HREC Director of Education Visits Holocaust Museum in Naples, Florida
On December 29, 2023, Valentina Kuryliw, HREC’s Director of Education, met with Katie Butte, Program Coordinator at the Cohen Education Center of the Holocaust Museum in Naples, Florida. Speaking as both an educator and as a daughter of Holodomor survivors, Ms. Kuryliw presented her book Holodomor in Ukraine: the Genocidal Famine 1932-1933 and other materials related to the Holodomor. She also provided links to materials for teaching the Holodomor, including recorded histories from survivors. Ksenia Kuzmycz of the Venice Ukrainian-American community also took part in the meeting and donated publications of the organization Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, which were co-authored by Jewish and Ukrainian historians.
At the entrance to the Naples Holocaust Museum
V. Kuryliw meeting with the Museum’s Katie Butte
Katie Butte, Valentina Kuryliw, Ksenia Kuzmycz, and Halyna Traversa
After the meeting, Ms. Kuryliw toured the museum. She commented, “The exhibits are very impressive. We took note of a new section that is dedicated to other genocides, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, where there were many references to Ukraine and Russia’s current genocidal war.”
The museum has a history of cooperation with the Ukrainian community, dating from the spring of 2019 when Halyna Traversa, a member of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Naples Branch, met with museum staff to discuss the possibility of an exhibit on the Holodomor. The museum responded positively in fulfillment of its mission to not only educate about the Holocaust but also about other genocides, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The exhibit opened in late August 2019 in the Museum’s new facility, and in October, 2019, Professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University presented a lecture on the Holodomor to a sold-out audience.