Helmut Kohl receives rector of Ukrainian Free University

BERLIN - Helmut Kohl, former chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, in a special audience held in Berlin on February 14, received Leonid Rudnytzky, rector of the Ukrainian Free University (UFU).

The occasion was the presentation of a commemorative booklet containing photographs and speeches from a ceremony held on December 4, 2000, during which Chancellor Kohl was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Ukrainian State University of Forestry and Wood Technology in Lviv, currently headed by Rector Yuri Tunytsia.

Following the presentation, which took place in the chancellor's office in the presence of his staff and his personal friend, the German parliamentarian and Ukraine expert Dr. Hansjürgen Doss, Dr. Kohl had a lengthy conversation with Prof. Rudnytzky concerning life in contemporary Ukraine and the work of the Ukrainian Free University in Munich.

Prof. Rudnytzky used the occasion to present Dr. Kohl with an album titled "Faith and Hope," which was published by the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics, U.S.A., on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest. The work contains valuable documents, photos and articles on the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the status of religion in contemporary Ukraine.

Dr. Kohl, who knows the Ukrainian situation quite well, having visited the country as early as the 1970s, expressed great interest in the latest activities of the UFU, especially in its cooperative efforts with various academic institutions in Ukraine and Germany, and wished the rector success in all these endeavors.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 10, 2002, No. 10, Vol. LXX

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