Іі$Ье(і by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association! ШrainianWeekl v ; Vol. LIV No. 34 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 1986 25 cents Clandestine sources dispute Israel indirectly approaches USSR official Chornobyl information for help in Demjanjuk prosecution ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — The first For unexplained reasons, foreign JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Israeli offi- The card, which was used in the samvydav information has reached the radio broadcasts were difficult to pick cials have reportedly indirectly ap- United States by the Office of Special West about the accident at the Chor- up and understand within a 30-kilo- proached the Soviet Union for assis- Investigations in its proceedings against nobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in meter radius of the Chornobyl plant. tance in their case against John Dem- Mr. Demjanjuk, has been the subject of late April. This information disputes Thus, many listeners could not take ad- janjuk, the former Cleveland auto- much controversy. The Demjanjuk many pronouncements by the Soviet vantage of the news and advice broad- worker suspected of being "Ivan the defense contends it is a fraud and that government, reported Smoloskyp, a cast from abroad. Terrible," a guard at the Treblinka there is evidence the card was altered. quarterly published here. Although tens of thousands of death camp known for his brutality. In fact, Mark O'Connor, Mr. Dem- Following is Smoloskyp's story on school-age children were sent from Kiev The Jerusalem Post reported on janjuk's lawyer, had told The Weekly the new samvydav information. to camps on the Black Sea early, pre- August 18 that State Attorney Yona earlier this year that the original ID card According to these underground school children — who are most threat- Blattman had reportedly asked an was never examined by forensic experts. sources, it is untrue that the evacuation ened by radiation — were not evacuat- American businessman to use his Soviet Soviet authorities had given the OSI a of the population began two days after ed. Nursery schools in Kiev and sur- connections to obtain a key piece of photo of the ID card "certified as a true the accident. Rather, evacuation began rounding areas are still full of children. evidence for use in its prosecution of the copy" by the Soviet Embassy. on the third day, and only of those who The biggest problem for hospitals 66-year-old Ukrainian. That evidence is In a written report sent to The lived up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) and clinics in Kiev and surrounding an ID card purportedly issued to Mr. Weekly in March of this year, Mr. from the plant. Those living between 10 areas have been pregnant women. Demjanjuk at the Trawniki training O'Connor noted: and 18 kilometers from the plant had Thousands of women are demanding camp in 1942. (Continued on page 16) not yet been evacuated six days after the abortions, and the clinics and hospitals accident. Among them were children, in Kiev are each day filled to capacity young people and pregnant women. with pregnant women. In Kiev and other cities of northwest The first to flee the site of the accident Grdsse: in panic were bureaucrats, engineers, Ukraine, there is a great demand for some doctors and nurses, and several "green tea," an Asian import that mm hundred highly placed members of the supposedly helps against radiation Communist Party and the Komsomol. contamination. In Kiev, fresh fruit and Gesbhtsfo In the first two weeks after the vegetables are still greatly limited, roads accident, total disorganization reigned, and buildings are washed off, and grass щмл. especially among the medical per- is mowed daily. The population con- AugHaarfare h %гай sonnel. ТЋеѓє were a lack of informa- stantly talks about the deadly so-called tion about what to do and how to 'fifth x-ray." О. Besonrfere Merkmale; protect oneself from radiation. (Continued on page 12) yxMAjMv НА ОАКІА.ИЬ _Iarfee_auf..deia. Journalist cites Chornobyl 'big lie9 NEW YORK — An Australian tele- Mr. McMullen said the witnesses told 'Шаниќ vision reporter who returned last week him that the first word they heard about from a three-week trip through the a nuclear accident in Chornobyl was ^#rmlierma Soviet Union said he managed to elude three days later — and not from Mos- Vor^unct Vaiersname: љШЗЖ Soviet agents long enough to hear cow but from BBC news programs. witnesses tell him things about the "Moscow is engaging in the big lie," Chornobyl nuclear reactor disaster of said Mr. McMullen, who served 12 April 26 that the Kremlin had chosen years as Australian television corres- not to reveal, reported the New York pondent in the United States. "They've .porosche City Tribune on August 20. been trying to whitewash the Chornobyl Mali Jeff McMullen of Australia's "60 accident, evading responsibility and Minutes" television program said four (Continued on page 12) Portion of the Trawniki ID card purportedly issued to John Demjanjuk. people who live in the area between Chornobyl and Kiev whispered to him that they had witnessed the immediate aftermath of the explosion, which blew Famine Commission to begin collecting oral history the roof off reactor No. 4 and released a WASHINGTON — The U.S. Corn- an honors thesis, "Perceptions of the anonymous, it is not our business to cloud of radioactive particles that mission on the Ukraine Famine has re- Homeland: An Oral History of the even ask why. We simply do not make covered much of Europe. tained a full-time oral historian to Ukrainians of Manchester, New Hamp- that person's name a part of our record. "One man told me that despite what collect taped accounts of the Great Fa- shire." "This means that even if someone the Kremlin has been saying, there was mine in Ukraine. According to Dr. Mace, "The corn- goes through our files a hundred years panic, real and widespread panic, in the "The top priority at present is oral mission is extremely fortunate to have from now, there will be no way to find Kiev area," Mr. McMullen said. "The history," said James E. Mace, staff Miss Webber. She not only speaks the out the name of someone who wishes to young man told me in the days after the director, who explained that, while requisite languages well and has expe- remain anonymous. This is extremely blast Communist Party officials and documents are virtually immortal, rience in oral interviewing, but she also important, a matter of principle and of military commanders ousted ticketed those who witnessed this tragedy are has a deep sense of respect and under- respect for those who are kind enough passengers from airliners leaving Kiev." not. And only they can give human standing of those who are willing to to share their experience with us." "The party and military leaders filled content and a sense of understanding of share their experiences with us." The purpose of oral history, Miss the seats with their own children and the famine. Miss Webber emphasized the impor- Webber added, is to collect the maxi- wives, and sometimes themselves, the Susanna Webber has been retained as tance of anonymity to those who re- mum quantity of source material so that young man says." the commission's oral historian. She is quest it. "While we are grateful for no one in the future will be able to doubt Some citizens of Kiev were so pa- of Ukrainian descent, and speaks both whatever personal information the the fact that this terrible tragedy took nicky, others reportedly told Mr. Mc- Ukrainian and Russian. A recent gra- respondent may give us, we keep no place. "Some people may not realize the Mullen, that 10-rubel train tickets to duate of Harvard University, Miss record of any information which the importance of their personal expe- Moscow were being sold for 100 rubels Webber is also experienced in techni- person being interviewed does not wish riences," she adds, "but every account is each. ques of oral history, having completed recorded. If someone asks to remain (Continued on page 16) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 1986 No. 34 Kremlin continues to deny Second Chernobyl blaze revealed; Soviets detail events in report Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A second the problems they tried to shut the by Bohdan Nahaylo The emigres, Mr. Myhovych ex- major fire at the Chornobyl nuclear reactor down by inserting control rods It is increasingly recognized in the plains, portray matters "as if the power plant roared through the da- into the reactor's core to stop the chain West that in 1932-33 millions of peasantry of Ukraine offered maged building housing the No. 4 reaction. But by this point, the Soviet people in Ukraine starved to death as 'stubborn resistance' to the imple- reactor on May 23,but was contained by report said, only a quarter of the control a result of a man-made famine en- mentation of collectivization." In firefighters from as far away as Kiev and rods went into place. gineered by the Soviet authorities. fact, there is no shortage of re- Kharkiv before it could spread to an oil Forty seconds after 1:23 a.m. on This appalling disaster, which is ferences in Soviet sources to des- storage area, The New York Times Saturday, April 26, there was a loud estimated to have claimed the lives of perate and widespread opposition quoted a Soviet newspaper as saying. bang and the control rods stopped between 5 to 7 million lives — among the peasantry in Ukraine in The agricultural newspaper Lenin- partway into the core.