2001: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Ukrainians in the U.S.: sustaining the community

Ukrainians in the United States this year were again busy creating, promoting and sustaining various programs, workshops, initiatives and relief efforts, as well as working towards many other invaluable community projects - many of which began over a hundred years ago when the first wave of Ukrainian immigrants arrived in the United States. This year saw no less than the same level of tireless dedication to promoting and benefiting Ukrainian American society.

Chief among their efforts was the continued work toward the completion of The Ukrainian Museum's new $7.6 million building project. Held in abeyance for a time due to lack of funds, the project was restructured in the early part of 2000 with the idea of building a more modest museum facility, thereby scaling down the cost of construction. In December 2000, however, the project was brought back to its original architectural concept and fully revitalized upon the receipt of a major gift of $2.5 million and a $1 million Challenge Grant from Eugene and Daymel Shklar, a California entrepreneur and his wife. The Challenge Grant is designed to match any donations to the museum up to a total of $1 million received between November 2000 and the end of January 2002.

Then, on April 29, during the Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union's 50th anniversary celebration at The Cooper Union's Great Hall in lower Manhattan, the credit union added to the building fund by donating $500,000 - putting The Ukrainian Museum one step closer to breaking ground on the full-scale project. Olha Hnateyko, president of the board of trustees for the museum, speaking during the museum's annual meeting on June 3 said: "We are very close to achieving our goal. Our attorney is reviewing the contract with the builder and as soon as all the details are ironed out we will sign it."

Aside from The Ukrainian Museum's work in its building project, members of the board were also busy celebrating the museum's 25th anniversary with their annual New Year's dinner/dance held on January 13. Malanka 2001 was billed as the start of The Ukrainian Museum's yearlong celebration of its 25th anniversary and raised over $50,000 in cash and pledges to the museum's building fund.

On October 14 the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA), or Soyuz Ukrainok, raised over $200,000 in donations or pledges to the museum's building fund at a gala luncheon held at the New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue.

The Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union's donation to the museum came as part of a combined total disbursement of over $830,000 to community institutions and organizations as well as Ukrainian causes to mark the credit union's half century of service to the Ukrainian American community.

The highlight of the April 29 gala concert, which featured top Ukrainian artists and internationally renowned performers, was the world premiere of a work specially commissioned by Self Reliance, the three-part "Ukrainian Suite" by composer Myroslav Skoryk of Lviv.

The celebrations were dedicated to the pioneers of Self Reliance New York for their "foresightful vision and devoted work in the establishment of a Ukrainian financial institution in New York," which continues to serve its members and to nurture Ukrainian community life. As noted in the program book prepared for the anniversary celebrations, Self Reliance has flourished since its founding 50 years ago with an initial deposit of $314.25 by 37 members of the Selfreliance Association of American Ukrainians. Today it boasts more than $342 million in assets and a membership of 12,117.

The current chairman of the board, Myroslaw Shmigel, noted that the founders of Self Reliance brought the ideals that had served the Ukrainian nation to a new homeland and applied them here in the establishment of the first Ukrainian credit union in the United States.

The president and CEO of Self Reliance, Bohdan Kekish, noted that the establishment of Self Reliance New York was, in effect, "a continuation of the cooperative movement in Ukraine, which had been liquidated by the Soviet regime in 1944 in Halychyna."

In other credit union news reported in 2001 during a special meeting on December 10, 2000, members of the Newark-based Selfreliance UA Federal Credit Union voted in favor of merging with Chicago-based Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union.

Votes for the merger were cast in person and by mail. Results indicated that 385 members voted for the merger and 17 against. Selfreliance UA Federal Credit Union and Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union had decided to merge in order to enhance financial services for their members. Prior to the merger, both institutions were successful growth-oriented financial institutions serving the Ukrainian community in the United States.

The merger was finalized on December 19, 2000. As a result, the institution now serves over 20,000 members and holds over $390 million in assets, over $48 million in reserves, placing it among the top 3 percent of all credit unions in the United States. The newly merged credit union has nine locations in three states: Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey.

Ihor Laszok, former president of Selfreliance UA Federal Credit Union, assumed the duties of executive vice-president of the newly merged entity, while former Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union Chairman of the Board Michael R. Kos became the chairman of the board of the newly merged credit union. Former Selfreliance Ukrainian Federal Credit Union CEO Bohdan Watral will become the new president and CEO of Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union.

