(25 Nov 2006)
Kiev - 25 November 2006
1. Pull-out from cathedral top to wide of square
2. Wide of beginning of mourning ceremony
3. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and wife
FILE: 1930's - Location unknown
4. Various documentary footage of famine in Ukraine between 1932-33
Kiev - 24 November 2006
5. Anna Veselova, historian, looking through books
6. Various of Veselova, checking famine victims' name in the national "Book of Memory" of famine victims
7. SOUNDBITE: (Ukrainian) Anna Veselova, historian
"In each house whole families were dying, whole villages were dying. When the whole village died, a black flag was raised, then soldiers were sent there to pick up dead bodies."
FILE: 1930's - Location unknown
8. Various of documentary footage of famine in Ukraine
Kiev - 24 November 2006
9. Anna Vasilyeva, 85-year-old survivor seated at dining table
10. Medium of photo of a young Anna Vasilyeva
11. Close up of alarm clock
12. SOUNDBITE: (Ukrainian) Anna Vasilyeva, survivor
"We ate grass, tree bark, leaves, whatever could be eaten. When all this was eaten up, it went as far as cannibalism and dead body eating. They would simply kill children, grown-up children would kill their parents and, unfortunately, it was during this famine-genocide in the thirties, that cannibalism was a wide-spread phenomenon."
Kiev - 25 November 2006
13. Pan of Yushchenko and his wife laying flowers on monument for famine victims
14. Mid shot of Ukrainian flags
15. Mid shot of mourners holding candles
16. SOUNDBITE: (Ukrainian) Viktor Yushchenko, president of Ukraine
"They were dying, on average seventeen people every minute, a thousand every hour, twenty-five-thousand every week. That was the harvest of the great famine in Ukraine. To the question of what genocide is, my answer is, 'This is a real genocide.'"
17. Various of mourners with flowers and candles visiting monument, laying flowers, candles, praying and observing minute of silence
18. Mid shot of monument to famine victims
19. Wide of ceremony
STORYLINE:
Ukraine began solemn commemorations on Saturday to mark the 73rd anniversary of a man-made Soviet-era famine that killed one-third of the country's population, a tragedy that Ukraine's president wants recognised as an act of genocide.
During the height of the 1932-33 famine, 33-thousand people died of hunger every day, devastating entire villages.
Cases of cannibalism were widespread as desperation deepened.
"In each house whole families were dying, whole villages were dying," said Anna Veselova, an Historian. "When the whole village died, a black flag was raised, then soldiers were sent there to pick up dead bodies."
Black ribbons were hung on Saturday on the blue-and-yellow national flag, and in cities across the country, officials laid flowers at monuments to the estimated ten (m) million victims.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Oleksandr Moroz, the Parliament Speaker unveiled the cornerstone of a planned memorial complex in the capital, Kiev.
Later on Saturday, officials planned a procession and the lighting of thousands of candles on a centuries-old Kiev square.
"They were dying, on average seventeen people every minute, a thousand every hour, twenty-five-thousand every week. That was the harvest of the great famine in Ukraine," Yushchenko said at the ceremony.
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin provoked the famine in a campaign to force peasants to give up their private farms and join collectives.
"We ate grass, tree bark, leaves, whatever could be eaten," said Anna Vasilyeva, 85-year-old survivor.
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