Seven Ukrainian survivors of the Holocaust are nominated for special memorial ceremony (08/20/00)

Seven Ukrainian survivors of the Holocaust are nominated for special memorial ceremony

TORONTO - At least seven Ukrainian survivors of the Holocaust have been nominated for inclusion in a special memorial ceremony being organized in Ottawa on September 27 by several Jewish Canadian organizations. The principal initiator of the commemoration is the Canadian Society for Yad Vashem.

Responding to a media release issued by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, various Ukrainian Canadian organizations, as well as family members and friends, have put forward the names of Wasyl Kardash and Nick Hawryluk (Toronto), Bohdan Krynycky (Ottawa), Stefan Kuzmyn (Kingston), Ivan Lahola (Edmonton), Michael Marunchak (Winnipeg) and Stefan Petelycky (Richmond) for inclusion in a "55 Years Since Liberation" memorial event, that will include presentations of certificates by Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Hedy Fry and a banquet address by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada.

The event organizers publicly confirmed that any Canadian citizen who is a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust is eligible to be considered for selection by a distinguished panel of Canadians as one of the 55 people to be included in this commemorative event. Nominations were closed as of July 31.

Commenting on the nominations, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, director of research for UCCLA, said:

"Among the seven men who were nominated there are survivors of Auschwitz, Dachau, Majdanek, Buchenwald and some of the other more notorious Nazi concentration camps. Each of these individuals, Ukrainian patriots all, suffered enslavement, torture and horrors that most Canadians cannot even begin to imagine. Yet, somehow, they survived and have all gone on to rebuild their lives and make positive contributions to Canadian society, as educators, laborers, community leaders and businessmen."

"By putting their names forward for acknowledgment during this important national ceremony hallowing the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust," Dr. Luciuk continued, "we have underlined how important it is for such recognition to be inclusive, recalling not only the millions of Jewish victims of Nazi tyranny, but also the many millions of Ukrainians and other non-Jews who perished."

"Of course, we appreciate that it will now be up to the committee reviewing these nominations to determine which 55 names are put forward to symbolically represent all of the victims," Dr. Luciuk added. "We remain confident they will be mindful of the need to be inclusive when making their selections."

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