І Remember Ukraine | t^M^X^M^M^M^H^X^V^M^M^M^M^t The Ukrainian Weekly Edition I CB ОБОДА Ji SVOBODA УКРАЇНСЬКИЙ ЩОДЕННИК UKRAINIAN DAILY VOL. LXXXIII No. 232 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1976 25CEJ4TS Church, WCFU Representatives Oles Berdnyk Appeals Present Memorandum To U.N. To President Ford, American People In Defense Of Church In Ukraine (Oles Berdnyk, a Ukrainian writer residing in Kiev. Ukraine, recently wrote a letter to President Gerald Ford, making also an indirect appeal through him to the American people. The letter, dated September 9, 1976, was translated by the "Smoloskyp" Organization for the Defense of Human Rights in Ukraine and mailed to President Ford on October 26, 1976, with an accompanying letter by Bohdan Yasen, "Smoloskyp" vice- president. Below is the English language copy of Berdnyk s letter to President Ford. Honorable Mr. President! This appeal to you is from Ukrainian writer Oles (Oleksander) Berdnyk. a resident of Kiev (Ukraine). I am 49 years old and the author of several score books and essays, mainly futuristic, a partial list of which is enclosed. As I solemnly affirm the esteem in which I hold the American people and the American government. I ask you to grant me political asylum and American citizenship. The reasons which moved me to make this decision are given below. Understandably, because I am under the jurisdiction of the After tbeir meeting with Msgr. Giovanni Cheli, the permanent U.N. Observer for the Holy USSR, I am not able to freely realize my See, the leaders of the Ukrainian religious and civic spheres in the free world met with UNA wish; however, I have no other alternative. I officers and Svoboda editors. Seated, left to rith are: Anthony Dragan, Svoboda editor. have already on several occasions informed Bishop Isidore Borecky, Joseph Lesawyer, Very Rev. Dr. S.M. Sawchnk, Archbishop. party and government leaders in Moscow Metropolitan Maksym Hermaniuk, Archbishop Marko Hundiak, Pastor Josaphat about my decision to emigrate to the Iwaskiw, and UNA" Supreme Treasurer Ulana Diachuk Standing, left to right are: Stefan American continent. Hawrysz, UNA Supreme Organizer, Walter Sochan, UNA Supreme Secretary, and Zenon The U.S. State Department could ask Snylyk, The Weekly Editor. various groups of Ukrainians in your country, as well as in Canada, to vouch for NEW YORK., N.Y— High-ranking re­ me. presentatives of the Ukrainian Catholic, Just very recently I was invited to lecture Orthodox and Evangelical-Baptist Church­ at Rutgers University (New Jersey). Ob­ Strokata es in the free world and the World Congress viously, I was not able to take advantage of of Free Ukrainians presented a documented this invitation. memorandum on the destruction of religion And now about the essence of my appeal the present catastrophic situation on this Undergoes in Ukraine to aides of U.N. Secretary to you and to the American people. planet (the destruction of ecologic bonds. General Dr. Kurt Waldheim. Having worked for many years on the the degradation of thesoul. the uncontrolled The 46-page memorandum contained problems of futurology, I have come to the development of technology, the rivalries Surgery conclusion that it is impossible to remedy (Continued on page 5) (Continued on page 10) HELSINKI. Finland. - Nina Strokata. Ukrainian microbiologist and former politi­ cal prisoner who is thought to be in danger of death from breast cancer, underwent a Bandurist Capella Wows'em Again In New York surgery for a bleeding ulcer in a Moscow hospital several weeks ago, said the "Smolo­ NEW YORK, N.Y.- The Taras Shev- skyp" Ukrainian Information Service. chenko Bandurist Capella. blending selec­ The UIS reported that Strokata, who was tions from its traditional repertoire with exiled to Tarus, a town south of Moscow, several new compositions, once again after her concentration camp term ended, wowed an SRO crowd at Hunter College originally attempted with help of friends to auditorium here Sunday. November 21, be admitted to the Oncological Institute in only slightly over a year after, their last the Soviet capital. Officials refused her appearance here. initial efforts. Fighting fatigue-they were in St. Catha­ The American-based information service rines, Ont.. the previous night and managed also reported that after Strokata was to catch a few hours of sleep while making released from the hospital on November 11, the 400-mile plus trip to New York - 1976. she was subsequently again readmitted stultifying heat, and an auditorium that is to the facility, apparently in preparation for not known for its acoustics, in the highly a mastectomy. appreciative audience the bandurists found Strokata, who is the only member of the more than adequate compensation and American Society of