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The Ukrainian Community
are planning to have a petition to the Welsh Assembly to recognise
the Holodomor as a genocide-famine against the Ukrainian Nation in
1932-33. We ask people to sign the letter printed below, and
to send it, either
in English or Welsh or both, to their Welsh
Assembly Member.
As well, please send the letter out to your contacts, as many people as
possible, and ask them to
post it to the
National
Assembly for Wales, Cardiff. The First Minister of Wales is the Rt. Hon.
Rodri Morgan. |
Name
Number Street
Town
Post Code
Contact phone number
E mail
Date
Dear
I am writing to ask that the Welsh Assembly considers passing a resolution
recognising:
1. The achievement of Gareth Richard
Vaughan Jones, a heroic Welsh Journalist who reported on the Ukrainian
famine
2. Acknowledging that the Ukrainian famine
was a genocide against the Ukrainian people
Gareth Jones (August 13 1905- August 12 1935)
was born in Barry but after a brief but eventful life would die the day
before his thirtieth Birthday in Manchukuo. In his short but extraordinary
life he received a First Class Honours Degree in French from the University
of Aberystwyth and in Russian and German from Cambridge, flew on a plane
with Hitler, and reported on the famine in Ukraine.
In March 1933, Gareth, who was working as Lloyd George’s Foreign Affairs
Adviser, received reports about the famine and on this, his third visit to
the U.S.S.R. he decided to investigate for himself. He travelled to Moscow
and took a long slow train south through the endless Eurasian Steppe to the
Ukrainian city of Kharkhiv. The snow had fallen heavily as he walked along
the railway tracks through the countryside and saw that "there was no bread,
many children had swollen stomachs nearly all the horses and cows had died
and people themselves were dying". The death toll from the events that
Gareth witnessed could be as high as 10,000,000- there is no exact figure
for the death toll from the famine or Holodomor which means "hunger plague",
in Ukrainian. Gareth’s reports were objectively and beautifully written
accounts of human suffering and of a land labouring under the shadow of
winter and death. He did not know that on December 29th 1932 the
Party had been instructed to collect every remaining scrap of grain from
Ukraine within five days and that military units were surrounding villages
in some areas to stop people fleeing. However he conscientiously recorded
the horrific conditions which the Soviets had created:
Along the route that I took going South I noticed frequently patches where
the dry skeletons of last years weeds were peeping above the snow…[ I] heard
the villagers say ‘We are waiting for Death’.
The majority of journalists based in Moscow chose to ignore, deny and
conceal the famine. Gareth’s reports are one of the few first hand accounts
produced by a foreign journalist. Accused of espionage and on the black list
of the Soviet Secret Police he was subjected to a sustained attack by
Moscow, and he was banned from ever visiting the Soviet Union again in his
lifetime. In comparison, journalists such as Walter Duranty, a notorious
liar, was lamentably awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his revoltingly
dishonest journalism.
I urge the Welsh Assembly to recognise Gareth’s achievement, to request that
the Russian Security Service make available any materials it may have
regarding Gareth to his family and recognises the famine as a genocide in
line with the UN Convention of 1948. Gareth was a great Welsh patriot and
was concerned with the plight of suppressed Nations. He endeavoured to
expose the Famine in 1933, but his endeavour was thwarted. As recognition of
this failure and his tragic death I ask the Welsh Assembly to acknowledge
the famine as genocide.
Yours truly,
* * * * *
Welsh Version
Enw(Name)
Rhif Stryd Road)
Tref (town)
Cod Post Postal (code)
Rhif Teliffon Telephone (number)
E bost (email)
Dyddiad(date)
Annwyl
Ysgrifennaf atoch i ofyn i’r Cynulliad Cymreig
gefnogi penderfyniad yn cydnabod:
1. Gorchest Gareth
Richard Vaughan Jones, newyddiadurwr arwrol Cymreig, fu’n adrodd hanes y
newyn yn yr Wcrain.
2. Derbyn fod y
newyn Wcranaidd yn hil-laddiad yn erbyn pobl yr Wcrain.
