І Hf" І Published by thg Ukrainian National Association Inc.. a fraternal non-profit as50ciation| Ukrainian WeeklV Vol. LVI No. 11 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 1988 25 cents Walter Poiovchok's book describes Millennium resolution passes Senate struggle to become 'Freedom's Child' WASHINGTON - The United Nadia Komarnycky-McConnell, States Senate on Friday, March 4, chairperson of the Government Rela­ by Marta Kolomayets Walter Polovchak making headlines unanimously approved a resolution tions Committee of the Ukrainian across the nation as the "littlest defec­ deploring the Soviet government's community's National Committee to NEW YORK - It's hard to believe tor." He first came into the public eye active persecution of religious believers Commemorate the Millennium of that eight years have gone by since when, at the age of 12, he refused to go in Ukraine on the occasion of the Christianity in Ukraine, stressed that Americans first caught a glimpse of back to the Soviet Union with his Millennium of Christianity in Kievan- the Senate action "underscores the parents. He ran away from home when Rus'. primacy of Ukrainian claims to the his parents decided, after six months, The bill's principal sponsor in the Millennium of Christianity" which took that life in the United States was not for Senate, Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), place in Kiev in 988. them. stated that, "if the Soviet government Ms. McConnell further emphasized, Walter was granted religious asylum, truly wants to commemorate the that the passage of S.J. Res. ^5 "adds but a five-year struggle in the courts Millennium of Christianity, it can to the growing internationaf pressure ensued before the issue was declared legalize the Ukrainian Catholic and being put on the Kremlin" regarding moot when Walter turned 18 and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches and Ukrainian concerns in general and became a U.S. citizen. stop persecuting believers of all deno­ specifically the legalization of pre­ Recently in New York to promote his minations/^ ^^^ viously banned Ukrainian Churches. new book, "Freedom's Child," which For full text of resolution, see page 3. ' The Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrai­ was written with Kevin Klose, former nian Catholic Churches were both Washington Post bureau chief in Mos­ Sen. DeConcini's resolution, S.J. forcibly liquidated by Soviet authori­ cow and Chicago, and currently that Res, 235, introduced last December, ties during the 1930s and 1940s respec­ newspaper's national news desk editor, discourages official U.S. participation tively, and have remained outlawed. Walter said that the eight years "seem in the USSR's planned Millennium During the last two years in Ukraine more like eight days." ceremonies, "so long as individuals "Sure there were times that dragged over 150 churches have been closed or remain harassed and imprisoned for destroyed. on as I waited to reach 18," and the 20- their religious beliefs," and the "Ukrai­ year old, who clearly remembers the day nian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox An identical version of the Senate he and his sister, Natalie, decided that Churches remain outlawed." bill. House Joint Resolution 429, has they were never going back to the Soviet The resolution further urges Presi­ been introduced in the House of Repre­ Union. dent Ronald Reagan and the U.S. sentatives by Rep. William Lipinski(D- In his book, he writes: "No one knew delegation to the United Nations to 111.) Rep. Lipinski's resolution current­ I was as tough as I turned out to be — no "continue to speak out forcefully against ly has more than 125 co-sponsors. one except me, that is. When I make up violations of religious liberty through­ If passed by the Congress, the joint Walter Polovchak with his newly re­ my mind, I'm like a bulldog.You aren't out the Soviet Union and specifically in resolution will be sent to President leased book, "Freedom's Child." (Continued on page 13) Ukraine." Reagan for his approval. Famine survivors, scholars speak at Rider College UKRAINIAN^ LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. - of whom were softly crying or fighting and the other children as being "skele­ An estimated 7 million peopled died of back their tears. ton-thin, sick and indifferent. We were starvation during the man-made famine Most people could not walk - they ready for the final act," he recalled. in Ukraine in 1932 and 1933. had no strength. Some tried to leave But "miraculously" they survived, \ Many more suffered through the town in search of food and died on the Mr. Danylenko said. horrors, the despair and hopelessness of roadside, said Mrs. Pawlichka who was He said suffering through the hunger the genocide said to have been orches­ 10 in 1932. was painful enough. But the feeling of trated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Ivan Danylenko and his family