The Ukrainian Weekly 1986

Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc.c,, a fraternal non-profit association! raiman WeeH No. 14 V Vol. LIV THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1986 25 cents Plyushch heads anti-defamation committee Soviet photos of Myroslav Medvid PARIS — Former Soviet political prisoner Leonid Plyushch was elected were doctored, say professionals chairman of a Ukrainian anti-defamation committee that was established NEW YORK — Photographs of airbrushing for over 20 years. "This is here at a public meeting held March 14. Myroslav Medvid that appeared recent- very clear. There is no depth of field The Committee Against Defamation ly in two Soviet publications were between the person in the foreground of the Ukrainian Name and the Ukrai- doctored, according to several profes- and the people behind him," he said. nian Nation was established by Ukrai- sional photographers and airbrush Mr. Kasparin also noted that Mr. nians in France to defend the honor of artists in the United States. Medvid appears to be larger than he the Ukrainian nation against propa- A story headlined "Soviet Photos of should be in relation to the distance ganda that defames the Ukrainian Sailor Whom U.S. Returned to Mos- between himself and rest of the family. liberation struggle and falsifies history, cow Are Seen as Forged," by New York The photographs are "obviously" doc- and in the process creates emnity among City Tribune reporters Patrick J. Mar- tored, Mr. Kasparin said. the nations dominated by the Soviets. tin and Bohdan Faryma, revealed the ' Some of the clearest indications, fraud. The story appeared on March 21. In addition to Mr. Plyushch, the however, that a picture of Mr. Medvid committee's executive board includes: Working with The New York City was taken separately from the rest of his Volodymyr Mykolenko, vice-chair- Tribune, the photographers and air- family and "stripped" (placed over the man; Daria Melnykovych, secretary; brush artists said they believed the two original) in the photograph is seen in the O. Smolykevych, treasurer; A. Levytsky photographs, which show Mr. Medvid second publication, the Tribune report- and P. Naumiak, documentation direc- with his family in Silets, Ukraine, ed. tors; Dr. Y. Yosypyshyn, Zirka Wito- appear to be forgeries. One of the In the February 11 edition of Visti z shynska-Tsyran and I. Pasternak, mem- photographs which was examined by Ukrainy (News from Ukraine), a weekly bers of the board; K, Koval, legal the Tribune, appeared in the February publication published for the distribu- director; Volodymyr Genyk, P. Malets 11 edition of the daily Molod Ukrainy tion abroad, another photograph ap- and 1. Zelena, auditing committee; Dr. (Youth of Ukraine), organ of the Cen- peared of the Medvid family — but tral Committee of the Ukrainian Kom- (Continued on page 13) O. Witoshynska, Prof. Arkady Zukov- Leonid Plyushch sky, Dr. Volodymyr Kosyk, Volodymyr somol (Communist Youth League). The picture accompanies an interview Malynovych and K. Mytrovych, ad- general public; and to initiate legal visers. conducted by Soviet journalist Vasyl Detention extended actions against those who slander or Baziv under the headline: "Myroslav The committee plans to collect infor- libel Ukrainians. mation about anti-Ukrainian activities; Medvid: T Have only one Fatherland — The committee also said it intends to The Soviet Union.' " for Demjanjuk to disseminate information through the coordinate its activity with similar or- Mr. Medvid, standing in the fore- French media; to hold press conferences, ganizations and with other Ukrainian JERSEY CITY, N.J. - An Israeli ground, appears with his family in a lectures and panel discussions for the (Continued on page 13) judge ruled that John Demjanjuk, who picture which was apparently taken in is suspected of being the Nazi war their living room. While photocredit is criminal "Ivan the Terrible," may be given to B. Fristula of the Fotochronika jailed for another 15 days while Israeli Conquest book due out in fall RATAU photogency, the Tribune's authorities continue their investigation CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Dr. Robert versity Press, has already begun plan- sources said the picture resembles a into the case. Conquest's book on the Great Famine ning a speaking tour for the author for painted illustration of a photo "touched The judge's decision came on March of 1932-33 in Ukraine is now due to be the fall, when "Harvest of Sorrow: up by airbrush." 28 at a 35-minute hearing at the Ayalon released in the fall, reported the Ukrai- Soviet Collectivization and the Terror- It is not uncommon to touch up Prison in Ramla, near Tel Aviv. nian Studies Fund of Harvard Univer- Famine," goes on sale. photographs or to remove scratches The UPI reported that Jerusalem sity. The Ukrainian Studies Fund has before they are printed. But the changes Magistrate Aharon Simha said the The book's publisher, Oxford Uni- received a photo of the bookcover, the in the Medvid photographs appear to be evidence indicating that "Ivan the title boldly lettered in black against a more drastic. Terrible" was dead was not conclusive, stark backdrop. "This person (Medvid) was dropped and he granted a police request to The Oxford University Press Spring into the photograph of the family," said continue detention of Mr. Demjanjuk. 