e-mail
There is a man by the name of Terry Hallman (American living in Ukraine) who has written an blog/opinion piece that he titled Ukraine’s Death Camps for Children. You can also find it here.
Terry posted his piece about 5 months ago and I have been thinking about a response.
First I need to start with why I HATE this writing. I don’t believe the Ukrainian government is deliberately concentrating children into orphanages to KILL them.
Terry’s language choice was unnecessarily emotionally inflammatory.
Buuuuut he has a couple of valid points hiding behind his language. I cannot write him off as a kook, crackpot, wack job, eccentric, half baked, crazy.
Let’s start with a basic definition so we are all on the same page.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
death campa concentration camp in which the inmates are unlikely to survive or to which they have been sent to be executed.
American Heritage Dictionary
death campA concentration camp in which those held captive are likely to die or be killed.
WordNet – Cite This Source
death campA concentration camp where prisoners are likely to die or be killed
Wikipedia
death campA death camp is a concentration camp which has been deliberately set up in order to kill those imprisoned there; such camps are not intended as punishment for criminal actions, rather, they are intended to facilitate genocide. The most famous death camps are the Nazi extermination camps, used during World War II.
The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
University of Minnesotadeath camp
Nazi extermination centers where Jews and nonJews were brought to be put to death as part of Hitler’s Final Solution.
So for the vast majority of folks “death camp” means concentrating people and deliberating killing them.
Terry’s sidekick Jeff Mowatt disagrees with this definition:
From Jeff Mowatt
Posted: 15 September 2006Remember, these institutions referred to as Death Camps are internats not orphanages and that the report which revealed the dreadful conditions included 2 statements. A witness describing them as concentration camps and the words of the director who stated that his staff were too busy burying children to provide effective care. In these circumstances I would say that concentration was the intent and death the result, making the two terms synonymous.
From: Ukraine’s Ombudsperson Karpachyova and US Ambassador Taylor address adoption issue
Specialized and Internat Ukrainian Orphanages
Ukraine’s Death Camps for Children
I Adopted From A Specialized Orphanage
Do Children Die at Ukrainian Orphanages?
Ukrainian Orphanage Blogs
(where to find stories and pictures of specialized or internat orphanages)
Berdyansk, Vinnitsa, Uzhgorod, Zhytomyr
Dnepro, Volhynia, Odessa
Hi. I agree. Mr Hallman’s sensational reference to “Death Camps for children” is counter productive, reckless and irresponsible.
[quote]
DEATH CAMP (Legal Definition -
http://dictionary.laborlawtalk.com/Death_camp)
A death camp is a concentration camp which has been deliberately set up in order to kill those imprisoned there; such camps are not intended as punishment for criminal actions, rather, they are intended to facilitate genocide.”
[/quote]
Yes conditions in Ukrainian Oranges are not ideal and they could use more resources but they are not Death Camps for children. Ukrainian Oranges are not engaged in the deliberate act of genocide, mass murder or execution of children.
Mr Hallman having made these unfounded allegation has failed to provide any evidence to back up his claim.
research undertaken on Mr Hallman has indicated that many of his claims are unsupported and can not be verified.
Mr Hallman has been excluded from two countries (Russia and the UK) he claims to have influence with the US Government and that he is a Director of an international Economic development company. His company is nothing more then a computer, a business card and a rubber stamp. He has no assets, no offices and no capital investment in Ukraine. USAid has no record of him and he is not listed as being directly involved in the Tomsk project. There are many questions that remain unanswered as to the activities of Mr Hallman’s company (P-CED)Mr Hillman is seeking a economic development grant of 125 million dollars to set up a WiMax Internet provider service network in Ukraine which he argues will generate profits to benefit Ukrainian charities.