Documentary "Between Hitler and Stalin" offers untold story of Ukraine (11/09/03)

Documentary "Between Hitler and Stalin" offers untold story of Ukraine

by Oksana Zakydalsky
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

TORONTO - The long-awaited film "Between Hitler and Stalin - Ukraine in World War II - the Untold Story," produced and directed by Slavko Nowytski for the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC) and narrated by Jack Palance, premiered in Toronto on September 28.

Made by the same group that was responsible for "Harvest of Despair" - a documentary on the famine in Ukraine - the new film is a one-hour documentary film portraying the titanic struggle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that took place on Ukraine's territory.

American war correspondent Edgar Snow wrote at the end of the war: "The whole titanic struggle ... was first of all a Ukrainian war." Although often called the Russo-German war or described as Russia at war, only parts of Russia were occupied, while all Ukrainian territories were invaded and laid waste by both the Nazi and Soviet war machines.

The film recounts the losses and suffering of the Ukrainian people during the two years of Soviet-Nazi collaboration (1939-1941), the destruction wrought by Stalin's scorched earth policy during the Soviet retreat, and the ruin left behind by the German and then the Soviet offensives.

The film depicts the horrors experienced by the Ukrainian people, such as the wholesale executions of prison inmates by the fleeing Soviet administration, the deaths of war prisoners in German captivity and the explosions under historical treasures set off in Kyiv by the retreating Soviets.

It describes the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people against overwhelming odds: the activity of spontaneous small guerrilla groups, the growth of the underground movement, and the long and large-scale struggle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) on two fronts - against both totalitarian powers - for Ukraine's independence. The film documents Ukraine's contribution to the war against totalitarianism and the price Ukraine paid for its independence.

Using witness interviews, historical analyses, archival motion picture footage from German and Soviet sources, as well as still photographs and documents from various archives, the film details, for the first time, what actually took place in the East European theater of the war.

Well-known authorities - University of London historian Norman Davies, Soviet scholar Robert Conquest, insurgency expert John Armstrong, and former United States presidential adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski - interpret the depicted events and tie them together into a compelling narrative.

The premiere of the film in one of Toronto's movie theaters was preceded two days earlier by a fund-raising pre-screening attended by over 400 people. Mr. Nowytski was present at both events, and gave a personal review of the film-making process. Tickets to the premiere were sold out a week in advance and there were many disappointed people who could not get in. Therefore, the UCRDC is organizing additional showings of the film in Toronto - it is to be screened three times on Sunday, November 2, at St. Vladimir's Institute in Toronto. Screenings will remain as planned for other cities in Canada and the United States; arrangements are already being made for Winnipeg, Hamilton, Ontario, Montreal, Washington and Chicago. Video copies of the film will be available at the beginning of 2004.

A Ukrainian-language version of the film is already in the works. Mr. Nowytski is overseeing the production of this version, which will need translation of the narration, new sound dubbing, as well as graphics and titles in Ukrainian. A draft of the Ukrainian translation has already been received by the UCRDC.

The UCRDC is now conducting an intensive fund-raising campaign for the Ukrainian version so that it can be ready by the spring of next year. Tax-deductible donations for this project can be sent to: UCRDC (Ukrainian version), 620 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5S 2H4, Canada.

Contributions for the UCRDC from the U.S. can be made through United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, Inc., re: Canadian Education Fund, Acct. No. 8149, 1206 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111.

| Home Page |