1986 catalogue devotes a full page to the Garabed Kasparin, a Madison Avenue "Because of the need to probe and book, describing the famine as "a long- commercial artist who has specialized in (Continued on page 13) neglected chapter in the history of the 20th century," and "one of the most horrendous human and social tragedies INSIDE: of our century." According to the catalogue, "Dr. Conquest meticulously reconstructs the background of the tragic events: the lives and aspirations of the peasants, the Ukrainian national struggle, the mo- tives and methods of the Communist leadership." Dr. Conquest is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stan- ford University. He is also the author o! "The Great Terror," an account of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. Ж Nina Strokata on women political prisoners in USSR — page 7. m Roman Solchanyk on the perils of prognostication — page 2. Jeffrey .п`ѓоў, publicity manager at Oxford University Press, is compiling a m St. Sophia Association benefit for the Patriarch Josyf I Institute — page 4. list of press contacts who would be Ш UNA convention countdown — page 5. interested in Dr. Conquest's book. Ш Myron B. Kuropas on Ukrainian Chicago — page 6. Cover of Dr. Robert Conquest's long- Suggestions may be sent to the USF Я N.Y.C National Home and "1,001 Eggs" — centerfold. awaited book on the Great Famine of office, 1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cam- Ш Oles Kuzyszyn on Sonevytsky song cycle — page 10. 1932-33 in Ukraine. bridge, Mass. 02138. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1986 No. 14 A GLIMPSE OF SOVIET REALITY OgOmdnikOV tO †дСЄ НЄШ ІГІдІ KESTON, England — Keston Col- lege has received reports from reliable The perils of prognostication sources in the Soviet Union that Rus- sian Orthodox prisoner Alexander Ogorodnikov. 35, the founder of the and Soviet party congresses religious-philosophical "Christian Se- by Roman Solchanyk minar" movement in the early 1970s, violations of party discipline, and that was re-arrested in camp before he was senior officials had been removed and This article appeared also in the due to go into five years' internal exile. reprimanded. The purge had now spread He now faces a new trial. March 5 issue of Soviet Analyst, a to Ukraine, it concluded. The information received by Keston fortnightly magazine. A German national daily carried the College reveals that Mr. Ogorodnikov headline "A Warning to Shcherbytsky?" These are difficult times for Kremli- Soon thereafter, Pravda reported the is to be tried under Article 188-3 of the nologists. Until the very moment when criticisms that had been voiced at the Criminal Code of the RSFSR ("viola- Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, 68, and Kiev city party conference. This was tion of camp discipline"). Dinmukhamed Kunaev, 74, the party interpreted by diplomats as a sign that He was tried in 1980 on charges of leaders, respectively, of the Ukrainian Mr. Shcherbytsky was 'fighting for his "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" and Kazakh republics, were preparing political survivial." But one observer (Article 70, RSFSR Criminal Code) to deliver their reports to the local party cautioned against writing him off and sentenced to six years' strict- congresses in early February, "ex- altogether, offering the view that he regimen camps followed by five years' perienced observers" of the Kremlin might in fact be encouraging criticism internal exile. scene were assuring Western correspon- "in his own backyard" to strengthen his Mr. Ogorodnikov became a Chris- dents that these two "Brezhnevites" position in the party. The mechanics of tian in 1973, while a student at the All- would be swept away by what is now this clever maneuver were never ex- Union State Institute of Cinemato- commonly referred to as the Gorbachev plained. All agreed, however, that Yury graphy, and founded an informal dis- purge. Yet, when the proceedings in Elchenko, the Kiev party chief, was cussion group (which came to be known Kiev and Alma-Ata ended, both were finished. as the Christian Seminar) with young re-elected to their previous positions. At the end of January, the Soviet people who were, like himself, either What went wrong with the scenario press reported that USSR Minister of newly come to religion or interested in posited by the Kremlin-watchers? It Internal Affairs Vitaly Fedorchuk had religion and philosophy. Similar groups was, after all, perfectly logical in the been "transferred to other work." were founded in a number of other context of accepted Kremlinological Before moving to Moscow in 1982, first towns, including Leningrad and Smo- reasoning.

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