The groundbreaking oral history project Children of Holodomor Survivors Speak consists of interviews with children of the survivors of the Ukrainian Holodomor (genocidal famine) and is the first such project to address its impact on the lives of the second generation of survivors in the diaspora.

Studies of the intergenerational transmission of trauma and of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children of Holocaust survivors and the Armenian and African genocides exist. The generational aspect of a legacy of survivorship, is highly valuable information to gather for further study and understanding. For example, a sense of longing, mourning, burden or distrust, degrees of communicativeness and coping, of the strength and resilience of survivorship, all have an impact on the successive generation’s identity and feelings of cohesiveness with their communities.

Project coordinator and UCRDC Archivist Iroida Wynnyckyj states: “The Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre has the experience and infrastructure needed to undertake an oral history interview project of this kind.”

The project’s Interviewer, Sophia Isajiw has said: “The purpose of this oral history project is not to record the history of the Holodomor’s genocidal trauma, but rather, what became of the children of the survivors of the Holodomor and what do they see as the Holodomor’s legacy for Ukrainians? The fact that the project is done in North America is equally valuable because it enables a discussion of how the Holodomor has become a diaspora marker of Ukrainian identity. Oral history interviews with the children of survivors, who are themselves now in their late 40’s to 70’s, provides a springboard for such a discussion and its further research.”

The project has two objectives. The main one is: has the knowledge of the parent’s experience and survival of the Holodomor had any influence on the descendant? This can be physical, emotional or spiritual; and how have the participants dealt with this? The second objective is: what is the respondent’s own life story in a description of his or her family, schools attended, work history, migration, community attachment and the like?

Eleven of the 21 respondents were chosen on the basis of UCRDC having previously conducted archival interviews with their Holodomor survivor parents. The remaining 10 respondents were the result of the "snow ball method" of selection. The funding provided in this phase of the project allowed for 21 respondents.  The oral history interview method allows for respondents to freely express themselves and draw on their memory as much as possible. Each interview was video recorded in English, transcribed and is accessible for further use in the UCRDC archives.

The project's technical consultant, Andy Holowaty adds: “By recording these participants, humankind will now have more data available for wide distribution to researchers, academics, journalists, teachers, and the general public, to help prevent a similar atrocity from ever happening to innocent victims again. The opportunity to hear a new generation's interpretation and analysis of their relatives' testimonies and its legacy in their lives will also add to a broader understanding of the Holodomor from many new points of view.”

THE CHILDREN OF HOLODOMOR SURVIVORS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE TEMERTY FAMILY FOUNDATION.

We are grateful to the Temerty family for their gift of support which made this project possible.

The recorded video interviews are stored as part of the Oral History Archives at UCRDC. Please contact us at: office@ucrdc.org

The 21 interviewees for this project are:

Olena Bulat

Walter Daschko

Natalia Diduch

Luba Goy

Miroslawa Hec

Alexander Ilchenko

Alexander Jemetz

Tamara Koszarny

Victor Koszarny

Valentina Kuryliw

Victor Lahoda

Dr. Alexander Melnyk

Walter Melnyk

Mykola Moros

Valentina Noseworthy

Iryna Revutsky

Natalia Shchturyn

Rev. Peter Shumelda

Wasyl Sydorenko

Ludmilla Temertey

Olexander Wlasenko

SOME REFLECTIONS FROM THE INTERVIEWEES:

“I felt very honoured to have been able to tell my story as a child of a Holodomor survivor. Apart from supporting my mother, I think it is the most important contribution I have, so far, made to preserve the true story of the Holodomor.”

Fr. Peter Shumelda

“I was more than happy to share our family history…

I found myself telling stories that had long been buried in the deep recesses of a mind tired of the atrocities being perpetuated in every corner of the planet to this day. I have given my dearly departed mother and father a voice.”

LudmillaTemertey

“This is valuable data which must be brought to light regarding a horrific event, not only in Ukrainian, but in world history. Official documentation, important as it is, cannot reveal the scope of this tragedy in the same way as eyewitness or secondhand accounts.”

Natalya Horlatsch-Schturyn

“I am glad that my point of view got included. It is kind of self-validating. I felt I was communicating at last things that I wanted the whole world to hear. I think that some of my own conclusions could help other people deal with their own experiences.

Maybe some of my self-analysis would help someone who felt they were a victim of parents with PTSD.”

Wasyl Sydorenko

“All around a great project contributing to the knowledge base of the Holod. At times enjoyable, at times not so much, it was consctructive overall – it’s best to talk about it.”

