UCRDC: Holodomor Survivors’ Oral Histories

The UCRDC: Holodomor Survivors’ Oral Histories contains a valuable collection of more than 80 video interviews with Holodomor survivors conducted by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre since 2008.

Filmmaker Ariadna Ochrymovych initiated the project Holodomor: Sharing the Story in 2008 with the cooperation of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress in partnership with the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC). With a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Canadian Culture Online Strategy, Ariadna was able to engage cinematographers Markian Radomskyj and others, organize interviews, and travel to cities across Canada from 2008-2012 to interview more than 100 survivors. UCRDC researcher Orest Zakydalsky joined the project to assist as well as interview these survivors about their time as Ostarbeiters. 

Both Ariadna and Orest edited the interviews, most of which are an hour or longer in length. Orest later translated excerpts into English, which were published on two websites – www.holodomorsurvivors.ca and www.sharethestory.ca.

Based on these interviews Ariadna independently produced the film Holodomor: Voices of Survivors in 2016 which has won multiple awards (film festivals including Chicago, Yorkton, Toronto, Poland,  Estdocs, Rivne, and Best Documentary in Odesa in 2022).

OurDigitalWorld, a non-profit organization that provides archival solutions for community organizations around the world, will employ its VITA Toolkit technology to ensure that the survivor testimonies are accessible and searchable for researchers and the general public.

The collection can be viewed through the Holodomor Digital Collection database, developed in collaboration with Our Digital World, available with extensive metadata, time-stamp descriptions, teaser clips, and in a fully searchable format. Permission to view entire videos may be requested from the UCRDC by writing to office@ucrdc.org.