Memory of famine kept alive

 

Kevin Crush
Edmonton Sun
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/05/02/5449071-sun.html

Seventy-five years after a man-made famine killed between seven and 10 million Ukrainians, a survivor of the genocide is trying to keep the memory alive.

Stefan Horlatsch, 87, is sharing his story at every Canadian stop of the International Holodomor Remembrance Flame torch run, which will visit 33 countries this year.

Known as the Holodomor, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin instituted a man-made famine against the Ukrainians in 1932 and 1933, killing millions. Among the dead were Horlatsch's cousins. The family of 11, two parents and nine children, starved to death.

"When I one day visited the house, there were three dead bodies already in the house and nobody was even planning to bury them because they were not strong enough," said Horlatsch, who now lives in Toronto.

He said he survived the famine because his mother, raising five children by herself, baked and hid bread crumbs to feed them.

Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council president Daria Luciw said the flame is meant to be a warning against genocide. It is in Red Deer today and will be back in Edmonton tomorrow where it will be handed to Premier Ed Stelmach, who is Ukrainian.