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Three generations of the Fedorak family gathered with dozens of other families Sunday afternoon to commemorate their ancestors, who perished during the Ukrainian famine.
The special service at the Ukrainian Cultural Center marked the 75th anniversary of the atrocities in which Ukrainians say up to 10 million victims deliberately were starved to death in a Soviet policy to crush the independent-minded Ukrainian nation in an act of genocide.
Donna Fedorak, the family matriarch, said it was imperative that Ukrainians not forget.
"This was a genocide of the Ukrainian people, and for so many years in history, it was denied and not acknowledged," said Fedorak of Troy. "And although I didn't live through it myself, my family did have to run from the Russians, and I know what it is to be hungry."
The man-made famine occurred from 1932-33 and is known in Ukrainian as the Holodomor, or extermination by hunger. Those attending the ceremony at the Ukrainian Cultural Center came together as a family to light candles, sing mournful songs, pledge their allegiance to the American and Ukrainian flags, and to publicly thank U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, who worked for years on behalf of the Ukrainian community.
Levin, D-Royal Oak, initiated and was the original sponsor to designate federal land in Washington, D.C., for a monument to the victims.
Many tears were shed during the service, conducted mostly in Ukrainian.
Boyrs Potapenko's parents and grandparents survived the famine.
"It is personal to me on a very profound level, because my parents and grandparents on my mother's side lived in the Ukraine during World War II until the Germans arrested them and sent them to work in labor camps in Germany," said Potapenko, a representative of the group, Four Freedoms for Ukraine.
"After being liberated, they were allowed to immigrate to the United States in 1949."
Potapenko moderated the ceremony, which included a chorus from St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Hamtramck, and a keynote speech from Archbishop Alexander Bykovetz of St. Andrew.
A special musical performance was presented by the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, an all-male group who serve as ambassadors of Ukrainian culture, music and the unique 60-stringed instrument, the bandura.
The singers were adorned in regal red or blue velvet embroidered coats, blousy white shirts and bright red leather boots from the Cossack era. The group was created in 1918.
They were presented on three levels on the stage, singing most songs in Ukrainian, except "Amazing Grace," which was in English. During one of the songs, the men held lighted candles.
"They sang about the migration of the cranes, which are sacred birds in the Ukraine, and a symbol of the people who had to leave the country," said conductor Adrian Bryttan.
Levin addressed the audience following the performance, thanking them for allowing him and his late wife, Vicki, to be a part of the mission to have a memorial constructed in Washington.
"It began in Congress, by spreading the word through a resolution and other sources of information," he said.
"To make it meaningful would be to have a memorial. It took four years and many obstacles, but so many of you pitched in, and now it is happening."
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