LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (02/13/05)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Self-pity leads to self-destruction

Dear Editor:

"Bullies are still out there. Those who thrive on hate will continue their evil work, but they won't triumph."

I can't agree more with those words by Dr. Myron Kuropas, whose selection to the official U.S. delegation to the Yushchenko inauguration generated yet another exchange of resentments between some Americans of Ukrainan and Jewish heritage, and between Americans divided by their partisan politics or views relative to the current administration.

Thankfully, the vast majority of Ukrainian and Jewish Americans have moved beyond the old stereotypes and are engaged in constructive dialogue and mutual support. We often overlook this, especially when our emotions are easily aroused. Unfortunately, a minority still is stuck grinding old axes and perpetuating mutual finger-pointing, blaming and labeling each other as anti-Semites and Ukrainophobes. Many have lost sight of the positive developments and potential for future progress.

As Ukrainians, we can't control the responses of some members of the Jewish community. But we can make the decision to unilaterally cease our "retaliation." Forgive them and their ancestors and just let it go! (Even if some are incapable of forgiving us or our ancestors.) Focus on the positives! Quit whining about how "they" treat us poor Ukrainians.

We can choose to end our national "self-pity," for it leads only to national "self-destruction."

Perhaps Dr. Kuropas can try a different type of approach and tone in his future writings in The Ukrainian Weekly, so that "they won't triumph."

Dr. Yuri Deychakiwsky
Washington

Allegations against Kuropas unfounded

Dear Editor:

I have known Dr. Myron B. Kuropas for years and know he is not anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. He is a well-respected educator and scholar with several well received books, as well as being a lively columnist for The Ukrainian Weekly. For years he was involved in Ukrainian-Jewish community dialogue, often a trying chore.

I must ask if the unfounded allegations being bandied about against him did not, in point of fact, originate from a few disgruntled Ukrainian American supporters of the Democratic Party, intent on discrediting the Republicans by picking on Dr. Kuropas, who is widely known to be a lifelong Republican?

And when other scholars like Dr. Peter Novick write books, e.g., "The Holocaust in American Life," which describe how the horrors of the second world war have been used to forge ethnic solidarity and mobilize some sectors of the American Jewish community, and all Dr. Kuropas does is agree with him, what's wrong with that?

In no story cited have I found precisely who it was that leveled these allegations against him and on what basis. Those ready to accuse Dr. Kuropas of prejudice should at least have the courage of their convictions and identify themselves, and then, of course, accept the legal consequences.

I ask these questions as a Canadian who believes not only in freedom of speech but also in the importance of integrity in journalism. Dr Kuropas is being denied both.

Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk
Kingston, Ontario

Correct information about Akcja Wisla

Dear Editor:

We would like to point out that Dr. Myron Kuropas' facts are incorrect when, in his January 23 column "Marta's Christmas card," he writes, "Ukrainians make similar claims by pointing to the 1947 Akcja Wisla, when some 150,000 Ukrainian residents of Poland were forcibly deported to Soviet Ukraine." In actuality, during the 1947 relocation campaign known as Akcja Wisla, approximately 150,000 Ukrainian residents of Poland were forcibly deported within Poland, sent to the new northern and western territories that Poland acquired from Germany after World War II (referred to as the "Ziemie Odzyskane," or "Recovered Territories").

What Dr. Kuropas is referring to when he writes that residents of Poland were forcibly deported to Soviet Ukraine is not Akcja Wisla, but the official agreement between Poland and the USSR to conduct population exchanges between 1944 and 1946. During this period, the number of Ukrainians from Poland who were relocated to Soviet Ukraine was close to 520,000, while approximately 1 million Poles from the USSR were relocated to Poland, according to historian Orest Subtelny. These population exchanges ended in August 1946, when the Soviet Union refused to prolong them despite diplomatic pressure from Poland, according to historian Eugeniusz Misilo. (The Polish government then conducted Akcja Wisla from late April to early August of 1947.)

Please print this corrected information in the next edition of The Ukrainian Weekly, as it is possible to begin to analyze Polish-Ukrainian relations only when facts are straight and individuals are using the same, appropriate terms.

Diana and Lena Howansky
New York

The letter-writers, whose parents and grandparents were relocated through Akcja Wisla, are both affiliated with the Organization for the Defense of Lemkivschyna. Additionally, Diana Howansky was a Fulbright Scholar to Poland in 1998-2000, who, in affiliation with Jagiellonian University's Institute of History, researched Akcja Wisla and conducted interviews with individuals relocated in 1947.

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

Letters should be typed (double-spaced) and signed (anonymous letters are not published). Letters are accepted also via e-mail at [email protected]. The daytime phone number and address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes. Please note that a daytime phone number is essential in order for editors to contact letter-writers regarding clarifications or questions.

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