Inclusive Ukrainian children’s book on Holodomor published in Hungary with Braille and audio edition

An inclusive Ukrainian children’s book about the Holodomor, complete with braille and an audio edition, has been released in Hungary.

The novella “Three Steps of Holodomor” by Ukrainian children’s author Elina Zarzhytska, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor genocide in Ukraine, was published in Budapest. This was announced in a Ukrainian-language post on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Book Foundation in Hungary .

This two-volume book , with visual text, braille, and an audio version, was released as a part of the international project “Feel Europe in Ukrainian.”  The Holodomor was a man-made famine that was a direct consequence of Stalin’s policies in Soviet Ukraine. It claimed the lives of millions of Ukrainians between 1932 and 1933.The Ukrainian parliament and nearly 30 countries worldwide have recognized it as a genocide.

The foundation noted the importance of the publication in their Facebook post:

“In the book by Elina Zarzhytska those who testify to the dark days in Ukraine are children. They are little heroes, light and pure, and, despite everything, unconquered. The Holodomor has become pain not only for Ukrainians, but for the entire world community, and every publication about this horrible tragedy, every single testimony, fiction or documentary, is what keeps the candle of memory burning and reminds us of the terrible, unbounded price of freedom, and that right now, in this very moment, Ukraine is fighting the same enormous enemy, and inspires us to keep our battle.”

Several copies of the book will be donated to the Shelf of Ukrainian Book in Braille at the State Library of Foreign Languages, the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, and a number of other libraries in Ukraine.

Ulyana Knyahynetska and Natalia Shevchenko were responsible for the foreword and compilation. Literary editors were Oleksa Vusyk and Natalia Shevchenko. The Braille text was edited by Valentyna Butenko. The artwork was created by the students of the Dnipropetrovsk regional children and youth cinema center “Vesnyanka”.

RELATED: A memorial plaque to Gareth Jones, who told the world about the Holodomor, has been opened in Kyiv

The book was published with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary, the Society of Ukrainian Culture in Hungary, the State Self-Government of Ukrainians of Hungary, the Self-Government of Ukrainians in Erdős, Ferencvaros, Erzsibetváros, Jozsefvaros, and Budapest’s 22nd district.

Image: Ukrainian Book Foundation in Hungary (Magyarországi Ukrán Könyv Alapítvány)