An update on losses from Lviv Archives (12/11/05)

An update on losses from Lviv Archives

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - On October 18 a roundtable discussion was held at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) in Kyiv titled "Problems of the Protection of Museums and the Archival Heritage in Contemporary Ukraine in the Context of the Losses from the Lviv Archives." The purpose of the roundtable was to start a dialogue and unite the efforts of various government organs, organizations, establishments and concerned individuals for the protection of Ukraine's heritage and its documentary and museum treasures.

The roundtable took place under the auspices of the following: State Service for the Transfer of Cultural Treasures across the State Borders of Ukraine, Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and the Study of Sources, NASU; Shevchenko Institute of Literature, NASU; and the International Fund Ukraina 3000.

The event was chaired by Yaroslav Yatskiv, academician and head of the International Association of Ukrainianists and attended by almost 300 historians, museum workers, journalists and national deputies. Scholars, representatives of all state archives of Kyiv, students of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, artists, librarians and museum workers heard Vice Minister of Culture Olha Shokalo-Bench and the project coordinator of the International Fund Ukraina 3000, Oleksii Kopytka, analyze the archival and museum situation in Ukraine.

However, the chairman of the State Committee on Archives, Hennadii Boriak, did not respond to an invitation to take part.

Reporting on the event in its November 5 issue, Ukraina Moloda emphasized that the concern expressed was not only about the recent losses incurred at the state archives in Lviv, but - because of the way in which the affair has been dealt with - also about the future security and protection of archives.

In addition, on October 17, Director Pelz fired one of the first persons to demand an investigation into the thefts, Halyna Svarnyk. Then, on December 1, the newspaper Postup reported that another whistle-blower at the archives, Ivan Svarnyk, had been fired by Ms. Pelz. (The Svarnyks are siblings.)

The Kyiv meeting put forth an appeal for a debate in the Verkhovna Rada on the archival losses and a demand to the procurator general to take charge and bring the investigation of the thefts to Kyiv.

Ukraina Moloda also posed this question: "Will society be up to the challenge of transforming this signal [the thefts] about the danger into something positive for the whole archival branch?"

| Home Page |