LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (09/22/02)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Division veterans continue the battle

Dear Editor:

In a letter to the editor, Dr. Eugene L. Kuz (August 11) chides Division Galicia veterans for not responding to recent slanderous statements by the Simon Wiesental Center directed towards the soldiers of this military unit, which fought the Red Army during World War II. Dr. Kuz is suggesting that we continue the battle with words after the guns were silenced.

Maybe he is not aware that the veterans were doing just that during entire post-war period. The brotherhood of division veterans, besides publishing a periodical, Veterans' News, sponsored the publication of numerous works dealing with the division's history in several languages by respected authors and historians. This effort is continuing with increased intensity in recent years, especially in the English language. A few of the works recently published include "On the Horns of a Dilemma" by Taras Hunczak, "Division Galicia" by Orest Logusz and "To Battle" by Michael Melnyk (now appearing in Great Britain).

The biggest obstacle to continuing the defense of the division is the intense reluctance of the media to publish anything affirmation about it. The only forum available for this is the Ukrainian press with its limited circulation. For instance, a columnist in the Florida paper the Sun Herald wrote about the recent observances of the independence of Ukraine and mentioned division soldiers and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as fighters for Ukraine's freedom with the result that these words were expurgated by the editors of that paper.

In view of the intensified flurry of recent attacks against the division, and the reluctance of the media to print anything positive, a webpage on the Internet was created. Its address is www.infoukes.com/galiciadivision/. So far, only the Internet provides an uncensored forum, and such is not available in only other public information media. In the three years of division webpage's existence it was visited by 18,000 interested viewers from the whole world, whose inquires, comments and letters directed to the webpage were dealt with in an appropriate manner.

If Dr. Kuz has any other suggestions, the aging veterans of this military until will be very grateful for any external help and assistance.

Roman Hawrylak
New York

This letter is written on behalf of the Brotherhood of the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army, U.S. Branch.

A thank you to the community

Dear Editor:

I would like to thank the Ukrainian community for their help on behalf of my student, Stefania Dovhan. Her expenses for the University of Miami Summer Program in Salzburg, Austria, were completely covered, and in fact, a few checks were returned as the tuition had been paid! The rapport between Stefania and her audience, especially with the Ukrainian songs, has been reflected in this wonderful response and assistance.

Stefania was the winner of the 2002 Leopoldskron Competition as part of the Salzburg program, and she was presented at the Schloss Leopoldskron there. She also won third prize in the Inter-Atlantic Music Foundation's International Competition for Young Operatic Singers in Plovdiv, Bulgaria - and this after visa problems made it necessary to do two rounds of the competition on the same day. The winners were presented in a gala concert with the Plovdiv State Philharmonic orchestra.

As parents, and teachers, we want to give our children and our students roots and wings. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping to give Stefania wings.

Martha Randall
University of Maryland

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