LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (05/15/94)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

"Our community" existed before 1950

Dear Editor:

I want to comment on the opening sentence of M. K. Zaryckyj's "Letter to the Editor" (April 10). The letter writer's opening remark "For 40 years our community...." and then continues propitiously with "we," "we," and "we." I feel an explanation is necessary to this irrational use of words which, in my opinion, are contradictory to fact.

The Ukrainian community of New York has been very active for more than 85 years and for those years, not only they, but the emigrant and their offspring have been defending the Ukrainian struggle of recognition. Her, and possibly many others', egotism, under the guise of "for 40 years" and "we," "we" and "we," insinuates that the Ukrainian Americans in this country before World War II did nothing from the time of their arrival in the United States until after 1950, a year or two after the arrival of the post-war immigration.

Let's consider these remarks realistically. The post war immigration arrived to a well-established Ukrainian foundation; the compassion of their predecessors resulted in affidavits signed to have them emigrate to the New World, the United States and Canada. The new immigrants contributed obligingly to the Ukrainian conscience.

The know-how of the present community in New York City was more energetic because of the settlement of the greater number of arrivals from the displaced persons camps of Germany and Austria. But they were indoctrinated into this struggle because of the continuing efforts of the existing community.

Let me try to jog Ms. Zaryckyj's memory. As early as 1907, the Ukrainians of New York City demonstrated before other ethnic Americans their welcoming of Bishop Soter Ortynsky, who came to America to establish jurisdiction separate from the Latin bishops. In 1933 St. Basil's High School was established, and then in 1940, an American, Volodymyr Levitsky, was ordained. His parents were Ukrainians.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, although small, was nationally conscious of Ukraine's struggle.

Soon after World War I, the awareness of Ukraine was made known when the Ukrainian National Chorus, under the direction of Alexander Koshetz, gave prestigious performances at the Hippodrome, Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall. The chorus members consisted of many American-born Ukrainians. This was followed by the many folk dance performances under the leadership of Vasile Avramenko.

The Ukrainians of New York - "our community" - entered into the field of the American film industry when they filmed and premiered "Natalka Poltavka," "Marusia" and other films as early as 1936.

With the effort of all Ukrainians settled throughout the United States, we were able to have a Ukrainian Pavilion at the Chicago World's Fair of 1933 and then at the New York World's Fair (1940). Over 1,000 American-born Ukrainian folk dancers performed on the site where once stood the Pavilion of the Soviet Union. "Our community" lent its knowledge toward having that pavilion dismantled.

Outside of "our community" let's take a trip to New Haven, Conn., where the Ukrainian Heritage Center was established. We have the history of the settlement of Ukrainians in New Haven and, by the way, to the best of New Haven's knowledge, New Haven is the first city where federal government officials recognized Ukraine's short-lived independence and allowed our Ukrainian national flag to be flown from a local public building. There is one room set aside, showing the arts and crafts of Ukraine and then a library of over 3,000 books, in both languages, including a Ukrainian-Chinese Dictionary, which attracts many students of Yale and Southern Connecticut State University. As a result, New Haven's local college students have submitted theses on the Famine of 1933, the Russification of the Ukrainian language and other themes.

Wasyll Gina
New Haven, Conn.

Geographic errors detract from report

Dear Editor:

The Weekly's coverage of events in Ukraine is excellent, and the analytical articles, featured from time to time, are first rate. Unfortunately, obvious errors detract from the credibility of the reports in which they are found.

A case in point is the report "Ukraine, Russia agree to split Black Sea Fleet" by Roman Woronowycz (Kyyiv Press Bureau) in the April 24 issue. In that report, there is an erroneous statement that "Izmail, Ilyichivsk (sic), Ochakiv, Kherson and Kerch [are] all located in the Crimea."

In fact, only Kerch is in the Crimea. Izmail is a river port on the Kiliya Channel of the Danube in Odessa Oblast. Illichivsk (misspelled "Ilyichivsk") is a major outport 20 kilometers south of Odessa. Ochakiv is a small outport in Mykolayiv Oblast, guarding the northern side of the entrance to the Dnipro Liman. Kherson is a major river port near the mouth of the Dnipro.

This erroneous generalization has significant implications. The statement would imply that under this scenario the remaining Ukrainian fleet would retain its presence in the Crimea. In fact, that scenario nearly eliminated the remaining Ukrainian fleet from the Crimea.

Dr. Ihor Stebelsky
Windsor, Ontario

The writer is a professor of geography at the University of Windsor.

Kudos on Ukraine's election coverage

Dear Editor:

I wanted to commend Marta Kolomayets, Roman Woronowycz and the entire Weekly staff on the terrific coverage of the recent elections in Ukraine.

The early analysis pieces helped establish a framework for evaluating pre-election events, the conduct of the elections and the election results themselves.

In addition, the articles reporting views from regions of Ukraine other than those most frequently covered (i.e. Kyyiv and Lviv) provided a much-needed perspective on the over-all situation in Ukraine. Keep up the good work!

Olena W. Stercbo
Collegeville, Pa.

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