1991: A LOOK BACK: Miscellaneous, but noteworthy (12/29/91)

1991: A LOOK BACK

Miscellaneous, but noteworthy

This section comprises the annual list of all those noteworthy events and people that defy classification under the other headings of this year-end review. Thus, the notables of 1991 include:

The movie "Holod '33," directed by Oles Yanchuk, was completed. It won first prize at the Kiev Film Festival in November and premiered on Ukrainian television on the eve of the December 1 referendum. The film tells of Stalin's forced collectivization which led to the death of more than seven million Ukrainian citizens in central and eastern Ukraine.
Myron B. Kuropas' history "The Ukrainian Americans: Roots and Aspirations 1884-1954" was published, examining how one group not only avoided assimilation but actually created a new national identity in the United States.
Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.), a Ukrainian American, was appointed chief deputy majority whip for the 102nd Congress, the fourth ranking position in the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives, and was elected House majority whip, the third ranking leadership post, on July 11. He is the highest ranking U.S. representative of Ukrainian descent.
Members of the Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA) hosted a luncheon for People's Deputy Levko Lukianenko and gave him an honorary membership. The UABA, which was deeply involved in working to release Mr. Lukianenko when he was a political prisoner, presented him with a bound volume of all the original documents submitted by the UABA in his defense.
Air Ukraine, a new airline offering direct service between Kiev and New York, had its first flight. "We want our venture to have a Ukrainian image," said Mykola Kravets of the Ukrainian Civil Aviation Management. Although the airline still rents its planes from Aeroflot, it was an attempt to assert Ukraine's sovereignty.
Dr. Mary V. Beck, a Ukrainian American, was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She is the first woman to be elected to the Detroit City Council, the first woman Council President and the first woman Acting Mayor of Detroit. She is also very involved in the Ukrainian community.
After two years of planning, the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit returned for a historic tour throughout Ukraine from June 6-24. They traveled under the banner: "Ukraine, we are with you again."
Yuriy Shukhevych, referred to as "the eternal prisoner" because he was imprisoned from the time he was 15 to 54, visited the United States to seek treatment for his blindness - a result of the poor conditions in prison. Mr. Shukhevych met with various organizations in his capacity as Chairman of the Ukrainian Inter-Party Assembly.
Cathy Fedoruk, the Canadian super model of Ukrainian background, donated her services to two Canadian Ukrainian fashion shows celebrating the centennial.
Participants in the Canada-Ukraine Economic Conference, sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation, resolved to support the development of the "Canada-Ukraine Business Council" (CUBC), in order to liase with government, corporations, organizations and individuals seeking commercial contacts with Ukraine and Ukrainians.
A consortium of American business, professional and academic representatives organized the America Ukraine Business Council to promote trade relationships between Ukraine and the U.S. It is a not-for-profit cooperation based in Chicago, and is a member of the World Trade Center Association.
Three opera singers of Ukrainian descent, Paul Plishka, Andrij Dobriansky and Sergei Koptchak, appeared together in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Boris Godunov."
The Ukrainian Museum of Modern Art in Chicago celebrated its 20th anniversary on the weekend of November 9-10 with workshops, a concert, a banquet and a retrospective exhibition.
The Kiev Music Festival, established by the Composers' Union of Ukraine last year to raise international awareness of Ukraine, its music and its capacity as a cultural center, was held from October 5-12. Many foreign stars performed, including trombonist Miles Anderson.
Ukrainian Canadian Roy Romanow of the New Democratic Party was elected premier of Saskatchewan on October 21, joining other notable people of Ukrainian descent in Canadian politics.
Over 120 amateur athletes from the U.S. and Canada, organized under the auspices of USCAK, the umbrella organization uniting all Ukrainian sports clubs in the U.S. and Canada, competed against independent Ukrainian sports clubs comprising professional Ukrainian athletes. The athletes from the West traveled to Ukraine to participate in tournaments marking the 80th anniversary of the Ukrainian sports club Ukraina.
Serhiy Bubka broke eight world records in pole-vaulting this year (many of them his own previous records) to set the current world record to 20 feet, 1/4 inch. On August 5 he became the first person to clear 20 feet in an outdoor pole vaulting competition.
Taras Petrynenko and the Ukrainian rock group Hrono arrived in the U.S. on June 25. This popular band played at Soyuzivka during Labor Day weekend, attracting an audience of more than 2,000 people. Mr. Petrynenko, a longtime supporter of Ukrainian national rights returned to Ukraine before the referendum to lobby for Ukrainian independence.
The Ukrainian Museum in New York City, an institution dedicated to the preservation, study and propagation of Ukrainian culture, celebrated its 15th anniversary at the Helmsley Palace with a mortgage burning ceremony for their new museum location. Also, its catalog of wooden churches was highly praised by the prestigious Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.
Virlana Tkacz's performing arts ensemble, the Yara Arts Group, performed a play in English and Ukrainian based on the life of Les Kurbas, the innovative theater director of 1920's Ukraine. The play, titled "A Light from the East," had a cast from both the U.S. (most of whom had no Ukrainian background) and Ukraine. The group toured Kiev, Kharkiv and Lviv from July to August.