The Holodomor Museum joined in organising a Memorial Evening in Sweden
On 22 November 2025, on the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor and Mass Man-Made Famines, the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden, along with the Embassy of Ukraine in Sweden and with the support of the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide, held an Evening of Remembrance at the Swedish History Museum (Stockholm).
The vocal ensemble Norrsken opened the evening with the “Prayer” by composer Hanna Havrylets. The audience lit candles to the music of J. S. Bach’s “Adagio” in a soulful performance by Nazar Plyska.
First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Korniienko spoke about the Russian full-scale invasion and the Ukrainian struggle against the aggressor, emphasising that the goal of this war is also to prevent the recurrence of crimes such as the genocide of the Ukrainian people in 1932-1933.
Svitlana Zalishchuk, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Sweden, shared her family story and read an excerpt from her grandmother’s memoir. Her grandmother survived the Holodomor and wrote about her past much later because during Soviet times speaking about the artificial nature of the famine was forbidden and punishable by imprisonment.
Royal Theatre actor Hannes Meidal read poems from the anthology “The Executed Renaissance,” the first Swedish translation of poetry by Ukrainian writers who were victims of Stalin’s repressions in the 1930s, during the Holodomor and the destruction of the Ukrainian cultural elite.
All those present had the opportunity to view materials from our museum’s exhibition “Holodomor: Soviet Genocide of Ukrainians” and watch the film by the Holodomor Museum and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights “Territory of Holodomor: Memory Never Dies” (about how disinformation and deception play a decisive role in the organisation of crimes such as the Holodomor) and a joint video by our Museum and the social and cultural Ukrainian media project Ukraïner, “What Do We Know About the Holodomor?”
The guests of the event were Swedish citizens and diplomats from various embassies. They discussed what they had heard and seen for a long time, impressed by the new information. The programme of the Evening of Remembrance helped those present to deepen their understanding of this tragic and long-silenced part of European history.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden opened an exhibition by the Holodomor Museum entitled “Holodomor: Soviet Genocide of Ukrainians” at another school in Stockholm.
