only thing we are doing. The Commis¬sion staff has begun an oral history project that will document in much greater detail what happened to the Ukrainian nation over half a century ago.

Our mandate is not yet half over. There is much that the Commission has to learn. I am here today to listen and to learn from those who alone can teach us the true meaning of this crime against humanity. It is a privilege to be able to take part in that important task.

Let me please now yield to Commissioner Mazurkevich.

STATEMENT PRESENTED BY MS. ULANA MAZURKEVICH

Thank you. Some fifty years ago, seven million Ukrainians were forcibly starved to death and the world did not hear about it, and the world did not know. Today, we are here to focus on this great tragedy that happened many years ago. In recent weeks the American press has been writing about Gorbachev’s policy of ‘openness’. I wonder how far this ‘openness’ will go. So far, the press has not picked up on the artificial famine where seven million were forcibly starved, and the cover-up was so excessive and intense.

Today, the Ukrainian famine is still a footnote in history but hopefully, through hearings such as this, it will gain its rightful place in history, and the famine will be known as one of the great tragedies ever to have transpired.
Thank you.

Senator DeCONCINI: Thank you. Commissioner Weres?

STATEMENT PRESENTED BY DR. OLEH WERES

I, also, would like to thank the witnesses who have come here today because I real¬ize that it takes considerable courage for people who may have relatives in the old country to come and testify. I thank you for doing this because you are contributing to the documentation of one of the saddest but yet one of the major events of history in the Ukraine in the 20th century. It is an essential contribution to recording the history