LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (05/13/01)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Luciuk commentary much appreciated

Dear Editor:

Lubomyr Luciuk's commentary (March 25) should be required reading for all people who are interested in understanding injustice. He tells of the case of Wasyl Odynsky, who may be deported from Canada for having been no more than a young man who lived in Ukraine during World War II who was forced into the German army at gunpoint. After the war he lived in the camps in Germany, desperately seeking to avoid repatriation to Soviet Ukraine. He came to the West in 1949, as did many others from the camps.

Fifty-two years later Mr. Odynsky is caught in the Canadian government purge of Ukrainians who were torn from their homeland by the Nazis. Because he was in the German army, he had to defend himself in court against allegations that he was a Nazi. The judge found that he was not a Nazi and that he committed no crimes.

During the trial Mr. Odynsky needed to testify as to his memory of what questions were asked of him during his screening in 1949. (Imagine being required to give evidence of what happened 50 years ago during a traumatic moment in one's life. If it this were not so serious it would be farcical.) Mr. Odynsky testified that he was never asked about his service in the German army. The judge found that he made a false representation to gain his citizenship and therefore can be deported.

If Mr. Odynsky admitted he served in the German army, he may have been barred entry into Canada. This would have exposed him to being sent back to the Soviet Union to certain death or exile. Having lost his youth to the German army, he may now be punished again by Canada. To send this elderly man off to a strange land after almost 60 years of exile is, as Dr. Luciuk points out, the equivalent of a death sentence.

It is to be deplored that the Canadian government expends its resources chasing after elderly people half a hundred years after an event, especially for such a trivial matter as making misstatements to an immigration officer. It is further to be deplored that members of only one specific ethnic group, Ukrainians, have to justify their ancient statements. This may be the only time in the history of Western jurisprudence where evidence over 50 years old involving such minor acts is used to inflict such severe penalties.

If a person committed a crime against humanity or a war crime, by all means bring him or her to justice. But if the person's crime is lying to an immigration officer, then the relentless pursuit of these individuals bespeaks a nation not in search of justice but of imagined political correctness and of craven politicians seeing this great injustice, yet fearing to speak out against it.

We all know that once an accusation is made that a person is a Nazi, the press takes up the cry for a lynching, and all agree the Nazi should be drawn and quartered. If the person is found not to be a Nazi, he must be punished in any event. This is precisely what happened in the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. When a woman was accused of being a witch she had a trial. If convicted she was executed. If acquitted she was executed on the theory that she had bewitched the judge into acquitting her, which proved she was a witch.

Unfortunately, during this witch-hunt, the public remains, to quote Dr. Luciuk, in the state of "ignorance, prejudice, [and] indifference." Only a few persons like Dr. Luciuk and those others mentioned in The Ukrainian Weekly have the time, courage and energy to learn and expose the truth of Canada's purge of the elderly victims of Nazism. For this they should be commended.

The Ukrainian community has not let itself be cowered into silence for fear of being falsely accused as being Nazi sympathizers. It must do even more. They must create a Ukrainian Defense League that will assist Ukrainians who have to fight the improvident attacks by their governments. Until Ukrainians unite, promote education of their people and the public, turn away from internal divisions, and combine their financial resources to affect political outcomes, they will remain voiceless and powerless against further encroachments on their rights and will continue to be treated as second-class citizens. For after all, if a person who made false representations over 50 years ago can be deported, why can't the relatives of that person also be deported?

Matthew T. Connolly
Dedham, Mass.

Community leaders deserve our thanks

Dear Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the leading members of the Ukrainian American community for their open letter to the Ukrainian leaders in Ukraine that was printed in The Ukrainian Weekly on March 4.

I believe that this kind of concern by the Ukrainians in this country not only makes the Ukrainian leaders more responsible but also shows all the people of Ukraine that we care about them.

Maria Wozniuk Connolly
Falmouth, Mass.

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

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