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85 Years Later, Ukraine Marks Famine That Killed Millions

His frail hand covering his heart, Mykhailo Matvienko, 92, peered at the yellow flame of a candle on his kitchen table on Saturday and recounted his childhood during the Great Famine.

A searing event seen as one of the great atrocities of 20th-century Europe, the Ukrainian famine of 1933 killed more than three million people, by most estimates, and has become a touchstone in post-Soviet Ukrainian society.

β€œIt is very important to remember the famine,” Mr. Matvienko said. He lit his first candle in the morning, and kept them burning through the day.

Read entire article at NYT