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INSIDE: • How Obama’s Russia “reset” is playing in Europe — page 3. • “Roots” trip by a Ukrainian American to Sanok region — page 10. • Photo report: National Flag Day, Independence Day— page 13. HE KRAINIAN EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXXVII No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 $1/$2 in Ukraine Presidents sign road map Hryvnia’s plunge leads to demands for Ukrainian-Polish cooperation for top Ukrainian banker’s resignation by Zenon Zawada political football between the warring Kyiv Press Bureau poles of power in Ukrainian politics – President Viktor Yushchenko blamed KYIV – The Ukrainian hryvnia’s 8 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, her percent plunge in value during the last national deputies accused the National five weeks has renewed public demands Bank of Ukraine of corruption, and presi- for the resignation of National Bank of dential front-runner Viktor Yanukovych Ukraine Chair Volodymyr Stelmakh, who blamed them all. is widely accused of allowing the central “Who’s to blame? Everyone’s to bank to become a den of corruption. blame – the president, and the prime Public frustration approached the boil- minister, and the National Bank chair, ing point when the currency’s value who are supposed to sit together, develop dropped to 9 hrv per $1 on September 4 a state approach to this issue, and provide on the interbank market – a 15 percent all measures to defend the national cur- decline. It has since rebounded to 8.50 rency,” the opposition leader said on hrv per $1 as of September 10, an 8 per- September 8. cent decline from August 6, when a U.S. Both Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. dollar bought 7.87 hrv. Yanukovych have avoided directly call- Internal Affairs Minister Yurii ing for Mr. Stelmakh’s resignation, in Lutsenko, Ukraine’s top police official, contrast to their fiery rhetoric last winter called National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) when the hryvnia began its plunge. First Assistant Chair Anatolii Shapovalov The prime minister adopted a more Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko and First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko in for questioning on September 10, two reserved tone in dealing with Mr. with Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Maria Kaczynska during days after announcing that he has evi- Stelmakh, merely assuring voters in an the official welcoming ceremony in Warsaw. dence of criminal activity within the cen- early August television interview that she tral bank that is currently being investi- would appoint a new NBU chair once she for the development of further friendly WARSAW – Presidents Viktor gated. wins the presidential election in the win- ties. “Where the pages of history require Yushchenko of Ukraine and Lech “The exchange rate has become a sce- ter and “everything will be fine” with the Kaczynski of Poland on September 7 respect and deep reverence, or mutual nario for destabilizing the situation in the exchange rate. signed a road map for Ukrainian-Polish apology, both sides should find the country from the Presidential Ms. Tymoshenko is maneuvering to cooperation for 2009-2010 that under- strength to do it. President Kaczynski and Secretariat’s end,” Mr. Lutsenko said at a gain influence on the NBU and its leader- scored the strategic partnership between I are doing everything to make this policy September 8 press conference. “That’s ship, said Dr. Oleh Soskin, director of the the two countries, as well as a joint state- dominant in our relations,” he noted. Mr. why I turn to the president of Ukraine, Institute of Society Transformation in ment on energy cooperation that focused Kaczynski confirmed that the question of Viktor Yushchenko: either establish order Kyiv. on the need to diversify energy sources historical reconciliation remains an in the National Bank, or prepare your Mr. Lutsenko’s threats of criminal and increase energy security in Europe. important component of Ukrainian-Polish subordinates for prison. It’s impossible to prosecution are intended to intimidate its The Ukrainian president and his wife, cooperation. put up with this further. A massive fraud leadership to side with Mr. Tymoshenko, Kateryna Yushchenko, were in Poland for is unfolding before our eyes.” a state visit on September 7-8. Also trav- (Continued on page 3) The hryvnia’s drop became the latest (Continued on page 20) eling with the president were: acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Volodymyr Khandohiy, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Raisa Kyiv conference to focus on WWII and historical memory Bohatyriova, Vice Prime Minister Ivan by Zenon Zawada ties,” organizers said. rary issues on the politics of historical Vasiunyk, Minister of Culture Vasyl Kyiv Press Bureau “It’s the first and biggest international memory and national identity in Ukraine. Vovkun, Minister of Family, Youth and conference on the theme of World War II More than 50 scholars representing 13 Sports Yurii Pavlenko, Presidential KYIV – No European nation endured as and Ukraine’s role, and historical memory countries will present their work, with the Secretariat Deputy Chair Andrii many casualties in World War II as of the war, since independence,” said goal of advancing international dialogue Goncharuk and acting Chairman of the Ukraine. According to widely accepted Myron Stachiw, the director of the on Ukrainian historical memory and Ukrainian Institute of National Memory estimates, 2.5 million soldiers and 5.5 mil- Fulbright Program in Ukraine, who will national identity. About half of the pre- Ihor Yukhnovskyi. lion civilians were killed, and 2.4 million co-chair the conference with Vladyslav senters are from Ukraine and the others The Ukrainian leader was greeted by were forcibly deported as Ostarbeiters, a Hrynevych, senior research associate of are from abroad. the Polish president at an official wel- portion of whom emigrated permanently or the Kuras Institute of Political and The four-day conference’s most unique coming ceremony, after which the two perished at the hands of the Soviets and Ethnonational Studies at the National event is an all-night film festival begin- heads of state presented awards to each Nazis. Academy of Sciences in Ukraine. ning at 7:15 p.m. on September 25 that other: the Commander’s Cross of Polonia To commemorate the 70th anniversary Their eight-member organizing com- will screen movies examining Ukraine’s Restituta was awarded to Mr. of the launch of World War II, the mittee has met and worked regularly for World War II experience through 5:50 Yushchenko, and Ukraine’s Order of Fulbright Program in Ukraine has organ- 18 months in preparation for the confer- a.m. the next day. Liberty was conferred on Mr. Kaczynski. ized an international conference, “World ence, Mr. Stachiw said. Among the films to be shown are Slavko Commenting on Ukrainian-Polish talks War II and the (Re)Creation of Historical In June 2008, they invited top Ukraine Nowytski’s “Between Hitler and Stalin” in Warsaw, both presidents noted the Memory in Contemporary Ukraine,” that scholars and historians to submit papers and Sergey Bukovsky’s “Spell Your Name” importance of historical reconciliation for will be held on September 23-26 in Kyiv. on the philosophy, theory and politics of about the Holocaust in Ukraine. the Ukrainian and Polish people in order Prominent Ukrainian historians from historical memory, and the creation of “It was the idea of the organizing com- to spur efficient development of partner- around the world, including Dr. Yuri historical memory in Soviet and contem- mittee,” Mr. Stachiw said. “We wanted to ship relations. Shapoval, Dr. Orest Subtelny and Dr. porary Ukraine. This includes public include examples of how World War II is Mr. Yushchenko said that, despite a Roman Serbyn, will examine the commemoration of the war; public educa- presented in media and film. Many of the difficult common history, both countries Ukrainian experience of World War II and tion about the war and Ukraine’s role; documentary films were made for Ukrainian had decided to adhere to the historical “the subsequent mythologizing of the war representation of the war and its memory truth and see the common past as a basis and Ukraine’s role in it by Soviet authori- in art, film and literature; and contempo- (Continued on page 15) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS

