Holodomor Victims Honored in Czech Rep.

Photo from Radio Liberty

The Ukrainian communities in Prague, Brno, and Liberec honored the victims of the Holodomor – a period of forced starvation under the Soviet Union – as part of the international action “Let’s light a candle of memory!”

“On Sunday, several dozen Ukrainians and Czechs gathered in the Old Town Square. They lit candles of memory, recalling the millions of Ukrainians who died during the Holodomor period of 1932-1933 in Ukraine,” Radio Liberty reported of the Prague event.

This year’s international event was devoted to the memory of children who died or were not born as a result of the genocide in Ukraine.

Photo from Radio Liberty

“It’s hard to imagine that 75,000 people can die each day. This genocide against the Ukrainian nation has caused such a terrible blow to Ukraine. We still can’t get rid of these consequences. It was not just a moral and physical shock to Ukraine. It was a significant blow to the gene pool, as one-third of all the dead were children. We all should not just remember this massive tragedy in our country, we must do everything in our power to ensure that no hybrid wars against Ukraine ever existed,” said Ukrainian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Yevhen Perebyinis.

In Prague, the names of 85 children who died during the Holodomor in Dnipropetrovsk were read. After, participants lit candles and put them on the ground spelling out “1932-33.” After, the dead were commemorated with a minute of silence.