INSIDE:• New U.S. ambassador to Ukraine delivers first speech — page 4. • Football great Bronko Nagurski featured on new stamp — page 12. • North America’s largest Ukrainian festival — page 13. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXI HE KRAINIANNo. 40 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2003 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine The UkrainianT Weekly marksU 70th anniversary W Site and design of Famine-Genocide memorial in Ukraine’sby Roman Woronowycz capital stir controversyvociferously voiced amonghis opposition public to the site, Kyiv Press Bureau saying he is “absolutely against” it. “It simply does not reflect the largesse of the KYIV – After a fiery 90-minute debate during tragedy, which broke the back of the Ukrainian a public hearing in Kyiv dedicated to review the nation in 1932-1933,” noted Mr. Drach. “How status of a project to finally develop a proper can we stick this memorial at the bottom of a hill memorial center dedicated to the Great Famine, near nothing in particular?” the consensus seemed obvious: discard it all, Mr. Drach also expressed dissatisfaction with including the chosen site, and start from scratch. the fact that the project had moved forward with- Among the members of the planning commit- out input from the Verkhovna Rada. The noted tee only state and city officials expressed any poet-turned-politician explained that earlier in inclination to disagree with that overriding opin- the year lawmakers had approved a resolution ion. Nonetheless, even among them the lasting calling for a memorial complex to be developed impression was that officials would have to take in the city center, near the historic Arsenal a fresh look at how the effort was developing. Factory. He accused the Cabinet of Ministers “After today and what we have heard, the and Kyiv city officials of ignoring that resolu- result will probably be that we have to make tion. some changes and pursue other ways of going “I am shocked,” Mr. Drach stated. forward,” acknowledged Vasyl Romanchuk, The idea of a famine memorial has gained assistant minister of culture, one of the project’s steam quickly since first being mentioned as a leaders. worthy project to commemorate the 7 million to Several months after the city of Kyiv and the 10 million Ukrainians who died in 1932-1933 as national government joined forces to develop a a result of a Soviet policy of food confiscation site in Navodnytskyi Park, located on the right and forced starvation that was implemented to bank of the Dnipro River below the highest of break the back of the private farmer class in Kyiv’s seven hills – which coincidentally or not Ukraine and subordinate it to a collectivized sys- lies beneath the long controversial Soviet-era tem of agriculture, and to break the resistance of monument to “Rodina Mat” (the Motherland) – a the Ukrainian nation. stormy debate has arisen over whether the dedi- The idea for the project developed after first cated plot of land is a suitable site for the memo- being mentioned in an article in an op-ed piece rial. The voices heard at this special public hearing in a Kyiv-based English-language publication. suggested that the only people who supported The idea as proposed at the time was that a prop- the project as it currently looks were those who er memorial to the victims of the Great Famine took part in its design. The three dozen or so par- should stand somewhere in Kyiv and that there ticipants in the discussion of its merits, including was no better time to begin construction than several members of the North American during the 70th anniversary of the genocide, so Ukrainian diaspora and a noted Kyivan architect, that it could be completed in time for the 75th On October 6, The Ukrainian Weekly marks a milestone in its had only criticism to offer in response. anniversary commemoration. history: the 70th anniversary of its founding in 1933. A special National Deputy Ivan Drach, a member of the The plan outlined a complex that would section on the anniversary – encompassing editorials, commen- planning committee who also sits on the jury encompass a research center, a conference cen- taries, greetings and a questionnaire – appears on pages 5-9. that will pick the final design, vehemently and (Continued on page 3) Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine Columbia University honors Zlenko opens up a world of possibilities with Distinguished Statesman Award TORONTO – Imagine that a vast viewers to see photographs of prominent by Andrew Nynka The award was presented to Mr. information resource containing in-depth people they are reading about; and that Zlenko by Lisa Anderson, dean of the NEW YORK – Columbia University’s knowledge about Ukraine and Ukrainians they allow you to find exact locations of university’s School of International and Harriman Institute and the School of is freely accessible to anyone at any time cities, towns, mountains, lakes, or rivers, Public