Holodomor Memorial
The Holodomor Memorial honors the victims of a manmade famine in Ukraine caused by the Soviet Union
Tucked to the side of a busy intersection a block from Union Station, the Holodomor Memorial silently bears witness to the millions of Ukrainians who died in a man-made famine engineered by Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, in the 1930s. Holodomor roughly translates to “death by starvation.”
The Holodomor Memorial was created through a partnership between the National Park Service and the Ukrainian government. It was approved by Congress in 2006 and was dedicated in 2015. The memorial was designed by local architect Larysa Kurylas, who is the daughter of Ukrainian-born parents and grew up in Wheaton. The design of the memorial is minimalistic – a wall of wheat cast in bronze, the years of the famine, and a short inscription in both English and Ukrainian.
It is fitting that wheat is used as the focal point of the Holodomor Memorial. Ukraine is often referred to as the breadbasket of Europe due to its grain exports, and it was the seizure of Ukraine’s 1932 wheat harvest by the Soviet Union that initiated the famine. The wheat that covers the 30-foot expanse of the memorial transitions from projecting from the wall on the left to receding into the background on the right, representing the abundance of Ukraine’s harvests that turned to scarcity under Soviet rule. The bronze wheat stalks are intricately detailed and surprisingly moving.
It is not difficult to see parallels between the Holodomor and current events. From the Soviet Union starving the Ukrainian people into submission in the 1930s to Russia’s unprovoked war and horrific attacks on civilians in 2022, history is sadly and devastatingly repeating itself. As one of the few sites dedicated to Ukrainian history and culture in DC, the Holodomor Memorial has become a location for people to express their support for Ukraine by leaving flowers, flags, notes, and other mementos.
In 2019, I had the opportunity to visit the Holodomor Victims Memorial in Kyiv, Ukraine. This memorial is in the shape of a candle with a museum documenting the famine’s victims contained within. In front of the memorial in Kyiv is a haunting statue of an emaciated young girl clutching stalks of wheat to her chest. Shortly after the Kyiv memorial opened, the Ukrainian government began efforts to create a sister memorial in Washington, DC to raise international awareness about the largely unknown famine-genocide perpetrated against the Ukrainian people.
The Holodomor famine-genocide was almost unheard of until Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union and Ukrainians began sharing their stories. It is heartbreaking that after 90 years, the Holodomor Memorial is more relevant than ever. If you’d like to learn more about the Holodomor, you can check out the movie Bitter Harvest from the DC Public Library.
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Address
1 Massachusetts Ave NW
Metro Station
- Union Station (RD)
- Judiciary Square (RD)
Cost
Free
Hours
Open 24 hours but best in the daylight
Length of Adventure
15 minutes
Website
www.nps.gov/places/000/holodomor-memorial.htm
