Holodomor Victims Remembered in Tokyo
11.12.2007, [10:22] // Digest //
Tokyo - A memorial service for the victims of the Holodomor famine-genocide was held in Tokyo, Japan on 25 November 2007. The service was requested by Mykola Kulinich, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan, and served by Father Paul Koroluk, Pastor of the St. Jude Ukrainian Orthodox Mission (Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyivan Patriarchate).
During the Memorial, Father Koroluk called upon the assembled, who included citizens of Ukraine, Japan, and other countries, to each strive to preserve the memory of the victims of the Ukrainian Holodomor by “loving their enemies”. Father Koroluk explained that by pitying, rather than hating, the perpetrators of the Holodomor, and by using the experience of the Holodomor to understand the victims of other genocides, the eternal remembrance of the Holodomor can be made into a lesson to peoples of all nationalities and all faiths.
In his address to the attendees, Ambassador Mykola Kulinich referred to the tragic events of 1932-33 as the product of totalitarian practices, which directly led to the death of millions of peasants in the southern and central regions of Ukraine. According to Ambassador Kulinich, this painful tragedy is commemorated by the President and Government of Ukraine as a reminder of the consequences of careless statesmanship and misguided policies, stressing that the idea behind the day’s memorial service was not only to honor the victims of what he called a “Ukrainian Holocaust”, but also to help prevent another tragedy of mass death due to starvation from happening anywhere in the world.
After thanking, on behalf of the Embassy staff, all those who attended this first Holodomor Memorial in Japan, Ambassador Kulinich went on to thank Father Paul Koroluk for his moving tribute to the memory of the departed, and for his active work on behalf of his Ukrainian compatriots in Japan.
For further information contact:
The Embassy of Ukraine to Japan
Tel: 81-3-5474-9770
E-mail: ukrembassy@trad.ocn.ne.jp
or
The St. Jude Ukrainian Orthodox Mission
Tel: 81-422-43-5424
E-mail: father@stjude.jp
