The victims of the organized famine in Ukraine of 1932-1933 and 1946-1947 or the Holodomor commemorated in Chisinau by an exceptional event staged by the Community of Ukrainian Women of Moldova and the Center of Military Culture and History of the Republic of Moldova, IPN reports.

In the event entitled “Light a candle”, there were remembered the victims of organized famine in Bessarabia of 1946-1947, 70 years of this sad event being commemorated this autumn.

In the opening of the event, the Community of Ukrainian Women’ head Valentina Moraru said the Holodomor was a humanitarian catastrophe that caused the death of millions of people and these should not be forgotten. “I ask myself with profound pain: how large our family would have been or how Ukraine would have looked like today if all these people had lived. But I know that forgetting the history, any state turns into a populated territory only and this is no longer a country,” she stated.

Attending the event, Pavlo Rohovei, adviser of the Embassy of Ukraine in Moldova, said the Holodomor was a terrifying tragedy. “Twenty-four persons died every minute, 1,440 persons died every hour and 34,568 died each day,” he stated.

According to achieve data, at least 4 million people died in Ukraine in 1932-1933. Today the Holodomor is recognized as genocide of the Ukrainian people by 23 countries, including the U.S. and Canada, and as a crime against mankind, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.