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The Family of Five Shown on the New Ukrainian Stamp are Russian,
not Ukrainian. Image was Taken from a 1921 Russian Photograph
Campaign Started To Change the Design of the New Holodomor Stamp
By E. Morgan Williams, Publisher, morganw@patriot.net
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, September 27, 2003
KYIV.......The Ukrainian postal service will issue a new stamp in memory
of the victims of the holodomor (to kill by hunger, or torture with hunger)
of 1932-1933 and two other political famines, 1921-1922; 1946-1947,
according to information received by the www.ArtUkraine.com Information
Service (ARTUIS) earlier this week in Kyiv. An image of the stamp was
also obtained. ARTUIS has not yet been able to confirm the information
with Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service.
It is expected according to usually reliable sources that the stamp will be
issued in November of 2003. The official day of commemoration of the
holodomor in Ukraine is the fourth Saturday of November each year.
The stamp has on it the image of a mother and four children with the
words "Ukraine, In Memory of Victims of Holodomor, 1932-1933."
In the upper right hand corner of the stamp are listed the dates for
three famines, 1921-1922, 1932-1933, 1946-1947. The word
holodomor is on the stamp three times.
There is not any text on the stamp to exactly indicate the stamp is in
commemoration this year of the 70th anniversary of the 1932-1933
holodomor though the 1932-1933 holodomor is feathered in a square
with a church bell on it that takes up the right half the stamp. The stamp
will reportedly sell for 45 kopiykas.
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Image of new Ukrainian holodomor stamp reported to be ready for issue by the Ukrainian postal service in November, 2003 (Click on images to enlarge them)
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A RUSSIAN FAMILY, NOT A UKRAINIAN FAMILY
IS SHOWN ON THE NEW UKRAINIAN STAMP
ARTUIS has shown the reported new Ukrainian holodomor stamp image to
several holodomor experts and the experts agree that the family shown on
the stamp is taken from a 1921-1922 photograph. The experts also believe
the photograph was taken in Soviet Russia and was not taken in Soviet
Ukraine.
The photograph of the family of five is shown in a new huge two volume
book of photographs entitled: "Ukraine: XX Century." The two volume
set, authored by Volodymyr Lytwyn, Valeriy Smoliy and Mykola
Shpakovatyj, was published in 2002 in Kyiv that show a very large number
of black and white photographs in chronological order supposedly related
to Ukraine during the XX Century. There are almost 2,000 pages in the
two volumes.
The image of the family on the new stamp is shown in a photograph in
Volume 1 on page 389 with the text, "Starving Family" 1921 year.
ARTUIS has talked to the publisher of the publication, Alternatives, who
stated they could not verify historically that all of the famine related
photographs shown for 1921-1922 and 1932-1933 in the book were
actually taken in Ukraine.
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Photograph of starving family of five taken from the book, "Ukraine:
XX Century," a two volume set of photographs published in 2002 in Kyiv, authored by Volodymyr Lytwyn, Valeriy Smoliy, and Mykola Shpakovatyj and published by the Alternatives Publishing Company
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The very young naked girl shown in the photograph and on the new stamp
also is shown in a different photograph on a printed postcard published in
Europe in 1921-1922. The postcard was sold to raise money for the
famine relief program in Soviet Russia.
The postcard is number nine from a set of 10 or so postcards
issued by children's humanitarian organizations in Geneva, Brussels,
Lausanne, and Paris. The photographs on the postcards are thought
by most experts to have been taken in Soviet Russia in 1921-1922.
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Image from an early 1920's Russie famine relief postcard published in
Europe [Private "Holodomor Artwork and Documents Collection"
of the ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)]
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ARTUIS contacted Dr. Roman Serbyn, a internationally known
Ukrainian/Canadian scholar, who is professor emeritus of history at the
University of Quebec, Montreal, Canada. Dr. Serbyn has researched and
published books and articles about the famines in Ukraine for many years.
About 10 years ago Roman authored a book about the 1921-1923 famine
in Ukraine entitled, "Famine 1921-1923 and the Ukrainian Press in
Canada."
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Roman has verified to ARTUIS that the photograph showing the starving
family of five was not taken in Ukraine but was indeed taken in Russia.
The correspondence to ARTUIS from Professor Serbyn follows:
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"Saturday, September 27, 2003
"Dear Morgan,
"Glad to have [recently] met you in Kyiv, now our correspondence is
more meaningful.
"The two photographs you sent me are from the 1921-23 famine, from a
place called Buzuluk (on the Samara river) in the Orenburg oblast
(RSFSR) and one of the relief centres for the ARA [American Relief
Agency] and Nansen campaigns [an international relief program headed
by the European High Commissioner of Relief F. Nansen of Norway]
in Russia proper.
The little girl is the same in both photographs, and if you look
carefully, you'll see that the two pictures were taken in the same
place, in front of the same doorway.
I have seen both of them, and am sure that I have reproductions of
them at home, but cannot find anything except the little girl in a
small brochure entitled "La famine en Russi" with a preface by Anatole
France. The brochure was published to raise funds for famine relief in
Russia.
"There are very few authenticated photos of Ukraine in the 1932-33
famine, so it may be necessary to use a picture from the first famine,
but it must be one from Ukraine (and Buzuluk is not in Ukraine). I hope
you can impress this on the people in Ukraine, so as to avoid this
error.
It would be a shame to see another effort to commemorate the
Famine-Genocide undermined by stupidity.
"Please let me know what happens with this project,
"Yours, Roman" [Dr. Roman Serbyn, Montreal, Canada]
Some of the Ukrainians and those with Ukrainian heritage contacted
by ARTUIS about the new stamp have indicated they will immediately
start a major campaign to convince the Ukrainian government to change
the design of the holodomor stamp now showing a starving family from
Russia in 1921.
These three tragic events in Ukraine's history cost the lives of many
million of people, severely and permanently damaged the lives of millions
more, and has severely cost the nation of Ukraine in so many ways ever
since. The genocidal famine of 1932-1933 against Ukraine is one of
the great tragedies of history.
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