The Putin-Medvedev brawl Opposition continues to block Rada is concerned over the Verkhovna Rada’s inability to start working efficiently, said KYIV – The opposition Party of the president’s press secretary, Iryna over Gazprom: Will Europe suffer? Regions of Ukraine (PRU) is continuing Vannykova, on September 9. “The presi- to block the rostrum of the Verkhovna by Roman Kupchinsky met with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller dent of Ukraine is strongly concerned Rada. A poster with the inscription Jamestown Foundation Blog and instructed him not to make this pay- over a stalemate in the Verkhovna Rada. “Tymoshenko’s government does not September 8 ment. “We need to act in accordance with The leading parliamentary factions want to increase pensions and wages” the agreement that was signed on January behave themselves irresponsibly by With the fall/winter heating season in 19 (2009). We do not need to dream up remains on the Cabinet’s seats, while another poster reading “The Party of blocking the work of the Verkhovna Europe rapidly approaching, there are anything new. We also face difficult Rada, it would seem, under various spe- indications that a vicious fight has begun times,” Mr. Medvedev stated. Regions will protect the social guarantees of the people” was put above the cious excuses,” she said. Ms. Vannykova between the apparatus of Russian Mr. Medvedev’s comment that said Mr. Yushchenko is calling on the President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Gazprom must act in accordance with the Parliament’s presidium. The first deputy chair of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc national deputies to decide: either get to Minister Vladimir Putin’s entrenched loy- existing contract was a direct attack on work, removing election discrepancies, alists over control of Gazprom, the giant Mr. Putin, who a week earlier had pledged (YTB), Andrii Kozhemiakin, expressed or initiate a voluntary dissolution of the Russian state-owned gas company. to bypass its fundamental clauses. doubt that the Verkhovna Rada would Rada. Ms. Vannykova added that the The victor will have a major say in As soon as the Putin-Miller meeting work on September 9. The leaders of par- president pointed to the necessity to determining Russia’s energy policy ended, Gazprom spokesmen were report- liamentary factions were holding talks in review stage budget indices for 2010 and toward Europe in the coming years, as ed by Kommersant as saying that Ukraine the morning. Mr. Kozhemiakin said that for immediate consideration of the budg- well as gaining control over the financial had the right to ask for changes in the the YTB would insist that a bill on etary forecasting indices for next year. resources of Gazprom, a vital asset in existing contract, but that this does not increasing social standards, which the The president also noted the lack of key future political campaigns. obligate Gazprom to act on them and PRU wants to be passed, should take into The first public indications that a fight Gazprom has the right to penalize account the sources of financing for an ministers in the Cabinet. (Ukrinform) increase in social benefits. The YTB pro- had begun in Moscow came on Ukraine for breaking the contract. This Lytvyn signs new law on election September 1 when Mr. Putin met with response might indicate that Gazprom posed that a source of such additional Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia management is looking to break its funds be an increase in excise rates for KYIV – Verkhovna Rada Chairman Tymoshenko in Poland and agreed to umbilical cord to Mr. Putin and switch its tobacco, alcohol and fuel, however, the Volodymyr Lytvyn on September 9 signed release Ukraine from the key provision of loyalty to Mr. Medvedev. PRU rejected that proposal. (Ukrinform) a bill amending the law on presidential the “take or pay” gas contract signed in Another event that could shed light on the Lytvyn blames Party of Regions elections, a presidential veto of which was January 2009 – that Ukraine would have Putin-Medvedev fight began on September overridden by Parliament on August 21. to pay for the gas it had promised to buy 7 when a Moscow court began a new trial in KYIV – Verkhovna Rada Chairman The document was submitted for signing but did not take from Gazprom. the case of Vladimir Nekrasov, the owner of Volodymyr Lytvyn has charged that the by President Viktor Yushchenko on Ms. Tymoshenko stated that in 2010 the now-bankrupt chain of cosmetic stores opposition Party of Regions is leading August 25. However, on September 2 the Naftohaz Ukrayiny, the state oil and gas Arbat Prestige, and Semyon Mogilevich, an Ukraine to a political collapse. Speaking president returned it unsigned to the monopoly, would only purchase 25 billion alleged Russian organized crime leader sus- at a September 8 briefing, he was com- Verkhovna Rada and proposed that the cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia pected of links to RosUkrEnergo. According menting on the ineffectiveness of that document be published after it is signed instead of the 52 bcm contracted for under to sources in Moscow, President day’s meeting of the conciliation board of by the Rada chair. The law will take effect the long term contract. In 2009 Ukraine was Medvedev’s supporters are anxious to show heads of parliamentary factions. after it is published in the Parliament’s obligated to buy 40 bcm but only needed 33 that Mr. Mogilevich and organized crime According to Mr. Lytvyn, the main motive newspaper, Holos Ukrainy, and other offi- bcm for its domestic consumption. were linked to Gazprom in their efforts to behind the blocking of the Parliament is cial publications. The new law on presi- Ms. Tymoshenko was reported by the discredit Mr. Miller and Prime Minister not to press raising social standards, but dential elections reduces the period of the Moscow Times as saying that, “In my Putin and take control of Gazprom. the attempt “to finally break control in election campaign to 90 days, increases view, one can say we removed all gas To make matters worse, on August 31 Ukraine.” He said, “I think that there is the amount of a deposit required for the problems, or at least are firmly on the the representative of the International today every reason for chaos to develop in registration of a presidential candidate to Monetary Fund (IMF) in Ukraine, Max way to having no problems about the Ukraine, which will lead to a political col- 51,000 hrv, significantly changes the prin- Alier, threatened to break off all coopera- issue.” She added, “I am always delighted lapse.” According to Mr. Lytvyn, the cur- ciples of forming election commissions tion with Ukraine if the government led rent situation in the Ukrainian Parliament to have our meetings and I know that they and lifts restrictions on the volume of the by Prime Minister Tymoshenko reneged resembles the events of 2004. The presi- always result in real actions.” election fund. Mr. Yushchenko had said on meeting its commitment to raise dential campaign “of one of the teams” As part of the agreement, Mr. Putin that, after the new law comes into force, domestic gas prices. The first price was then aimed at closing the Verkhovna agreed to have Gazprom drop a lawsuit he would challenge it in the Constitutional increase (20 percent) for household users Rada; the same mechanism is being real- against Naftohaz by RosUkrEnergo, a Court as he is sure that a number of claus- Swiss gas trader 50 percent owned by was scheduled to go into effect on ized today, Mr. Lytvyn said. (Ukrinform) September 1, however, this apparently did es in the new law are unconstitutional. Gazprom, for $600 million in late pay- President to Rada: work or dissolve (Ukrinform) ment penalty charges. not take place and the vast government subsidies for gas remain in place as Soon after the Putin-Tymoshenko KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko (Continued on page 14) European frustration with Ukraine grows. agreement was announced, Ukraine raised the transit fee for Russian gas to Roman Kupchinsky is an analyst for Europe in 2010 from $1.70 per 1,000 the Jamestown Foundation in cubic meters/100 kilometers to $2.70 and Washington and runs the Jamestown THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY FOUNDED 1933 asked that Gazprom pay this bill in Foundation blog. The article above is advance. reprinted with the author’s permission. An English-language newspaper published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., On September 7 President Medvedev (See http://www.jamestown.org/blog.) a non-profit association, at 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054. Yearly subscription rate: $55; for UNA members — $45. Periodicals postage paid at Parsippany, NJ 07054 and additional mailing offices. Gongadze’s mother says (ISSN — 0273-9348) The Weekly: UNA: son used in political games Tel: (973) 292-9800; Fax: (973) 644-9510 Tel: (973) 292-9800; Fax: (973) 292-0900 RFE/RL a morgue for nearly nine years is her son. Postmaster, send address changes to: Last month President Viktor The Ukrainian Weekly Editor-in-chief: Roma Hadzewycz LVIV, Ukraine – The mother of slain Yushchenko said that an investigation 2200 Route 10 Editors: Matthew Dubas P.O. Box 280 Zenon Zawada (Kyiv) Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze into the Gongadze murder would affect Parsippany, NJ 07054 says her son’s name is being used by Ukraine’s January 2010 presidential elec- Ukrainian officials for political purposes, tion because organizers of the crime still The Ukrainian Weekly Archive: www.ukrweekly.com; e-mail: [email protected] RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service reported on hold high positions in the country. September 7. Heorhii Gongadze disappeared on The Ukrainian Weekly, September 13, 2009, No. 37, Vol. LXXVII Lesia Gongadze told RFE/RL that she September 16, 2000. A decapitated body Copyright © 2009 The Ukrainian Weekly has urged the government and other believed to be his was found two months politicians to leave his name alone. later in a forest outside of Kyiv. She said she has many doubts regard- This summer, fragments of a human ADMINISTRATION OF THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY AND SVOBODA ing the current investigation of her son’s skull were found near where Gongadze is abduction and murder and is skeptical believed to have been killed. Ukrainian Walter Honcharyk, administrator (973) 292-9800, ext. 3041 that former high-ranking police official forensic experts concluded that the skull e-mail: [email protected] Gen. Oleksii Pukach – who was arrested fragments are from Gongadze. Maria Oscislawski, advertising manager (973) 292-9800, ext. 3040 in July – personally strangled her son, as Ukraine’s Procurator-General Olek- e-mail: [email protected] has been reported. sander Medvedko said on September 7 that Mariyka Pendzola, subscriptions (973) 292-9800, ext. 3042 Mrs. Gongadze also said she does not additional forensic tests on the fragments e-mail: [email protected] believe that the decapitated body kept in will be performed in the United States. No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 3 How Obama’s Russia reset is playing on the ground in Europe U.S. President Barack Obama took tionship with these two democracies, Ukraine’s importance, dismissing accusa- agreement, which expires in December. office promising to try to mend ties with Ukraine and Georgia,” he said. tions the Kremlin’s actions have been Most analysts agree there has yet to be Russia, part of his strategy to overhaul overly confrontational. a confrontation or crisis in relations that Opening up foreign policy by engaging countries Viktor Kremenyuk of Moscow’s would expose a difference in the way around the world. His pledge has caused President Obama’s Russia policy is U.S.A. and Canada Institute says Russia Washington interacts with Moscow. But serious concern in Eastern Europe that part of a wider strategy of seeking is only addressing the security threat it there are serious doubts about whether Washington would weaken its support in engagement with countries from Latin sees from possible NATO expansion. He the president’s trip to Moscow last July favor of better relations with Moscow. It’s America to the Middle East by showing questions the Western insistence that val- really started a process that can pull rela- also raised doubts Mr. Obama’s policy greater respect and urging that all sides ues, not spheres of influence, should tions with Russia from the depths they will get the support it needs in Western can benefit more by increasing coopera- drive foreign policy. “If we shared simi- reached during the Bush administration. Europe, where opinion on Russia is tion than seeking competition. lar values,” he said, “I don’t think we divided. Harvard University’s Marshall could have the same problems.” The second part in this series looks at In a three-part series on U.S.-Russia Goldman says the notion of a reset has “We are different,” Mr. Kremenyuk fears in Eastern and Central Europe that relations, RFE/RL asks how the “reset” already diminished tensions between continued. “And this is something like a Washington will do little to fight is playing on the ground and how it’s Moscow and Washington. “Obama’s challenge, because with these different Moscow's drive to reassert its influence affecting Europe. looking at a whole range of issues from values, can we still live together? This is in the former Soviet bloc. afresh,” he said. “So this may be an the real question.” Copyright 2008, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted by Gregory Feifer important turning point in world history.” Mr. Kremenyuk says any success of with the permission of Radio Free RFE/RL Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Obama’s reset hinges on the positive out- Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut welcomed President Obama’s overtures come of talks to reach a new nuclear Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036; The official “reset” of relations during the summit in July. arms pact by the end of the year. Both www.rferl.org. (See between the United States and Russia “The new administration headed by sides say they want they want to sign a http://www.rferl.org/content/How_Obamas took place in July. That’s when Barack President Obama is showing its willing- deal that would replace the 1991 START _Russia_Reset_Is_Playing/1817684.html.) Obama first traveled to Moscow to detail ness to change the situation and build a policy already outlined by Vice- more effective, reliable and ultimately ing ceremony at the monument to President Joe Biden and Secretary of more modern relations,” he said. “We are Presidents sign... “Fighters for Ukraine’s Freedom” at a State Hillary Clinton. ready to play our part.” military cemetery in the village of In a speech delivered steps away from On September 8 Russian Foreign (Continued from page 1) Pikulice in southeastern Poland. The the Kremlin, the U.S. president criticized Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote in a news- The Ukrainian president also pointed memorial is dedicated to soldiers of the Moscow’s “old assumptions,” among paper article that U.S.-Russia ties had to the importance of Poland’s support for Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the them Russia’s drive to compete with the significantly improved, partly thanks to Ukraine’s Euro-integration course. “I am Galician Army. United States by carving out an opposing Mr. Obama’s visit. “We see that the sure that Ukraine-Poland relations are a Also on September 8, President sphere of influence. desire for confrontational policies is great test for Europe and what path it will Yushchenko praised Poland’s decision to “These assumptions are wrong,” he falling, especially in the Euro-Atlantic follow – the path of consolidation and transfer the building of the Narodnyi Dim said. “In 2009, a great power does not community,” he wrote. building of a single European space, or a (People’s Home) in Przemysl (Peremyshl, show strength by dominating or demo- But Russia has recently taken a series policy based on the preferences of politi- according to the Ukrainian transliteration) nizing other countries. The days when of actions that are prompting doubts cal influence on one or another part of to the Ukrainian community. Speaking at empires could treat sovereign states as about Washington’s ability to engage European territories and states,” Mr. a meeting with the Ukrainian community pieces on a chessboard are over.” Moscow. In August the Kremlin Yushchenko commented. in Przemysl, Mr. Yushchenko said that a But six months into his first term, it’s increased its military presence in Referring to the significant progress constructive dialogue between Ukraine not clear whether Mr. Obama’s reset has Georgia’s pro-Moscow breakaway Ukraine has recently achieved in terms of and Poland had produced success on this effected any real policy change in regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, European integration, Mr. Yushchenko issue. “This is a good gift to the Washington, while the Kremlin has con- violating a European Union-brokered emphasized: “We have moved so far on a Ukrainian community,” he underscored. tinued ratcheting up tensions with its pro- ceasefire. great number of these directions because The Ukrainian president and first lady Western neighbors. Soon after the Kremlin drafted legisla- Poland has always been close to us. I also paid a visit to the Cathedral of St. In his speech last July, Mr. Obama sin- tion to make it easier to send troops would like every Pole to hear that – we John the Baptist, the seat of the Ukrainian gled out Georgia, the U.S. ally invaded abroad to “defend Russian citizens” and deeply appreciate and are thankful for Catholic Eparchy of Przemysl-Warsaw. by Russia last year in a war that sent rela- “prevent aggression against another this.” During the state visit, Mr. Yushchenko tions with Western countries spiraling to state.” Mr. Kaczynski noted the need to fur- Cold War lows. In Moscow, political analyst Kirill met also with Polish Prime Minister ther develop political cooperation Donald Tusk. The two leaders discussed No trade-offs Rogov says Obama’s charm offensive between the two countries, in particular, hasn’t had any visible effect on relations. energy security, trade and bilateral eco- within the framework of Ukraine’s Euro- nomic cooperation. It was a nadir after years of deepening He says appeals to respect common val- integration. He expressed confidence that strain, during which Washington came to ues fall on deaf ears when it comes to At a meeting with Chairman Bronislaw Europe would be “a Europe of coopera- Komorowski of the Sejm, the lower see Moscow’s approach to foreign policy authoritarian leaders such as Russia’s. tion, but not dominance,” based on part- as a “zero-sum game,” in which what’s “For them, politics is always played house of the Polish Parliament, Mr. nership relations among which Ukrainian- Yushchenko focused on continuing coop- good for one country is believed to be along zero-sum rules,” he said. “That Polish relations are “very important, and bad for the other. means the results of Obama’s [reset] pol- eration between the Parliaments of the must be expanded and strengthened.” two countries, as well as humanitarian Michael McFaul, the U.S. National icy may be very disheartening, even On the first day of his state visit, Mr. Security Council’s senior director for though the idea itself may seem laud- policy and evaluation of the two coun- Yushchenko laid flowers at the Tomb of tries’ common history. Messrs. Russian and Eurasian affairs, is the chief able.” the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw’s architect of President Obama’s Russia Komorowski and Yushchenko also Is Ukraine Georgia all over again? Pilsudski Square. In addition, he and his policy. Speaking to reporters ahead of touched upon the development of Polish counterpart participated in the Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian cooperation July’s summit, he said Washington had Some see the Kremlin’s latest actions unveiling of a memorial to victims of the no illusions about the worldview of as a dark signal of intent to take a stand in the framework of the three countries’ Holodomor, the Famine-Genocide of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. Russian officials. over the next possible geostrategic battle- 1932-1933 in Ukraine. “The United States is considered an ground between Russia and the West: The next day, President and Mrs. Sources: Ukrinform, Official Website adversary,” he said. “I’m sure many Ukraine. Yushchenko participated in a flower-lay- of Ukraine’s President. would use harsher words among them- Mr. Medvedev recently called for new selves when they talk about us. And they leadership in Russia’s pro-Western neigh- think that our No. 1 objective in the bor, prompting accusations the Kremlin world is to make Russia weaker, to sur- wants to influence the outcome of a pres- round Russia, to do things that make us idential election there next January – and stronger and Russia weaker.” stirring speculation Moscow may be Dr. McFaul said the United States angling for a diplomatic or even military would begin seeking to move past the conflict. current impasse in relations through a Mr. Rogov says Russia’s designs on new kind of realism. Washington, he the former Soviet republic don’t end at said, would present its stand on con- objections to Ukraine’s joining NATO. tentious issues “very explicitly,” before “The Kremlin believes Ukraine must trying to find “ways that we can have be made part of the Russian sphere of Russia cooperate on things we define as influence,” he said. “That’s how they our national interests.” understand it, and that’s going to be a Among the most divisive disagree- major problem in relations [with the ments is Russia’s furious objection over United States].” the drive by pro-Western Ukraine and He says the impasse between Georgia to join NATO. Dr. McFaul said Washington and Moscow over what Washington would not “reassure or give actions are permissible in Ukraine and or trade anything with the Russians” over other former Soviet republics threatens to Official Website of Ukraine’s President NATO expansion. derail Obama’s reset policy. President Viktor Yushchenko and Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland Oleksander “We are not in any way, in the name of But others in Moscow downplay Motsyk during a meeting with the Ukrainian community of Poland in Przemysl the reset, abandoning our very close rela- (Peremyshl). 4 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 ADU holds 13th annual summer technology seminar in Kovel by Julianne Shepelavy ALBANY, N.Y. – Americans for Democracy in Ukraine (ADU), a not-for-profit based in Albany, N.Y., in cooperation with Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., has recently completed its 13th annual summer seminar in Ukraine under founding director Prof. Lydia Tarnavsky. The seminar this year was held at the Nadia Resource Center in Kovel, Volyn region of Ukraine. Previously ADU had sponsored methodology semi- nars in nine cities in various oblasts. After their partici- pation in these seminars teachers organized themselves into professional associations. Upon completion of the paperwork required by the Ukrainian government, cen- ters were set up. ADU funded the furnishing of the cen- ters with books, video-and audio-tapes, CDs and the appropriate equipment to use the teaching aids. The centers were also equipped with photocopiers and com- puters. Last year’s seminar focused on web design, video conferencing, advanced computer research skills, YouTube productions and interactive Power Point pre- sentations. The participants took what they had learned back to their associations to train other members. Representatives of the Resource Centers for Teachers of the English Language from Buchach, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Kovel, Myrhorod, Odesa, Okhtyrka and Uzhhorod were selected to attend this year’s seminar by the members of their respective teacher associations. The participants had been trained by last year’s attendees and had to submit pre-seminar projects to the program director in order to be eligible to Ukrainian teachers with their American instructors in Kovel. Dr. Lidia Tarnavsky, program director, is attend. Each participant had to document his/her com- seated on the far right; Mayor Serhiy Kosharuk of Kovel is standing in the center. puter expertise in order to qualify for the second phase of the technology program. The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund: August This year the team of American teachers led by Prof. Amount Name City M. Zmyj Tarnavsky achieved its goal of incorporating technology $250.00 Yuriy and Irena North Potomac, MD $15.00 Halyna Balaban Croton On Hudson, NY tools and programs such as blogs, wikis, Skype and Deychakiwsky Roy Gajdalo Philadelphia, PA Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro into their teaching method- $200.00 Zenon Masnyj New York, NY Volodymyr Needham, MA ology. $100.00 Yaroslaw and Morristown, NJ Lyczmanenko The six-day workshop was designed to develop an Karen-Ann Chelak Roman and Julianna Bloomfield Hills, MI international partnership between U.S. teachers and Irene Hlushewsky Harrison, NY Maziak Ukrainian teachers that will last throughout the coming Michael Lewko Little Falls, NJ Wladyslaw Sidorowicz South Fallsburg, NY school year. Ukrainian teachers were paired with Bohdan Sereda New York, NY $10.00 Peter Bubna Parma, OH American teachers in order to engage in collaborative UNA Seniors Kerhonkson, NY William Buski Philadelphia, PA lesson planning. Teachers from the Berkley School $55.00 Roman Barniak Basking Ridge, NJ Natalia Chaykovsky Morris Plains, NJ District in Michigan worked with their Ukrainian coun- C. and A. Hladky Randolph, NJ Michael Gamrat Montreal, QC terparts via video conferencing to develop a working Bohdan Puzyk Darien, CT Bohdan Hodiak Lafayette, CO relationship and to begin their year-long project promot- Marta Torielli Colonia, NJ Ksenia R. and Volodya Warren, MI ing cultural diversity through the use of educational Ihor Wyslotsky Chicago, IL Horobchenko technology. The school year project will involve both $50.00 Halyna Breslawec Potomac, MD Anatol Jaciuk Riviera Beach, FL teachers and students in Ukraine and in the United Bohdan and Olena Glendora, CA Andrew Kazewych Williamston, MI States. Buchynsky Sophie Lonyszyn Somerset, NJ Judy Nichols, educational technology consultant with Frank Bugryn Bristol, CT Daniel Marchishin Bound Brook, NJ the Oakland School in Michigan (to which the Berkley Victor Rosynsky Ortonville, MI Victor Nadozirny Cleveland, OH schools belong), was the leader of the group of American George Wyhinny S. Barrington, IL Olena Papiz Warren, MI teachers who participated in the seminar in the U.S. $45.00 Taras Kolomeychuk Neebing, ON Irene Russnak Rochester, NJ After the seminar she commented that the American and Amelia Lambert Coventry, RI Bohdan Samokyszyn Parma, OH Ukrainian teachers “all worked together in an online Helena Mann- Owings, MD Stephanie Sydoriak Los Alamos, NM learning and web air environment. The big moments Melnitchenko N. Tomcio Etobicoke, ON came when we could all see and talk with one another Bohdan Steciw Palo Alto, CA Philip Witenko New Milford, CT and experience first-hand the power of these connec- $30.00 Leonid Mostowycz Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Steven Zarichny Youngstown, OH tions.” $25.00 Ihor Artiushenko Park Ridge, IL $5.00 Peter Hrycak Cranford, NJ The impact of the international project attracted the Barbara Boyd Lake Suzy, FL Orysia Johnson St. Petersburg, FL attention of Mayor Serhiy Kosharuk of Kovel, who Sophie and Stephen Pawleys Island, SC Merle and Bonnie Toledo, OH made a personal visit to the workshop to see and experi- Chmil Jurkiewicz ence this global connection first hand. Helen Fedoriw Clifton, NJ Alex Kachmar Sacramento, CA The Ukrainian teachers were provided with laptop Nicholas and Slawka Springfield, NJ Myron Koblansky Charlotte, NC computers and data projectors to take back to their asso- Hordynsky Lydia Kowalchuk New Hope, PA ciations. The participants were charged with training Luba L. Kostiw-Kladko Sunnyvale, CA George Krywolap Catonville, MD other teachers and with continuing their relationship Tamara Kuropas Warren, MI Roman and Stacy Farmington, CT with their American counterparts during the 2009-2010 Natalie Newmerzhycky Englewood, FL Leskiw school year. The equipment provided to each association Joseph Szafranski West Bloomfield, MI Oksana Lobachevsky Somerset, NJ lends portability so that the technology can reach and Peter Urban Latham, NY John Losko Chicago, IL involve many schools and students in the cities repre- Maksym Wasyluk Montreal, QC Nicholas Prisak Atlanta, GA sented by the participants. $20.00 Michael Bochno Toronto, ON Pavlo Pundy Arlington, Hts, IL ADU is committed to continue its partnership with Gene Diduch Hephzibah, GA $2.00 Christina Sitko Garrettsville, OH teachers of English in Ukraine and to support their par- Daria Drobny Dearborn, MI ticipation in international communication with educators John Kozeletz Falls Church, VA TOTAL: $2,497.00 and students outside of Ukraine. Ivan and Marta College Park, MD For further information readers may contact ADU at Kryvutsky P.O. Box 3874, Albany, NY 12203-0874 or Mykola Mirchuk Livingston, NJ Sincere thanks to all contributors to [email protected]. All contributions to ADU are tax- Arkadij Oceretko Sun City West, AZ The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund. deductible and all administrative work is done by volun- Anatol Popovich St. Petersburgh, FL teers. Nestor and Olya Park Ridge, IL The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund is the only fund Popowych dedicated exclusively to supporting the work of this Check us out online: Victor Rud Ridgewood, NJ publication. Eugene B. and Natalia Short Hills, NJ www.ukrweekly.com No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 5 6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

