A public discussion was held to change the name (renaming) of the National Museum "Memorial to the Holodomor Victims"

21 July 2019

On July 22, 2019, a public discussion in the form of a roundtable discussion was held on the basis of the National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial” in order to rename the National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial.” The basis was the proposal made by “Historical memory” NGO – National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide.

During the month (from May 20 to June 20, 2019), the museum collected suggestions and comments from the public. The re-naming was supported by the Association of the Holodomor Researchers in Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Human Rights Organization Memorial of Vasyl Stus, the International Charitable Foundation for the Development of the Holodomor Victims Memorial, the Public Committee for Commemoration of the victims of the Holodomor-Genocide of 1932–1933, and the Holodomor Research Institute.

Representatives of these organizations and institutions, as well as historians (researchers of the topic) and the representatives of the public took part in the final discussion of this issue.

We remind that the public discussion on the change of the name (renaming) of the National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial” was started on May 20, 2019. The need for renaming appeared during the reconstruction of the 1st part and the construction of the second part of the museum. The name should not only cover the entire complex, but also reflect its activities. In addition, the wishes of visitors are taken into account that there is no information about the institution on the territory of the museum.

That is why, given the current situation, the issue of renaming the National Museum “Holodomor Victims Memorial” to National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide appeared.

An overwhelming majority of public discussion participants supported initiative of the renaming: 20 out of 27 participants supported the change of name.

During the discussion, two variants of the name were proposed:

– National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide

– National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide of the Ukrainian people.

It was recommended to make the following change – the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide. This name focuses on the genocidal nature of the crime against Ukrainians and the museum activities of the institution.

Therefore, the museum appealed to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine as a public body, which should take into account public proposals and complete the process of changing the name (renaming) in accordance with the procedure.