Scholars discuss current status of scholarship, culture and politics in Ukraine (07/25/04)

Scholars discuss current status of scholarship, culture and politics in Ukraine

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - Four Ukrainian scholars, returning from the 23rd annual Conference on Ukrainian Subjects at the University of Illinois in Urbana, made a stopover here on June 26 to share their views of today's Ukraine with a capacity audience at the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) headquarters.

In her opening remarks, NTSh President Dr. Larissa Zaleska Onyshkevych noted that the society's program coincided with the ceremonies at the Shevchenko monument in Washington, marking the 40th anniversary of its unveiling, and called upon the audience to unite in spirit with those celebrating there.

She recalled the key role that NTSh and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the U. S. (UVAN) had played in bringing Taras Shevchenko to Washington. Beginning in 1960, the Shevchenko Memorial Committee of America was chaired by NTSh president Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki, its secretary was Dr. Jaroslaw Padoch, a future NTSh president, while its first vice-president was the president of UVAN, Prof. Oleksander Arkhimovych.

The project of erecting a Shevchenko monument in Washington at first evoked a hostile reaction from the Soviet Union, but eventually led to a positive development - the unveiling of a Shevchenko monument in Moscow. Similarly, the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia was produced as a reaction to the publication in the diaspora of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, which was sponsored by NTSh, said Dr. Onyshkevych.

Prof. Vasyl Makhno, who chaired the remainder of the proceedings, introduced the four guest speakers. Yevhen Misilo, director of the Ukrainian Archive Center of Documentation and Studies in Warsaw, Poland, is a historian who has authored a number of books on the history of Ukrainian-Polish relations after World War II, in particular on the subject of the "Akcja Wisla." Dr. Mykola Zhulynskyi is director of the Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NANU), and twice a former vice-premier of Ukraine. Dr. Oleh Romaniv, president of NTSh in Ukraine, is a corresponding member of NANU. Prof. Tatiana Kononchuk, is a specialist on Ukrainian literature with a focus on the subject of the Holodomor, and editor-in-chief of the private publishing house TVIM INTER in Kyiv.

First to speak was Mr. Misilo, who updated the audience on the status of the Ukrainian archives in Poland, about which he had first reported here on December 7, 2002. Thanks to NTSh sponsorship, Mr. Misilo, with the collaboration of Halyna Svarnyk, an archivist from Lviv, has already catalogued and microfilmed the archives of the Lviv NTSh and of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen.

Many other archives remain to be studied and catalogued, including those of the Western Ukrainian National Republic, the Galician Army, the army of the Ukrainian National Republic and the Ukrainian Representation to the Polish Parliament.

Mr. Misilo reminded his listeners of the circumstances under which he found the archives in 1982 - they were discarded in a dumpster in Warsaw. He also recalled how he gathered some of the pages scattered by the wind throughout the adjacent park. He reiterated the difficulties he experienced in getting Polish authorities to make these archives available for scholarly research.

In a positive development, he said, the Poles have recently stopped denying the possession of other Ukrainian archives; archives in the city of Wroclaw are now accessible to scholars. Mr. Misilo expressed his disappointment with Ukrainian government officials who, despite his repeated pleas, have refused to demand that Poland return these archives to Ukraine.

Next to speak was Dr. Zhulynskyi, who explained the spiritual and political situation in Ukraine by citing the opinion of the Ukrainian philosopher Viacheslav Lypynsky that the malaise of Ukrainian statelessness was caused primarily by internal and not external factors. According to a recent poll, 48 percent of the population of Ukraine is unhappy about the independence of their country, while 26 percent long for the renewal of the Soviet Union; in Eastern Ukraine, only 5 percent are glad to live in an independent Ukraine. This means that the level of national consciousness in Ukraine is very low, and there doesn't seem to be any improvement in that respect among the younger generation, said Dr. Zhulynskyi.

In 2004, Dr. Zhulynskyi continued, we stand on the threshold of a turning point: either Ukraine is going to become a country with a Ukrainian national face, reflecting Ukrainian history, culture and spirit, or we are going to preserve the status quo, where the government lacks Ukrainian character and is dominated by business interests, which are opposed to democratic change.

Dr. Zhulynskyi said he sees Ukraine's salvation in the election as president of Viktor Yushchenko, a patriotic Ukrainian and a moral person. He feels that in a fair and democratic election the present regime is doomed to failure, but the recent events in Donetsk (where Mr. Yushchenko was prevented from holding a public rally) and in Mukachiv (where the mayoral election was apparently stolen from a member of Mr. Yushchenko's party) indicate that the regime will do everything in its power in order to prevail.

In answer to a question as to what the diaspora could do to help bring about a fair election in Ukraine next fall, Dr. Zhulynskyi answered that it could facilitate the voting by Ukrainian citizens in North America and also send as many observers as possible to monitor the election process in Ukraine.

Dr. Romaniv essentially echoed the views of Dr. Zhulynskyi on the political situation in Ukraine, but he also emphasized the growing Russification in Ukraine's government, NANU, and on TV and popular stage, which has characterized the two terms of President Kuchma. The young generation is brought up without Ukrainian national consciousness; 7 million of Ukraine's most active people are working abroad, running away from their own identity, from themselves, complained Dr. Romaniv. All of these problems stem from the nature of the present regime, which must be changed, said Dr. Romaniv.

He said that he, too, sees Ukraine's salvation in the election of Mr. Yushchenko as its next president - an outcome he considers possible in a fair election. The campaign process, however, is already unfair, as Mr. Yushchenko is practically denied time on television, noted the speaker.

Dr. Romaniv said he would like to see the U. S. government adopt a more principled position with respect to Ukraine's elections by putting pressure on President Kuchma to ensure a fair campaign and election process and by counteracting Russia's interference in that process. A truly Ukrainian state can be built only with the victory of democratic forces, otherwise Ukraine will remain a country of oligarchs with Russian language and culture, concluded Dr. Romaniv.

The last to speak was Prof. Kononchuk, whose topic was "Todos Osmachka in the Context of Contemporary Ukrainian Literature." A poet, novelist and translator, Mr. Osmachka (1895-1962) emigrated after World War II to the U.S., where in the 1950s he wrote several works on the subject of the Holodomor, the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933.

As a Holodomor researcher, Prof. Kononchuk became interested in Mr. Osmachka's literary heritage and has been republishing his works in Kyiv. She was also instrumental in organizing two scholarly conferences dedicated to Mr. Osmachka in the town of Cherkasy, which is near his birthplace, as well as a celebration of the writer's centennial in 1995, which was marked by NANU.

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