FOR THE RECORD THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY The founding of Rukh President Viktor Yushchenko’s Twenty years ago an unprecedented gathering took place in Kyiv: the founding congress of Rukh, or as it was formally called at the time, the Popular Movement of Independence Day address Ukraine for Perebudova. Rukh was undoubtedly the most important organization Following are excerpts of President we should celebrate and value with dig- formed in Ukraine in the wake of the policies of glasnost, perestroika (perebudova in Viktor Yushchenko’s August 24 address nity our every national achievement. … Ukrainian) and demokratyzatsiya announced by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. on the occasion of the 18th anniversary We are a free and democratic country. It was a time of a great national reawakening in Ukraine. The Ukrainian of Ukraine’s independence. The text was The system of political censorship and Helsinki Group was reactivated (and soon thereafter transformed into the provided by the president’s press office. persecution has become the thing of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union), the Ukrainian Culturological Club, the Zelenyi Svit past. The opposition has come to power environmental association, the Memorial Society and the Ukrainian Language Dear Ukrainian nation, esteemed twice in a free election. Society were formed. Ukrainian Catholics were coming out of the “catacombs,” Ukrainian officers and military, respected …Ukraine was recognized a market and the Initiative Committee for the Renewal of the Ukrainian Autocephalous fellow citizens, Ukrainians of the world: economy. We joined the World Trade Orthodox Church was announced. The people of Ukraine began to speak out I greet you with the 18th anniversary Organization, and got rid of discrimina- against the Communist Party and for human, national and religious rights. of Ukraine’s independence. tory trade restrictions which had been The founding congress of Rukh, a public movement of patriotic Ukrainians, was held In our contemporary history, August there for last 15 years. up for a year and a half by the ruling conservative elements of the Communist Party of 24th is the main, most important date in We have overcome tremendous dis- the Ukrainian SSR under the leadership of First Secretary Volodymyr Shcherbytsky. our lives. tance in relations with the European Indeed, a propaganda campaign was conducted by the authorities against what was seen But I will begin with words that do not Union. Soon we expect a truly historic as a major political threat to the Soviet order. Nonetheless, Rukh succeeded in publish- concern the date, but all of us. event to happen: the signature of the EU- ing its draft program in the official newspaper of the Ukrainian Writers Union, I will begin with the symbolic Ukraine Association Agreement. Literaturna Ukraina, in mid-February of 1989. The nascent movement continued to gain Ukrainian “I Believe,”which today each Gradually, we are joining the European strength. By July of that year, Rukh had 200 chapters and 250,000 members nationwide. one of us can and should utter, no matter space in all the important areas – from On September 8-10, 1989, Rukh held its congress at Kyiv Polytechnical Institute our views, background or faith: energy to education. … with approximately 1,200 delegates in attendance. Also present were countless repre- I believe that I am a Ukrainian, and I With the right steps we have stopped sentatives of Soviet and foreign news media, guests from throughout Ukraine and wish my homeland well. critical demographic processes. In 2009 other Soviet republics, Poland, Western Europe and North America. The atmosphere I believe in our national identity and we recorded the highest birth rate in 18 was euphoric; blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine and other national symbols were want it to spread through our native land, years. The number of children adopted proudly displayed in the session hall. while, like any good and wise host, I by our citizens has increased by almost Writer Volodymyr Yavorivsky, who headed the congress organizing committee, respect and protect each and every cul- 40 percent. More than half a million opened the event, and the words of Oles Honchar’s opening address set the stage for ture that has been born here. Ukrainians are born yearly now – we did what was to follow. “Gathered here are not those who are driven by ambition, as the I believe in my belonging to a great not have that in the past 18 years. bureaucrats attempt to assert. From this congress rostrum the truth of life will speak, Ukrainian people, to its thousands years’ We have laid new standards of social as well as concern for the fate of perebudova, the fate of Ukraine,” he stated. culture, history, fate, for which I feel a policy, which allowed us to increase The Rukh platform adopted at the congress underscored that the movement was guid- personal responsibility, because it con- almost three times the average salary in ed by “the principles of humanism, democracy, glasnost, pluralism, social justice and cerns my life and the lives of my chil- Ukraine and to increase the real incomes internationalism; it emanates from the interests of all citizens of the republic regardless dren and my grandchildren. of people. Over the past four years we of their nationality.” It called for political and economic sovereignty for Ukraine, the I believe and respect our state and will have doubled the national budget. reversal of decades of Russification imposed by Moscow and its satraps, protection of utilize my own strength to make it Ukraine did not have such indices in its the rights of national minorities and ethnic groups, and environmental safeguards. stronger, and ensure a more secure and previous history. I am convinced, deeply Delegates elected writer Ivan Drach, head of the Kyiv regional Rukh organization, as prosperous life for my nation, my fellow convinced that we will withstand the Rukh’s first leader. citizens and our families. economic crisis. … Rukh was born. Our editorial from 1989 expressed our hope – and heartfelt expec- I believe in our sovereign ability to My strategic plan has three principal tation – that Rukh “is merely the first step toward a democratic and humane Ukraine, achieve great goals. positions. an independent Ukraine.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Any divisions pale before the under- First. We must continue the course of standing of our truly great idea in a new true national revival of Ukraine. Much era: the creation of a single Ukrainian work has already been done. The state nation, a contemporary national, political speaks from the position of national idea. Sept. and community organism, which We have started extensive work to Turning the pages back... includes each and every citizen of our restore the historical truth and memory. country. … We have given an impetus to establish- I appeal to all Ukrainians worldwide. ment of a local Ukrainian Orthodox 16 There are not 10, or 20, or 40, but 70 Church. Last year, on September 16, 2008, Prime Minister Yulia million of us all together. This makes us …the most focus should be on the 2008 Tymoshenko’s Cabinet unveiled its proposed minimum wage for a global force capable of bring good to newest information policy of Ukraine. the 2009 budget of 770 hrv per month ($152 U.S.), and provided the native state. Together with the promotion of our an increase to 807 hrv ($159) by the end of 2008. This was the The problems Ukraine is experiencing media, film and publishing it should first time since independence that such increases were proposed. are of difficult and I would say complex become a major tool to promote “I believe the 2009 budget will be passed in a timely manner with a constructive nature. Ukrainian national ideas – ideas of cul- discussion in Parliament, and we will offer hope for serious economic improvement in I am sure, we should be straightfor- tural and spiritual unity among all seg- the country,” said Ms. Tymoshenko, who submitted the budget for review by a parlia- ward and without despair about these ments of our community. mentary committee on the same day it was unveiled. objective factors. Second. The key and no-alternative The budget factored in a standard pay scale for all government employees in all Namely, Ukraine is a post-totalitarian means to restore order in our country is departments, known as a tariff network. Wages for government employees were state. This, first of all, has tremendously constitutional reform. I firmly insist on expected to increase by 700 hrv ($138) to 2,500 hrv ($494). affected the traditions and the way of constitutional changes that should fix all Other proposals in Ms. Tymoshenko’s 2009 budget included increases in social governance and the functioning of state the current controversy. I stand for strong payments. Pensions were expected to get a boost of 20 percent, said Serhii Kyseliov, authorities. …The hardest thing is that state authority with democratic division an expert at the School of Political Analysis at the National University of Kyiv people got used to permanent guardian- of powers, duties and responsibilities Mohyla Academy. Ms. Tymoshenko also wanted to stay true to her promise of repay- ship, patronage from the state, which the among all branches of government. I ing bank deposits to voters who lost their savings during the collapse of the Soviet Soviet system provided and mouthed demand lifting parliamentary immunity. Union, with earmarks approaching 10 billion hrv ($2 billion). drop by drop to all its ‘cogs,’ regardless It is humiliation for the Ukrainian socie- Government spending also was expected to increase in preparation for the Euro- of the quality of their work or the real ty. I propose to numerically reduce our 2012 soccer championship, as well as for the coal, aviation and aerospace industries. achievements of this work. … parliament and increase the powers of the Opponents of the proposed budget highlighted the threat of inflation as a result of Ukraine is a post-colonial country. regions. …I demand guarantees of the the increased social payments.“The rate of growth of social expenses considerably One of the main results of such a state is strictest accountability of parliamentary surpasses the rate of GDP growth,” said Iryna Akimova, a national deputy with the domination of capital alien to its people, parties before the electorate and intro- Party of Regions of Ukraine. “The government continues to propose social initiatives, unproductive, impotent, tied to the for- duction of the “open-list” principle, the realization of which will increase inflationary pressures.” mer mother country. … which will allow the election of both a President Viktor Yushchenko pointed out that the proposed budget neglected to ear- Ukraine also is post-genocide nation. party and separate deputies. mark funds to repay Ukraine’s outstanding debt to Russia, and to finance critical ener- This post-genocide status of Ukraine, …I am signing the decree on holding a gy projects, and denied funds for affordable housing programs. according to James Mace, means: firstly, nationwide discussion of the draft Government agencies also disagreed on the projected inflation rate for Ukraine in the “killing of the intellect of the nation,” Constitution submitted by the president 2009, as estimates varied from 9.5 percent to 14 percent. Another highly debated vari- i.e. tearing apart its intellectual elites; of Ukraine. I am ready to hear the opin- able in planning the 2009 budget included the unpredictable surge in the price of natu- secondly, the “lumpenization” of the vil- ion of every Ukrainian. I believe that ral gas from Russia, which was speculated to sway from $79.5 per 1,000 cubic meters lage, which significantly slows agrarian such discussions produce a broad public to as much as $360 per 1,000 cubic meters. reform; thirdly, the perversion of world- reaction, which will force members of The proposed 2009 budget failed in the Verkhovna Rada on December 25, 2008. view and vision of history, as well as low the Parliament to begin caring for their national solidarity between different stra- people, rather than for their seats. Source: “Ukrainian government proposes budget that provides minimum standard ta of the population. … of living,” by Zenon Zawada, The Ukrainian Weekly, September 28, 2008. Openly speaking about our problems, (Continued on page 18) No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

It probably does not matter one way or This is no time another whether the president’s grandfather supported the Mau Mau or not. But for the by Andrew Sorokowski for trivialities sake of argument, let’s assume that it does and that Dr. Kuropas has secured insider Dear Editor: information from colonial Kenya about the I have been reading with disgust for political leanings of individual citizens. That Crimea II? some time now the juvenile polemics raises the question of what would be wrong Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s it expires in 2017. Ukraine was also around Myron Kuropas on the pages of The with being a supporter of the Mau Mau. accused of selling arms to Georgia, Ukrainian Weekly in the letters to the editor I was taught in my Ukrainian upbringing recent introduction of a bill to facilitate which Russia invaded in August 2008, section. The subjects and topics of dispute that partisans who fight against foreign his sending troops to defend Russian citi- and of interfering with operations of appear to be immaterial and sophomoric in colonial oppressors for freedom for their zens or soldiers abroad may be a conse- Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Mr. Medvedev nature at a time when we face the major cri- own homeland are heroes. Perhaps Dr. quence of last year’s intervention in evidently believes that while Russia had sis of rising Russian imperialism directed Kuropas knows little about Africa and has Georgia. Three recent statements by a right to use its fleet’s Ukrainian base to against Ukraine. More to the point is the rooted his opinions not in the totality of the Russian leaders, however, suggest that it support its invasion of Ukraine’s ally, election of the next president of Ukraine in 1952-1960 Mau Mau Uprising, but mainly may be aimed principally at Ukraine. Ukraine had no right to help its Georgian a few months, and that will indeed deter- on the outcries that swept Europe in early During his July-August visit to mine the future of independent Ukraine. 1953 after the murder of a white family by Ukraine, Russian Orthodox Patriarch friends resist aggression. Currently, the dark shadows of Russian Kikuyu tribesmen. While that incident was Kirill (Gundyaev) emphasized the unity Furthermore, Mr. Medvedev aggression are spreading over the skies of indeed an atrocity, there were many grue- of Orthodox believers in Rus’ – that is, denounced President Yushchenko’s char- Ukraine. One can see this menace in recent some killings on both sides during the Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. His criti- acterization of the Holodomor of 1932- public pronouncements by Russian Kenyan independence struggle, with cism of Ukrainian support for an inde- 1933 as genocide. It was as if Angela President Dmitriy Medvedev regarding demonstrably more atrocities committed by pendent Orthodox Church was ostensibly Merkel had protested that calling the Ukraine, as well as in the legal groundwork British forces against Kikuyu civilians than a call to depoliticize East Slavic Holocaust genocide was anti-German. that is being advanced in the Russian Duma by Africans against the British. Orthodoxy. At the same time, he asserted President Medvedev also objected to to justify pre-emptive military action by While some still think of the Mau Mau that the republic was part of his Ukraine’s bid to join NATO – even Russian forces outside Russia’s borders. as anti-white terrorists, the more accepted Church’s canonical territory (Europaica though that is hardly imminent. And this is not just idle talk. Military action judgment of history is that the Mau Mau Bulletin No. 173, August 12, 2009). This broadside was followed by a shot by Russia against Ukraine might be around Movement was, in fact, a legitimate strug- Depoliticizing religion is usually a across the bow from Aleksandr Dugin, the corner, as Ukraine’s former Ambassador gle for freedom by economically disadvan- good thing. Perhaps President Viktor head of the International Eurasian to the U.S. Yuri Shcherbak suggests. taged and politically powerless peasants Yushchenko’s support of a Ukrainian Movement (Korrespondent.net, August There is also a high probability that against uninvited colonial masters. Their national Church is misguided. 11, 2009). Dugin speculated that Mr. Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian hood term for themselves was “Land and Historically, nationalism – or, to use the Medvedev’s statements heralded a from the Donbas and the current leader in Freedom Army.” Most of them died in the theological term, phyletism – has long Russian-American war, to be fought in the polls will be elected the next president struggle, but Kenyan independence pre- been a danger to Orthodoxy, where the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. of Ukraine. As Taras Kuzio suggests in the vailed nonetheless, inspiring colonized peo- absence of a strong central ecclesiastical Now Mr. Dugin is certainly a loose August 30 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, ple elsewhere to seek freedom too. authority, and the constant threat of cannon and does not represent Russian that would lead to a takeover of the I say hooray for the Mau Mau, hooray Islam, contributed to the formation of state policy, though he obviously serves a Ukrainian government by the criminal for their descendants, and hooray if this par- close ties between Church and state in purpose. Patriarch Kirill may have been clans of the Donbas and the gradual demise ticular president of the United States under- countries like Bulgaria, Romania and speaking in purely spiritual terms, of Ukrainian independence. stands the costs of colonialism and the price Serbia. While the Byzantine ideal of though his canons are equally loose. And That, rather than Dr. Kuropas and his of freedom. “symphonia” calls for cooperation Mr. Medvedev may merely have been columns, should be of principal concern to between the sacred and secular power, in trying to influence Ukraine’s January 17, Roman Cybriwsky the diaspora. This is no time for trivialities. practice it has often degenerated to state 2010, elections, though that is hardly Philadelphia control over the Church. This is notably necessary: it is certain that the winner Ihor Lysyj the case in Russia. will be much more pro-Russian than Austin, Texas Thus, if Patriarch Kirill truly wishes to President Yushchenko. The rule of law depoliticize Orthodoxy, he will start at Yet Mr. Dugin’s comment is revealing. home. He will cancel all the politically This may be as much about the United Myron Kuropas must prevail motivated steps that have been taken States as it is about Ukraine. Russia and throughout Russian Church history, such its neighbors can hardly be faulted for being skittish about a country that gives and the Mau Mau Dear Editor: as the transfer of the metropolitanate of Kyiv to the Moscow Patriarchate in its voters a choice between a president I do enjoy your publication, as it was a who supports one foreign war and one Dear Editor: 1686, which the Ecumenical Patriarchate gift to my wife from my father. I was very denounced in 1924. And if he truly wish- who supports two. We denounce spheres Readers have been writing with com- disappointed in Zenon Zawada’s report on es to restore the unity and glory of of influence, only to project our own plaints about columnist Myron Kuropas the destruction of public art by Mykola Kyivan Rus’, he should support a single power worldwide. If a neo-Stalinist because once again he has gone off topic Kokhanivskyi (August 9). Orthodox Patriarchate of Kyiv for Russia were to lead a coalition in an with an illogical rant. There are plenty of The destruction of public property is a Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. The Kyivan invasion of Colombia (to put down the places where he can write whatever he crime and should not go unpunished. patriarch would be elected by a council drug clans, stabilize the economy and wants, so this is not about censorship. It is Everyone understands the feelings of of bishops, clergy and laity from all those defend democracy, of course), no one instead about the integrity of The national sentiment at any given time, but lands. Any reasonably representative would be surprised if we tightened our Ukrainian Weekly, a valuable community the rule of law must prevail. Individuals assembly might have a majority, or at embrace of Mexico or even sent a pre- resource that Dr. Kuropas often debases in a free society have no right to take the least a plurality, of Ukrainians. But that emptive expedition to Cuba. Like it or with comments that are offensive to spe- law into their own hands under any cir- should not trouble the Russian church- not, in some ways Georgia and Ukraine cific ethnic groups, hateful toward cumstances. Chaos is the result of such man, since in a depoliticized Rus’ are Russia’s Cuba and Mexico. It’s a bit favorite targets such as academe, the unpunished actions. Church, nationalism would play no role. inconsistent to support our adventures in media, anyone anywhere to the left of far- In these times of national sentiment, Patriarch Kirill’s claim of canonical Central Asia yet cry foul when Russia right, and downright incorrect with respect political unrest and political intrigue, I jurisdiction over Ukraine is questionable. rattles the saber over Ukraine. to facts. Whenever he is especially inap- think it wise to keep the rule of law While serving as metropolitan of Those who oppose imperialism from propriate, I and others feel a need to com- utmost at hand. You must remember, Smolensk and Kaliningrad, he presum- any quarter, however, can only hope that plain for the record in order to distance there are citizens of Ukraine who still ably considered these cities to be Russian by the time you are reading this, Russia ourselves from his words as we maintain feel that Russia is a close ally, have rela- Orthodox canonical territory. But before will not have started a war. It could, for our subscriptions to the newspaper. tives and friends there, and understand Soviet annexation in 1945, Kaliningrad example, provoke an attack on Russian Several of the most recent letters have its trade relations – each with its own was Koenigsberg in East Prussia, once sailors in Sevastopol in order to justify taken issue with Dr. Kuropas’s unfair incredible importance to the future of a the domain of the Catholic Teutonic an armed seizure of Crimea. Yet Ukraine attacks against President Barack Obama, free and independent Ukraine. Knights and later the Protestant home- is not Georgia. A second Crimean War (June 28). There would be no criticisms if land of philosopher Immanuel Kant. might end as badly for Russia as the first. he could confine his opposition to Mr. Michael J. Ducey What, then, is Russia up to? Is it test- Michigan City, Ind. Evidently, canons follow cannon. Obama’s policies and positions, particularly The second significant statement was ing the Black Sea waters? Is it trying to as they might affect Ukrainian Americans We welcome your opinion made by President Dmitry Medvedev in cow the Ukrainians into submission? Is it specifically, but he has instead used his two parts: first, in an August 6 letter to sending a warning shot to America? Or is privileged community platform to spew The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters President Yushchenko informing him that it, as last year in Georgia, slowly and unsubstantiated nonsense. For the sake of to the editor and commentaries on a variety Russia was withholding its ambassador methodically laying the groundwork for brevity, I’ll select just one example for of topics of concern to the Ukrainian to Kyiv because of the Ukrainian gov- an invasion and biding its time until the comment, the one in which Dr. Kuropas American and Ukrainian Canadian com- ernment’s anti-Russian behavior, and right moment? Perhaps, in the Russian warns that Mr. Obama’s grandfather was munities. Opinions expressed by colum- tradition of complex and well-thought- nists, commentators and letter-writers are second, in a follow-up speech on August “reportedly a Mau Mau supporter.” At least 11. Among the Yushchenko government’s out strategy, it is doing all of the above. two other writers mentioned this particular their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial allegedly unfriendly acts was its unwill- point in their letters but did not elaborate, so staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian ingness to extend Russia’s lease on the Andrew Sorokowski can be reached at I take that task upon myself. National Association. naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea after [email protected]. 8 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 Kyiv Mohyla journalism program expands international collaboration by Marta Farion implementation of two joint projects: the Transition(s) to Democracy” took place of the National Communication Digital Future of Journalism Program with the financial assistance of the Rinat Association, the largest national organiza- CHICAGO – Since its founding in (post-diploma course on Internet and Akhmetov Foundation for Development tion dedicated to communication. 2001, the Mohyla School of Journalism at online journalism for journalists from of Ukraine. This first Ph.D. program in The three Ph.D. candidates are journal- the National University of Kyiv Mohyla leading Ukrainian media outlets) and the Ukraine of Western accreditation and ists and faculty members at the Mohyla Academy has established itself as a leader Ph.D. program in mass communication. standards is also a result of the Akhmetov School of Journalism. Of great interest in journalism education reform, offering The Akhmetov Foundation financed Foundation’s sponsorship for faculty and were courses on Media Ethics and an M.A. and a Ph.D. degree program, as an entire floor of modules that recreate student exchanges. Methods of Media Research. All visitors well as the Digital Future of Journalism, a adjacent radio and television newsrooms, In the spring of 2009 the director of the commented on the dramatic contrast non-degree program for journalists that graphics, photography and editorial facil- J-school, Yevhen Fedchenko, travelled to between Ukraine and the United States in was founded in 2007 with generous sup- ities, as well as conference rooms built in the United States and met with editors of the area of access to digital research and port from Rinat Akhmetov’s “Develop- the remodeled space of a building at the leading media outlets in New York, academic information. The world’s infor- ment of Ukraine” Fund. National University of Kyiv Mohyla Washington and Chicago, and deputy mation is literally at one’s fingertips in New approaches in journalism Academy. In addition, the foundation director Ruslan Deynychenko visited the the Western world’s libraries. Ukraine is provided funding for international faculty University of Southern California (USC, still faced with the challenge of reaching In a mere nine years the J-school devel- and student training. Los Angeles) and attended the annual the same level of digital access. oped a new approach to journalism educa- The Mohyla J-school developed a Broadcast Education Association The Electronic Library of Ukraine tion emphasizing integrity, credibility and series of collaborative programs with var- Convention in Las Vegas. The visit was co- Project (ELibUkr), launched in January journalistic reputation, accuracy, objectivi- ious foreign educational entities. In sponsored by the Ahmetov Foundation and with assistance from the U.S. Agency for ty, impartiality, fairness and public 2002-2006 British journalists and experts U.S. Embassy Media Development Fund. International Development (USAID), is accountability. Professional integrity is the from the Institute of Communications Further funding from the Foundation the initiative of the National University cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. As Studies at the University of Leeds partici- for Development of Ukraine was obtained of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and the Kyiv a post-Soviet space, Ukraine is still under- pated as faculty; concurrently a three-year for a month-long research internship in Mohyla Foundation of America as a going a transition period in this regard. grant from the U.S. State Department is May-June of the first Ph.D. candidates of response to Ukraine’s need to close this With more than 15 faculty members supporting a faculty exchange program the program: Daria Taradai and Anastasia serious digital gap. Equal access to and an average of 80 graduate and post- with Ohio University in both directions, Grynko at Northwestern University information is the key to Ukraine’s graduate students, the Mohyla School of which resulted in five new academic Library and Medill School of Journalism, access to the world and the country’s Journalism offers myriad courses. With a courses; in addition, a three-year regional and Darya Orlova at Columbia University ability to become a partner and not a sup- mission to serve Ukrainian society in the seminar for excellence in teaching of Graduate School of Journalism. The plicant with other developed nations. academic sector, the school undertook media studies was held with the coopera- Kyiv Mohyla Foundation of America Kyiv Mohyla Academy’s mission is to new approaches by challenging the media tion of Towson University of Maryland assisted with these arrangements. help build Ukraine as a modern, demo- industry in Ukraine through analysis, cri- and sponsorship of the Open Society The Former director of the cratic nation by providing the best educa- tique, practical training, professional dis- Institute in Budapest; and one-month Northwestern University Library, David tion to future leaders. cussions, mass media communications, internships were held in 2005-2006 at La Bishop, and the current Library director, For further information readers may public media literacy, investigative report- Croix newspaper and Radio France Sarah Pritchard, not only facilitated full contact Yevhen Fedchenko, Ph.D., direc- ing, and international collaborations and International with a grant from the French access to electronic resources but opened tor, Mohyla School of Journalism at fed- internships. The school has developed a Ministry of Foreign Affairs. the door for collaboration on the [email protected], or j-school.kiev.ua. specialty in news and current affairs in Electronic Library of Ukraine project. To donate to the work and mission of broadcasting in what is currently known Ph.D. in mass communication In addition to new opportunities created Kyiv Mohyla Academy readers may contact new media, which includes the Internet. February marked the official opening by these exchanges, Ms. Taradai and Ms. the Kyiv Mohyla Foundation of America at Grynko also attended the annual confer- 773-685-1828 or mail.kmfoundation.com Partners and supporters of a joint Ph.D. program in journalism with the Autonomous University of ence of the International Communication or send mail to: KMFoundation, P.O. Box Mr. Akhmetov’s Foundation for Barcelona. Joint workshops such as Association. As a result of the visit, where 46009, Chicago, IL 60646-0009. Development of Ukraine sponsored the “Media Transformation(s) during both journalists represented Ukraine, Ms. Grynko was invited to present her Marta Farion is president of the Kyiv research paper at next year’s convention Mohyla Foundation.

