EXPLORING OUR MUSEUM AND LIBRARY FROM OUR ARCHIVES – VARIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS DURING WORLD WAR I By Lubow Wolynetz, Curator Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, because gations in prison he always Ukrainians, e.g., like Markian under his uniform’s jacket he insisted on speaking Shaschkevych, , as had always worn a Ukrainian Ukrainian. well as for others. He also did embroidered shirt. This shirt We have a few original many pencil drawings of his was presented to him by the photographs in our Museum’s friends, and designed some of Ukrainian collection of Vasyl the Sich Riflemen insignias. (Sichovi Striltsi), a Ukrainian Vyshyvanyi. The embroidered When the Sich Riflemen battalion within the Austro- shirt, which he had worn, is recaptured the Volyn area from Hungarian Army of which visible in some of them. On the tsarist Russian army, Vasyl Vyshyvanyi was the one photograph he is seated Havrylko was instrumental in commander. Archduke with Metropolitan Sheptytsky organizing the schooling stys- Wilhelm was indeed a great and an Austrian military com- tem in that area. Havrylko, ukrainophile. He was as mander. although Orthodox in Religion Timothy Snyder stated in his married Olena Hordievska, the book The Red Prince Another noteworthy person daughter of a Ukrainian “obsessed by ”. He had to become well acquainted Catholic priest, in a Ukrainian learned Ukrainian and spoke in with is Mykhailo Havrylko Catholic Church in 1917. The Ukrainian to his soldiers. He (1882-1920), artist, sculptor, witnesses were his brothers-in- even tried his utmost to influ- poet, and soldier. He was born arms, Nykyfor Hirniak and ence the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in the Poltava region. He stud- Mykola Uhryn Bezhrishnyi. In negotiations for the benefit of ied art in the St. Petersburg Art 1918 he joined the Ukrainian Ukraine but was not success- School, in the Cracow Army known as “Grey Coats” ful. During the years between Academy of Arts (with the and worked mainly in the the Wars he was in constant financial support of Poltava area. At this time the contact with Ukrainian nation- Metropolitan Sheptytsky) and Bolshevik army was moving alists and political exiles. He also in Paris. Together with in. The Cheka (the first type of supported them in their efforts Volodymyr Starosolsky, Ivan a Soviet Secret Police) to familiarize the western Chmola, and Olena Stepaniv encroached into the area and world with the politically dire he united the various “Sich” soon began arresting Ukrainian situation of Ukrainians under organizations into one. These activists. Havrylko managed to foreign domination. While liv- members later registered into elude them for a while, but ing in Vienna during World the Austro-Hungarian Army eventually they did capture War II and afterwards, in 1947 and formed the Sich Riflemen him and then threw him live he was abducted by the Soviet battalion. He joined the into the burning fire of a loco- Secret Service, imprisoned, Sichovi Striltsi battalion, and motive furnace! Most of his art tortured, and sentenced to 25 fought in battles in the works have been destroyed. Carpathian Mountains against years for his Ukrainian affilia- This is just a brief introduc- tions and activities. However, the tsarist Russian forces. As a sculptor he created projects for tion to two fascinating individ- he died the next year, in 1948, uals and their contributions to before the sentence could be Shevchenko monuments and many sculptures of noted the Ukrainian cause. More arti- carried out. During his interro- cles will follow sporadically.n

Wilhelm Lothringen Hapsburg - Among Ukrainians he was known as Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, because under his uniform’s jacket he had always worn a Ukrainian embroidered shirt, as shown on the picture. November is the month In our Museum and when we recall important his- Library’s photographic collec- torical events during World tion we have a considerable War I in Ukraine and pay trib- number of photographs and ute to the individuals who par- postcards which depict various ticipated in these events and individuals who had played who were instrumental in their major or minor roles in these achievement. These men and historic undertakings. Their women were part of a glorious contributions should not be moment in Ukrainian history. forgotten; rather, with these It was their attempt to liberate contributions we should Ukraine from foreign domina- become well acquainted. tion and to make it a free and One of the most fascinating independent nation. Although persons participating in these aims were not achieved, Ukraine’s fight for freedom nevertheless their devotion to was a certain Wilhelm this cause, their attempts, their Lothringen Hapsburg, an work, their sacrifices, had a Austrian archduke and prince political and cultural impact (1895-1948). Among for generations to come. Ukrainians he was known as Mykhailo Havrylko and his wife Olena (Hordievska), the daughter of a Ukrainian Catholic priest.

BOOK REVIEW: Red famine: Stalin’s war on Ukraine / by Anne Applebaum (New York : Doubleday ; October, 2017 – ISBN 978-038-53885-5) I have been asked by Reverend because it is not just about The goods, and of experiences that emotion- Taras Charparin, the new English-lan- Holodomor. Its focus is on the attempt ally describe the slaughter of innocents guage editor of The Sower, to compose of Stalin to get rid of Ukraine’s self- by a heartless political machine. And a review for our general readership of identity during the 1930s. Thus, the yet the book remarkably is filled with a this thoroughly researched book on the author speaks about having to under- message of hope – a hope that was not Holodomor, the Great Famine of stand this unspeakable tragedy perpe- wiped out in the memory of civilized Ukraine, 1932-1933. (for a critical trated under the guise of “collectiviza- world; rather, it was an impetus for the assessment, see Timothy Snyder’s tion of agriculture” in light of all the eventual Ukrainization of people by the review which appeared in The other obstacles that Stalin sought to end of the twentieth century. Washington Post on November 3, wipe up: the religious and intellectual This book is not addressed merely 2017). elite un Ukraine at that time, the very to the academic world nor to the library Ann Applebaum is the winner of the existence of the . shelf. It is a book circulated by an Pulitzer Prize for her book on the Under his policies, the individual international publishing company. It is Soviet gulag system as well as well as a Ukrainian ethos had to be replaced by easy to acquire online or in most book- finalist for the National Book Award on communal Sovietization, for the better- stores. I believe it is meant to be put in her book about the Iron Curtain. Thus, ment of the state. thousands of hands of people wanting she has established her credentials as a The book is not an easy one to page to know the truth of how terrible man scholar on Eastern Europe. Her book through. While it is aided by maps and can be to man, for “there is nothing hid- on the Holodmor is greatly aided by photographs of the times, it also is den that will not be revealed”. access to Soviet archival resources and filled with descriptions of harrowing Monsignor John Terlecky, history in hindsight. personal testimonies of starvation, of Director, Ukrainian Museum and The book is an interesting read the pillaging of cemeteries for any Library of Stamford

For more information about The Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford, please, visit www.ukrainianmuseumlibrary.org, call 203- 324-0499 or 203-323-8866. The museum is open Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment, and is located at 161 Glenbrook Road, Stamford, CT 06902.

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