Turning the pages back...

May 24, 1978

Twenty-five years ago, a monument to Ukrainian poet-laureate Taras Shevchenko, erected through the efforts of the Soviet Embassy in Paris, was unveiled on May 24, 1978, despite strong protests by the Ukrainian community in Paris.

The bronze bust of Shevchenko, the work of Kyiv sculptor Petro Lysenko, was executed in the official, Soviet-sanctioned socialist realism style and erected almost directly against the wall of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Volodymyr the Great in a square the Ukrainian community succeeded in 1969 in renaming Taras Shevchenko Square. After authorities had permitted the name change, Ukrainians began a drive to erect a Shevchenko monument by world-renowned sculptor Alexander Archipenko. That petition, however, was never approved.

About 150 protesters led by former Soviet political prisoner Leonid Plyushch demonstrated their opposition to the erection of the monument by the Soviets; they were prevented by the police from entering the square where the unveiling ceremonies were held.

Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac was to have attended the Soviet unveiling ceremonies but was unable to attend. Deputy Mayor Edouard F. Dupont, a staunch anti-Communist, spoke about the greatness of Ukraine and Shevchenko without mentioning the Soviets. He further angered the Soviets by refusing to use the informational materials given him by Soviet Embassy officials.

The Ukrainian community of Paris first learned of the Soviet monument in mid-May 1978. Immediate steps were taken by the Central Ukrainian Committee and the Shevchenko Committee. Twice representatives of the Ukrainian community visited city authorities to protest the planned monument, and the authorities' inaction on the community's previous request to erect a monument to Shevchenko. On May 19 the Soviet monument first appeared on the square, and policemen were assigned to guard it.

Mr. Plyushch was invited by the Paris-based daily newspaper Le Monde to write a letter to the editor in order to explain the Ukrainian community's position. Published in the May 24 edition, it stated in part:

"Ukrainian organizations were outraged and naturally began protest actions. Why? Does one need to be reminded of Soviet repressions against the spiritual sons of Shevchenko, that evenings dedicated to the poet are forbidden to be held, that yearly manifestations on May 22 by the monument of the poet end with the arrests of the participants?

"Shevchenko himself was subjected to repressions! He was censored by the tsar and by Stalin. The Brezhnev government continues to censor him. Eight of his poems which denounce enslavement by the regime and Moscow's imperialism were rejected from the latest edition of the 'Kobzar.'

"The hypocrisy and cynicism of the Soviet Embassy oversteps all bounds: the Embassy will honor a poet who is censored in the USSR, and will erect a monument near a church that is forbidden to exist in Ukraine! But the lies of Brezhnev are not as surprising as the fact that détente has reached the point that the Soviet government allows itself to profane the memory of a great poet and the religious and national feelings of Ukrainians on the territory of the city of Paris..."

Source: "Soviets erect Shevchenko monument in Paris amid protests by Ukrainians," The Ukrainian Weekly, June 11, 1978.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 18, 2003, No. 20, Vol. LXXI

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