State of Illinois proclaimed the 2018th as a year of the Holodomor Victims' Memory

According to the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States, the Illinois governor Bruce Rauner signed a proclamation dated May 19, 2018, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor victims throughout the year 2018, the genocide of the Ukrainian nation in 1932-1933.

The document states that during the Holodomor, millions of Ukrainians were dying of hunger in peacetime, an unprecedented catastrophe in the history of Ukraine. At the same time, as Ukraine and the 15 countries of the world have recognized the Holodomor as a crime of genocide, Illinois considers it necessary to remember and study the history of the Holodomor in order to prevent the repetition of a terrible crime.

The proclamation gives honor to the memory of those who were killed during the Holodomor, and the respect for all US Ukrainian Illinois who survived the Soviet genocide in Ukraine and told their story.

Over the past 3 years, 11 US states have recognized the Holodomor as a genocide of the Ukrainian nation and proclaimed a Memorial Day.