Microbiologists from responded accordingly. Ukraine, is scheduled to complete her year's They established immediate rapport with exile in Tarus next month. throng when they saluted America's Bicen­ American microbiologists are attempting tennial with Hryhory Kytasty's fine arrange­ to get permission for Strokata to come to the ment of "Happy Birthday to You. America". United States for a period of convalescence. (Continued on page 10) UCCA National Fund Drive Hryhory Kytasty, conductor of the Sh evchenko Bandurist Capella, receives congratulations (The figures are based on contributions fallied by the UCCA office as of November from Olena Zamiata, a member of the local "Dumka" Chorus, after the former successful 15, 1976). New York concert. Another "Dumkar", Myroslaw Kulynych, awaits his turn to do the same. 1976 Goal SI 50,000 Thus far raised 558,921 Still needed 591,079 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28,1976 . No. 232 Double Issue of "The Ukrainian Herald" Serhiyenko's Mother ^Published in English by "Smoloskyp" Demands His Release BALTIMORE, MD. (SIS)-Smoloskyp Ukraine and outlines the extent to which the Publishers of Baltimore, Md., have an­ West has played a role in strengthing the nounced \he publication in English of the Soviet regime in the past and present: In Letter to Brezhnev She most recent issue of the leading dissident 2. "Ethnocide of Ukrainians in the US­ journal in Soviet Ukraine, "The Ukrainian SR" is the title of the major article which Says Her Son is No Criminal Herald. also provided the English edition with its The book, titled "The Ukrainian Herald, title. Part one of the article. NEW YORK, N. Y.—In a highly emotion­ Issued 7-8: Ethnocide of Ukrainians in the "Demographic Statistics Exposing the al yet strong-worded letter to Leonid USSR", is the first published English Colonial Policy of Moscow's Occupation Brezhnev, Oleksandr Serhiyenko's mother translation of any of the journal's issues. The Forces in Ukraine," is a detailed study of the demanded that the Soviet Communist Party work was translated and edited by Olena destruction of the Ukrainian nation during chief release her son from the Vladimir Saciuk, Ph. D., of the University of Florida, the Soviet era through physical genocide Prison in retribution for her 10-year sen­ and Bohdan Yasen. Prof. Robert Conquest, and forced Russification—a practice which tence served during Stalin's regime, reported British author and authority on the Soviet has been given the name "ethnocide." the press service of the Ukrainian Supreme Union, wrote the introduction. Part two, "The General Pogrom," chro­ Liberation Council (abroad). The samvydav journal "The Ukrainian nicles the intensification of repression in Oksana Yakivna Mcshko wrote that she Herald" first appeared in January 1970 and Ukraine after the 24th Congress of the was incarcerated in a concentration camp set for itself the goal of providing "without Communist Party of the Soviet Union in for ten years on the orders of Lavrenty Beria, generalization, information about viola­ 1971. This section, which provides informa­ but was released and fully rehabilitated tions of the freedom of speech and other tion on the most recent arrests, acts of during the.de-Stalinization program initia­ democratic freedoms guaranteed by the repression, and the suppression of Ukrain­ ted by the 20th Communist Party congress. constitution, repressions in Ukraine through ian culture, contains five subsections: "That is why I demand the immediate the courts and outside the courts, violations "A Policy of Total Russification"; "The release of my son, because his sentence was of national sovereignty (facts relating to Purge of Party Cadres of the CPU" (which served by me, his mother, a prisoner of chauvinism and Ukrainophobia), attempts contains and insiders' account of the cam­ Beria's concentration camps, Oksana Yakiv­ to disinform the citizenry, the situation of paign against Petro Shelest, First Secretary na Meshko," she wrote. Ukrainian political prisoners in prisons and of the Communist Party of Ukraine and camps, various protest actions, etc." member of the Soviet Politburo, and his Asked Forgiveness Disseminated from hand to hand in supporters, and which strongly supports the various forms—manuscript, typescript, and argument that Shelest was removed for She said that when she was rehabilitated, photocopy-"The Herald" is the Ukrainian "nationalist deviation" rather than for his a government official said that "the "Father­ Oksana Meshko counterpart of the Russian-language "sa- opposition to detente); "The Prohibition of land asks your forgiveness," but according mizdat" journal "Chronicle of Current Ukrainian Scholarship and Culture: The to her, the regime did not offer "any retribu­ allegorically, as