Torch of remembrance

Sunday, a different torch comes to Seattle: a symbol of the 75th anniversary of the Communist terror-famine in Ukraine.

In 1931, Soviet Union Communist Party Chairman Josef Stalin ordered private cropland seized and owners to join collective farms. Farmers resisted, and in one of the vilest acts of the 20th century, the Soviet state confiscated their grain and let them starve as political punishment. Ukrainian deaths from that act are estimated at 2.5 million to 3.5 million — a total that was hidden for many years because the Western press believed the lies of the Soviet government.

A commemoration of the victims will be held Sunday at 120 Kane Hall, University of Washington, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

The program will include film clips of the famine and appearances by the Ukranian ambassadors to Canada and the United States.

The torch, which comes here from Canada, will go through many countries on its way to Kiev, Ukraine.