The Chicago-based Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union also celebrated its 50th anniversary in the United States by sponsoring a concert on October 13 in Chicago as part of its ongoing celebrations. Established on May 12, 1951, Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union has provided over $6 million in support to Ukrainian community organizations.

Nearly 1,400 members attended the evening concert, despite inclement weather, record rainfall and widespread flooding, surpassing the organizers' expectations. The concert was the credit union's gift to the community, and especially to its members, as a thank-you for 50 years of support and cooperation. The program featured the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus, as well as Chicago's most popular dance, choral and musical ensembles.

The sale of Verkhovyna

Also making news this year was the Ukrainian Fraternal Association's precarious sale of the Verkhovyna resort center to the Ukrainian American Cultural Foundation. At its convention in 1998 and its Supreme Council meeting in 2000, the UFA had voted to sell Verkhovyna to the UACF for the price of $925,000. In August 2000 the UACF received a contract from UFA President Ivan Oleksyn for the sale.

That contract contained a number of clauses that apparently made it impossible for the UACF to obtain a mortgage to purchase Verkhovyna, including stipulations that the UACF could not resell the property without UFA permission for a number of years to be determined and that no third party would be allowed to participate in the deal (the UACF at the time had a third party, a Ukrainian religious group that was interested in supporting the purchase of Verkhovyna). The UACF asked for a meeting to discuss the clauses, but the UFA's lawyer replied that the contract must be signed as is and refused to meet.

Then, in December 2000, Mr. Oleksyn signed a contract for the sale of Verkhovyna to a non-Ukrainian group based in Monticello, N.Y., for the price of approximately $1.1 million.

The Ukrainian community in Glen Spey and members of the UFA began a campaign to try to convince Mr. Oleksyn to sell the property to the UACF, and a meeting between the UACF, the UFA and the lawyers for both groups took place on January 31.

Mr. Oleksyn indicated that since the Monticello group was scheduled to close the contract on January 29, he would sell for the same price of $1.1 million and without the previous clauses if he could be assured that the UACF in fact had the money.

UACF President Dr. Stepan Woroch presented a faxed letter from a bank approving a mortgage based on a 30 percent down payment and the signing of an acceptable standard contract. He suggested that a contract be signed immediately with a 10 percent down payment. Mr. Oleksyn indicated that, pending a vote of the UFA executive the next day, a contract would be signed. The next day, however, Mr. Oleksyn apparently took steps to complete the deal with the Monticello group.

Oleh Dekajlo, the lawyer for the groups attempting to stop the sale of Verkhovyna to any non-Ukrainian group, filed an injunction against the sale of Verkhovyna in Federal Court in Monticello.

On March 12, following daylong conferences of attorneys and a judge of the New York State Supreme Court in Sullivan County, the Ukrainian American Cultural Foundation was given 90 days to close on the purchase of the UFA's resort in Glen Spey, N.Y.

A hearing had been scheduled for that day for oral arguments before Judge Burton Ledina of the New York State Supreme Court in Sullivan County, based in Monticello, to determine certain preliminary issues in the case of UACF et al vs. the Ukrainian Fraternal Association. The primary issue was whether the plaintiffs, the UACF and others, were entitled to maintain the preliminary injunction granted them on February 15 that restrained the UFA from selling its resort to David Willner.

The UACF argued that UFA executive officers, in agreeing to sell Verkhovyna to Mr. Willner, had acted in violation of the resolutions adopted at the 1998 UFA Convention as well as the 2000 annual meeting of the UFA Supreme Council. Both bodies supersede the authority of the UFA Executive Committee.

The defendants, including the UFA and its president, Mr. Oleksyn, cross-moved for dismissal of the lawsuit, removal of the temporary restraining order and removal of the lien placed on the Glen Spey, N.Y., property by the plaintiffs. They argued that the UFA By-Laws give the Executive Committee the authority to sell the resort. The defendants appeared with the proposed purchaser, Mr. Willner, and were represented by Gerald Orsek, Andrew Hailstone and L. Viglotti.

Mr. Dekajlo explained that Mr. Willner, a camp operator, had already made arrangements for summer camps on the Verkhovyna property, having hired counselors and staff for the campers, and wanted to proceed with the camps, while the UACF preferred not to take the risk of an extended court trial and further legal wrangling that might have resulted in the Ukrainian community's loss of Verkhovyna.

Among the provisions of the court's decision were the following points:

• The contract between the UFA and Mr. Willner dated December 5, 2000, was terminated and deemed null and void; thus, the property was not sold to Mr. Willner.
  
