“Ukrainian is not for sale”: Chicago remembers the atrocities of the Holodomor and fights to protect Ukraine from future genocide

Sunday, November 23rd - Marching down Chicago’s historic Michigan Avenue, a street full of sales and commerce, Ukrainian-Americans declared that “Ukraine is not for sale.” In response to President Trump’s new 28-point plan, Ukrainians and their supporters gathered at Chicago’s Wrigley Building to declare their opposition to the plan that would force Ukraine to give up parts of its territory in exchange for security guarantees. “Appeasement is not Peace,” was one of the words shouted by protestors carrying various blue and yellow flags, as various civilians and tourists recorded them from businesses like the Starbucks Reserve Roastery Chicago and Zara. The event was organized by the Illinois division of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, also referred to as UCCA, which has organized various emergency rallies and educational panels since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After the rally, many members of the community gathered at Holy Name Cathedral to participate in a memorial service for the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 which was scheduled at 4 pm. 

The rally began at 2 pm as protestors formed an open circle with a large Ukrainian flag held by  members of UCCA and other community leaders in the center. The voices of community leaders echoed in both Ukrainian and English with the help of a megaphone as they urged passersby to call their senators, Congressmen and the White House to not accept this proposal because “Ukrainians do not have the right to accept these 28-points of betrayal,” according to Zoryana Smozhanyk, president of the Ukrainian Daughters Foundation. Since 2023, Zoryana’s non-profit organization has been planning various fundraising events so that they could send first aid kids, drones, protective gear, transportation, and ambulances for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In Ukrainian, Ms. Smozhanyk began her speech with the following: “After everything that has happened. After all the friends and loved ones that we have lost, we do not have a right to stop.”

Along with Ms. Smozhanyk, there were speeches from the Consulate General from the Republic of Lithuania and from Ukrainian veteran Oleh Symoroz, who had lost his legs during the war and is currently seeking rehabilitation through the Protez Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the rehabilitation of Ukrainian veterans and civilians in the United States. “You are not just a diaspora. You are not just people with flags,” was spoken by Symoroz as he wore military camouflage with a patch of the Ukrainian flag on his arm, as he sat in his wheelchair, “Today, you are the voice of the Ukrainian nation. The voice of the Ukrainian fight in the United States of America.” After the speeches ended, protestors began to walk along the sidewalk, initiating and repeating phrases such as “USA support Ukraine,” “Arm Ukraine now,” “Russia is a terrorist state,” and many others. Some phrases were initiated by community leaders with megaphones, but many were initiated by a few individual protestors shouting a phrase in hopes of raising awareness to the various onlookers. 

The protest ended at Holy Name Cathedral as the members of the community prepared to commemorate the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933, a genocide that the Russians had inflicted on Ukraine when it was occupied by the Soviet Union. Under the command of dictator Joseph Stalin, soldiers entered Ukrainian villages, confiscating grain and livestock from the civilians who were sentenced to death through starvation.  During the service, Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk, leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saint Nicholas of Chicago, reflected on the losses of the Holodomor, stating that all present are here “to remember this frightening Holodomor that carried millions, millions of Ukrainian victims, and also took away the potential birth of millions, millions of Ukrainians.” The memorial service consisted of a procession by approximately forty priests from various parishes of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox church, members of Ukrainian youth organizations like Plast and CYM, and four people dressed in Ukrainian attire carrying two wreaths on either side of the church. Prior to the event, members of Plast were handing out booklets about the Holodomor created by one of the event organizers, the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation. Throughout the event, there were various speeches from Bishop Benedict and the other organizers of the service such as UCCA and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Chicago. All of the speeches touched on the ways in which the atrocities of the past continue today and how Ukrainians must never forget the Holodomor and the memories of those whose lives have been lost. They also highlighted the roles of ordinary Ukrainians in the past and in the present. “And you know, it always touches us when there were those certain people who rescued,” was emphasized by Bishop Benedict, “Rescued people during the times of the Holodomor, rescued people during the times of World War II. Someone did something.”