Light a Candle for the Victims of the Holodomor

On November 27, to commemorate victims of the Holodomor and political repressions in Ukraine, everyone is invited to take part in the national event "Light a Candle for the Victims of the Holodomor."

At 4 p.m. people are asked to light candles in their homes in memory of those who perished during the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine and all those affected by the communist totalitarian regime in Ukraine in 1917-1991.

November 25-28, 11 countries will hold events to commemorate the victims of Holodomor of 1932-33.

Previously the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Churches of the United States and Canada published a joint pastoral message calling the Ukrainians of the world to honor the 77th anniversary of the Holodomor, which was perpetuated by Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime against the people of Ukraine in 1932-33. "We will pray together for the souls of the over 7 million victims of this man-made famine. We will raise our collective voice against such oppressive measures and suffering being used in the name of any ideology," reads the address.

The Holodomor, or Hunger plague, was a famine engineered by the Soviet Union as part of a series of actions, including mass executions, designed to destroy the Ukrainian nation. Census data reveal a shortfall of 11,000, 000 in the Ukrainian population by 1937. Before and during 1937 large numbers of Ukrainians would be executed in the Great Terror which, although all the Soviet Union was affected, had a specifically Ukrainian dimension.