  
• In order to prevent Mr. Willner from suing Mr. Oleksyn and the UFA for monetary damages based on the alleged breach of their contract of sale and Mr. Oleksyn and the UFA board for allegedly acting outside the scope of their authority (in contravention of previous decisions by higher bodies, i.e., the UFA Convention and Supreme Council), Mr. Willner was allowed to lease the Verkhovyna resort for the summer of 2001 only. Mr. Willner was to vacate the resort no later than August 25.

As Mr. Willner would operate a 2001 summer camp at the Verkhovyna resort, he was responsible for curing all violations at the resort, obtaining all necessary municipal and governmental certificates and licenses, keeping the resort insured for the summer period for the benefit of the UFA and the UACF, and making a security lease deposit to guarantee his obligations under the lease. In addition, he was to repair and/or replace, as necessary, the refrigeration and cooking facilities, as well as the water supply and septic system of the resort.

The UACF was forced to close title on the purchase of the Verkhovyna resort within three months of March 12 and pay the balance of the purchase price, which is $1,075,000 - the same price that Mr. Willner was to pay - an inflated sale price over the original $925,000 offered to the UACF by the UFA. (Included in the purchase price is a one-family residence outside of the resort in the Glen Spey community.)

At the end of Mr. Willner's lease period, which ran from June 6 to August 24, representatives of the UACF sought access to the resort grounds in order to check on Mr. Willner's progress on the court-ordered restorations of Verkhovyna facilities. However, a restraining order sought by Mr. Willner barred the UACF access. Upon conclusion of Mr. Willner's Camp Achim Hasidim, representatives of the UACF returned to the resort to find over $180,000 in damages and over 11 tons of trash in what appeared to be a thoroughly pillaged, ransacked and vandalized Verkhovyna resort.

Video footage shown to The Ukrainian Weekly, shot before and after Camp Achim Hasidim occupied the grounds, shows a dramatic difference in the resort's condition, placing the time the damages occurred quite convincingly between the lease period of June 6 to August 24.

Richard Ranne, a native of Glen Spey who has spent time working on the estate grounds for both Mr. Willner's camp and for the UACF, said that the furniture that was missing or scattered about the resort grounds was either thrown out or simply left outside to rot by order of Mr. Willner himself.

During the course of The Ukrainian Weekly's reports on the topic Mr. Willner made several public comments but would not return repeated phone calls. Speaking to local papers he said: "This damage could not have been done in eight weeks. All they're (the UACF) doing is shifting the mismanagement."

According to the UACF's lawyers, the Dekajlo Law Firm, Mr. Willner tried to leave the resort grounds with his $30,000 security deposit before the new owners could step in and evaluate the estate's condition. Upon seeing the damage, the UACF's attorneys held Mr. Willner's security deposit, with the result that Mr. Willner has asserted a claim against the UACF that seeks to have his deposit returned.

The issue now sits in the New York State Supreme Court pending a decision by Justice Ledina. However, since gaining control of the resort in August, the UACF has held numerous successful fund-raising events and camps on resort grounds.

Taras Shevchenko Place

The Ukrainian community this year also rallied around the issue of saving a New York City street named Taras Shevchenko Place when, in conjunction with a renovation of its academic facilities, The Cooper Union asked the city of New York in a Land Use Review Application filed on February 28, to demap Taras Shevchenko Place adjacent to St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The action seemed to be the beginning of The Cooper Union's extensive plan to overhaul the area extending from Fifth to Ninth streets and from Lafayette Street to Taras Shevchenko Place.

But the school's plans apparently angered many of the area's residents, who argued that the issue was about preserving a community from commercial expansion. With the planned enlargement of three buildings and retail located on the bottom floor of several buildings, the tripling of Peter Cooper Park, the possible construction of a new hotel located at the current site of a parking facility owned by the school at the convergence of Fourth Avenue, Eighth Street and Lafayette, along with corporate space - residents believe the area is changing into a more commercialized neighborhood.

The Cooper Union, established by Peter Cooper in 1859, is an academic institution intended by its founder "to provide a free education to gifted students from the working class." Cooper's dream was to provide an education "as free as water and air" which the school currently does by offering full academic scholarships to all of its students.

The college claimed that its endowment of $329 million is slowly running out and that it has been running deficits in the last few years. Although ownership of the Chrysler building brought The Cooper Union 46 percent of revenues and 36 percent of its expenditures, "the college continues to operate at a $5 million to $6 million annual deficit," New York City's The Villager reported on May 16.

