A man has received an award for the “tireless” work the Ukrainian community has done in getting recognition of a brutal historical act of genocide which killed millions.
Nick Lajszczuk has been handed the Ukrainian equivalent of an OBE for his work in campaigning for Keighley Town Council to recognise the “Holodomor” — a famine imposed by the dictator Stalin.
Mr Lajsczuk received the award on behalf of all the Keighley Ukrainian community, which has campaigned hard for the recognition. Between 1932-3, Stalin starved millions of Ukrainians to death and last year Keighley Town Council was the first to recognise it as genocide.
The Ukrainian President’s Service Medal was presented to Mr Lajszczuk at the Ukraine embassy in London. Mr Lajszczuk is the former chairman of the General Council of the Association of Ukrainians (AUGB).
Anna Kecyk, from Rotherham, a fellow AUGB member, also received the service medal.
The same award was posthumously issued to Gareth Jones and Malcolm Muggeridge, who reported on the famine at the time.
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