LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (09/14/03)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Column on French was very factual

Dear Editor:

I applaud Dr. Myron Kuropas on his column on the French as well on his reply to The Weekly reader (Taras Kulish). Though based on limited encounters, it is very factual in describing French behavior toward any non-French person.

Case in point: my father was born in Ukraine. During World War II, he and about 600 young Ukrainian men escaped the Nazis (as well as the Red Army) by fleeing to France and enlisting in the French Foreign Legion. While serving in the Legion, my father was wounded in action against the Germans. He recuperated, was declared an invalid and given a meager pension. The pension was prorated to an outrageously low amount because he was not an ethnic Frenchman, but a foreigner. Had he been a Frenchman his military pension would have been tripled or quadrupled.

Being a good Ukrainian, my dad did not complain. He was happy that he survived the war, immigrated to Canada, earned a living and raised a family.

As I got older, I took an interest in my father's documents and started to ask questions. This is where I discovered that the French are not what they make themselves to be. My father was good enough to take a bullet for the French, but they in turn treated him worse than most North Americans treat their pets all because he was not a Frenchman.

To make a long story short, after my dad passed away, I went to the French Consulate in Toronto to settle his pension account. I do not speak French, other than knowing how to say hello or good-bye. The arrogance of the French continued as they refused to conduct business in English (the main business language spoken in Toronto). That was the straw that broke the camel's back. They continued speaking French, fully knowing that my elderly mother and I don't understand. In turn I replied back to them in Ukrainian. Somehow I managed to settle the account. I was also able to express my feelings toward the French in Ukrainian - a language they did not understand.

Bohdan Sybydlo
Mississauga, Ontario

An explanation of book's purpose

Dear Editor:

I was pleasantly surprised to see such a wonderful and candid review of my book "Nyzynka - Embroidery of the Hutsuls/Hutsulschyna v Nyzyntsi," written by Orysia Paszczak-Tracz, it was headlined "A burst of beauty and heritage" (August 10). I would like to respond to the observations posed in her review.

Hutsulschyna is a very large region in Ukraine and my goal was to collect as many designs as I could remember and find from the entire region. I did not feel it necessary to specifically recognize each oblast separately.

Ms. Tracz mentioned my leaving out the DMC thread numbers. I feel strongly about each one's personal sense of color. Those who embroider have a certain feeling for choosing colors and know how to incorporate them into the pattern according to their liking. As an example, in my home there were six of us girls, and even though we all chose the same base pattern, each one of us completed it with our own colors.

The colors I used in my book, are solely my choices. A pattern does not lose its authenticity because of the colors chosen. It doesn't matter which yellow is more yellow or red is redder, what matters is that there is a sense of harmony in the finished product.

When I decided to take on this endeavor and to publish "Nyzynka - Embroidery of the Hutsuls/Hutsulschyna v Nyzyntsi" it was not to teach the technique of embroidering nyzynka. The sole purpose of my book was to preserve all those patterns that are quickly dying out and being forgotten, not only here in the diaspora, but more so in Ukraine.

When my niece in Ukraine received a copy of my book, she wrote and told me she was in awe of all the patterns she never knew existed. Her letter gave me such a sense of satisfaction as this is exactly what I was hoping to accomplish in printing my book.

Again I sincerely appreciate the candor of the reviewer. Since Ms. Tracz's column appeared in The Ukrainian Weekly, I have received numerous orders from women interested in the book.

Eudokia Sorochaniuk
Pennsauken, N.Y.

Congrats on story re Duranty's prize

Dear Editor:

Congratulations to Andrew Nynka on his fine article - "Pulitzer Prize board begins review of Duranty's award" - which appeared on May 25. I would particularly like to commend The Weekly for bringing up the fact that the current campaign to revoke Duranty's Pulitzer Prize is not the first attempt to do so, but is merely the latest and loudest reincarnation.

The Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center is the producer of the widely acclaimed film made in 1985 - "Harvest of Despair" - in which Malcolm Muggeridge exposed the lies of Duranty on the famine. The center has recently published a collection of articles - "The Famine-Genocide in Ukraine" - which includes an article about Mr. Duranty's journalistic treachery and describes his influence on Moscow's Western press corps in the 1930s.

Having Duranty's Pulitzer Prize revoked would be a fitting end to the reputation of the man whom Muggeridge called "the greatest liar of any journalist I have ever met."

Motria Spolsky
Toronto

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Cana-dian communities. Opinions ex-pressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily re-flect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

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