Because of these deficits, the school looked into expanding its existing buildings in order to provide renovated, modern facilities for its students, along with leasable commercial and retail space in order to generate further income.

The Cooper Union's application, filed in accordance with the City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), had proposed the "demapping" - not the renaming as some had originally thought - of Taras Shevchenko Place. The process of demapping would have removed the street from existence in all official matters, and from all official documents. In its place, The Cooper Union said it planned to build a park and pedestrian walkway.

The school, however, released a statement saying that The Cooper Union is committed to: "finding a way to keep the name Taras Shevchenko Place on the City of New York map, commemorate Taras Shevchenko in an appropriate manner in a new pedestrian space, and work with neighborhood residents to plan the space and commemoration of Taras Shevchenko."

Part of the school's plan included the expansion of its current seven-story Engineering Building between Astor Place and Ninth Street to a new 15-story mixed-use building. The school sought a zoning variance to add 125,000 square feet of floor area in order to build more than the currently allowable space designated by the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The Cooper Union would own the land but lease out the building, using only the second and third floors for academic purposes. The rest of the building would be used by high-tech companies in order to generate revenue.

The two-story Hewitt Building located on the corner of Seventh Street and Third Avenue, which the school currently leases from the city for $100 a year, would be rebuilt to nine stories with retail on the ground floor. The height of the new building had aroused the concern of many St. George Church sympathizers who argued that the new building's elevation would eliminate any sunlight the church receives.

Because a larger FAR is more desirable, The Cooper Union asked the City of New York to demap Taras Shevchenko Place in order to expand the Hewitt site five feet onto the street. In exchange for Taras Shevchenko Place, The Cooper Union claimed to have planned a pedestrian space on the rest of the 45-foot-wide alley complete with trees, benches and a plaque commemorating Ukraine's most famous poet and national hero.

Throughout the process, questions have arisen about the openness and honesty of the school's motivations. Many local organizations, including The Coalition to Save the East Village, along with the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Save Avenue A Society, Sixth and Seventh street block associations, the Shevchenko Preservation Committee and others have all urged the community to get involved.

The school, however, contends that it has held its necessary community meetings well before specified deadlines and has kept its intentions up front with the community.

Then, in late June, hotel impresario Ian Schrager quietly announced the dissolution of his partnership with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and Jacques Herzog, of the Swiss firm Herzog and de Meuron, in designing the Astor Place Hotel, to be built on the south side of Astor Place between Lafayette Street and Fourth Avenue, leaving open questions on The Cooper Union's intent with regard to the parking lot.

Then, in yet another bizarre twist to the story, during a June 28 task force meeting, representatives of The Cooper Union stated that the suggestion to demap Taras Shevchenko Place was the proposal of New York City's Department of City Planning (DCP) and that the 1,000-student art and engineering school was willing to leave the street alone but continue with the renovation and modernization of its facilities without the demapping.

However, apparently not wanting to deal with the demapping, the school kept the issue on its application, seemingly leaving the street's fate to the DCP.

Then, during an October 31 scoping meeting intended to start the process of either approving, modifying or disapproving The Cooper Union's application for zoning variances, Paul Travis of Washington Square Partners rescinded the proposal to demap Taras Shevchenko Place.

As greater numbers of local organizations and politicians banded together with the coalition against the school's large-scale development plan, The Cooper Union's road to seeing its expansion plan approved seems steeper and steeper. In addition to over 20 organizations, including community boards and historic preservation committees, supporting the coalition, Anna Sawaryn, chairwoman of the Coalition to Save the East Village, acknowledged the advocacy of Rep. Jerome Nadler, New York State Sen. Martin Connor, Member of the State Assembly Deborah Glick and the continued support of New York State Sen. Thomas Duane.

However, Jaroslaw Kurowyckyj, president of the Shevchenko Preservation Committee, stressed that issues directly affecting the Ukrainian community still exist in the school's current development plans. Mr. Kurowyckyj noted that if The Cooper Union's plans are accepted even without the demapping of Taras Shevchenko Place, the Ukrainian community, along with East Village residents, will see drastic changes in their quality of life.

