The Ukrainian Weekly, 2015
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THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 15 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015 $2.00 Oral history project focuses on children Reforms are too few, too slow, experts say by Zenon Zawada “In order to launch a rocket into the Committee of Voters of Ukraine. outer space, it needs to gain the first For the first quarter, 14.5 percent of of Holodomor survivors KYIV – It’s been four months since level of cosmic speed. If it flies slower, coalition requirements were fulfilled, TORONTO – The Ukrainian Canadian Research and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s it can’t overcome the pull of gravity. or eight of 55. Seven were partially ful- Documentation Center (UCRDC) announced the second Cabinet of Ministers took over, The same applies to Ukraine – if we filled, and 19 weren’t. launch of its Children of Holodomor Survivors Oral and there’s no denying they’ve contin- reform too slowly, we can’t surpass the It’s as though Mr. Yatsenyuk and his History Project, funded by the Temerty Family ued down a path of unprecedented empire’s pull with which it holds us Cabinet are doing the bare minimum Foundation. Interviews with children of the survivors reforms. back. We need to make a leap,” said to satisfy the public, both domestically of the Ukrainian Holodomor, the genocidal famine of Never has Ukraine been indepen- Ihor Koliushko, the board chairman of and abroad, numerous leading publi- 1932-1933, commence this month. dent of Russia for natural gas, shifting the Center for Political-Legal Reforms cations and independent experts The project’s coordinator, UCRDC Archivist Iroida to cheaper European sources (for the in Kyiv. reported. Wynnyckyj, stated: “The Ukrainian Canadian Research same Russian gas, no less). Revenue Even the Presidential Administration The Cabinet’s prime motivation and Documentation Center has the experience and from sin taxes have been shifted to has admitted the snail’s pace of during its first 100 days was to shield infrastructure needed to undertake an oral history starving local governments. State bod- reforms. the main corruption schemes, take interview project of this kind, and indeed, it will be the ies in Kyiv have dismissed hundreds of Of the 290 requirements in the par- control of financial streams and fill the first such project about the second generation of survi- career bureaucrats and hired dozens liamentary coalition agreement signed treasury exclusively using tax and fis- vors to be embarked on.” of business executives. in late November, 15 have been ful- cal measures, the Ekonomichna The history of the Ukrainian Holodomor has been All that’s nice but not good enough, filled, or 5.2 percent, said Dmytro Pravda news site reported, based on studied and amply written about. What is missing is a said half a dozen political and eco- Shymkiv, a deputy head at the its analysis. That was demonstrated study of the second generation of Holodomor survi- nomic experts contacted by this corre- Presidential Administration and its with hiked taxes for private and state vors, the survivors’ children, the UCRDC notes. Studies spondent. They described the govern- reforms spokesman, who previously enterprises that didn’t take into exist of the intergenerational transmission of trauma ment efforts as fragmented, not served as general director of Microsoft account the consequences for the and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children reflecting consistent structural Ukraine. Of the 290 requirements, 34 respective economic sectors, the news of Holocaust survivors and in studies of the Armenian reforms with a long-term strategy, and percent don’t have a deadline, he also site said. and African genocides, with some of these studies certainly not enough to inspire confi- noted in late March. reaching into the third generation. There is even an dence in Ukraine’s future. A similar estimate was offered by (Continued on page 4) “International Handbook of Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma,” edited by Yael Danieli. History according to successive generations, or the generational aspect of a legacy of survivorship, is high- ly valuable information to gather for further research. Ukraine turns to poppies in rebuke For example, a sense of longing, mourning, burden or distrust, degrees of communicativeness and coping, and the strength and resilience of survivorship all have of Soviet World War II narrative an impact on the successive generation’s identity and RFE/RL feelings of cohesiveness with their communities. “The purpose of this oral history project is not to KYIV – Ukraine is making the crim- record the history of the Holodomor’s genocidal trau- son poppy flower a symbol of the vic- ma, but rather, what became of the children of the sur- tory over Nazi Germany, part of a shift vivors of the Holodomor and what do they see as the away from Soviet imagery Kyiv