President Viktor Yushchenko wants deniers of the Holodomor, the 1932- 1933 state-sponsored famine that claimed the lives of millions in Soviet Ukraine, and the Holocaust to carry criminal responsibility. When the new parliament convenes, the head of state expects legislators to enact appropriate laws.
Although we agree that denying the historical facts of the Holodomor and Holocaust is despicable, we cannot ignore the downside of criminally codifying acts of denying crimes against humanity as encroachments on the freedom of speech.
We do, however, support initiatives to better educate Ukrainians about the darkest episodes of European history in the last century. We applaud the State Security Service of Ukraine’s opening of archives concerning the true nature of Soviet rule, and encourage other state agencies, including the Ministry of the Interior, to follow suit. All documentation concerning the period of Nazi rule in Ukraine should also be subject to the same public scrutiny.
Immediate efforts need to focus on saving survivors’ recollections for the sake of posterity. Opportunities should be taken to make films and present the horrors of those years. Educators should be provided with the necessary teaching materials to ensure that subsequent generations of Ukrainians condemn all acts of genocide as something that will never be repeated on the territory of Ukraine.
It is far more important to condemn all racial and ethnic violence than condemning those who deny that it exists.