Olympic champion aids CCRF

In other news, on March 2 and 3 at the International Skating Center of Connecticut, Olympic and world champion figure skater Viktor Petrenko headlined an all-star cast that included Olympic and world champion Brian Boitano of the United States, French sensation Philippe Candeloro, an Olympic and world medalist, as well as U.S. silver medalist Sasha Cohen in "Viktory for Kids," a two-night benefit performance for the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF). The event was intended to raise public awareness and funds to help some of the thousands of children still being affected by the world's worst nuclear disaster. Proceeds from the sold-out event were earmarked for the creation of the Viktor Petrenko Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Mr. Petrenko's hometown of Odesa.

CCRF received net proceeds of $120,000 above expenses, and more donations were still coming in to the fund's New Haven office. Western Union Financial Services also made a major contribution in honor of Mr. Petrenko, who serves as the spokesperson for the company's Eastern European campaign. Western Union marketing director Rennie Jackson presented CCRF with a check for $9,400 for the purchase of an infant warmer for the Petrenko Neonatal Unit.

Mr. Petrenko had turned to his close friend, Mr. Boitano, who was the first to agree to skate in the charity fund-raiser. Among the other skaters who also donated their time and waived their performance fees were: Swiss national champion Lucinda Ruh, Ukrainian national champion Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, Italian national champion Silvia Fontana, Ukrainian daredevil acrobats Volodymyr Besedin and Alexei Polishchuk, Israeli national champions Darya Zuravicky and Michael Shmerkin, Olympic pairs champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, as well as Russian ice dancing stars Roman Kostomarov and Tatiana Navka, Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov, and Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsannikov.

To help familiarize the audience with the impact of Chornobyl and CCRF's medical mission, each "Viktory for Kids" program began with a short introduction and slide show. Schoolchildren from the local towns of Simsbury and Avon read translations of a poem by Ukrainian prodigy Vika Ivchenko and the first-hand account of a young Chornobyl survivor now living in Slavutych. A hush fell over the audience as Grammy Award-winning jazz virtuoso Paul Winter performed variations on a Bach Adagio as a giant screen displayed images of Ukrainian children by Connecticut-born photographer Joseph Sywenkyj, who visited orphanages and cancer wards in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne and Kirovohrad.

The "Viktory for Kids" program was sold out on both Friday and Saturday evenings. In addition to ticket sales and corporate sponsorships, CCRF and the ISCC also raised funds through a celebrity auction, VIP reception and program booklet.

Then, on October 22, the Odesa Regional Children's Hospital in southern Ukraine welcomed Mr. Petrenko at the grand opening of the new infant care unit re-named in his honor. The Viktor Petrenko Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was equipped with state-of-the-art medical technology delivered by the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund and purchased with the help of funds raised at the "Viktory for Kids" charity ice skating show.

Following a noontime press conference, Mr. Petrenko toured the facility, where he was greeted with bouquets of roses and warm embraces from the hospital staff. Accompanied by Dr. Ihor Symonenko, the director of the Neonatal Ward, and CCRF Executive Director Alexander Kuzma, Mr. Petrenko had the opportunity to observe newborn infants undergoing treatment with the help of the equipment funded by his "Viktory for Kids" initiative.

Over the past seven months, CCRF worked with the Odesa hospital to completely remodel and sanitize the ward that houses the neonatal unit. As part of its 28th airlift last May, the fund delivered and installed some of the most advanced technology available to treat newborn children suffering from respiratory complications, low birth weight and various birth defects.

CCRF also found itself in the news when it uncovered the plight of 127 orphans suffering from Down's Syndrome living in deplorable conditions in a remote southern corner of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

The Zaluchia Orphanage, located just outside the town of Sniatyn, received the help of CCRF along with a $40,000 grant from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. in January to help restore the facility. Until last year, the orphans had been living in desperate conditions documented by CCRF investigators and photographer Joseph Sywenkyj. The exposure of the orphans' plight by CCRF eventually led to the dismissal of the former director and an intensive campaign to provide the orphanage with emergency humanitarian aid.

CCRF has provided the orphanage with new laundry equipment, cleaning agents, wheelchairs, clothing, new mattresses and plastic covers. The New Jersey Branch of the Ukrainian Veterans' Association (Halychyna Division) also provided new bed sheets for all 127 children. In the latest phase of the overhaul, CCRF hired Kyiv contractor Hryhorii Lebedenko and a local construction crew to install a new roof on the children's dormitory and to replace the floors in the dining hall and play areas which had been contaminated by human waste.

During an on-site visit in late October, Mr. Kuzma and CCRF In-Country Director Olena Maslyukivska toured the facility to verify that all donated supplies were in place, and to ensure that construction and repair work was continuing on schedule. The CCRF also hired an on-site medical supervisor, Svitlana Kuzmin, to distribute medication and to make sure that children were not being neglected or abused.