Oksana Khanas Anastasia Grynko and Daria Taradai at Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.

Art from the Private Collections of Members of the Institute

Including works by Archipenko, Bazhaj, Belik, Burliuk, Cossack, Charpentier, Fratkin, Gerassi, Gritchenko, Hai, Hutsaliuk, Kolomayetz, Khymych, Kozak, Moroz, Motherwell, Murray, Opie, Pfaff, Phillips, Sochynsky, Solovij, Wirsta, Wolfert, Zhuravel

September 17 – October 4, 2009 Exhibition hours are: Tuesday – Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m. Ukrainian Institute of America 2 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075 212-288-8660 No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 9 Shukhevych and the Nachtigall Battalion: Moscow’s fabrications by Taras Hunczak izing the mass extermination of the civil- melded the Ukrainian tragedy with functionaries was successful, and by May ian population in Lviv in 1941.6 On Moscow’s political objectives.12 1960 Oberländer resigned his position as CONCLUSION November 16, 1959, a second directive Immediately after Bandera’s assassina- minister of the West German govern- was sent from Moscow by Lieutenant- tion both Moscow and Soviet- controlled ment. But this was only the beginning of In view of the criticisms that have General Fedor Shcherbak, deputy head of East Germany accused Oberländer of a long trial in Bonn during which all the been leveled at Shukhevych as an officer the Second Chief Directorate of the KGB having committed the crime in Lviv. The charges were carefully re-examined. It in the Nachtigall Battalion, which is of the USSR, urging that eyewitnesses be official organ of the Soviet Ministry of should be noted that while Oberländer accused of allegedly participating in the prepared for interrogation about Defense, the newspaper Krasnaia was the central figure in those legal pro- killings of Jews and Polish intellectuals Nachtigall.7 Zvezda, declared that because Bandera ceedings, he was always judged as the in Lviv in July 1941, I propose to exam- The real objective of the KGB in pur- had entered Lviv with Nachtigall, he commanding officer of the Nachtigall ine historical records in order to establish suing the matter of Oberländer and the knew too much about Oberländer’s crim- Battalion within the context of the events the truth. Nachtigall Battalion was stated in a letter inal acts and was therefore killed.13 The in Lviv. Therefore, Ukrainians were After the Soviets reoccupied Lviv in sent from the KGB office of the Lviv accusation leveled by the German never left out of the picture. the fall of 1944 an Extraordinary State region to the chairman of the KGB of the Democratic Republic stated: As a result of the careful examination Commission on German atrocities perpe- Ukrainian SSR, Vitalii Nikitchenko. The “Jointly with the notorious fascist of various eyewitnesses, both military trated on the territory of Lviv region was letter clearly states that the instructions and racial ideologist, Professor Hans and civilian, the court came to the con- created by the Soviet government. The had been fulfilled with respect to gather- Koch, Oberländer, in the beginning clusion that there were no grounds for commission consisted of members of the ing “evidence about the criminal acts in organized the Nachtigall battalion, using accusing Nachtigall of any criminal acts Supreme Soviet of the USSR and other Lviv and on the territory of its region, for this purpose the units of the Ukrainian against Jews or Polish professors in Lviv influential members of the Soviet govern- which were committed by Oberländer terrorist and chauvinist, Bandera. As its in July 1941.18 Similarly, all accusations ment. The results of their investigation and the Nachtigall Battalion. With the military commanding officer, he drilled against Professor Oberländer’s conduct were published in booklet form in Kyiv objective of compromising Oberländer this battalion in the service of fascist ide- were rejected as baseless.19 The interna- in 1945.1 On the basis of the investiga- and the Ukrainian nationalists, the docu- ology, indoctrinating it with anti-commu- tional community learned the details tion, which consisted of research, eyewit- ments gathered by the UKGB have been nism, and hatred against the intellectual about the false accusations against ness accounts, and medical reports, the widely used in the local and central press, strata of the East European nations… Oberländer only during the trial of commission concluded that Gestapo movie chronicles, and at a press confer- Oberländer headed the murder bat- Bandera’s assassin Bohdan Stashynsky, detachments had prepared lists of Lviv ence in Moscow.”8 talion Nachtigall when this unit attacked which took place in Karlsruhe on intellectuals who were slated for destruc- Having thus established a prefabricat- the Soviet university town of Lwow dur- October 8-19, 1962.20 During the trial the tion even before the Germans entered the ed documentary basis, Moscow was ing the hours of the morning of June 30, presiding judge, Dr. Heinrich Jagusch, city.2 The findings of the Extraordinary ready to launch international condemna- 1941. Under his leadership, the members stated that “the Soviet Secret Service no State Commission served as the basis for tion of Ukrainian nationalism for the of the Nachtigall battalion started longer commits murder at its own discre- arguments advanced by General Roman alleged murder of Polish intellectuals and pogroms against the Jewish population, tion. Murder is now carried out on Rudenko, who served as Chief members of the Jewish community of and a systematic extermination campaign express government orders. Political Prosecutor for the USSR at the Lviv by linking the Nachtigall Battalion against the leading representatives of the murder has, so to speak, now become Nuremberg Trials. Addressing the Lviv with Theodor Oberländer. Using town’s intelligentsia, using for this pur- institutionalized.”21 problem, Rudenko stated: “Immediately Nachtigall and Oberländer as back- pose lists of names which had been pre- During the investigation of the crimes after the occupation of Lvov by the ground, what the KGB was preparing pared in advance”.14 in Lviv, the court established that it was Germans, mass arrests and shooting of was part of the Kremlin’s diabolical For these alleged criminal acts the German Security Service (SD), the professors, physicians, lawyers, writers, scheme whose objective was the assassi- Oberländer was found guilty by the East Security Police, and the and artists started… An investigation … nation of Stepan Bandera, the leader of German court, which handed down its Einsatzkommando 5 that had perpetrated showed that over 70 prominent scientists, the OUN(B), which was preceded by the decision on April 29, 1960. The ruling the mass murder of Jews and Polish pro- technicians, and artists had been killed by murder of Professor Lev Rebet, the head was widely publicized throughout the fessors.22 During the discussion of these the Germans, their bodies being subse- of the OUN Abroad.9 In January 1959 communist bloc. A book about tragic events the court also addressed the quently burned by the Gestapo.”3 The Bohdan Stashynsky, a well trained KGB Oberländer was published in Poland, terrible mass murders of prisoners that tragic deaths of Lviv’s outstanding intel- assassin, who had already demonstrated slandering Oberländer, Bandera, and the Soviets committed in the prisons of lectuals were also discussed in his talents on October 12, 1957, when he Ukrainian nationalists.15 The attacks Lviv before the German troops entered Nuremberg by Chief Counselor of Justice assassinated Lev Rebet in Munich, was against Oberländer continued within the the city.23 After his trial began, (USSR) Lev N. Smirnov, who provided instructed by his KGB handler Sergei A. Ukrainian context of the Nachtigall Oberländer approached Wolfgang Müller, some details about the victims.4 Demon to go to Munich and determine Battalion, but in reality the Soviet com- the General Secretary of the German In its published report the the whereabouts of Stepan Bandera.10 In munists were seeking to defame his high Section of the URPE, the “Union de la Extraordinary State Commission not only October 1959 Stashynsky was told by his position as a minister of the West Résistance pour une Europe unie” (an drew up a list of victims with some handler to travel to Munich and carry out German government, as well as organization consisting of prominent descriptions of their sufferings, but also Moscow’s order by killing Bandera. On Chancellor Adenauer, argues Hermann World War II anti-Nazi resistance fighters provided a record of individuals from October 15 he executed his mission. In Raschhofer, who had been a professor of and intellectuals) in Düsseldorf, with a various branches of the German security December Stashynsky was summoned to International Law in German-occupied proposal to form an independent interna- services, who had participated in the Moscow, where Aleksandr Shelepin, the Prague in 1941.16 The high point of this tional commission to ascertain the truth criminal activities in Lviv.5 It should be head of the KGB, “awarded him the prefabricated slander was reached when of what really happened in Lviv in noted that neither the report of the Order of the Red Banner for fulfilling an the left wing of the Association of 1941.24 The commission members includ- Extraordinary State Commission nor important government mission.”11 Victims of the Nazi Regime (VVN) ed the Norwegian lawyer Hans Cappelen, Rudenko or Smirnov – nor anyone else, What a strange series of interconnect- delivered evidence against Oberländer to former Danish foreign minister and presi- for that matter – mentioned anything ed events: in Munich, the Ukrainians the Public Prosecutor of West Germany, dent of the Danish parliament Ole Bjørn during the Nuremberg Trials about any were mourning the death of their leader, charging him with crimes committed in Kraft, the Dutch socialist Karel van Staal, criminal acts perpetrated by Nachtigall or not realizing that he had been assassinat- Lviv in 1941.17 Thus, the same person the Belgian law professor Flor Peeters, Roman Shukhevych. This fabrication was ed by a KGB agent, while in Moscow, was the central figure to be tried in three and the Swiss jurist and Member of created later. The campaign to besmirch Shelepin and his KGB subordinates were courts of law for the same crimes that he Parliament Kurt Schoch.25 both was launched on October 2, 1959, celebrating their success in Munich. On had allegedly committed. The first took In order to be free of German or any when an instruction was issued by the October 22, 1959, Professor Albert place in East Germany during a show other influence, the members of the com- Second Chief Directorate of the KGB of Norden held a press conference in East trial, where he was found guilty in absen- mission, who met on November 27-28, the USSR requesting a search for docu- Berlin, which marked the beginning of a tia by the Supreme Court of the German 1959, decided that all their work would ments as well as witnesses in connection campaign against the members of the Democratic Republic. The next two times be conducted in The Hague (the with Theodor Oberländer, the Minister Nachtigall Battalion and Professor Oberländer was ready to testify before Netherlands).26 The commission inter- for Displaced Persons, Refugees and Oberländer, who were accused of the the Chief Public Prosecutor of District viewed witnesses and re-examined vari- Victims of War for the Federal Republic mass murder of Jews and Poles in Lviv in Courts in Bonn and Munich. of Germany, who was accused of organ- July 1941. These well orchestrated events The war of slander waged by VVN (Continued on page 18)

