Ukraine's consul general in Toronto promotes reconciliation of World War II veterans (12/25/05)

Ukraine's consul general in Toronto promotes reconciliation of World War II veterans

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - As the issue of the recognition of the fighting role of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War II continues to divide Ukrainians in Ukraine, a small step in the direction of reconciliation was taken by the consul general of Ukraine in Toronto.

On November 10, on the eve of the commemoration of Remembrance Day in Canada (November 11), Dr. Ihor Lossovsky invited veterans of the UPA, the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army (as the Galicia Division is officially known), the Red Army the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as members of the Sich Riflemen Organization to a joint dinner and viewing of Slavko Nowytski's documentary film "Between Hitler and Stalin - Ukraine in World War II" made by the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC).

Also attending were three representatives of the armed forces of Ukraine currently on training exercises at the Canadian Armed Forces base in Borden, Ontario. The event, which was supported by a wide array of Ukrainian community organizations, was held at the Golden Lion restaurant and attended by about 60 persons.

Consul General Lossovsky said the aim of the event was to hold a "first in Canada gathering-reconciliation of veterans of the most horrific war in the history of Ukraine."

Speakers at the dinner included Prof. Orest Subtelny, who provided a short overview and the historical context of Ukrainians in the various fighting forces in World War II, stressing what the veterans have in common today.

Prof. Wsevolod Isajiw, president of the UCRDC, explained that the aim of the film was to provide the "unknown story" the second world war - a story that has been left out of Western documentaries about World War II and not included in the Soviet ideology of the "Great Fatherland War."

Davyd Modylevsky, president of the Veterans of the Red Army club in Toronto, was the organizer of the Soviet veterans' group that came to the dinner. Not all of the current members of the club were actual combatants in the second world war (some had been too young to take a fighting role), but all those present said they found the film informative. Mr. Modylevsky agreed to maintain a relationship with the UCRDC by helping the center, which holds an archive of oral testimony of persons involved in World War II events, obtain interviews with club members.

UCRDC archivist Iroida Wynnyckyj immediately made arrangements for interviews with several of the Soviet veterans present: Revekka Schindel, a Jew who served in the anti-aircraft artillery of the Red Army; Jewdokia Sawaskul, a Ukrainian, who was a nurse in the Red Army; and Mykhail Friedland, a Jew, a Red Army combatant who took part in the taking of Warsaw and Berlin and who was saved from the Holocaust by the Ukrainian Morozowski family in Vinnytsia.

Representatives of the veterans of the various armed forces expressed gratitude to the consul general, Dr. Lossovsky, for organizing the breakthrough event and expressed their desire to continue the dialogue.

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