NEWS AND VIEWS: Regensburg Gymnasium students hold reunion at Soyuzivka resort (12/02/01)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Regensburg Gymnasium students hold reunion at Soyuzivka resort

by Dmytro Bodnarczuk

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - The students began to arrive at the Soyuzivka resort during the weekend of September 8-9. On Sunday at church I was happy to meet Julian Gnoj, Luba Karawan-Kolomayets and Roman Wynnyk. But the majority arrived later.

On Monday the dining room was filled up for breakfast with a noisy crowd of happy people. More came for lunch. (Needless to say the food was good and plentiful.) The place was buzzing, there were hugs and kisses. We were home at "Suzy-Q" and with each other. Everything and everyone was familiar: the clear view on the forested ridges of the Shawansunk Mountains; my commuting friend Nina Ses-Marchenko from England; and then some more who weren't there last year. As usual, Olya Kuzyk and Roma Mysko-Jachtorowycz were at the resgistration table, busying themselves with the pile of forms and programs that Vasyl Luchkiw had just dropped in front of them on the table. They were arranging those items into white folders adorned with a logo containig a picture of the Regensburg skyline: "Ukrainian Gymnasium in Regensburg 1945-2001" and the banner line "Aby Sche Raz" ("If only one more time").

There was Oksana Deresh, busy decorating the lobby with the montages of our new and old photos. Someone put on Bohdan Malaniak's video tape of his rendition of the Paverotsky's mustached antics. And we were laughing again. He would not be with us this time to entertain us in person, but his sister Nadya was there representing the Malaniak clan.

Mr. Luchkiw expertly organized this reunion. The formal opening was conducted by the reunion committee in the library, by which time most of the participants had arrived. It was decided to hold the banquet in the auditorium so that we could have an unobstructed view of each other. The day ended with the evening dedicated to Prof. Halyna Karpova. Wolodymyra Kawka, Ludmyla Yarko-Pochtar, Mrs. Karawan-Kolomayets and Ms. Ses-Marchenko were superb in their recitations of various poems. It was truly an enjoyable and uplifting event.

Tuesday, September 11, for some of us started with an early morning walk; we were greeted by the noisy gaggle of geese at the main gate, and on the way back by a dashing deer crossing the road by the pool and quickly disappearing in the greenery of the woods.

The dining room was already filled up. There were new faces, more hugs and kisses. Most of us were sitting at the tables with our classmates. At my table were Jaroslaw Slywka with his wife, Ivan Sydorenko, Mr. Luchkiw and Joseph Sachno. We were reminiscing, talking about our families, discussing current events and having a great time. The young waiters nervously picked up our empty dishes off the tables as if they were reminding us of our full-day schedule. Or, were they in a hurry themselves to go somewhere else?

Reluctantly we left the dining room and moved upstairs into the lobby. The TV was on. There was some confusion around it. We could not get the audio working. Some kind of explosion appeared on the screen. An accident? A plane hit a building? Where?

The audio was now on. The explosion was in New York City. It was the World Trade Center tower. There was another explosion! No, it was not an accident; it was an act of terrorism. All of us were glued to the TV screen hanging on to every word of the reporters.

I began to shiver. The memories of the World War II years were stirred up: 1939, 1941 and 1944-1945. The air bombing raids, exploding artillery shells, hiding in the ditches and bunkers, and jumping off railroad trains while they were under attack. There was another image on the TV screen: the Pentagon was being hit. What was going on? We looked at each other and began to talk. Many of us had family members and friends at the Twin Towers and at the Pentagon. But we remained calm. Was it because of our program, or because of our instinct and previous experiences with survival?

At 10 a.m. we were scheduled to attend a memorial liturgy at the Holy Trinity Church across the road for our departed member and chaplain of the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization, the Rev. Msgr. Bohdan Hanushevsky, which gave us time to meditate and reflect on the extraordinary disaster. After the church services some of us telephoned our relatives and friends inquiring about their safety. At lunch there were animated discussions about the horrific events. Who? Why? What could have been done to prevent this catastrophe?

Again, past life experiences served us in good stead. We proceeded with the program. A panel discussion was conducted by Mr. Luchkiw and the guest speaker, Osyp Moroz, to mark the 10th anniversary of independent Ukraine. Both speakers frequently visit Ukraine, so it was very interesting to hear what they had to say. They spoke about their observations of Ukraine's achievements and the shortcomings. In the end the discussion developed about the prospects for improvements in the future. In the meantime, at the other end of the library, our "Kramnychka" (a little shop under the expert management of Mrs. Mysko-Jachtorowycz was doing a great business selling a variety of donated items such as embroidery, artifacts, paintings, and books. There was an exhibit of the Gnaghofersiedlung Camp postage stamps by R. Kane.

Our classmates were still arriving. Those who were flying did not make it because the airports were closed.

There were close to 60 people milling around before the formal dinner began. Most of the men were wearing embroidered shirts, and the ladies were dressed in their newest evening gowns. On the surface the evening was normal, but in small group conversations continued about the events of the day. The inner anxiety was controlled by that Regensburg Ukrainian Gymnasium spirit, self-discipline developed in the classrooms, sports clubs, Plast and other youth organizations.

Mr. Luchkiw opened the banquet with greetings and introductions, and called upon the Rev. Iura Godeciuc to offer prayers for the victims of the attack and a blessing on the assembled students and guests. This was followed by a welcome from the hostess of the dinner, Lyalya Maluk-Savyn, and then the accolades celebrating birthday anniversaries of Dr. Wolodymyr Procyk, Prof. Matthew Meleshko, Vira Levytsky and Ludmyla Yarko-Pochtar.

Luba Hurko-Bodnar followed with a recollection of Msgr. Hanushevsky's songs written by him for Plast. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar was with us, sitting at a table, quiet, unassuming, dressed casually without a hint of his high office. His persona seemed to have dissipated our anxiety. That simplicity of his somehow made it easier to comprehend what God was all about. Later he would pose with us for a group picture that said it all.

In the meantime there was a business meeting to attend at which we established the publication date of our "sequel" to the book "Regensburg: Articles and Documents 1945-1949." It will be published in the late spring of 2002.

We continued to enjoy each other's company and the warm family atmosphere. There were attempts to cheer up one another. We were reluctant to part, but there was still another day on our program.

Wednesday was another busy day. At breakfast we were pleasantly surprised to see the day's schedule and later we got ready for our traditional "vatra" (campfire). It was a somewhat chilly evening at the pool, but this time we sat in a circle with a real fire, the candle, burning in the middle. There were some 47 of us singing familiar school and Plast songs. The words echoed: "... zabudem denneye zlo ..." (we'll forget the day's evil). But how could we forget? It was another dark page of human history in our troubled, yet remarkable lives.

As the evening progressed, some of us started to depart, saying good-bye and promising to come back for our extended family reunion next year at the same time, at the same place, displaying that Regensburg Ukrainian Gymasium true grit - "aby sche raz."

| Home Page |