1 “Pro zlochynstva nimtsiv na terytorii Bezpeky Ukrainy (henceforward HDA SBU), (no. 42), p. 27. 19 Landgericht Fulda., pp. 16-17. Lvivskoi oblasti. Povidomlennia fond 1, list 4, file 3, vol. 5, fol. 55. 13 Hermann Raschhofer, “Political Assassi- 20 Anders, “Murder to Order,” pp. 86-87. Nadzvychainoi Derzhavnoi Komisii po 7 HDA SBU, fond 1, list 4, file 3, vol. 5, fol. 88. nation: The Legal Background of the Oberländer 21 Ibid., p. 107. vstanovlenniu i rozsliduvanniu zlochynstv 8 HDA SBU, fond 1, list 4, file 3, vol. 5, fols. and Stashinsky Cases,” trans. Ernst Schlosser 22 Landgericht Fulda, “In der Sache nimetsko-fashystskykh zaharbnykiv” (Kyiv: 195-196. (Tübingen: F. Schlichtenmayer, 1964), p. 8. Oberländer,” pp. 55-57. The court findings Ukrainske derzhavne vydavnytstvo, 1945). 9 Karl Anders, “Murder to Order” (London: 14 Ibid., p. 21. basically restated the findings of the Soviet 2 Ibid., pp. 4-7. See also “Niurnbergskii prot- Ampersand, 1965), p. 92. 15 Aleksander Drozdzynski and Jan Extraordinary State Commission on German sess nad glavnymi nemetskimi voennymi 10 Danylo Chaikovskyi, ed., et al. Moskovski Zaborowski, “Oberländer przez Atrocities in Lviv Region, pp. 32-35. prestupnikami,” 7 vols., ed. R. A. Rudenko, vbyvtsi Bandery pered sudom (Munich: Ukr. ‘Ostforschung’ wywiad i NSDAP do rzàdu 23 Ibid., p. 58. “…die Sowjetrussen vor dem vol. 4 (Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo vyd-vo, 1965), p. 11. NRF” (Poznan-Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Einmarsch der deutschen Truppen in Lemberg iuridicheskoi literatury, 1959), pp. 67-82. 11 Chaikovskyi, “Moskovski vbyvtsi Zachodnie, 1960). ungeheure Greueltaten begangen hatten. Es 3 “Trial of the Major War Criminals before Bandery,” p. 205. See also Anders, Murder to 16 Raschhofer, “Political Assassination,” pp. lagen mehrere Tausend Leichen in den the International Military Tribunal” Order, p. 93. 6-7. Gefängnissen der Stadt…” (Nuremberg, 14 November-1 October 1946), 12 The German journalist Claus Larass wrote 17 Ibid., p. 3. 24 “Lemberg 1941 und Oberländer: Das vol. XXII (Nuremberg, 1946), pp. 341-45. a fascinating article dealing with the details 18 I was fortunate to obtain copies of the original Ergebnis einer Untersuchung,” Preface by 4 Ibid., vol. VII, pp. 490-91. and complexities of the problem. See “Im documents of the judicial proceedings in Bonn Joop Zwart (Amstelveen, NL, 1960), p. 19. 5 “Pro zlochynstva nimtsiv, pp.” 32-35. Ostberliner Kino überkam den Mörder die and Munich. See Landgericht Fulda, “In der 25 Ibid., p. 24. 6 Haluzevyi Derzhavnyi Arkhiv Sluzhby Reue,” Welt am Sonntag, 14 October 1984 Sache Oberländer,” 63/64 (Fu), pp. 8-15, 53. 26 Ibid., pp. 20-21. 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 To find the missing “G”: My trip to the Sanok lands by Michael Buryk Mike had lost his “G”. Not so hard to imagine since Gburyk is virtually impos- PART I sible to pronounce for any red-blooded, native-born American. At the end of the late 1970s, after And even in the old country, they spending many enjoyable days learning couldn’t make up their minds about their Ukrainian dance at the Ukrainian own name. Sometimes it was Gbur and Community Center on Fleet Street in sometimes Gburyk or Gburik, and it even Jersey City, I developed an unquenchable morphed at least once into Burek, written thirst to know who my Ukrainian ances- in Cyrillic on the tombstone of one fami- tors were. Two summers spent in the ly member that stands among the tall Soviet Union studying Russian during grass and wildflowers in the old ceme- college further fueled this interest. tery up on the hill beyond the church in Back then, I knew very little: my fami- Siemuszowa. ly had come to America during the begin- Our family, like many other ning of the 20th century from Rosilna in Ukrainians and Lemkos, was resettled the Bohorodchany region of Halychyna from the Sanok lands before and during near Ivano-Frankivsk, and Siemuszowa the Polish Government’s Operation in the Sanok region in what is now south- Vistula (Akcja Wisla) in 1947. Some of eastern Poland. My paternal grandfather, the Czerepaniaks headed east into Mike Buryk, died in 1924 from injuries Ukraine and eventually settled in the in a coalmine accident near Minersville, Lviv area. The remainder of our family Pa. His wife, Julia Czerepaniak, remar- was shipped into northern, northwestern ried soon after, to a Polish co-worker of and western Poland. While visiting my Michael Buryk grandpa, Stanley Marchowsky. Hlib relatives (Katarzyna Gburyk had Dwor Ostoya, Jasienka, Poland. Occasionally over the years, Baba Julia married Michael Hlib in Siemuszowa in did mention “Sianik” in passing to her 1926) in Gorszow in 2004 had been an adventure in Podkarpaska. The Dwor, times on Ulitsa Przemyska and a few cell oldest son, Wally, but never gave any unforgettable experience, Gorszow was like most things associated with the old calls to Katarzyna’s grandson Pawel, we details about her past. not our ancestral homeland. nobility in Poland, had seen better days, found the place. Julia died in 1972. Six years later my I had dreamed about going to Sanok although it retained a certain ancient Katarzyna’s home was a relatively dad’s sister, Aunt Helen, sent me a photo and Siemuszowa ever since my Gorszow charm. After breakfast it was back to the new two-story house that her son-in-law copy of her baptismal certificate. The visit. It’s not that I didn’t want to go, but airport to pick up my tiny Avis Opel Volodymyr (Walter) Patulak had built for black piece of paper with white letters part of me was challenged by the fact rental car. Soon I was off on my stick- the family. The outside was stucco and had listed on it the names of her parents, that I speak no Polish and that my shift ramble through southeastern Poland. freshly painted. There was an old grandparents and great-grandparents, and Ukrainian can only be used for basic sur- First stop: Przemysl (Peremyshl, garage-barn in the back, and the sound of the village of Siemuszowa with com- vival to ward off starvation or a sudden according to the Ukrainian translitera- a rooster periodically pierced the air. ments in Latin. emergency. Then there were some minor tion). I had convinced Volodya But, this was no village house. No pictur- This piece of paper was the crucial events like my quadruple heart bypass Cherepanyak, the son of my second esque thatched roof or white-washed clue that began my 30-year quest leading surgery in 2007 and my wife Rosemary’s cousin Myron who lives in Lviv, to come walls here. The house looked like any to my trip to the Sanok area at the end of sudden stroke in the fall of 2008. We along. Volodya and I go back a few years you might find in Germany today. And May this year. both recovered enough by the spring of when I first stumbled across him on the yet, it was a kind of a blend between the For a third-generation Ukrainian 2009 that I considered the trip again. The Internet in 2001. Since then, he’s visited old and the new. You reached the house American, finding the pieces to the fami- spirit was willing and the “G” forces me once in New Jersey during a business from a dirt road that branched off ly puzzle was quite a challenge. Putting were strong and kept pulling me back trip to the U.S. and hosted my daughter Przemyska to several other houses in the them together after they were painstak- toward the adventure of my dreams. Alexis twice and my son Steve once in back. The area reminded me of the coal ingly found proved to be even more diffi- In May I scheduled a business trip to Lviv. patch in Primrose where my dad had cult. There were lots of dead ends, false Germany and planned to leave for Poland Volodya’s fluency in English and grown up near Minersville. starts and endless circular wanderings. from Munich at the end of it. Even as the Ukrainian and working knowledge of An old woman came out, embraced But with the help of the LDS (Church of Polish LOT airlines plane sat on the run- Polish would prove to be an invaluable Volodya and then began chatting slowly Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints) way the night of May 29 on the way to asset during the trip. Volodya is a tech- in Ukrainian. Her hair was covered in a reading room and their microfilm Rzeszow via Warsaw, I didn’t believe it nology entrepreneur with his own traditional kerchief and it reminded me archives of civil records collected world- would really happen. I finally landed Internet programming company in Lviv. of the older Ukrainian women who wide, the internet and the good offices of and went by taxi to the Dwor Ostoya in We share a passion for our family and would gather with my mom’s mother the International Red Cross, by 2004 I Jasienka just outside the airport grounds Ukrainian history, which made him the near a corner store in Jersey City to chat had tracked down many of my living at 1 a.m. Saturday morning. perfect companion for my first journey to for a while to pass away an afternoon in Czerepaniak and Buryk relations. Now, it When the taxi driver pulled up to the our ancestral homeland. the late 1950s. was time to visit them. estate of some former Polish nobleman Through the mountains to Sanok Her conversation ran from aches and And so, in 2004 I made my first tip and the gate was locked, I suspected that pains, to life in Siemuszowa, to the and trekked off to Gorszow Wielkopolski someone had called ahead to tell the On the map, the road to Przemysl from whereabouts of her daughter Melaniya, in the so-called “recovered lands” of innkeeper that Buryk the Ukrainian peas- Rzeszow looks like an easy drive. But her son-in-law and the grandchildren. Poland to meet the descendants of my ant should not be allowed to spend the half the time it’s one lane due to continu- We declined her invitation to enter the grandfather’s youngest sister, Katerzyna night. However, I was eventually let in to ous construction and the other half the house, but agreed to come back at 4 p.m. Gburyk. spend the night. traffic crawls at a snail’s pace through since she wanted to accompany us to That’s not a typo: the name was origi- I awoke early Saturday to the sound of Lancut, Jaroslaw and other ancient Siemszowa. It made sense since she was nally “Gburyk.” Along the road from pounding rain, which would be a contin- towns. Volodya was standing at the train born on the Czerepaniak homestead there Siemuszowa to Minersville, grandpa uing theme throughout my four-day station in Przemysl waiting for me after in 1922 and would know a lot about the his morning trip from Lviv. The exact village. Volodya and I drove to the Hotel location of the train station is a well-kept Jagiellonska in Sanok. We dropped our secret, since there are no signs to tell you bags, had some lunch and then headed exactly where it is or how to get there. back to Aunt Katarzyna for our trip to After a lot of trial and error and Siemuszowa. dropped cell calls, we were reunited. Finally, he squeezed into my tiny car My first taste of Siemuszowa wearing his familiar orange windbreaker We gathered up Aunt Katarzyna, topped by a very large backpack. We squeezed her into the tiny car and headed drove off together south from Przemysl out for Siemuszowa. This time we didn’t down Route 28 on the road to Sanok. take the serpentine road that snaked its The road became steeper as we way tediously over the Slone Mountains reached Bircza and more winding as we through Tyrawa Woloska to our village. climbed through the Pogorze Dynowskie Instead we followed the wide, muddy (Dynow foothills) near Kuzmina. Soon brown San (Sian) river through the we reached Tyrawa Woloska. Volodya ancient area of Trepcza and on to and I continued along the winding road Mrzgolod. At that point there was an old that was now descending from the Slone steel bridge that sat precariously over the (Salt) Mountains through the village of river. No load limit was listed, but I’m Zaluz toward Sanok. sure if you had two buses and a car cross We were on our way to the home of at the same time their fate would be Katarzyna Czerepaniak-Tympczak, his sealed suddenly with a swift drop into the great aunt and my father’s first cousin. dark waters below. But, it didn’t happen Katarzyna’s father, Michal (a.k.a the that day. miller), and my Baba Julia were brother Former “tserkva” in Siemuszowa, Poland, Epiphany of Our Lord. and sister. After losing our way a few (Continued on page 22)

credit No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 11

UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY 2009 Binghamton, N.Y. by Lubomyr K. Zobniw Americans of Ukrainian descent cele- brate Ukrainian Independence Day to BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – The annual express their pride that Ukrainians are a celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day distinctly unique people who are finally in the Binghamton, N.Y., area took place able to take their rightful place in the on Monday, August 24, with a flag raising community of free and independent ceremony at Binghamton City Hall. nations of the world, she noted. Mayor Matthew Ryan hosted the cere- The mayor paid tribute to Maria Zobniw, mony and issued a proclamation honor- a shooting victim at the American Civic ing Ukrainian independence. The flag- Association. Oresta Z. Lisowsky, daughter raising ceremony in Binghamton is one of Mrs. Zobniw said that this event was of the oldest in United States, dating especially important to her mother, who back to the early 1950s. took personal pride in helping to organize The ceremony was preceded by a short this annual Ukrainian Independence Day program at Binghamton City Hall. The commemoration at Binghamton City Hall. Rev. Teodor Czabala, pastor of Sacred It was an emotional event, especially Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church, and for the family of Mrs. Zobniw, who often the Rev. Zenoviy Zharsky, pastor of St. gave an uplifting message during this John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox event. She believed that Ukrainian histo- Church, opened the program with a ry teaches that national independence is prayer of thanksgiving. precious and hard-earned, and that the Mayor Ryan read the Ukrainian Ukrainian heritage should be shared Andrew Block Independence Day Proclamation. Oresta within the local community. Participants of the flag-raising ceremony at Binghamton City Hall. Zobniw Lisowsky spoke on the signifi- Many people contributed to the 2009 cance of Ukrainian Independence Day Ukrainian Independence Day celebra- cake celebration organized by Zenon and ebrations and the flag-raising. and the need to continue to celebrate this tions, which began on Sunday, August Christine Ivanonko. Participants were This event was covered by three local date wherever Ukrainians live. 29, with divine liturgies, followed by a dressed in embroidered shirts for the cel- TV stations. San Francisco by Nestor Wolansky direction of Irina and George Arabagi, and the Zhuravlyky Children’s Dance SAN FRANCISCO – Undaunted by Group opened with the traditional the chilly weather – typical of San Ukrainian welcome of bread and salt. Francisco this time of the year – Svyatoslav Stus, tenor, and Andriy Ukrainians came out in large numbers on Danylyshyn, baritone, performed the August 30 to Golden Gate Park to enjoy “Lord’s Prayer,” by K. Mykolaychuk. a superb program of Ukrainian song and The Kalyna Ensemble followed with a dance, and show once again that they are folk dance, “Vinochok,” and the Trembita proud of their culture. Choir sang “Kozaks Rose Before Dawn.” The Kalyna Ukrainian Dance Zhuravlyky gave a charming perform- Ensemble and the Sonechko Children’s ance of an old Ukrainian folk dance, the Ensemble from Sacramento, under the “Dancing Wind.” Ola Herasymenko, the Merited Artist of Ukraine, and no stranger to the Ukrainian American community, captivated the audience on the bandura, and another children’s ensemble, Hutsuliata, performed a “Kolomyika.” The acting consul general of the The Sonechko Children’s ensemble performs a Ukrainian folk dance. Ukraine in San Francisco, Taras Barniak, performed a Ukrainian piece, the Ukrainian American Coordinating warmly greeted the Ukrainian community. Special guests from Ukraine – “Zaporozhian Kozak Beyond the Council in cooperation with the Ukrainian Antychka, and Valeriy and Oksana Danube,” to a standing ovation. The band Heritage Club of Northern California, and Krychenko – wowed the audience with a is under the direction of Michael Wirgler. Bay Area churches, organizations and medley of contemporary Ukrainian pop The festive program closed with the clubs. Alex Hrynewycz served as master songs. The Vocal Ensemble Choir, with national dance of Ukraine, “Hopak,” with of ceremonies. Two dedicated Bay Area the well-known Bay Area activist Ivanna Zhuravlyky, Sonechko and Kalyna activists, Jinny Nazaruk, production assis- Taratula-Filipenko as artistic director, per- thrilling the crowd. tant, and Maria Iskiw, financial officer, formed the popular Ukrainian Insurgent This year’s program was sponsored by provided generous assistance. Army song, “In the Forest Clearing.” Ukraine’s acting consul general in San The renowned Golden Gate Park Francisco, Taras Barniak, addresses Band – one of the oldest municipal bands Philadelphia the crowd. in the country, now in its 127th year – by Metodij Boretsky (Music Director Roman Kucharsky). The closing prayer was offered by PHILADELPHIA – The 18th anniver- Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian New York City sary of the independence of Ukraine was Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. celebrated in Philadelphia on Monday, The Philadelphia Ukrainian Community NEW YORK – At the initiative of the cially here in New York City. ... August 24, at the Ukrainian Educational committee that organized the program was Ukrainian Congress Committee of “...New York City has benefitted and Cultural Center in Jenkintown near composed of Ivan Yaworsky, president, America, New York City Branch, Mayor tremendously from the innovative spirit, Philadelphia. Michael Bloomberg issued a proclama- rich culture, and determined work ethic The program included: opening Ihor Kusznir, Natalia Pazuniak and Borys tion in commemoration of Ukraine’s 18th of our Ukrainian residents. These men remarks by Ivan Yaworsky, chairman of Pawluk, vice presidents; Larysa Stebly, anniversary of Independence. and women continually demonstrate their the Philadelphia community committee; treasurer; Metodij Boretsky, press secre- The proclamation reads in part: dedication to the betterment of our great an honor guard composed by Ukrainian tary; Petro Kluk, corresponding secretary; “...Eighteen years ago, Ukrainian men city, and make tremendous contributions youth and veterans’ organizations; nation- and Petro Hursky, recording secretary. and women came together to declare their to our economic vitality, cultural vibran- al anthems sung by Ihor Stasiuk; a read- Ukraine’s Consul General in New independence from the Soviet Union and cy, and civic progress. This month, New ing of the Proclamation of Independence York Serhii Pohoreltsev greeted the establish the democratic state of Ukraine. Yorkers of all backgrounds can unfurl Act by Zenya Zacharczuk; and an open- Philadelphia community and read a letter Their struggle captured the imagination their yellow and blue flags as they join ing prayer by Metropolitan Stefan Soroka from the acting foreign affairs minister of of the world, and their perseverance in the their Ukrainian neighbors in celebrating of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Ukraine. face of long years of repression continues the birth of an independent Ukraine and Performers included: the Voloshky Also were present were Congressman to inspire us all. To this day, the values of applauding the outstanding accomplish- Ukrainian Dance Ensemble (Artistic Joe Sestak, former Congressman John freedom and democracy being the move- ments of the Ukrainian people. ... Director Taras Lewyckyj); Holubka Fox and Congresswoman Allison ment for Ukraine’s independence help Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed Monday, Women’s Vocal Ensemble soprano Lida Shwartz. Margaret Hughes, representing drive the collective spirit of Ukrainian August 24, as Ukrainian Independence Bychko; orator Vira Hubitska; and the the mayor of Philadelphia read a city of men and women around the world – espe- Day in the city of New York. Prometheus Ukrainian Male Chorus Philadelphia proclamation. 12 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 13

PHOTO REPORT FROM UKRAINE Ukraine’s National Flag Day, August 23 KYIV – On the occasion of National Flag Day, which is marked on August 23, President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other Ukrainian lead- ers participated in the ceremonial raising of the flag of Ukraine at Constitution Square near the Mariyinsky Palace. As part of the ceremony, the president presented passports to young citizens of Ukraine from all regions of the country. In keeping with tradition started by President Yushchenko, young people also received flags of Ukraine as a gift on this national holiday.

