BOOK NOTES
Collection marks 75th birthday of Dr. Eugene Fedorenko
"Viddanyi Budivnychyi Ukrayiny" (Devoted Builder of Ukraine), essays, memoirs, articles and reviews edited by Volodymyr Kalashnyk. Kharkiv, Ukraine: Maidan Publishers, 2005, 290 pp.
From the time of the Soviet occupation until its independence (and beyond), Ukraine was in the precarious position of trying to maintain its identity and language. Dr. Eugene Fedorenko, best known as the head of the Ukrainian Educational Council in the United States, was among the scholars and community activists who worked to maintain the Ukrainian language and the structures that support Ukrainian culture.
In honor of his 75th birthday, several editors and writers collaborated to publish a book celebrating some of Dr. Fedorenko's most acclaimed essays, and his life's work.
Published by Kharkiv-based Maidan Publishers in 2005, this 290-page book contains works by writers from Ukrainian academic circles and a foreword by Volodymyr Kalashnyk of Kharkiv University, who recalls his first meeting with the Fedorenko family from 1997 and his presence at a conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana.
In essays, memoirs, articles and reviews, the collection touches on many issues facing Ukrainians within and outside of Ukraine. The Ukrainian-language book contains 33 pieces written by 16 contributing authors, including eight by Dr. Fedorenko. Several selections hail the work and accomplishments of Dr. Fedorenko, while others discuss such diverse topics as the political structures of the Kozaks and the works of Ukraine's foremost writers, such as Taras Shevchenko and Lina Kostenko.
Mykola Virnyi-Francuzenko has written a biography of Dr. Fedorenko, who was born in 1929 in the village of Odrynka, Ukraine, lived in Liubotyn and later in Kharkiv. During World War II, the Germans deported the whole family to work in Bavaria, where they saw the end of the war. Dr. Fedorenko completed the gymnasium and received a scholarship to Louvain University in Belgium, whence he graduated in 1955 with a master of arts in political science.
Dr. Fedorenko arrived in New York in 1955 and began attending classes at Fordham University and from 1962 at New York University, where he also began lecturing. Later he came to Rutgers University. In 1971 he received a Ph.D. from the Ukrainian Free University in Munich.
In 1971 Dr. Fedorenko began teaching at the School of Ukrainian Studies and in 1972 became its principal. In 1973 he joined the executive of the Educational Council, which is affiliated with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and became its head in 1983.
Dr. Fedorenko compiled a four-volume publication called "Readings from Ukrainian Literature and Literary Criticism of the 20th Century" (with V. Yaremenko, 1994-1995).
Some of his many writings are included in this collection, among them, his talk at the 1963 Ukrainian student congress in New York titled "Ukrainian Students Uphold the Ideals of the Ukrainian National Republic"; "Eternally Burning Bush," a personal account of his return to Ukraine after a 52-year absence; and "Democratic Positions as Basic Factors in the Formation and Development of National Education," a speech given in 1995 at Lviv University.
Dr. Fedorenko's review "The Truth about Ukrainian Katyn" examines the book "Genocide in Ukraine" (Lviv, 1995), which uncovers part of the mass executions by the Russian KGB of Ukrainians in Vinnytsia in 1937-1938.
Other articles by Dr. Fedorenko are about Ukrainian educational activists and literary figures.
The volume also contains articles on literary themes, Slavic studies, history and the Ukrainian language by Petro Kononenko, Anatolii Pohribnyi, Ivan Pasemko, George Gajeckyj, Mykola Drobnokhod, Volodymyr Yavorivskyi and others.
Several writers discuss the effect on their schools of the assistance coordinated by Dr. Fedorenko, which included shipments of books, educational materials and computers.
For more information about "Viddanyi Budivnychyi Ukrayiny" readers may contact the New York-based Ukrainian Educational Council at 212-477-1200 or [email protected].
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 2, 2006, No. 27, Vol. LXXIV
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