The CCRF also received a pledge of support from the Swedish P & G Foundation after a front-page feature on the orphanage appeared in the Oslo-based Expressen, a prestigious investigative journal. A team of Swedish nutritional experts and physical therapists toured the site earlier this fall. Based on the assessment, the P&G Foundation has offered to train local staff and nutritionists in ways to improve care for children with special needs.

Beyond capital repairs, the CCRF's primary goal is to improve hygiene and medical care at the facility. The staff at the orphanage has expressed great relief after the arrival of new mattresses, and an industrial-sized washer and dryer.

Community actions

Ukrainian American organizations were also instrumental in helping victims of the flood-ravaged Zakarpattia region of western Ukraine when, on March 5-6, floodwaters from the Tysa River, engorged by a quick snow melt and more than half a meter of rain during the March 3 weekend, destroyed over 1,200 buildings and flooded another 30,000 in 240 population centers of Zakarpattia. Nearly 15,000 people were evacuated or left homeless; about 14,000 relocated with relatives. Fifty-two people were hospitalized and six deaths were attributed to the flooding.

The flood also caused much damage to the region's infrastructure. Fifteen population centers were left without any electricity. Three bridges were destroyed and five others were damaged, while 14 roads remained impassable, as did eight rail lines. As of March 15, nine villages were still not accessible by conventional means.

Rallying around the need in the Zakarpattia region for canned and non-perishable food, blankets, clothing, shoes and household items, as well as monetary donations to purchase medical equipment and medicine, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC), the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA) and the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC) all issued statements asking the Ukrainian American community for its generosity in providing donations to help the victims of Zakarpattia's flooding.

Also important this year was the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 held at New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday, November 17.

An annual event sponsored by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), the commemoration took on special meaning as several speakers linked the tragedies in Ukraine to the evil perpetrated by terrorists on the United States during the September 11 attacks.

Following the religious service, UCCA President Michael Sawkiw Jr. greeted the congregation and introduced the keynote speaker, Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States. Calling the famine "a very dark page in history," the ambassador mentioned the brutal tactics of the Stalin regime, and the lack of attention paid to the famine by most of the world at the time the genocide was unfolding.

Also taking part in the commemoration were Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop of New York, Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., Metropolitan Stefan Soroka of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Valeriy Kuchinsky and the Dumka Choir.

President George W. Bush, New York Gov. George E. Pataki and Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatolii Zlenko sent messages to commemorate the solemn anniversary.

The UCCA was in the news also as its president hosted his first on-line Internet chat on Wednesday afternoon, April 4.

Designed to bring the UCCA into the modern era with a discussion about the future of the Ukrainian American community in the 21st century, the chat brought forth myriad questions about how to involve youth/students in active community life, as well as questions regarding the UCCA's work in Washington and current events in Ukraine.

The discussion primarily focused on the Ukrainian student movement in the United States. Mr. Sawkiw described the UCCA's support for the revitalization of the Federation of Ukrainian Student Organizations of America (known by its Ukrainian-language acronym, SUSTA). After nearly 10 years of dormancy, SUSTA and its network of university Ukrainian clubs will once again promote Ukrainian American issues on college campuses. The UCCA executive board earmarked $5,000 to the organizing committee of SUSTA to assist the student organization. But, to date there has been little activity in the student organization that was reborn during a June conference in Chicago.

The UCCA continued its work this year with efforts to foster a renewed dialogue with other Ukrainian American organizations that walked out of the UCCA's 13th Congress in 1980 in Philadelphia in protest to what the opposition termed "a one-party hegemony ruling the UCCA."

Thirty-one representatives of various Ukrainian American organizations gathered on May 19 at the Ramada Hotel in East Hanover, N.J., to discuss the need for a single body capable of representing the Ukrainian American community with the issue of distribution of power among the groups still an important factor in achieving unification.

The UCCA's Committee on Unification, composed of Evhen Ivashkiv, Bohdan Mychajliw, Julian Kulas, Jaroslaw Fedun and Taras Hunczak, called the May 19 meeting in order to discuss the need for unification of the Ukrainian American community with the possibility of new by-laws adapted to the needs of the 21st century.

Attending the May 19 meeting were representatives from the Ukrainian National Women's League of America, The Washington Group, Ukrainian National Association, Ukrainian American Professionals and Businesspersons Association of New York and New Jersey, UACC, UCCA, Coordinating Committee to Aid Ukraine and others.

