rainians were the predominant population. At least two-thirds of the population was
Ukrainian. .

So, I think we have to clarify this. I hope that we can, that the famine of 1932/33 is considerably different than these other periodical hungers.

Dr. STROKATA (through interpreter): What you say is true, but the constant quest for food is creating a type of individual which is very atypical for the Ukrainian charac¬ter. So, the conditions for the destruction of the nation are being created. I don’t think the destruction of the psyche and the character has no meaning.

Ms. MAZURKEVICH: Mr. Fedorak?

Mr. FEDORAK: Dr. Strokata, one of the things you enumerated, the problems that Gorbachev is confronted with right now is the national question. Are you implying that we can anticipate some stronger measures in Ukraine and if so, possibly another form of holocaust?

Dr. STROKATA (through interpreter): When the government is faced at a critical juncture where they have to save themselves, they will not stop you for any other con¬siderations, because the Marxist-Leninist philosophy is constituted on the fact that that which is moral is that which is useful to the party.

There was not a single instance when Gorbachev has even hinted that he will deviate from the Marxist-Leninist philosophy in order to improve life in the Soviet Union. This is why the life of the people constantly proceeds under fear and threat. The constant fear that something is about to happen also affects the character of the people, its talents and its capabilities.

I believe that the entire complex of problems which government created for the en¬tire Soviet Union is particularly dangerous for the nationalities.

Ms. MAZURKEVICH: Thank you, Dr. Strokata.
We have a lot of business that we have to attend to, so we proceed with our next wit¬ness from Philadelphia, Mr. Kononenko.

Can we call upon you, please, to come forward?

TESTIMONY OF MR. IVAN KONONENKO OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

Distinguished members of our country’s lawmakers, I want to testify about tragic famine in Ukraine.

I was quite upset Something so bothered me, that I am not sure if I can explain to you the real tragedy, what happened in Ukraine 1932/1933.

I remember after high school, I went to study to become a teacher. In 1931, until 1932,1 was in school, a teacher’s school near the city Dniprodzerzhinsk. The city also had the name Kamianske. In Russian, Kamianskoye. That’s in Dnipropetrovsk Region.

After intensive study—because I remember six-, eight-hour days preparing—I received an appointment in a not very big village, like the country village where I finished my high school over there. And I received an appointment to teach third graders. In the Soviet system, it’s different system than over here. I remember I received by order 40 third graders. I had 40 pupils and the principal of that school used to be my father’s friend because my father was all the time connected with him. He was all educated before 1917, before the revolution-very highly educated.