Official Website of Ukraine’s President Ukrainian Independence Day, August 24 KYIV – Ukrainian Independence Day was celebrated in Kyiv on August 24 with a parade down the capital city’s main thoroughfare, the Khreschatyk. Prior to that, Ukraine’s first family and government leaders attended a prayer service for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people at St. Sophia Cathedral. After reviewing a parade of Ukraine’s military, President Yushchenko delivered an address to the nation on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

Official Website of Ukraine’s President 14 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

destabilization is impossible in our coun- NEWSBRIEFS try’s current situation.” President Viktor CLACLASSSSIFIEDIFIEDSS (Continued from page 2) Yushchenko raised the question of the Kyiv may get $3.7 B from IMF Verkhovna Rada’s dissolution on TO PLACE YOUR AD CALL MARIA OSCISLAWSKI, (973) 292-9800 x 3040 September 2. On September 6 he told or e-mail: [email protected] KYIV – The International Monetary Inter that the Parliament’s dissolution Fund (IMF) is planning to allocate over was one of the ways to settle the parlia- $3.7 billion U.S. as part of the fourth mentary crisis. Mr. Yushchenko said that SERVICES tranche under the Stand-By Arrangement the country does not need a Parliament (SBA) with Ukraine on November 15, unable to function, because “this is a following the third review of a program very expensive show organized by the on cooperation between Ukraine and the two leading political forces [the Yulia IMF. The fifth tranche worth over $590 Tymoshenko Bloc and the Party of million is to be allocated to Ukraine in Regions].” Mr. Yushchenko said that he mid-February 2010. These terms were currently had no grounds to dissolve the included in the tables of the revised Parliament. “If there were such grounds, Technical Memorandum of believe me, I would not wait a day to Understanding posted on the official submit this decision for implementation,” website of the IMF on September 8. The he said. (Ukrinform) first deputy chair of the Presidential Secretariat, Oleksander Shlapak, said Discussion of draft Constitution begins earlier that the IMF could refuse to allo- KYIV – An interactive discussion of cate the fourth disbursement under its draft amendments to the Constitution pro- SBA with Ukraine. He said that IMF posed by President Viktor Yushchenko Mission Chief in Ukraine Ceyla began on September 3, according to the Pazarbasioglu had expressed concern Main Information Policy Service of the during her latest visit to Ukraine that Presidential Secretariat. This is being Ukraine is failing to fulfill the conditions done to fulfill the president’s decree on of its stand-by program and is also prov- FOR SALE the national discussion of amendments to ing the IMF with misleading information the Constitution. Everybody is able to about the conditions of the program that express his/her opinion regarding consti- have not been actually fulfilled. The IMF tutional reform and answer five questions approved the SBA with Ukraine on about the main provisions of the November 5, 2008, in an amount equiva- Constitution. (Ukrinform) lent to about $16.4 billion to tackle the consequences of the global financial cri- Deputies docked a day’s wages sis. The first disbursement of $4.5 billion KYIV – Verkhovna Rada Speaker under the SBA was allocated last Volodymyr Lytvyn, saying he is tired of November, while the release of the sec- the continuing blockade of Parliament by ond tranche worth $2.8 billion was the Party of Regions, decided to deprive approved on May 8. On July 29 the IMF national deputies of their wages for Executive Board approved the release of MERCHANDISE September 8. Mr. Lytvyn also said that he the third tranche worth $ 3.3 billion is preparing an address to krainian citi- under the two-year SBA. (Ukrinform) zens on the current developments in the Minister cites currency market abuse Verkhovna Rada and the country. He said current events in Ukraine “are extremely KYIV – Internal Affairs Minister Yurii dangerous for the county, for the people.” Lutsenko on September 8 revealed infor- Mr. Lytvyn also said that he had sent a mation about abuse on the part of leaders letter to the National Academy of of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). Sciences with the suggestion that the He said that during the investigation of a academy prepare a report on the socio- number of criminal cases, abuse has been economic status of Ukraine and its con- revealed on the part of the NBU’s high sequences for the nation and the state. officials. The matter concerns theft of the Mr. Lytvyn also reiterated that there is no funds by commercial banks, financial possibility for a voluntary dissolution of fraud during banks’ refinancing, as well the Parliament, as “this is an illegal way.” as financial abuse during currency auc- (Ukrinform) OPPORTUNITIES tions, the minister said. Mr. Lutsenko refused to answer a question about who Yanukovych supports Russian language exactly of the NBU’s leaders and for KYIV – The leader of the Party of which abuses will be brought to account. Regions of Ukraine (PRU) Viktor He accused the NBU as a whole, saying Yanukovych said on September 7 that the that it is carrying out a scenario of desta- question of creating comfortable condi- bilization of the economy on instruction tions for the development of the Russian from the Presidential Secretariat. “Using language would be resolved after the immunity and thanks to the president’s presidential election. He was speaking at support, the National Bank leaders cover a rally at the Saur-Mohyla memorial in an organization of abuses and specula- the Donetsk region on the occasion of the tions on the part of commercial banks. 66th anniversary of the liberation of And, therefore, the currency rate became Donbas from the occupying Nazis. Mr. a factor for destabilization of the situa- Yanukovych said he would do all he can tion on the scenario of the Presidential for the European Charter for Regional or Secretariat,” Mr. Lutsenko stated. “A Minority Languages to be implemented direct swindle has been developed before by Ukraine as soon as possible. “The HE KRAINIAN EEKLY our eyes.” (Ukrinform) failure to resolve this issue currently vio- PROFESSIONALS T U W Dissolution of Rada is discussed lates the rights of the Russian-speaking population. I’m sure that this question ATTENTION, MEMBERS OF THE KYIV – The dissolution of the will be resolved after the presidential UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION! Verkhovna Rada and the holding of early election,” Mr. Yanukovych added. parliamentary elections are ineffective (Ukrinform) Do you enjoy your subscription to steps, the leader of the opposition Party The Ukrainian Weekly? of Regions of Ukraine (PRU), Viktor Yanukovych blasts IMF demands Why not share that enjoyment with a friend? Yanukovych, said on the Inter television KYIV – Viktor Yanukovych, leader of ORDER A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION channel late on September 6. Mr. the Party of Regions of Ukraine (PRU), Yanukovych, who earlier called for snap TO THE WEEKLY said on September 7 that the International parliamentary elections, said that these at the member’s rate of $45 per year. Monetary Fund’s demands could lead to steps would “bring only a worsening of “famine for millions.” The IMF said that To subscribe, write to The Ukrainian the situation.” In an interview with the the Ukraine’s Cabinet must increase the Weekly, Subscription Department, ICTV channel, he described Verkhovna price of gas for domestic consumers, and 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn’s this will lead to millions of people having Parsippany, NJ 07054; statement on the possible dissolution of no money to buy food, said Mr. or call (973) 292-9800. Parliament as “emotional.” He said, Yanukovych. “The Cabinet must say “Lytvyn is an experienced politician, and he understands quite well that a further (Continued on page 15) No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 15

Mr. Pukach had organized the shadowing its co-chairs, Mr. Stachiw and Mr. NEWSBRIEFS of Gongadze, led a group of police offi- Kyiv conference... Hrynevych; Dr. Shapoval, director of the (Continued from page 14) cers who kidnapped the journalist and (Continued from page 1) Center of Historical Political Science at straightforwardly and honestly that the strangled Gongadze with his own hands. television. The only time within the very full the Kuras Institute of Political and The journalist went missing on IMF wants gas prices for the population to three-day conference was overnight.” Ethnonational Studies at the National September 16, 2000. Later, a headless increase by 20 percent and also all social The conference’s key financial spon- Academy of Sciences; Olha Hnatiuk, body was found in the Tarascha woods head of the cultural and education section payments to be frozen. Given today’s sors are the Ukrainian Institute of National near Kyiv. According to experts, the at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland growth of prices on everything one needs Memory; the Canadian Institute of body was the journalist’s. In 2006 judi- in Ukraine; Vladyslav Verstiuk, assistant for living and the fall of the hryvnia, such Ukrainian Studies in Edmonton, Alberta; conditions from the IMF are famine for cial proceedings began against three for- director of the Ukrainian Institute of the Kennan Institute in Washington, the millions of Ukrainians in the direct mean- mer employees of the Internal Affairs National Memory; Andriy Mokrousov, Woodrow Wilson International Center for ing of this word,” Mr. Yanukovych said on Ministry, namely Mykola Protasov, managing editor of the Krytyka publish- the Ukrainian channel ICTV. The Cabinet Oleksander Popovych and Valerii Scholars in Washington; the U.S. State ing house and journal; Lyudmyla is expected to raise gas prices beginning Kostenko. They were accused of the Department’s Bureau of Educational and Hrynevych, research associate at the on October 1. (ICTV, BBC) journalist’s kidnapping and murder. Cultural Affairs; and the Polish Embassy Institute of History of Ukraine at the (Ukrinform) in Ukraine. National Academy of Sciences; and Karin EC envoy on Association Agreement Ukrainian language for pupils in Poland The organizing committee consisted of Liebhart of the University of Vienna. KYIV – The European Commission’s ambassador to Ukraine, Jose Manuel KYIV – Almost 80 Ukrainian children Pinto Teixeira, said on September 3 that residing in Poland started a new academ- he hopes the Association Agreement ic year studying in the Ukrainian lan- between Ukraine and the European Union guage at the interschool center that func- will be signed this year. Speaking at a tions at one of the general education press conference, the official said that the schools in the Polish capital. This EU has the desire to do this and the EC Ukrainian center of education has been functioning for three years with the It is with great sorrow that we notify our family, friends and acquaintances of the adheres to all schedules relative to the death of our dear Husband, Father and Brother mentioned instrument. Mr. Teixeira also active promotion of the Ukrainian said that the main point is that Ukraine Embassy in Poland and the Warsaw has such aspirations, and it does not mat- parish of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic BOHDAN HANUSZCZAK ter when the Association Agreement is Church. Three-hour lessons are held on who passed away to the Heavenly Father on the 64th year of his life, signed. He added that he assumes the Saturdays. Two hours are dedicated to August 14, 2009 signing of the agreement will be a New geography, culture, have history and Year or Christmas gift. (Ukrinform) national traditions; the third focuses on He was born on March 29, 1945 in Bayreuth, Germany, and immigrated to the developing active communication in the United States in 1950 with his parents, the late Dmytro and Ewa Hanuszczak, and PGO to test skull fragments in U.S. native language. In all, five general edu- his late sister Ann (Hanuszczak) Tupyckyj. He was a parishioner and active mem- cation schools now function in Poland, ber of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church in Buffalo, N.Y., where he served as KYIV – The Procurator General’s a church trustee for twenty years. The funeral service was held on Tuesday, Office of Ukraine (PGO) said on along with 100 centers for study in the Ukrainian language. (Ukrinform) August 18 at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, in Buffalo, N.Y., followed by September 7 that it hopes DNA testing on the intement at St. Matthew’s Cemetery. the fragments of a skull that might Ukraine asks Canada to simplify travel In deep sorrow remain: belong to journalist Heorhii Gongadze Wife: Mary (née Hrynczak) Hanuszczak KYIV – Prime Minister Yulia will be conducted by U.S. experts. Children: Ann Marie Hanuszczak, Lana Hanuszczak Tymoshenko is asking Canada to simpli- Gongadze’s widow, Myroslava, who Brother: Hon. Michael Hanuszczak resides in the United States, has insisted fy the visa regime for Ukrainian citizens. on this. Procurator General Oleksander She said this at a September 7 meeting He also leaves behind grieving nieces and nephews as well as may relatives in Medvedko revealed this information but with House of Commons Speaker Peter Ukraine, England and Austalia, includind “special” cousin Irene (Hamiwka) did not specify which American institu- Milliken, currently on an official visit to Duncan in Perth, Australia. tion would be conducting the tests. As Ukraine. Ms. Tymoshenko noted that Eternal memory reported earlier, an investigative group Ukraine had introduced a visa-free found the fragments of a skull that might regime for Canadians and hopes that belong to Gongadze in the Bila Tserkva Canada will reciprocate. Ms. district of the Kyiv region on July 28. Tymoshenko also called on Canada to The fragments were found at the scene speed up work with Ukraine to create a mentioned during questioning by Oleksii free-trade zone. For his part, Mr. Pukach, the former chief of the main Milliken said Canada’s minister of the criminal investigation office of the economy plans to visit Ukraine on Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry’s for- September 23-24 to intensify, in particu- With great sorrow, we announce that eign surveillance unit. Gen. Pukach was lar, the preparation of all necessary docu- arrested in the Zhytomyr region on July ments to create a free-trade zone between Sophia Lebed Boretsky 21. He had been on the wanted list for Ukraine and Canada. In addition, Mr. almost six years. After the arrest, he Milliken proposed that Ukraine and née Hunczak admitted complicity in the murder of Canada elaborate a special program of passed away on Sunday, September 6, 2009 Gongadze. According to investigators, cooperation in tourism. (Ukrinform) A panakhyda was held on Thursday, September 10, 2009, at the Lytwyn Funeral Home in Union, N.J. Funeral services took place on Friday, September 11, 2009, at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Newark, N.J., followed by interment at St. Andrew’s Cemetery in South Bound Brook, N.J. In deep sorrow remain: Daughter – Motria Deluca and husband David Son – Orest Lebed with wife Lesia and daughters Andrea and Arianna Sisters – Natalka Melnyk, Orysia Paslawsky Brother – Taras Hunczak and wife Olia Sister-in-law – Slava Hunczak “Svakha” – Natalka Duma Nieces – Laryssa Dyrszka and family, Olena Paslawsky, Irene Paslawsky, Lydia Kriak and family, Halya Kapelewsky and family, Adrienne Dantas and husband Nephews – Peter Melnyk and family, Nestor Paslawsky and family, Markian Paslawsky, Paul Hunczak and family, Danylo Hunczak and family Closer and more distant family in the United States and Ukraine Eternal memory!

DEATH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deadline: Tuesday noon before the newspaper’s date of issue. (The Weekly goes to press early Friday mornings.) Rate: $7.50 per column-inch. Information should be addressed to the attention of the Advertising Department and sent to: The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, N.J. 07054; fax, (973) 644-9510; telephone, (973) 292-9800, ext. 3040; e-mail, [email protected].

