2005: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Documentary film on Ukraine in WWII

The documentary film "Between Hitler and Stalin," produced and directed by Slawko Nowytski for the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center (UCRDC), was successfully premiered in Ukraine prior to the official international commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II held in Moscow on May 9. The original, English-language, version of the film, with Jack Palance as primary narrator, premiered in Toronto on September 23, 2003. The Ukrainian-language version of the documentary, with Ostap Stryhun, narrator, had its premiere showing in Kyiv at the KINO film theater on April 18 of this year, organized by the Kyiv Memorial society under the direction of Roman Krutsyk, a collaborator in the production of the film.

Additionally, a Ukrainian television broadcast on the national network UT-1 was held on May 3, where it aired together with a discussion panel. Representing the UCRDC on the panel was historian and advisor to the film Prof. Roman Serbyn from Montreal, who is well-known for his challenges of the official Soviet version of World War II as the Great Patriotic War - still the most widely accepted interpretation of the conflict in Ukraine.

The aim of the English-language version of the film was to inform Western audiences about the war in Ukraine, underscoring that the great struggle was first of all, a war on Ukrainian territory. The task of the film in Ukraine was not only to inform, but also to address and challenge the decades-long myth of the Great Patriotic War and of the contribution of Ukraine to the "Victory over fascism." Such a Soviet interpretation, that ignores the period of Soviet-Nazi collaboration (1939-1941), as well as Stalin's internal war against its own population, still permeates school curricula and the mindset of the majority of Ukraine's population. It also divides the country and impedes the official recognition of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, as the only armed formation that fought both Hitler and Stalin.

On July 28, a directive from Oleksander Zinchenko, then head of Ukraine's Presidential Secretariat, instructed all heads of oblast government administrations, as well as the ministries of Defense and Education to make arrangements for the screening of the film. The first 1,000 video cassettes of the Ukrainian-language version of the documentary were distributed in Ukraine by Kyiv's Memorial society, with the project financed by the League of Ukrainians in Canada.

Earlier in the year, "Between Hitler and Stalin," was a finalist in the film and video competition of the New York Festivals. Mr. Nowytski, the film's director and producer, was presented with a Finalist's Certificate at a gala reception held in New York on January 28. The film was also selected for the Fourth International Documentary Film Festival - Humanity in the World, held on March 17-20 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 15, 2006, No. 3, Vol. LXXIV

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