The parliamentary delegation of Austria visited the Holodomor Museum

On Tuesday, September 26, a delegation of the Austrian Parliament headed by Wolfgang Sobotka, the Chairman of the National Council of the Republic of Austria, visited the Holodomor Museum. The Austrian colleagues were accompanied by People’s Deputy of Ukraine Ihor Nehulevskyi, head of the group for inter-parliamentary relations with the Republic of Austria.

The guests honoured the memory of Ukrainians killed by hunger near the sculpture “Bitter Memory of Childhood” by placing symbolic compositions of ears of grain. Then, they went down to the Hall of Memory, where they lit candles at the Altar of Memoru. Wolfgang Sobotka and representatives of the delegation listened to a tour about the tragic events of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, which resonate with modern ones and give a better understanding of the reasons for Russia’s current aggression against the Ukrainian state. Mr Sobotka was interested in the causes and mechanisms of creating the Holodomor crime – a large-scale killing by hunger, unprecedented in the history of mankind.

In memory of the visit to our Museum, the guest was given the books about the Holodomor, including Raphael Lemkin’s work “Soviet Genocide in Ukraine”.

Austria has not yet recognised the Holodomor as genocide. But last December, the country’s National Council passed a resolution calling the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine a “horrible crime” of the Stalinist regime. The corresponding document was adopted unanimously.

We hope that the current visit to the Museum will be another step towards a deeper understanding of the Holodomor tragedy and Austria’s recognition of this crime as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.