The representatives present at the meeting formed an Organizational Committee composed of representatives of various organizations.

The UCCA executive board's focus for the year 2001 centered on engaging the newest wave of Ukrainian immigrants, also called the "Fourth Wave," in Ukrainian American organizations. The executive board went so far as to create a "Fourth Wave" Committee within its organization to spearhead the effort.

Other topics on the executive board's agenda were preparations for the Third World Forum of Ukrainians held in Kyiv, the 10th anniversary celebrations of Ukraine's independence, the UCCA's relationship with the newly elected Bush administration, as well as the renewal of student participation in the Ukrainian American community.

A Demjanjuk trial again

John Demjanjuk, the former Cleveland autoworker once thought to be "Ivan the Terrible" of the Treblinka death camp, was once again on trial in the United States as the Justice Department sought to prove that he was a guard at several Nazi camps.

The U.S. Justice Department's complaint, filed on May 19, 1999, sought to revoke Mr. Demjanjuk's U.S. citizenship on the grounds that he illegally gained entry into the United States and illegally gained U.S. citizenship because he had concealed his service as a camp guard.

Federal prosecutors allege that Mr. Demjanjuk served as a guard at the Sobibor extermination camp and the Majdanek concentration camp, both in Poland, and at the Flossenberg concentration camp in Germany. The lawsuit also alleged that Mr. Demjanjuk was trained for that service at the Trawniki camp.

The trial got under way on May 29 in Cleveland before Judge Paul R. Matia of the Federal District Court.

Mr. Demjanjuk's attorney, Michael E. Tigar, told The New York Times at the start of the current trial that the Justice Department's case is nothing more than a "trial by archives," alluding to the fact that there are no living eyewitnesses left in the government's 24-year-long investigation of Mr. Demjanjuk.

"We will show the court a scenario that explains how it is that the government once again has got it wrong," Mr. Tigar argued before the court. That indirect reference was to the U.S. government's previous accusations that Mr. Demjanjuk was the notorious "Ivan" of Treblinka - a charge that did not hold up as Israel's Supreme Court in 1993 overturned his conviction by a lower court.

Mr. Demjanjuk, who had lost his U.S. citizenship in 1981, regained it in February 1998 thanks to a ruling by the same federal judge who is hearing the new case. In his 1998 ruling Judge Matia cited fraud on the part of U.S. government prosecutors and wrote that attorneys of the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) "acted with reckless disregard for their duty to the court and their discovery obligations" in failing to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence to the Demjanjuk defense.

Mr. Demjanjuk's trial came to a close in Cleveland on June 8. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Judge Matia, who heard the case without a jury, was expected to decide within the next few months whether Mr. Demjanjuk lied about his wartime activities. To date there has been no ruling in the case.

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Community developments in 2001 included the following.

• Ukrainians in the United States also commemorated the closing of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant when hundreds of worshippers of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic faiths crowded St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Manhattan on Sunday, January 14, for a special prayer service.
  
  Archbishop Antony, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., and Bishop Basil Losten of the Stamford Eparchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, concelebrated the solemn moleben. Both prelates recalled the horrifying effects of the Chornobyl explosion on Ukraine and prayed that the nation would never again be visited by devastation.
  
  
• The Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago - which will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary - is currently in a state of expansion funded by a special grant received from the state of Illinois. The architect for the project is Chicagoan Joseph Mycyk. Construction officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony held last spring.
  
  
• The 2000 U.S. Census results on the number of Ukrainians in the United States were released, although, the census figures on ancestry will not be available until the later part of the year 2002. Demographer Oleh Wolowyna provided some preliminary analysis on the pages of The Weekly.
  
  The total number of Ukrainians in 2000 was 862,416, a 16.4 percent increase from the 1990 census estimate of 740,803. In 1990 the number of persons who declared Ukrainian as their first (or only) ancestry was 514,085, or 69.4 percent of the total; in 2000 this percentage increased to 72.2 percent (the absolute number was 622,491). Thus, not only the number of Ukrainians in the United States increased since 1990, but also the proportion of persons with Ukrainian as their first (or only) ancestry.
  