also total isolation and the feeling that there On March 6 four survivors of the managed to survive the hunger years is no hope left is even more painful, he forced hunger appeared at a conference that for them began in 1930 when the added. hosted by the Rider College Holo­ first signs of food scarcity appeared. By Mrs. Pawlichka and Mr. Danylenko caust/Genocide Resource Center to tell spring of 1932 all five Danylenko are among 57 eyewitnesses to the famine ah audience of about 350 people about children were helping the parents search who have testified before the Commis­ the mass starvation, the pain and for food, digging out the past season's sion on the Ukraine Famine created by suffering they witnessed and endured as potatoes and sugar beets from the (Congress in 1986. well as the helplessness, the isolation frozen fields, said the Somerdale, N.J., The commission, created to "expand Here it is. In the next nine months, and the desperation they saw. resident. ^ the world's knowledge of the famine our readers will be seeing quite a lot There was nothing to eat in the year Anyone caught collecting wheat and provide the American public with a of this symbol, as stories of celebra­ 1932 in a village of about 6,000 people spikes from the collective farms' fields better understanding of the Soviet tions, demonstrations, manifesta­ 60 miles from Kiev where Tatiana was chased and whipped or arrested, he system by revealing the Soviet role in it" tions, flood our office and as Ukrai­ Pawlichka grew up. said, recalling that one of his aunts was is expected to submit its final report to nians suffer from "Millennium mad­ "People were eating milkweed, leaves, sent to Siberia for seven years for trying Congress by April 23. ness." bark, wild carrots," she said. They to obtain some food for her dying "There is absolutely no doubt that Various Ukrainian communities pulled out vegetables that were still husband. large numbers of Ukrainians starved to both in the West and in the Soviet green and ate them, they were so Mr. Danylenko said the uncle never death in a man-made famine in 1932- Union will mark the jubilee event hungry, Mrs. Pawlichka recalled. made it. His maternal grandparents also 33," said historian James E. Mace, staff throughout 1988; and we'll do our "And there was cannibalism in our died of starvation. His own family director of the commission, who also best to shed light on the significance village," continued the Lansdale, Pa., barely survived, he said. spoke on March 6, on the first day of a of the events; after all, an occasion resident recalling that she kne^ of an By October 1933 the Danylenko two-day Conference on the 1933 Terror like this comes only once in a lifetime. 18-year-old boy eaten by his family. family had been thrown off its family- Famine, calling the genocide "one of the The logo was designed exclusively In February 1933 there were so few owned farm, confiscated by the Soviets, worst crimes against humanity." for The Weekly, by artist Anatole children that the school was closed. and was living in an old barn — "weak, "One or more of the actions specified Kolomayets of Chicago (yes, he's There wasn't a dog, a cat or a sparrow hungry and totally hopeless." in the Genocide Convention was taken (Continued on page 3) left in town, she told the audience, many Mr. Danylenko described himself (Continued on page 4) THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 1988 No. 11 A GLIMPSE OF SOVIET REALITY Issue No. 7 of Ukrainian Herald is now available in the West NEWARK, N.J. - Suchasnist Pub­ Ukrainian political prisoners in prisons Ukrainian Culturological Club lishers recently released Issue No. 7 of and camps, various protest actions and the Ukrainian Herald, the formerly the like. breaks new ground for glasnost underground Ukrainian samvydav "The Ukrainian Herald is in no way journal, which was revived last August an anti-Soviet or an anti-Communist by Bohdan Nahaylo Ukrainian Culturological Club that by its first and original editor, former publication. Its contents and objectives were published had a vindictive ring to political prisoner Vyacheslav Chor­ are entirely legal and constitutional. CONCLUSION them; yet the editors criticized only the novil. The Ukrainian Herald does not con­ authors of letters supporting the club Issue No. 7 of this "journal of public sider it to be an anti-Soviet activity to As has already been mentioned, one for their alleged "rudeness" and "lack of opinion on literature, art and socio­ criticize individual persons, agencies or of the letters published by Vechirnyi diplomacy." political issues," is the first issue written institutions including the highest, for Kiev on November 14, 1987, had com­ Perhaps the best indication of Ve­ since it ceased publication in 1972 with committing legal errors in the resolu­ plained about the veneration that the chirnyi Kiev's attitude towards the club, the arrest and sentencing of Mr.