EDITORIAL: Removing Shevchenko (11/19/00)

EDITORIAL

Removing Shevchenko

The Washington Post on Sunday, November 12, ran an opinion piece by a John Mathews (not identified to the newspaper's readers), who called upon the National Park Service in the District of Columbia to remove "from their pedestals in our squares and circles some of those generals whom only a Civil War buff could recognize, along with assorted curiosities including a statue of a reputedly antisemitic [sic] poet." And who is that poet? Taras Shevchenko!

The writer goes on to cite "opponents of the memorial" who said in the 1960s that "Shevchenko was not only an idol of Soviet Communists, but an antisemite [sic] and anti-Polish to boot." The commentary was surrounded by photos of some of the "has-beens," to use Mr. Mathews' term, including Shevchenko in the top right-hand corner.

The reaction among Ukrainians in this country and beyond has been swift. Many have already written letters to the editor of The Washington Post, and the Action Item printed on the right encourages all of us to do likewise. This newspaper can do no less than add its voice to protest this grave injustice.

What Mr. Mathews has written is blatantly fallacious and scurrilous.

This "idol of Soviet Communists" was, in fact, one of the Soviet system's victims: his works were altered to suit Soviet needs and others were simply not permitted; taken out of context, his writings were used to present Shevchenko as an opponent of tsarist tyranny - but not of Russian oppression. The Soviet government opposed the idea of a Shevchenko monument in our nation's capital, arguing that its erection by "traitors" in the U.S. was meant to instigate animosity toward "the Soviet people."

Meanwhile, an act of Congress on September 13, 1960, had authorized erection of a monument to Shevchenko, and soon thereafter the U.S. Government Printing Office published a booklet titled "Europe's Freedom Fighter; Taras Shevchenko, 1814-1861." Recommended reading, we dare say, for Mr. Mathews... Perhaps he would have learned how this poet gave voice to the oppressed and wrote in defiance of all oppressors, how this "contemporary of Abraham Lincoln ... dedicated his life to the emancipation of nations and men from the bondage of Russian imperialism and totalitarian tyranny." Of particular interest to Mathews would be the foreword, which reports that, far from being an anti-Semite, Shevchenko "strongly protested the denial of civil rights to the Jews in the Russian Empire of the White Tsars, and fought persistently and courageously for the freedom of nations and liberties of individuals."

Perhaps it would behoove Mr. Mathews to know also that it was Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower - whom he lists as one of the persons who should be "elevated" via statues in D.C. - the 34th president of the United States and before that the commander of European Theater forces during World War II, who unveiled the Shevchenko monument [see the text of his speech below]. Eisenhower understood well Shevchenko's legacy and on September 13, 1960, he had signed into law the bill that provided for the erection of a monument to the bard of Ukraine. "It behooves us to symbolize tangibly the inseparable spiritual ties bound in the writings of Shevchenko between our country and the 40 million Ukrainian nation," that bill noted. After all, speaking for his downtrodden nation, Shevchenko had written: "When will we receive our Washington, with a new and righteous law?"

But, hey, perhaps Mr. Mathews and The Washington Post consider George Washington a has-been? What's the "Father of Our Country" done for us lately?

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