Holodomor Remembrance Day, 26 November 2022
A remembrance message in a year of blackouts, when the candle in the window was not only symbolic.
Today Ukraine remembers those who died in the famine of 1932 and 1933.
This year a great many households have candles out already, for the practical reason that the power is not on. I have thought about whether to mention that, and I think it should be mentioned, because the coincidence is not lost on anybody here.
The remembrance itself does not change. At the appointed hour a light goes in the window, for people who died of hunger while grain was taken from them, most of them not counted at the time and many not named since.
What I would say to readers outside Ukraine is only this: this is not a distant historical grievance dusted off for present purposes. It is a memory carried inside families, and it is one of the things that explains how this country understands what is happening to it now.
My respect to everyone marking today.
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