Olexander Wlasenko

“I found the interview enjoyable, because I was thrilled to finally have an opportunity to share my family’s history, as I have worked on the topic of the Holodomor for years but usually in the capacity of an educator/historian. The emphasis on family history made it more of an emotional experience which affected me to my very core. The emotional experience itself helps to bring about a form of closure. My parents, both survivors of the Holodomor and USSR prison and concentration camp, have passed on - but their stories will now live on for future generations because of this interview. Hopefully, it will serve as a resource for future researchers on the Holodomor and validate the historical facts that have emerged about this horrific period of the Soviet occupation of Ukraine. Oral history, even second hand accounts, has a place in the annals of history.”

Valentina Kuryliw

“The interview was cathartic, empowering. It's a means of further legitimating, on my family’s behalf, a historical occurrence that is still not fully comprehended in terms of its geo-political and cultural impact on Ukraine and its peoples. It’s also a means of dispelling – on their behalf – some of the guilt and potentially shame that accompanied their survival of this tragedy.”

Olena Bulat

“What should the Ukrainian community do about the Holodomor now? Well, what you’re doing. Certainly capturing every single memory that we can. The Jews have done an excellent job making sure the world knew about their holocaust and we should do no less with the Holodomor because that was the Ukrainian holocaust.

Why do we need these oral history interviews? Well, as a manager, one of the interviewing skills I was taught was that one of the best predictors of a person’s future performance is their past performance, so when you’re interviewing people, always find out about their past. Something they succeeded in. And yeah, we succeeded. We lived through the terror of Stalin, to take us to where we are today.

Think of it, we could have easily a thousand times been part of Russia, we never were, and to this day. That’s why I say with positive affirmation, Україна / Ukraine will be a part of Europe, perhaps a part of NATO. And Russia, I have faith in the Russian people, primarily because there’s a lot of intermarriage with Ukrainians, so they will stand on their own two, and they will have their Maidan. From my mouth to God’s ears.”

Natalie Diduch

"This has been quite an experience for me."

Victor Koszarny

"What should the Ukrainian community do about the Holodomor now? I think what is happening with this recording and documentation is extremely important. This is good work."

Dr. Alexander Melnyk

"I think it’s important to record these stories because I think we’re filling in blanks. I don’t think my parents ever gave the full story on things, so we’re piecing together the stories for our community to fully understand our community. And without fully understanding our community, we can’t possibly have any insight into ourselves, because that’s how we were raised. And everybody thinks that they’re an island, but sort of just comparing notes [and realizing the commonalities] helps."

Alexander Ilchenko

"I think what you’re doing is what should be done, interviews with the people who lived it, and of what from them was passed on to their children, because this is another major failing of Ukrainians. I guess they don’t want to relive this, they want to shield their kids from it perhaps, or they’re afraid of political consequences, right? Even in Canada, they pass that on. So it’s sad that they still have that mentality and you’re doing the research that brings to light what is happening with the information being transmitted or not, you know? So, it’s very, very important what you’re doing."

Walter Melnyk

Research Analysis by Sophia Isajiw:

First Analysis of the Children of Holodomor Survivors Speak oral history project - in English.pdf

First Analysis of the Children of Holodomor Survivors Speak oral history project - in Ukrainian.pdf

Some related literature for further reading:

Brent Bezo, Stefania Maggi, Living in “survival mode:” Intergenerational transmission of trauma from the Holodomor genocide of 1932-1933 in Ukraine

Brent Bezo, The Intergenerational Impact of the Holodomor Genocide on Gender Roles, Expectations and Performance: The UkrainianExperience

Farrah Kaplan, Holocaust Survivors and Their Children: A Search for Positive Effects

Heide Rieder and Thomas Elbert, Rwanda – lasting imprints of a genocide: trauma, mental health and psychosocial conditions in survivors, former prisoners and their children

Judith Shulevitz, Is Trauma Genetic? The Science of Suffering article

Darren J. Sush, A “Final Solution” with No End? The Transgenerational Effect of the Holocaust

Rachel Yehuda, et. al., Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Characteristics of Holocaust Survivors and Their Adult Offspring

Amina Umarova and Claire Bigg, Chechnya's Forgotten Children of the Holodomor

Oksana Zakydalsky, "Oral history project focuses on children of Holodomor survivors." Ukrainian Weekly, Sunday April 12, 2015, Vol. LXXXIII No. 15: 1 and 13. Online PDF.