The government of Ukraine along with the Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko announced the year of 2008 as the “Holodomor (Starvation) Victims’ Remembrance Year”. This tragic for the Ukrainian nation event took place 75 years ago in 1932-1933 when Ukrainians suffered under a massive Soviet induced deliberate starvation, in which millions died in a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

Victor Yushchenko has also announced about a world-class Holodomor Memorial Historical Complex in Kyiv which is to be built by the end of November 2008. The “Candle of Memory” will be a construction of metal, glass, granite and concrete monument on the slopes of the Dnieper River not far from the world famous, UNESCO world heritage site - Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Except the monument, there is a plan to construct a big historical complex including a large museum, research center for scholars, library, archival space, office space, exhibition space and electronic databases attesting to the tragedy of the Ukrainian nation. For this reason, the Ukrainian National Institute of Memory has announced another international contest for the best project draft of the future museum and historical complex.