says Holodomor’s legacy for Ukrainians,” stated the project’s the Kremlin is using to influence interviewer, Sophia Isajiw. “The fact that the project is neighbors and promote self-serving being done in North America is equally valuable myths about World War II amid a con- because it will enable a discussion of how the flict in eastern Ukraine. Holodomor has become a diaspora marker of First Lady Maryna Poroshenko Ukrainian identity. Oral history interviews with the chil- attended a “Remembrance Poppy” dren of survivors – some of whom are themselves now ceremony on April 7 as part of events in their 60s to 80s – will provide a springboard for this marking the 70th anniversary of the discussion and further research,” she elaborated. Nazi surrender in May 1945. The project has two objectives. The main one is to “The time has come when we have ascertain whether the knowledge of the parents’ hav- to look for the ideas that unite our country and nation,” she said, accord- ing gone through and survived the Holodomor had any president.gov.ua influence on the descendant. This can be physical, ing to a statement on the presidential Volodymyr Vyatrovych speaks during a ceremony at the Mystetskyi Arsenal emotional or spiritual. How the participants have dealt website. “The second world war in Kyiv, where the “Remembrance Poppy,” Ukraine’s new symbol of victory with this is also an important question. The second affected each and every Ukrainian over Nazi Germany in World War II, was unveiled. objective is to learn about the respondent’s own life family. The poppy is a symbol of story in a description of his or her family, schools remembrance that pays tribute to all flict that has killed more than 6,000 “Last year, we saw that the myth attended, work history, migration and the like heroes who sacrificed their lives for a people. about the Patriotic War, the Soviet war, Respondents are chosen using the “snowballing better future.” The head of the Ukrainian Institute had become not only an instrument of method,” which is to interview as many of the children Russian celebrations of the World of National Memory, Volodymyr propaganda but also an instrument of of Holodomor survivors as possible. The interview War II victory as the product of unity Vyatrovych, said that Soviet-era com- war against Ukraine,” he said, accord- method of oral history allows for respondents to freely among Soviet republics are ringing memorations of the Allied victory had ing to the website. express themselves and draw on their memory as wrong to many in Ukraine because of turned the “dreadful tragedy” of “The red poppy is a traditional much as possible. Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and World War II into a celebration of the Ukrainian symbol of the shed blood of its support for separatists fighting “triumph of Communist ideas” and (Continued on page 13) Ukrainian government forces in a con- created a “cult of war.” (Continued on page 5) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015 No. 15 ANALYSIS Russia reinforces Crimea as military Poroshenko on regional power vote occurred at about 4 a.m. at the entrance of a building that houses a bank branch. It KYIV – Ukrainian President Petro damaged doors and shattered windows of Poroshenko said on April 6 that he does not conceals underlying conventional weakness the building. Several bombs have exploded object to a referendum on giving more pow- vice and security. Thirteen airfields, radar in recent months in the southern port city by Roger McDermott ers to restive regions in eastern Ukraine. stations, repaired ports and other facilities of Odesa and the eastern city of Kharkiv, Eurasia Daily Monitor When the conflict between Russian-backed allow forces to return quickly ‘in a threaten- both outside the area held by separatists in separatist rebels and government troops Russia’s recent “snap inspection” military ing period.’ And to control the surrounding eastern Ukraine but seen as being coveted began last year, protesters in the east exercises in the Western and Southern sea and air space – a rather sufficiently by the Russian-backed rebels. Ukraine’s demanded a vote on giving their regions Military Districts (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, compact grouping based here on a perma- Security Service (SBU) on April 1 detained more autonomy. Such calls were rejected by March 19) and the Defense Ministry’s plans nent basis” (Lenta.ru, March 22). The three people suspected of involvement in the Ukrainian government at the time. several bombings in Odesa between to reinforce conventional deployments in author then suggests that these exercises However, after meeting a parliamentary December and March. (RFE/RL, with Crimea (see EDM, March 27) generate an are driven by Moscow confronting the commission that is drafting amendments to reporting by UNIAN and Interfax) impression of revived Russian military state’s military weaknesses, by recognizing the Constitution of Ukraine, Mr.