LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (05/30/99)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Marples should read "Le Livre Noire..."

Dear Editor:

By his own admission, Prof. David Marples states that he has not conducted "archival work in Kyiv, Moscow, etc." on the 1932-1933 Famine and that he "never claimed to be an expert on this subject." Then why is he making statements to the effect that there was no racial or ethnic motivation or premeditation of the Famine and that Stalin just "chose to allow this to happen?"

Victor Rud deserves congratulations for pointing out that Prof. Marples' analysis "moves dangerously close to the excuses we have become used to from apologists when the fact of the Famine can no longer be dodged. Simply give a reason for it. Any reason will do - as long as it's not that Stalin intended to kill. Disinfect the motivation. Divert the focus by giving another reason ..."

Please allow me to also register my "astonishment" about Prof. Marples' December 27 piece. If he hasn't had a chance to look at "Le Livre Noire du Communisme" (ed. S. Courtois), I urge Prof. Marples to do so. Even the French Left is not shying away from indicating Stalin's Ukrianophobia and the dictator's calculated assault on all spheres of Ukrainian society.

Finally, I wish to say that although I am well aware of the editorial position on The Great Famine of 1932-1933 and the generous space your newspaper has always given over to this subject, once The Weekly decided to publish Prof. Marples' article in which he outlines causes for the Famine and states that "Genocide seems unlikely," it might have been important to attach a short editorial note to his article reminding readers of The Weekly's position that the Famine was genocide.

Fran Ponomarenko
Montreal

"Russian Chronicles" and skewed history

Dear Editor:

As a gift from my daughter, I received an exquisitely published book with many beautiful illustrations called "The Russian Chronicles." It is noted in the book that it was "created and published by Garamond Publishers Ltd. and printed in 1998 by Quadrillion Publishing Ltd. of Godalming Business Center, Woolsack Way, Godalming, Surrey GU71XW, England; it is distributed in the USA by Quadrillion Publishing Inc., 230 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10001.

Although the name of the book implies that it pertains to Russian history, my daughter decided to purchase it for me because she found that a special acknowledgment is given to the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, which I have supported in the past. Indeed, on the page on which project editors and contributors are listed, under a "Special Acknowledgment" were listed Prof. H. Lunt and Prof. Omeljan Pritsak of the HURI; in addition, Prof. Lunt was listed as a translator. I could not determine what these two professors were acknowledged for, and therefore, will not comment about their participation in the production of "The Russian Chronicles," whose pages are littered with historical deceptions and prejudice against Ukrainian people.

I recognized the gist of the book form the preface written by Dmitri Obolensky and the caption to the first picture presented in "The Russian Chronicles." The preface informs the reader that "the country at first called Rus is later given its modern name, Russia" and that "the aim of the Russian Chronicles is to offer to the reader an overview of the development, during the past thousand years of the country known first as Rus and later as Russia." The caption under St. Volodymyr is: "St. Vladimir, baptizer of the Russians ..."

Since the history of Russia began around 1250, it is historical deception to speak about a thousand years of Russian history and about the baptism of Russians in Kyiv in 988 when such a country and such a nation did not exist. In existence at that time, was a country named Rus', which occupied territory of present-day Ukraine. Its inhabitants, Rusy, were the forefathers of Ukrainians. Russians, and their ignorant supporters, make a claim on old Ukrainian history because the first rulers of the Muscovite princedom came there from Rus'-Ukraine.

If this gives Russians a legitimate right to Rus' history, then most people of the world could claim each other's history, because in the past many nations had rulers of other countries and nationalities. The stealing of old Ukrainian history and its identification as Russian history is historical gangsterism which is condemned by self-respecting peoples of the world.

The name "The Russian Chronicles" is explained on page 19, where it is stated that "the crucial source of all Russian history to the early 12th century is the Primary Chronicle compiled in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in 1111-1113." The book states that the Primary Chronicle "is a remarkable attempt to tie in Russia among the world's nations." Later in the book the Primary Chronicle is called "The Russian Primary Chronicle" or "Medieval Russian Chronicle," even though the name Russia was unknown at the time. In reality the name of the Primary Chronicle was the "Povist Vremennykh Lit" (The Tale of the Bygone Years). The authors show a picture presenting the church domes of present-day Kyiv and state in the caption "the city, the capital of the first Russian state." What perfidy! The authors of the book identify Rus' as Russia and Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine as the Russian capital, and the Ukrainian chronicle "Povist Vremennykh Lit" as a Russian chronicle.

It seems that lecturers of English universities, who were the main contributors to "The Russian Chronicles" have to learn about the importance of the truth, which is crucial for any meaningful scientific contribution to history.

Ivan Kochan, Ph.D.
Grass Valley, Calif.

The writer is professor emeritus of immunology at Miami University.

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