After that, they waited for the arrival of a group of American farmers, who had been invited to observe the ‘attainments of the new life of the Ukrainian peasant. They were brought to that village because the experimental field of a seeding station was located nearby. The farmers were greeted by twenty or so well-dressed collective farmers. All others were forbidden to leave their homes. For only three hours the well-dressed farmers’ could enjoy these fine clothes-after that, they had to return them. I wonder if those visiting farmers noticed that the price and factory tags were still on the clothes.

Because of the unjustifiable silence of the Western press, still not everyone knows about these crimes, or about how, along with ’surplus’ grain, the lives of seven million Ukrainians were sacrificed on the international auction block.

Senator DeCONCINI: Thank you very much for that statement. I have a couple of questions I would like to ask Mr. Kostyrko.

I noticed that you mentioned witnessing a village resisting ‘collectivization’ and the high grain quotas. Did you know of other cases other than that—was that a common situation that occurred all over, or just in those villages that you mentioned in your statement?

Mr. KOSTYRKO: This is only one example of one village, but lots of villages were in the same situation. My father at this time had business with village people, and all the time he had people come up to him and ask what we could do. All we could do, believe me—was to leave the village and go somewhere to other place.

Senator DeCONCINI: Thank you.

Does the witness have any information from his knowledge of being there: was the Ukraine singled out by the Soviet government over other agricultural areas? Does he have any information to indicate that Ukraine was particularly singled out?

Mr. KOSTYRKO: Not just me, all my friends, everybody was talking about ‘What are they doing?’, ‘Why do they push a special policy in the Ukraine?’. Because we knew people who lived only a few kilometers from the Russian border—I was in Mos¬cow, I looked at what kind of life Moscow was like. But in the capital of Ukraine, Kharkiv, there it was the same as in my city and every Ukrainian city. It was a special invasion against the Ukrainian people because the Ukrainian people wanted to be free.

Senator DeCONCINI: Was there any immigration from Ukraine to other parts of the Soviet Union that was not forced?

Mr. KOSTYRKO: Yes. Mostly people went to the Caucasus—it is not too far— and they received some mail from the Caucasus. Caucasus is not too far, some people went there. Not everybody could do it, because it required a special passport. If you came to the city and you showed them your passport, they would say, “Go away, you cannot live here in the city.” You can come if you are from another country, but not if you were from the local countryside.

Senator DeCONCINI: Thank you. Commissioner Mazurkevich?

Ms. MAZURKEVICH: You said that the difference was so great when you went to Moscow and you saw all these healthy and happy and prosperous people, and in the Ukraine all the people were starving and dying. When you asked your party officials why this policy, why this starvation, what was the answer?