Affairs. International and Public Affairs presented and in any place in the world. Imagine view architectural monuments and works “Mr. Zlenko has made an enormous former Minister of Foreign Affairs of that students in Asia learning about world of art, and listen to musical compositions difference in his country and in relations Ukraine Anatolii Zlenko with the history, or American journalists conduct- mentioned in the text. between his country and the rest of the Distinguished Statesman Award on ing research for their articles on Eastern Through the efforts of a team of spe- world,” said Dr. Anderson. September 25. Europe, or European diplomats being cialists working on the Internet In accepting the award, presented at Mr. Zlenko was chosen for the award dispatched to their official posts in Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU) project at Columbia University’s prestigious Kellog “because of his achievements in Ukraine, can simply turn on their com- the Toronto Office of the Canadian Center, Mr. Zlenko said that a statesman Ukrainian-U.S. relations in particular, but puters and access over 20,000 detailed Institute of Ukrainian Studies, such a is someone who “submits his life to ful- in general for his role in helping steer articles and encyclopedic entries on all sophisticated and user-friendly informa- fill the aspirations of his fellow human Ukraine through a very difficult set of aspects of Ukraine, its history, people, tion resource is becoming a reality. beings.” He added, “I will continue to years,” said Mark von Hagen, professor geography, society, economy, diaspora Once completed the IEU will be the serve my country as a diplomat.” of history at Columbia University. Dr. and cultural heritage. most comprehensive web-based resource Mr. Zlenko spoke for nearly half an von Hagen is also president of the Imagine that these entries are accom- in English on Ukraine and Ukrainians. hour to an audience of Columbia International Association of Ukrainian panied by thousands of maps, photo- This immense repository of knowledge, University faculty, students and guests. graphs, illustrations, tables, music files, Studies (IAUS) and is the former director and multimedia materials that allow (Continued on page 21) of the Harriman Institute. (Continued on page 21) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2003 No. 40 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS New evidence of high-level involvement Kyiv wants U.N. to mark Great Famine other games,” he added. (RFE/RL Newsline) UNITED NATIONS – President Leonid in politically motivated murders in Ukraine Kuchma addressed the 58th session of the President shrugs off impeachment move United Nations General Assembly in New by Taras Kuzio arrested in May 2002. After their arrests, York on September 24, urging the United KYIV – President Leonid Kuchma reiter- RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch Sokil members leaked information anony- Nations to pay tribute to victims of the man- ated his opinion that an accord on the cre- mously to the opposition Socialist website ation of the CIS Single Economic Space he Since the murder of opposition journalist made famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933, (www.Grani.kiev.ua) on February 17, 2002, which claimed up to 10 million lives, signed recently along with the presidents of Heorhii Gongadze in the fall of 2000, that dealt with the involvement of their col- Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan does not Ukrainian authorities either have been Interfax reported. “Seventy years ago, the leagues in the Gongadze murder. Mr. totalitarian [Soviet] regime organized an contradict the Constitution of Ukraine, incompetent in their handling of this case, Piskun admitted in an interview in the same Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. He said or have been unable to resolve it – or a mix- artificial famine in Ukraine,” President month in Zerkalo Nedeli that their involve- Kuchma said. “Unfortunately, in 1933 the the opposition effort to impeach him for ture of the two. This is surprising because of signing this agreement is pointless. “The ment was one of the three theories being world did not react to our tragedy. The inter- the degree to which the Gongadze case has opposition has been calling for the presi- investigated. Mr. Honcharov compiled fur- national community believed the cynical negatively affected both President Leonid dent’s impeachment for the past several ther evidence of Sokil’s involvement in the propaganda of the Soviet state, which was Kuchma and Ukraine’s domestic and inter- years when it had no other ideas,” Mr. murder of Mr. Gongadze, which was selling grain abroad at a time when 17 peo- national standing. Kuchma said. “It is more political specula- released after Mr. Honcharov’s mysterious ple were dying every minute in Ukraine.” From November 2000 to April 2002, one tion and provocation by forces that have death.