Holodomor Remembrance Day, 24 November 2007

Today Ukraine remembers those who died in the famine of 1932 and 1933.

In my first years here I sometimes asked colleagues about it, the way one asks about a historical subject. I stopped, because the answers were not historical. They were family answers, given quietly, usually short, and clearly costing something to give.

I learned that this is not a subject you raise. It is one you are told about, if and when someone decides to tell you.

Tonight the form is the same as every year. A candle in the window at the appointed hour.

My respect to everyone marking today.