Round Table Discussion in the City of Dnipro
The Holodomor Museum participated in the round table discussion “The Holodomor: Formation of National Memory among the Population of Dnipropetrovsk region”, which was held on November 13, 2019, in the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council.
Public Council at the Dnipro City Council initiated a round table to discuss the need to create a separate thematic museum of the Holodomor victims in the Dnipropetrovsk region in order to form adequate perceptions of the region’s residents about the causes, currents and consequences of the most tragic events in Ukraine. The National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide fully supports the desire of the Dnipro to have a separate museum of memory for the victims of the Holodomor.
The initiative of the public was supported by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, Dnipro City Council, historians and public activists of Dnipro and Dnipropetrovsk region.
Representatives of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council addressed the audience with a welcome address. Subsequently, a report was made by the chairman of the Public Council at the Dnipro City Council, Liliia Bohacheva, entitled “The Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Dnipropetrovsk Region: Formation of Historical Memory”.
The Holodomor Museum was represented at the round table by Director General Olesia Stasiuk (topic of the report “Trans-generational Effects of the Holodomor in the Museum Exposition”), First Deputy Director General Iryna Batyrieva (topic of the report “Educational Work of the Holodomor Museum as One of the Key Areas of Its Activity”), Director of the Holodomor Research Institute Victor Brekhunenko (topic of the report “Scientific Support for the Formation of the Holodomor Museum Exposition”), Head of the Museum Information and Publishing Department Yuliia Kotsur (topic of the report “Testimonies of Holodomor Eyewitnesses and Exhibition Work of the Museum”).
“We will be happy to assist and submit materials relating specifically to Dnipropetrovsk region to create a regional genocide museum here. Currently, there are only two regional museums in Ukraine – in the Khmelnytskyi region and in the Poltava region. Therefore, we support your initiative and will help to make the museum appear in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” Olesia Stasiuk said.
The participants of the round table discussed the plans for the creation of the future Holodomor Museum in Dnipropetrovsk and the concept of the future exhibition. The researchers noted that Dnipropetrovsk was one of the regions with the greatest losses as a result of the Holodomor-genocide. Representative of the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum Dmytro Romanchuk spoke about the workings of Dnipro museums and historians, which can be used for comprehensive coverage of the Holodomor theme.
Director General of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide Olesia Stasiuk suggested creating a museum of resistance to the Holodomor, as the Dnipropetrovsk region was one of the largest centers of anti-Bolshevik insurgency before and during the Holodomor.
According to the results of the Round Table Discussion, it was decided to create a Museum of Resistance to the Holodomor. Such an initiative of the Public Council was supported by the Dnipro City Council.
“The position of the city authorities is clear – the museum is necessary; we support this idea. It should reflect all the events that took place in the Dnipropetrovsk region at that time, so it is a matter of the region, but the city will help as much as possible,” City Council Secretary Oleksandr Sanzhara said.
