National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, Kyiv, Ukraine
The main mission of the Museum is to warn society from repeating the crime of genocide by accumulating and spreading knowledge about the Holodomor.
The Holodomor Museum teaches us to confront hatred and human rights violations. The Museum cultivates the protection of human dignity and democratic values. We work on preventing the crime of genocide by raising tolerance and a sense of moral responsibility against challenges to human rights and freedoms.
The Museum plays an important role in the civil education of the young generation and creates awareness of the need to preserve the Ukrainian state as one of the main defenses against genocide.
An important task of the Holodomor Museum is to remind of Ukrainian identity, which was tried to be replaced by the Soviet identity. The Museum is an intermediary in the process of transferring information and memories about the Holodomor. It demonstrates the connection between different generations of the Ukrainian nation and preserves the memory of the attempt at its destruction.
Knowledge of the Holodomor history, which is given by the museum, raises the issues of morality – cherishing respect for the memory of Holodomor victims, compassion, and rethinking personal life positions, which is the highest value.
The basis of the Holodomor Museum activity includes: organization of the research of historical sources about events of that time to reveal documentary evidence about Holodomor and create conditions to introduce them in scientific circulation; composing the unified register of documentary evidence, creating databases, and arranging the testimonies of the Holodomor witnesses; conducting scientific conferences, forums, workshops, podium discussions, seminars, round tables, etc., informing the public about the crime of genocide, committed by communist authorities against the Ukrainian people, through lectures, lessons, multimedia lectures, film screenings related to the Holodomor; organization of events to perpetuate the Holodomor victims’ memory; development and organization of other museum communication forms through expositions and exhibitions with the implementation of information technologies; and creating permanent expositions and exhibitions.
Even after the truth about Holodomor was discovered, denials of genocide by the Ukrainian people continued. Categorical denials can be heard from the Russian Federation, which is the successor of the USSR; this is a strong manifestation of disrespect to the memory of millions of innocent victims, to the feelings of Ukrainians who lost their relatives, to Ukrainians who survived the genocide, and to democratic rights and freedoms in whole. In fact, a denial can cause a threat of genocide repeating.
By disseminating knowledge about the Holodomor, the Museum draws attention to the “terror by famine”, which is still used in the 21st century in different countries of the world.
The National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide is a state research, cultural, educational, and scientific-methodical institution. The museum belongs to the area management of Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.