Chris Smith: “I am very pleased to urge passage of H. Con. Res. 295, giving recognition and honor to the victims of the…”

“I am very pleased to urge passage of H. Con. Res. 295, giving recognition and honor to the victims of the Soviet-engineered Ukraine famine of 1932-1933 by remembering this tragedy during its 65th anniversary. The Ukrainian famine, Madam Speaker, is one of the most devastating tragic events of the 20th century, a stark reminder of man's inhumanity to man. The scope and depth of this tragedy has been documented in many books, including such seminal works as Robert Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow, and by the comprehensive report of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine created by Congress in the 1980s to study the famine. One only has to read some of the eyewitness accounts of survivors included in the famine commission report to appreciate the incalculable yet completely avoidable human suffering experienced at that time in the Ukraine. The truth of the matter is, Madam Speaker, that the 1932-1933 famine engineered by Soviet Dictator Stalin could have been prevented. Its 7 million victims did not die from natural causes, but because of the policies designed to punish the Ukrainian people for their opposition to Soviet rule.”