Please include the daytime phone number of a contact person. 16 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37 Sitch Sports School celebrates its 40th anniversary KERHONKSON, N.Y. – More than talented participants of the Sports 200 people, including parents, guests and School. After the official program, tro- campers attended the 40th anniversary phies were awarded to participants of the banquet for the Chornomorska Sitch second session of camp. Ukrainian Athletic Educational Volodymyr Perozhak and Irene Association Sports School held on Chajkivsky received the “Best Camper” August 8 at Soyuzivka’s Main House. awards. The Ihor Laszok Cup was award- More than 120 boys and girls attended ed to Mark Perkowsky. the two-week camp, with 55 campers at Awards in various categories were dis- the first session and 66 campers at the tributed to the following boys: Nicholas second session. Dacyk, Alexander Dale, Mark Dashkevich, Omelan Twardowsky, president of Sean Fahey, Artem Gerashchenko, George Chornomorska Sitch and director of the Guran, Alexander Hirniak, Arthur Kardash, Sports School, welcomed the attendees Pavlo Kozak, Erick Kusmirek, Brandyn and recalled the early beginnings and the Lupe, Peter Nysch, Pavlo Orlowsky, Adam initiatives of Sitch’s pioneers in forming Oscislawsky, Alexander Polanskyj, Ihor this institution for training Ukrainian Polugasky, Ihor Rozkovian, Dmytro youth in athletics. Shevchenko, Armen Skulsky, Maxim Special guests in attendance at the Soloninka, Daniel Wanio, Stefan Wozniak, anniversary banquet included Stefan Philip Wykowski, Matthew Zeikel, Yarema Kaczaraj, president of the Ukrainian Ganushchak, Darrick Girardi, Jozef Janek, National Association (UNA), Myron Soccer participants during the first session of camp with their instructors Paul Maczaj, Mark Mychajluk, Christian Andrew Kudryk (left) and Andrew Panas (right). Stebelsky, director of the Ukrainian Petrenko, Orest Pyndus, Stefan Shepko, Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Andrew Soleiman. Canada (USCAK), and the various Among the girls, the following were instructors and functionaries of this recognized: Adriana Hirniak, Sara Bonnie, year’s Sitch Sports School. Yuliana Hirniak, Laura Bonnie, Samantha Roman Hirniak, who was the camp’s Bonnie, Sofia Janek, Larissa Klufas, swim instructor and head supervisor of Alexandra Klufas, Natalka Malarczuk, boys, continued the anniversary program, Natalia Nysch, Nadia Olesnycky, which included performances by the Danielle Prociuk, Kalyna Reda, Brianna campers in song, on musical instruments Rivera, Kalyna Rondiak, Sophia and poetry readings. Mr. Kaczaraj Shabelnik, Maria Siryj, Ariaena Stockert, offered congratulatory statements, and Sophia Stockert, Adrianna Terlecky, Mr. Stebelsky read a letter of greeting Larissa Terlecky, Lesia Wanio, Larissa from UNA Treasurer Roma Lisovich. Wozniak, Lindsay Zeikel, Andrea Janek, Mr. Kaczaraj was awarded a plaque in Yuliana Maczaj and Sofia Polishchuk. recognition of the UNA’s support of the Messers. Stebelsky and Twardowsky, Sports School and Chornomorska Sitch. who helped to organize this camp from The plaque is named in honor of Ihor its beginnings, along with Marika Laszok, vice-president of Self-Reliance Bokalo, who has served many years as Ukrainian American Federal Credit camp secretary, were awarded plaques Union. A cup was also named in honor of Mr. Laszok and is awarded to the most (Continued on page 22)

Swim instructor Roman Hirniak (left) with camp swimmers.

Tennis instructors Nadia Matkiwsky and Zenia Olesnycky (left) and Dr. Zenon Matkiwsky (right) with campers.

Volleyball instructor Bohdan Siryj (right) with campers. No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 17 Ukrainian Days Festival draws crowd in Chicago

Walter Tun The Hromovytsia Dance Ensemble dances the “Hopak.”

by Dora Turula Ukrainian Artistic School and the vocal There were also various vendor tents zoo and bounce castle for the younger studio of Ss. Volodymyr and Olha Parish. set up at the festival, selling Ukrainian crowd. The dance platform in front of the CHICAGO – Chicago’s annual Festival-goers could select from a CDs and other interesting items. main stage also served as a gathering Ukrainian Days Festival took place number of food vendors: the standard Ukrainian organizations showcased their point for pint-sized performers, whose Saturday and Sunday, August 22-23, in varenyky, holubtsi or “shashlyk,” activities, media groups showed off their antics were as entertaining as the on- Smith Park. The weather was picture- kovbasa and kapusta, or “chebureky,” or services, and financial institutions stage activities. perfect, and as a result the festival drew a even pizza. Folks with a sweet tooth encouraged visitors to “bank with them.” The primary sponsor of the Ukrainian huge crowd. Seating for Sunday’s per- could choose ice cream, “nalysnyky,” Other festival attractions included a Days Festival was Selfreliance Ukrainian formance was at a premium, and the area tortes or gelato. soccer tournament, pony rides, a petting American Federal Credit Union. between the vendor’s tents was teeming with visitors in embroidered dress, hold- ing blue and yellow balloons. The event was organized by the Illinois branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, which is cele- brating its 35th anniversary this year. The event committee made sure there would be something of interest for everyone at the festival. The official portion of the program took place at noon on Sunday. UCCA-Illinois President Oles Strilchuk greeted the audi- ence, and Ukraine’s Consul General in Chicago Kostiantyn Kudryk extended best wishes on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. The keynote speech was give by Larysa Kuchar, editor of Chas and Podii. The festival also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stepan Bandera, and his grandson Stefko Bandera addressed the assembly in English. He also spoke in Ukrainian about the current situation in Ukraine, where he has been living and working these past three years. Among the distinguished guests at the event were U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, Illinois Treasurer Maria Pappas and Chicago Aldermen Manny Flores and Walter Burnett. Many performers entertained the audi- ence from the Festival stage. Several dance ensembles, including visiting groups Cheremosh from Minneapolis and Barvinok from Manitoba and Chicago’s Ukraina, Hromovytsia as well as Boyovyi Hopak ensembles enchanted onlookers with their colorful performances. Between the various dance numbers the audience was treated to a variety of musical entertainment – vocal and instru- mental solo performances, duets, choirs, small ensembles and orchestras, as well as dramatic readings and comedians. The most delightful performers were most likely the children of the Barvinok

Insure and be sure. Join the UNA! 18 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

investments for which we should create a tection. … posed to live. I choose equal and full par- President... proper climate through professional sys- My plan is realistic and its goal is ticipation of our country in the life of (Continued from page 6) tem of government. I mean support of a absolutely attainable. Europe. ?I choose freedom and our Third. I propose a holistic plan for competitive Ukrainian manufacturer, In a few months there will be new national interests. economic recovery of Ukraine. …Its concentration of the authorities on poten- presidential elections in Ukraine. …these I calmly and confidently look into the main priorities are simple, clear and spe- tial points of economic growth and thus elections will decide not only political future. Our new state is 18 years old. We cific. on the support of small and medium busi- life but also our great civilization choice: have our millennial history of the state of First is the restoration of financial sta- nesses. I mean establishment and intro- where do we go – back into the past or Ukraine-Rus’ behind us. The future bility. …Next thing is reduction of busi- duction of a fully functioning land mar- into the future? ahead is great. ness taxation, simplifying tax administra- ket, lifting the moratorium, transforma- Our safe and prosperous future is at I am proud that I am Ukrainian. I am tion. Next thing is promotion of external tion of the agricultural sector into one of one scale and conservation of clans that proud of our state. I am proud of our peo- and domestic investment, particularly in the foundations of our country's export again divide the country into two is at the ple. the context of Euro 2012. potential. I mean the concerted imple- other. Hail to you, dear brothers and sisters! I mean tens of billions of dollars of mentation of reforms in pensions care, I choose a strong national state. I Hail to thee, the Ukrainian state! Let the health care, children and maternity pro- choose the strength and dignity, which great banner of freedom always fly over will put in their place not only local “feu- us, protected by our troops and our dal lords,” but also the external “masters” hearts. Need a back issue? who want to determine how we are sup- Glory to Ukraine! If you’d like to obtain a back issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, he was spreading about Oberländer and send $2 per copy (first-class postage included) to: Administration, The Ukrainian Weekly, Shukhevych... Nachtigall were true. As punishment, the 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054. (Continued from page 9) writer had to pay monetary damages for 34 ous records from November 1959 to character defamation. March 1960, and came to the following Neither the investigations that were conclusion: “After four months of carried out during the court proceedings inquiries and the evaluation of 232 state- in Bonn, Karlsruhe, and Munich, nor the ments by witnesses from all circles research compiled by the international involved, it can be established that the commission at The Hague or the materi- accusations against the Battalion als of the Nuremberg trials (42 volumes) Nachtigall and against the then even once mentioned any criminal act by Lieutenant and currently Federal the Organization of Ukrainian Minister Oberländer have no foundation Nationalists or any of its leaders. Despite in fact.”27 Having thoroughly documented the overwhelming evidence exonerating the mass murder in Lviv by the commu- the OUN and Roman Shukhevych, there nists,28 the commission also rejected as are still individuals, particularly those unfounded29 the accusation that with communist leanings or followers of Oberländer and Ukrainian nationalists the Moscow trend to condemn the were responsible for murdering Jews and Ukrainians’ struggle for independence, Polish professors, as was stated by who continue to slander the leaders of the Alexander Dallin in his book, German Ukrainian resistance movement. Rule in Russia, 1941-1945.30 Of course, one can always learn more The international commission also about the past. In order to facilitate this tried to make sense of “the deeper cause process, the Security Service of Ukraine for the Kremlin’s defamation campaign (SBU) has opened its archives to all his- against the Ukrainian unit connected with torians, and, in cooperation with the the German Wehrmacht.”31 The commis- Institute of National Memory, it has sion members treated Minister established the Social Historical Oberländer only as a side issue in the Hearings, which include lectures and overall significance of the case. In their exhibitions of documents. The goal of opinion, the KGB, in planning to murder this project, as stated by Valentyn Stepan Bandera, wanted to turn public Nalyvaichenko, the head of the SBU, is attention away from itself and connect to learn the truth. During the opening of the murder with the Germans through an exhibit of SBU archival documents Oberländer. Thus, Bandera’s assassina- and photographs devoted to the tion was prepared in such a way as to Ukrainian Insurgent Army make Oberländer guilty of this crime.32 Nalyvaichenko declared that the various The commission also stated that by slan- speculations, myths, and stereotypes cre- dering Nachtigall, the Kremlin tried to ated about the OUN and UPA have pre- defame the symbol of the Ukrainians’ vented the Ukrainian people from learn- armed struggle for freedom and General ing the truth about their historical past.35 Roman Shukhevych/Taras Chuprynka, The Historical Hearings held on the heroic Commander in Chief of the February 6, 2008, which were dedicated Ukrainian Insurgent Army, “which to “the accusations against Nachtigall – became an immortal banner carrier of the historical truth or political technology,” Ukrainian fight for freedom.”33 are extremely appropriate for our discus- The Oberländer trial and the subse- sion. The Ukrainian historian Ivan quent findings of the International Patryliak, who teaches at Kyiv Commission, which declared Lieutenant University, gave an extensive lecture on Oberländer and the members of the the history of the Nachtigall Battalion, Nachtigall Battalion innocent of the which provided the hearing participants crimes committed in Lviv in July 1941, with an excellent foundation for a schol- did not stop the communists and various arly discussion of the problem.36 This irresponsible individuals from spreading commendable action underscores the calumny about them. In one case, need always to seek out the truth and to Oberländer sued his slanderer, the writer refrain from making off-the-cuff state- Bernt Engelmann, who was found guilty ments that reinforce stereotypes and cre- since he could not prove that the stories ate animosity.

27 Ibid., p. 31. For more details, see also eingegliederte ukrainische Einheit Alfred M. de Zayas, “The Wehrmacht War Nachtigall?” Crimes Bureau, 1939- 1945” (Rockport, ME: 32 Ibid., p. 87. Picton Press, 2000). 33 Ibid., pp. 86-87. 28 Lemberg 1941 und Oberländer, pp. 28, 34 For details pertaining to the decision, see 38-50. “Oberlandesgericht München Im Namen des 29 Ibid., pp. 10-15. Volkes Urteil.” Verkündet am 19 September 30 Alexander Dallin, “German Rule in 1983. Russia, 1941-1945: A Study of Occupation 35 Policies,” 1st ed. (London: Macmillan & Co., http://www.pravda.com.ua/news_print/2008/5 Ltd., 1957). /28/76650.htm. See also 31 Ibid., p. 86. “Worin liegt die tiefere http://www.ssu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/pub- Ursache der Verleumdungskampagne des lish/printable_article?art_id=78839 Kreml gegen die in die deutsche Wehrmacht 36 http://www.ssu.gov.ua 6 February 2008.

To subscribe: Send $55 ($45 if you are a member of the UNA) to The Ukrainian Weekly, Subscription Department, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054 No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 19 Detroit area’s Ukrainian Village to mark 25th anniversary by Zenon Wasylkevych dents to doctor’s visits or shopping in specific stores. WARREN, Mich. – Twenty-five years There also is the Wellness Center, ago the Ukrainian American community where residents can consult with medical in Michigan proved that it cares about personnel. The manager of this center is the well-being of its seniors by building Dr. Larry Palmer, second vice-president. a seniors’ residence in Warren. Originated by the Ukrainian National Jaroslav Karpinskyj, an attorney, is also Women’s League of America, Detroit available for residents if needed. The chapter, specifically Anastasia Volker and a manager of this service is Judy Harm and few other ladies, a special committee was her assistant is Helen Derkach-Terner. created in 1979 which included members Over the past 25 years all the units at of the area’s Ukrainian American commu- the seniors’ residence have been continu- nity. In 1984 this idea became a reality and ously occupied. a beautiful new building for senior citizens The Ukrainian Village Corp. now has with 145 units was completed. 14 board members. The executive board Each independent apartment has a consists of Nicholas Palmer, M.D., presi- kitchenette, a living room and a bedroom. dent; Mr. Wasylkevych, first vice-presi- The building includes a chapel where dent, Larry Palmer, M.D., second vice- liturgies are served on a weekly basis. president; Olga Mayer, secretary; and The committee consisted of about 15 Rosemary Dyel, treasurer. members with Ms. Volker as president On Sunday, September 20, the 25th and Zenon Wasylkevych as chairman of anniversary of the Ukrainian Village will the board. The first president was Ms. be celebrated. Many official representa- Volker, who served only one year. The tives of the government and the entire second president was Stephan Wichar, community have been invited to see this who served for 14 years. The third presi- beautiful facility on Ryan Road that will dent, who has been serving since 1998, is continue to serve residents for many Maria Rypan Dr. Nicholas Palmer. years to come. The entrance to the Ukrainian Village. The board of directors hired Wingate Management Co. to provide the neces- sary services. In 2006 the Ukrainian Village Corp. finally got permission from the federal government (HUD) to refi- nance its original loan of approximately $6 million from a federal to a private company, Love Founding Co., at much lower rates. After 23 years of existence, the pres- ent board of directors under the leader- ship of Dr. Palmer decided to improve the life-style of residents by adding ther- apy, a library and computer rooms. In addition, there is a van that takes resi-

The Ukrainian Village marker with a rendition of Jerry Kozak’s mosaic “Vitayemo” carved in wood at the entrance to the complex.

Got a group? Need The Weekly? Call our subscription department to find out how you may qualify for a group discount on your Weekly subscriptions. (973) 292-9800 ext. 3042 20 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

Ukraine’s state debt is 185 billion hrv ($22 Hryvnia’s plunge... billion U.S.) and growing, he said, and this (Continued from page 1) is a bigger factor in the hryvnia’s decline. particularly during the presidential elec- “The National Bank can only regulate tions which are expected to be tense and episodes, but not the general tendency of bear the potential for conflict, he said. the national currency’s exchange rate, President Yushchenko also believes which is determined by the government’s budgetary, fiscal and investment poli- the Tymoshenko government is trying to cies,” President Yushchenko said at the pressure Mr. Stelmakh, but cited a differ- September 4 briefing. ent reason: his ability to print more However, economists such as Dr. hryvni to cover debt and pay for govern- Soskin said corruption in the National ment spending. For the first time, the Bank is a key factor, with numerous top president said he will consider dismissing officials involved in enabling currency Mr. Stelmakh. speculators. “Literally today, I warned Stelmakh Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, president of the that if another 1 or 2 billion hrv emerge Renaissance Foundation in Switzerland, in circulation, then I’ll employ extreme told Radio Liberty he believes specula- measures without waiting until the end of tors are earning money for the presiden- his term,” the president said during a tial election campaign from the hryvnia’s September 4 press briefing with fluctuations. Ukrainian business reporters, as reported The Internal Affairs Ministry is inves- by the Kommersant newspaper. tigating evidence of commercial banks Mr. Stelmakh is a longtime colleague stealing funds with the support of NBU of President Yushchenko who worked officials, financial fraud in the refinanc- with him at the NBU since 1993. The ing of commercial banks and financial president refused to dismiss him during fraud during the NBU’s currency auc- the hryvnia’s devaluation in 2008 when tions, Mr. Lutsenko said. his political opponents demanded Mr. “Furthermore, we have reliable facts Stelmach’s resignation. about concrete acts committed by con- The president has maintained a strategy crete officials within the higher manage- of blaming the hryvnia’s ongoing devalua- ment of the National Bank regarding all tion on the prime minister’s fiscal policy. these financial affairs,” he said.

UNIAN/Mykola Lazarenko National Bank of Ukraine First Deputy Chair Anatolii Shapovalov (right) was called in for questioning by the Internal Affairs Ministry on September 10 as part of corruption investigations. The hryvnia’s 8 percent decline since August 6 has renewed calls for the resignation of NBU Chair Volodymyr Stelmakh (left).