  
• A roundtable conference was held in Washington on October 31 and November 1 titled "Ukraine's Quest for Mature Nation Statehood: Roundtable II - Taking Measure of a U.S./Ukraine Strategic Partnership," which included almost two dozen panel discussions, with more than 80 panelists and discussants participating. Conference organizers stated that "the goal of the roundtable is to provide, inter alia, a valuable cache of information, analysis and insight pertinent to U.S.-Ukraine strategic relations for the new administration in Washington and the newly appointed Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv."
  
  The event's keynote speaker, Ukraine's Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh, recognized the work being done by the roundtable when he underlined its efforts to "convene a conference that would bring together prominent representatives from academia and the governments of Ukraine and the United States to assess Ukraine's prospects for accelerated integration into the Euro-Atlantic community and stronger bilateral relations."
  
  
• The Washington Group held its 2001 Leadership Conference on October 19-21 under the theme "Ukraine: Focus on the Future." At the official opening, the conference chair, George Masiuk, shared with the audience the conference planners' vision of the future of Ukraine that included: "good relations with the United States, integration into European institutions, a vibrant civil society with full participation open to all, and religious revival."
  
  
• On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, Philadelphia's Ukrainian Human Rights Committee on August 22 hosted an exhibit in Kyiv at the Verkhovna Rada, titled "The Road to Freedom, Philadelphia - Kyiv, 1974-1991."
  
  The exhibit was also displayed at the Palace of Ukraine on August 18 at the opening of the third World Forum of Ukrainians and later at the Institute for International Studies.
  
  Through photographs and original documents, the exhibit depicted 17 years of the Ukrainian Human Rights Committee's work prior to Ukraine's independence. The exhibit encompassed the 1970s, marked by demands for the release of Valentyn Moroz, Levko Lukianenko and many other dissidents from Soviet prisons, and culminated in the joyous independence celebration on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum in 1991.
  
  The exhibit included letters from members of the U.S. Congress to Soviet officials on behalf of Ukraine; hearings on Capitol Hill regarding human rights violations by the Soviet government; letters to political prisoners in the gulag, which were returned as "addressee unknown"; and petitions to world leaders on behalf of Ukraine. The exhibit also included the work of the U.S. Congressional Commission on the Ukraine Famine of 1932-1933 and many other documents in the struggle for the Ukrainian cause.
  
  
• Ukrainian Americans of the Metro Detroit area took up the goal of creating a Ukrainian Heritage room at Wayne State University this year. The room, an artistic creation, will not be a museum but a functioning, fully utilized classroom.
  
  The basic details for the room have already been planned and given to WSU for final approval. The map relief of artwork originally crafted by the late noted Ukrainian artist Edward Kozak has already been restored by one of the project's participating artists, Jarema Kozak, (a son of the late Mr. Kozak). Another wall will have a pre-fabricated but permanently mounted showcase with a gate entrance adorned with woodcuts and carvings.
  
  When the UHR/WSU Committee completes the Ukrainian Heritage Room, it will be a gift from the Ukrainian community to Wayne State University. The Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor will be seeking historic landmark status for the Nationality Rooms at WSU. The grads will also strive to have the site listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
  
  
• The Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) was in the news this year with its Internet and technology group "CYMnet" giving rise to a new project aimed at making computer technology available to every one of SUM's branches.
  
  Dubbed the "Computers for Youth" project, efforts began early in 2001 to collect donated computer equipment, both new and previously owned, from corporate and private sponsors. The goal was to provide computer technology to local SUM branches and summer camps for the development of educational materials in electronic format; for SUM's website development; for administrative use; and for the establishment of electronic communication between SUMivtsi in all parts of the world.
  
  Scores of Pentium-class desktop and laptop computers have been donated to the effort by U.S. corporate and private donors. The computers are destined for a multitude of final destinations. Many will be transferred to SUM branches throughout the United States and other computers will find a home in summer camps while still others are earmarked for SUM use in Ukraine.
  
  Current plans call for computers destined for Ukraine to be shipped overseas in late spring. Through the Computers for Youth project, CYMnet now plans to assist local branches in obtaining the technology needed to allow SUMivtsi to make use of the skills they've learned to enrich youth programs through the use of computer technology.
  
  
• During the weekend of June 9-10, the first annual Lemko Vatra (bonfire) in the United States took place at the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) resort in Ellenville, N.Y. The festival was organized and hosted by the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivschyna.
  
  The Vatra continued the tradition of the yearly festival that has long been coordinated in the Lemko region, located in southeastern Poland, which commemorates the forced removal of the Lemkos during the 1947 relocation campaign known as Akcja Wisla.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 6, 2002, No. 1, Vol. LXX

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