KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 27 -- Ukrainians all over the world will commemorate Holodomor Day – the famine-genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime which killed millions of people in Ukraine – tomorrow (Saturday), said the Embassy of Ukraine in Malaysia.

The embassy said the Holodomor became an integral part of the national memory of the Ukrainian people and added that on every fourth Saturday of November, Ukrainians light candles at their windows in remembrance of those killed by starvation.

“On this day many memorial events take place and a moment of silence is proclaimed in the memory of the innocent victims of the national tragedy,” said the embassy in a statement to Bernama.

Holodomor means the deliberate mass murder by famine, and Ukrainians use this word when referring to the national tragedy which happened in 1932-33.

The embassy said for a long time, it was forbidden to speak of the Holodomor, and those who dared to do so were persecuted.

“Only after Independence, the Ukrainians got full access to archives that shed the light on this horrendous tragedy, now recognised as one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of the twentieth century in the heart of Europe,” it added.

In 1985-1988, the US Congressional Commission researched the famine in Ukraine and its conclusion    opened the way to international recognition of the Holodomor as a crime of genocide.

Monuments or other memorial signs have been installed to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor in over 40 cities in 15 countries.

-- BERNAMA