The Ukrainian National Women’s League of America 86th Branch in Newark, NJ invites you to a Luncheon and Fashion Show Presented by Karen’s Boutique of Spring Lake, NJ

on Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 1:00 in the afternoon at the Ukrainian American Cultural Center 60 North Jefferson Road Whippany, NJ 07981

Proceeds to benefit The Ukrainian Museum in New York Donation: $50/person, or $55 at the door Cash Bar Order your ticket by October 16 from: Myrosia Hrab 172 Old Indiana Rd. West Orange, NJ 07052 Telelphone: 973-736-5609 E-mail: [email protected] Please make the check payable to: UNWLA, Inc. Branch 86 No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 21 OUT AND ABOUT

Current through October 31 Art exhibit, “Art & Interiors,” featuring Ottawa Ukrainian Canadian Professionals and Rocky River, OH works by AniziaKarmazyn, Kevin Steffanni Businesspersons Association, Interior Design Studio, 440-333-3630 Mambo Ristaurante, 613-523-7952 (by appointment) September 25 Lvivsky Ball, featuring Burya and Kavalery, Current through October 2 Fall Art Show/Sale, Ukrainian Museum- Toronto Trident Banquet and Convention Center, Cleveland Archives, 216-781-4329 416-253-6002

September 18-20 Ukrainian Festival in the Bloor West September 26 Uketoberfest, St. Joseph Ukrainian Toronto Village, 416-410-9965 Chicago Catholic Cathedral hall, [email protected] September 19 Diaspora forum, “Welcome to Ukrainian New York New York,” Ukrainian Institute of America, September 26 Harvest Season Vechornytsi, Ukrainian www.welcomeukrainianny.com or New York Wave Community Cultural Initiative, East 212-288-8660 Village Ukrainian Restaurant, 212-571-1555 ext. 35 September 19 Ukrainian Festival, dedication of Parma’s Parma, OH Ukrainian Village, St. Josaphat Ukrainian September 26 Annual pig roast, Ukrainian National Home, Catholic Cathedral, 440-888-8761 Syracuse, NY 315-478-9272

September 19 Potato bake and pig roast, Ukrainian September 26 Dance performance, “Razom,” featuring the Lehighton, PA Homestead,610-377-4621 or Edmonton Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company, the 215-235-3709 Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, September 19 “A Traditional Ukrainian Dinner,” Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Lansdale, PA Presentation of Our Lord Ukrainian www.ticketmaster.ca Catholic Church, 215-808-5603 September 26 through Embroidery workshop, The Ukrainian September 19-20 Ukrainian Festival, St. Andrew Ukrainian November 14 Museum, 212-228-0110 Silver Spring, MD Orthodox Church, standrewuoc.org New York

September 20 German-themed picnic, St. Andrew September 27 Concert featuring harpist Odarka Jamaica Plain, MA Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Alexandria, VA Polanskyj Stockert, The Washington Group www.ukrainianorthodox.org/st.andrew Cultural Fund, The Lyceum, 301-299-2615 or 703-838-4994 September 24 Film screening, “Folk!” by Roxy Toporowych, Kansas City, MO Harriman-Jewell Performing Arts Series, Entries in “Out and About” are listed free of charge. Priority is given to Tivoli Theater, 816-415-5025 or events advertised in The Ukrainian Weekly. However, we also welcome sub- www.harriman-jewell.org/education.htm missions from all our readers. Items will be published at the discretion of the editors and as space allows. Please note: items will be printed a maxi- September 25 Cocktail evening, “Mambo Ukraniano,” mum of two times each. Please send e-mail to [email protected]. 22 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

Kudryk for the first session, and Gregory Sitch Sports... Serheev and Yaroslaw Twardowsky for (Continued from page 16) the second session; tennis instructors Dr. for their years of tireless service to the Zenon Matkiwsky, Nadia Matkiwsky and Zenia Olesnycky; swim instructors Mr. Chornomorska Sitch Sports School. Hirniak; and volleyball instructors This year’s Sports School was con- Bohdan Siryj and Andrea Mak. ducted with efficiency and fun, thanks to Over the course of the camp, these the great team of camp instructors and instructors improved the skills of young supervisors. The camp provided instruc- athletes who demonstrated what they had tion in four sports disciplines: soccer, learned at the Ukrainian Youth Sports tennis, swimming and volleyball. Games held at the Ukrainian American Special thanks were expressed to: soc- Youth Association resort in Ellenville, cer instructors Andrew Panas and Andrew N.Y., on August 7.

return with my cousin Vladek Romaniuk To find the missing... and his wife, Zofia, to explore the interi- (Continued from page 10) or, so I took a few photos outside and Once across, I followed the sign that tried to imagine how my ancestors had pointed to Tyrawa Solna and its ancient climbed the steep hill to church on “tserkva” (a Ukrainian Catholic church). Sundays and for various feast days and Although neither Volodya nor I had family events. been here before, I already knew the I was very curious about the tiny place like the back of my hand. Years of cemetery that lay at the front door of the church. Apparently, the “new” cemetery studying various maps helped me know used for burials in the second half of the the local geography well. As we drove 20th century and beyond did not contain along the road, we came suddenly to a many of the original inhabitants who wooden planked bridge in even worse might be considered Ukrainian or shape than the one across the San. There Lemko. It was told to me years ago that was a large sign in front that warned omi- only Poles were buried in this cemetery nously in Polish it was dangerous to since the tserkva was now a kosciol. cross there. So, we slipped down the low This information proved to be not entire- hill and ended up next to the Tyrawa ly true. As I wandered around the ceme- Solna church. tery I found quite a few names of resi- Volodya and I both realized at once dents that I knew were not Polish: that the bridge was the only way across Stadnyk, Jadchyshyn and even one Iwan the Tyrawa river at this point. After a Czerepaniak. But there were some brief conversation with Aunt Katarzyna, Polish names as well. Even Aunt who gave her blessing, we headed back Katarzyna’s husband was buried here, toward the bridge. At that point a and he was a Ukrainian. teenage boy came flying across in what Aunt Katarzyna, Volodya and I appeared to be a small American car and climbed back into the car and drove zoomed down the road back to the San slowly up a dirt road covered by tall river. Volodya and I looked at each other weeds and wildflowers leaving the and decided to go for it. We inched church behind us. I pulled alongside the across the rickety bridge to the sound of old cemetery high up on the hill over- clanking planks and made it to the other looking the church and parked in an open side without incident. field. I wasn’t sure how Katarzyna Soon, Siemuszowa unfolded ahead of would be able to walk through the ceme- us in all its pastoral glory, nestled tery since it was overgrown with high between dark green mountains and brown grass and wildflowers despite the valiant hills. The rain had finally stopped and the efforts of a Polish-Ukrainian volunteer late afternoon sun was poking through the group that had done a thorough clean up grey clouds, which were opening up to the previous August. Before that time, reveal a very clear, blue sky. You could I’m told it was completely impassable. smell and feel the freshness of the moun- As we waded through the high grass, it tain air. We passed several long fields – quickly became apparent that there was some of which appeared to be planted no Czerepaniak or Gburyk monument with one crop or another. anywhere on site. But I did find the As we came to the main road that grave of a Thecla Burek whose name was would wind through the village, Aunt inscribed in Cyrllic. We also found some Katarzyna told us to go right up along it random Szwajlyk and Hlib family monu- and then right again up the small paved ments in the cemetery along with some path that led to the early 19th century curious humps in the ground that only church. We were finally here. My long supported blank wooden crosses. I later tedious mental journey of 30 years and found out from Volodya that Aunt physical travel of several thousand miles Katerzyna told him these were the had now led me to my ancestral village remains of various UPA (Ukrainian and its very old wooden church built in Insurgent Army) members from the vil- 1841. lage. The memory of their guerrilla war The small church, originally named against both the Polish and Soviet gov- “Epiphany of Our Lord,” was built on the ernments was still not easily honored land of an earlier church. At that time, locally even in death. the population of Siemuszowa was pre- We got back in the car and begin to dominately Greek-Catholic and drive down the hill. It was time to find Ruthenian, and numbered around 470. By the Czerepaniak homestead as two young the 1930s, there were more than 1,000 boys sped by on a muddy ATV. The people who used this church. But after 19th century had just met the 21st centu- 1947 and the final expulsion of Lemkos ry head on. and Ukrainians, the tserkva became a “kosciol” (a Roman Catholic church). This article is an excerpt from my much Today, the village population is mostly longer Sanok/Siemuszowa 2009 trave- Polish and numbers about 220 residents. logue. I would like to hear from readers I had seen the old weather-beaten with family and ancestors from this area exterior walls of the church many times of Poland. Please contact me at: in photos and its metal roof as well. Two [email protected]. Copyright unique Lemko crosses topped its two Michael J. Buryk 2009. All rights small cupolas. Tomorrow we planned to reserved.

SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY. Send contributions to: The Ukrainian Weekly Press Fund, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054 No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 23 UKEUKELLODEONODEON FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Beach party rocks like a hurricane Mishanyna We hate to remind you, but... it’s back-to-school time. Therefore, you’ll soon be hitting the books to study a variety of subjects, some of which may be on the list below. Find the subjects hidden in the Mishanyna grid. ART HISTORY PRE-ALGEBRA COMPUTER SCIENCE LATIN SCIENCE ENGLISH MATH SOCIAL STUDIES FRENCH MUSIC SPANISH GEOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY GERMAN PHYS ED COMPUTERSC I ENCE HAELTH I SYRG IRTN A view of the fun during “Party Ptashat” in Wildwood Crest, N.J. YRLAT INRLEGRARG by Adrian Horodecky H I ETOLOHTAMCMOL WILDWOOD CREST, N.J. – P TMHMTLARMUHBY I Over 300 beach-goers braved a tor- AHEASELBRDSFLHS rential downpour by Hurricane Danny for a night of dancing and RMNI S IEGERIREPH interactive entertainment at the GEHRAGNLAWCEAAS Wildwood Crest Pier Recreation Center on Friday, August 28. OTALL IAARS INORC MC Levko Wolansky and Melasia T IRALCORPRICSGH Lesiuk led the “Party Ptashat” kids’ dance (zabava) to rousing OCEC I LOTOSOHI OO renditions of the “Limbo,” “Chicken Dance,” “YMCA” and a HRYSC I ENCE S IDEO host of other Ukrainian and PHYS I CSANAMREGL American children’s favorites. Bo Iwaskiw announced the win- PHYSEDUCAT IONAL ner of the 50/50 drawing that was MC Levko Wolansky leads the dancing. PASE IDUTSLAICOS won by Alex Gnoy, who immediate- ly donated the $450 back to the evening’s sponsor, the U.S. Army award for Ksenia Komarnyckyj Khmelnychenky fraternity of Plast PHOENIX, Ariz. – Ksenia iosis. They were mentored by Ukrainian Scouting Organization. Oresta Komarnyckyj, a sixth grader their teacher, Linda Martinez Plast’s Spartanky sorority held a at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Goodnetter. charity raffle led by Ivanka Phoenix, Ariz., was recently recog- Ksenia is the daughter of Orest Iwaskiw. and Oksana Komarnyckyj, and the The “Wildwood Idol” dance con- nized by the U.S. Army for excel- test began with a performance by lence in the application of science, granddaughter of Irena Ania Bohachevsky Lonkevych’s math and technology to improve Komarnyckyj and Jaroslaw and dancers. Ms. Lonkevych served as our world. Iryna Kurowyckyj. She is a mem- a judge, along with Nina and Ksenia and the other three ber of Plast Ukrainian Scouting George Kobrin, and Roma Odulak members of her team were among Organization and Ukrainian served as MC. Nine separate teams the 12,000 students registered for National Association Branch 184. competed for cash prizes of $100, eCybermission, a U.S. Army-spon- $50 and $25. sored, web-based, science, math UKELODEON is published Topping off the evening was the and technology competition that “Club Crest” disco and karaoke allows students in grades 6 through on the second Sunday of party, during which dozens of teens 9 to compete for regional and every month. To make it danced and sang the night away to national awards while working to into our next issue, solve problems in their communi- the music of the Destiny DJs. dated October 11, please The Khmelnychenky zabava is ties. send in your materials by an annual fund-raising event, with Ksenia and her fellow team the proceeds going toward two Plast members were each awarded a October 2. Call us at 973- campgrounds in New York state: $2,000 U.S. EE Savings Bond for 292-9800; or send e-mail Vovcha Tropa in East Chatham and their work on the connection to [email protected]. Novyi Sokil in Buffalo. between backpack weight and scol- Ksenia Komarnyckyj 24 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 No. 37

PREVIEW OF EVENTS Soyuzivka’s Datebook Saturday, September 19 Institute of America will open its film series with a screening of “Fatal NEW YORK: The Shevchenko Scientific Society invites all to a roundtable discus- Promises,” a documentary on human traf- September 11-13 Salzburg Reunion October 2-4 KLK 85th Anniversary ficking told through the personal stories of celebration sion dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the death of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. The young Ukrainians and others fallen victim September 14-17 Berchtesgaden, to white slavery, as well as interviews with Karsfeld, Landshut, October 9-11 Wedding weekend scheduled participants are: Dr. Andrew Sorokowski, Dr. Lubomyr Hajda, Dr. government officials, experts, activists and Regensburg, Bayreuth Larissa Onyshkevych and Prof. Yuri reports from the 2008 U.N. GIFT (Global Reunions October 16-18 Plast USA (KP Shevchuk. The program will take place at Initiative to Fight Trafficking). The Zyizd) the society’s building, 63 Fourth Ave. screening will begin at 8 p.m., concluding September 18-19 Wedding (between Ninth and 10th streets) at 5 p.m. with conversations with the filmmakers, weekend October 24 to be announced For information call 212-254-5130. followed by a reception. General admis- sion: $15; $10 for UIA members, seniors September 25-27 Wedding October 30-November 1 LANSDALE, Pa.: The Presentation of and students. The Ukrainian Institute of weekend Halloween weekend Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church will America is located at 2 E. 79th St. (on the host “A Traditional Ukrainian Dinner.” corner of Fifth Avenue). For more infor- September 28-30 Mittenwald Enjoy generous portions of tasty home- mation call 212-288-8660. made Ukrainian ethnic foods and baked Reunion Saturday, September 26 goods: varenyky; holubtsi, kovbasa, sauer- kraut, breads, beverages and desserts. Also, CHICAGO: The Ukrainian Medical listen to traditional and contemporary Association of North America, Illinois Ukrainian folk and pop music. This family- Chapter, will host the 2010 Traditional friendly event will be held, at 4-7 p.m. at Banquet and Charity Ball with presentation the church’s social hall, 1564 Allentown of debutantes on Saturday, January 30, 2010, Road, Lansdale (Towamencin Township), in the Grand Ballroom of the Palmer House Pa. Dinner tickets are $10 per person at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago. UMANA invites door with seating. For advance tickets, those interested in participating in this event, reservations or more information call 215- parents and debutantes, to attend an informa- 808-5603. Take-outs are available. tional meeting that will be held on Saturday, To book a room or event call: (845) 626-5641, ext. 140 Saturday-Sunday, September 19-20 September 26, at the Ukrainian Cultural 216 Foordmore Road P.O. Box 529 Center, 2247 W. Chicago Ave. at 10 a.m. For Kerhonkson, NY 12446 SILVER SPRING, Md.: The seventh additional information readers may contact E-mail: [email protected] annual Washington Ukrainian Festival will UMANA at 1-888-RxUMANA (1-888-798- Website: www.Soyuzivka.com be held on the grounds of St. Andrew 6262) or e-mail [email protected]. Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, 15100 New Hampshire Ave. Doors open at noon; Sunday, September 27 parking and admission are free. All-day ALEXANDRIA, Va.: The Washington concerts and performances (main stage by Group Cultural Fund Sunday Music Series the lake) will feature performances by: presents Odarka Polanskyj Stockert, an Barvinok Dance Ensemble of New Jersey; accomplished harpist, in an enchanting solo the Eurasia Dance Society of New York performance on her concert pedal harp, fol- and the District of Columbia; Fantazia lowed by a repertoire of poignant as well as Dear Students, UNA Members: Dance Ensemble; Lyman Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Baltimore; Veseli Kozachata light-hearted Celtic, Ukrainian and Czech Junior Dance Group; vocalist Olya ballads/songs on her Celtic harp, with voice Now you can download UNA scholarship Chodoba Fryz; violinist Solomiya accompaniment. Meet the artist at a reception Horokhivska; bandurist Larisa Pastuchiv immediately following the program. The applications from our website Martin; vocalist Solomia Dutkewych and event takes place at The Lyceum, 201 S. the Chetverta Khvylia vocal-instrumental Washington St., at 3 p.m. Suggested dona- www.unamember.com ensemble. Festival highlights include: a tion: $20; students – free; seating is unre- bountiful marketplace; children’s activities served. For information call 301-229-2615. under “Membership Benefits.” (pony rides, magician, face-painting, etc.); Ukrainian and American food conces- ASTORIA, N.Y.: Holy Cross Ukrainian sions; and the Kozak Beer Garden. Come Catholic Church will sponsor the Ukrainian and experience Washington’s Ukrainian Heritage Day Festival (picnic) at noon-6 hospitality. For more information call p.m. at 31st Avenue and 30th Street, Astoria, Andree Filipov, 301-622-0838. NY 11106. The festival will feature Ukrainian food, entertainment and a lottery. Thursday, September 24 Admission is free. For further information NEW YORK, N.Y.: The Ukrainian call 718-932-4060. PREVIEW OF EVENTS GUIDELINES: Preview of Events is a listing of Ukrainian community events open to the public. It is a service provided at minimal cost ($20 per submission) by The Ukrainian Weekly to the Ukrainian community. Preview items must be received no later than one week before the desired date of publication. Senders are asked to include the phone number of a person who may be contacted by The Weekly during daytime hours, as well as their complete mailing address. Information should be sent to: Preview of Events, The Ukrainian Weekly, 2200 Route 10, P.O. Box 280, Parsippany, NJ 07054; fax, 973-644-9510; e-mail, [email protected].

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