Four academicians present Ukraine update at Shevchenko Society (01/19/03)

Four academicians present Ukraine update at Shevchenko Society

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - An illustrious panel composed of members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NANU) appeared at the Shevchenko Scientific Society (known by the Ukrainian acronym as NTSh) headquarters in New York on December 14, 2002, to address a variety of political, social, cultural, linguistic and informational problems that are vexing Ukraine today. In the order of their appearance, the speakers were: Dr. Mykola Zhulynskyi, a former vice prime minister of Ukraine and now a member of the Verkhovna Rada, who is the director of the Institute of Ukrainian Literature at the NANU; Dr. Oleh Romaniv, the president of NTSh in Ukraine and secretary general of the World Council of NTSh; Dr. Pavlo Hrytsenko, director of the Division of Dialectology at the NANU Institute of Ukrainian Language, as well as a faculty member at the University of Lublin in Poland; and Dr. Serhii Halchenko, director of both the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv and of the Division of Manuscripts at the NANU Institute of Ukrainian Literature.

The program was introduced by Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych, the president of NTSh in America, and emceed by Dr. Anna Procyk, a vice-president of the NTSh in charge of lecture programs.

Dr. Zhulynskyi spoke in his role as a representative of the Ukrainian-Polish Inter-Parliamentary Forum, a group of lawmakers dedicated to promoting cooperation between the two neighboring countries, with a focus on Ukraine's "European Choice." Poland has reached out to Ukraine with a number of initiatives, which have been spurned by Ukraine, complained Dr. Zhulynskyi. On two occasions, Poland's President Alexander Kwasniewski offered to host a roundtable discussion between Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Although the meetings were to include the participation of Polish and Western European dignitaries as well, Mr. Kuchma declined both invitations. In contrast, in the last 10 years Ukrainian presidents have attended 26 meetings of the heads of state of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the post-Soviet Eurasian entity dominated by Russia.

Another source of irritation between Ukraine and Poland, Dr. Zhulynskyi observed, the controversy surrounding the so-called "Pantheon," a memorial erected by the Poles at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv to honor Polish combatants who died on Ukrainian territory in their war against the Western Ukrainian National Republic in the years 1918-1919. Twice Presidents Kuchma and Aleksander Kwasniewski were scheduled to unveil the memorial together, but each time the ceremony was canceled due to local opposition by the Lviv administration.

The latest emerging threat to Ukrainian-Polish relations comes from Poland's decision to mark during 2003 the 60th anniversary of the alleged mass killings of Polish civilians by Ukrainian guerrillas in the Volyn region of Ukraine.

Dr. Zhulynskyi said he believes that Poland is the only realistic partner willing and able to pave Ukraine's entry into the European Union and that it would behoove the Ukrainians to welcome Poland's helping hand, even if it should involve some compromises regarding Ukrainian historical sensitivities.

Dr. Romaniw dissented from that position, cautioning that we should not overestimate the Polish card as a ticket for Ukraine's entry into Europe. As a resident of Lviv, he was able to explain the rationale behind the local protests against the Polish "Pantheon" at the cemetery in Lviv. There is no equal in Europe, said Dr. Romaniv, for a memorial of such grandeur for enemy combatants buried on foreign soil. He added: Where are the "Pantheons" of the German soldiers fallen on Polish territory? He then answered his own question by pointing out that they have been bulldozed by the Poles. According to Dr. Romaniv, Ukrainians find offensive the Polish inscriptions on the Lviv memorial, not the least of which is the Polish spelling of the names of the Ukrainian towns where the combatants died.

Dr. Romaniv said he views the "Pantheon" in the context of what he calls an unwarranted expansion of Polish dioceses and parishes throughout Ukraine. With little indigeous Polish population to minister to these Roman Catholic parishes of the Latin rite are actively proselytizing among the Ukrainian population. Historically in Ukraine Latinization always was tantamount to Polonization, Dr. Romaniv reminded his audience.

Dr. Romaniv then directed his focus to the hapless political situation in Ukraine, which he said is being caused by a "chaotic coalition of oligarchs." In particular, he bemoaned the status of the Ukrainian language in Ukraine, which has been pushed out of the informational space by Russian. Today there isn't a single Ukrainian-only TV channel left in Ukraine. The only hope is a change of government, said Dr. Romaniv, concluding in English with "God bless Yushchenko."

A joyful Dr. Hrytsenko held up a copy of the third volume of his "Atlas of the Ukrainian Language," recently published thanks to generous sponsorship by the Shevchenko Scientific Society of America. The atlas contains more than 1,200 maps that display the spatial distribution of the Ukrainian language. An examination of some of the dialects in the Carpathian region and in Polissia attests to the antiquity of the Ukrainian language, where some of the Polissian dialects are believed to be closely related to the original pan-Slavic language, dating to before the 6th century AD. This unique and pioneering work is now the envy of the Slavicist community, noted Dr. Hrytsenko.

Echoing some of the concerns expressed by Dr. Romaniv, Dr. Hrytsenko acknowledged the constant pressure of the Russian informational sphere being exerted upon Ukraine. There are no laws protecting the Ukrainian language and informational space. On the other hand, the language rights of minorities in Ukraine are protected by law, which suggests that Ukrainian might have fared better as a minority language in its own country, opined Dr. Hrytsenko.

While the governments of Poland and Russia attach great importance to their respective titular languages and provide funding for their promotion, in Ukraine the Presidential Commission on Language has been disbanded by President Kuchma. Underestimation of the language problem is a mark of an underdeveloped nation, said Dr. Hrytsenko. Nevertheless, he said he does not see the situation as hopeless, because a new society is evolving in Ukraine, which cannot acquiesce in its own detriment.

Under the Soviet regime some 50 percent of the Ukrainian vocabulary was prohibited as "dialecticisms," which included all the words specific to the Halychyna dialect. This resulted in a rather impoverished Ukrainian lexicon, said Dr. Hrytsenko, which we must now remedy through compilation of dictionaries of Ukrainian dialects. Proper development of the Ukrainian language, however, requires not only research, publications and a favorable juridical basis, but also an educational program on the subject of the Ukrainian language for the masses of Ukraine's population, he added.

Russification under the Soviet regime spared neither the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv, nor the Division of Manuscripts at NANU, according to their director, Dr. Halchenko, whose top priority has been to de-Russify both these institutions.

For example, researchers today must go back to the original manuscripts of Shevchenko in order to find his authentic texts, as none of the Soviet-era publications are true to his originals. Dr. Halchenko has published the first two volumes of a projected 12-volume compilation of the literary heritage of Shevchenko. Five volumes of Shev-chenko's works as an artist are currently being prepared for publication.

A volume containing 150 of Shevchenko's paintings that was just published by the Taras Shevchenko National Museum was presented by Dr. Halchenko to Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych.

| Home Page |