Ganed Gareth Jones (Awst 13, 1905 – Awst 12,
1935) yn y Bari, ond ar ol bywyd byr a hynod gynhwysfawr, bu farw yn
Manchuko ar y diwrnod cyn ei benblwydd yn ddeg ar hugain oed. Yn
ystod ei fywyd byr ond anghyffredin, derbyniodd radd gydag Anrhydedd yn y
Dosbarth Cyntaf mewn Ffrangeg drwy’r Brifysgol yn Aberystwyth, ac mewn Rwseg
ac Almaeneg o Gaergrawnt, hedfanodd mewn awyren gyda Hitler, ac adroddodd am
y newyn yn yr Wcrain.
Ym mis Mawrth 1933, yr oedd Gareth yn gweithio
fel Cynghorydd Gweithgaredd Tramor, i Lloyd George, pan dderbyniodd
adroddiadau ynglyn a’r newyn, ac yn ystod ei drydydd ymweliad a’r Undeb
Sofietaidd penderfynodd ymchwilio ei hunan. Teithiodd i Moscow ac
ymunodd mewn taith dren hir ac araf i’r De ar draws y paith ‘diderfyn’
Ewroasiaidd i ddinas Khrakov. ‘Roedd eira trwm wedi disgyn wrth iddo gerdded
ar hyd cledrau’r rheilffyrdd trwy gefngwlad a gwelodd "nad oedd bara, llawer
o blant gyda stumogau chwyddedig, y ceffylau a’r gwartheg bron i gyd wedi
marw, a’r bobl eu hunain yn trengi". Gallasai cyfanswm y marwolaethau
fod gymaint a 10,000,000 – nid oes rhif penodol i’r colledion o achos y
newyn, neu’r ‘holodomor’, sy’n golygu "pla newynog" yn iaith Wcrain.
‘Roedd adroddiadau gwrthrychol Gareth, wedi eu hysgrifennu yn gelfydd ynglyn
a diddefaint dynol ac am wlad yn llafurio dan gysgod gaeaf a marwolaeth.
Ni wyddai mai ar Ragfyr 29ain 1932 y gorchmynodd y Blaid fod pob gronyn o
rawn oedd yn weddill i’w gasglu a bod unedau milwrol yn amgylchynu pentrefi
mewn rhai mannau i gadw’r boblogaeth rhag dianc. Beth bynnag, nododd
yn gydwybodol yr amgylchiadau arswydus a grewyd gan y Sofietiaid.
Ar y ffordd a gymerais tua’r De sylwais yn aml
ar glytiau ple’r oedd sgerbydau sych chwyn y flwyddyn cynt yn sbecian uwch
yr eira..........
Clywais y pentrefwyr yn dweud ‘Rydym yn disgwyl
am farwolaeth’.
‘Roedd mwyfrif y newyddiadurwyr a leolid ym
Moscow yn dewis anwybyddu, gwadu a chuddio’r newyn. Mae adroddiadau
Gareth yn engrefftiau prin ‘o lygad y ffynnon’ gan newyddiadurwr
tramor.
Wedi ei gyhuddo o ysbio ac ar ‘restr ddu’
Heddlu Cudd y Sofietiaid, ymosodwyd yn chwyrn arno gan Moscow, a gwaharddwyd
ef rhag ymweld a’r Undeb Sofietiaidd am y gweddill o’i oes. Mewn
cymhariaeth, fe wobrwywyd newyddiadurwyr fel Walter Duranty, celwyddgi
diarhebol, gyda’r Wobr Pulitzer am newyddiadurwaith hynod o anonest.
‘Rwyn annog y Cynulliad Cymreig i gydnabod
gorchest Gareth, i geisio gan Wasanaeth Diogelwch Rwsia i wneud yn hysbys
i’w deulu, unrhyw dystiolaeth allai fod yn eu meddiant ynglyn a Gareth, a
chael ganddynt i addef y newyn fel hil-laddiad yn unol a Chonfensiwn y
Cenhedloedd Unedig 1948. ‘Roedd Gareth yn wladgarwr Cymreig brwd ac yr oedd
tynged Cenhedloedd gorthrymedig yn bwysig iawn iddo. Ymdrechodd i
ddangos i’r byd y Newyn ym 1933, ond llesteiriwyd ei ymgais. Fel
cydnabyddiaeth o’r methiant hwn a’i farw enbydus, erfyniaf ar i’r Cynulliad
Cenedlaethol gydnabod y newyn yn hil-laddiad.
Yr eiddoch yn gywir,
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