WASHINGTON – Ukrainians still do not have a sufficient knowledge and understanding of their own history. For while Ukrainian historical scholarship has made great strides since independence, its results have not penetrated the general population. Even the war of independence, the Holodomor, the second world war and the Holocaust are insufficiently known. Thus, there is a need for a responsible “popular history” that is more accessible than the writings of professional scholarship but more balanced and accurate than what is often presented by the media.
This is the mission of Vakhtang Kipiani, director of Istorychna Pravda (Historical Truth), who spoke at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family (UCNS) in Washington on February 27.
Co-sponsored by the Shevchenko Scientific Society Washington Chapter, and the UCNS Library, and introduced by society president Dr. Bohdana Urbanovych, Mr. Kipiani’s informal presentation in the UCNS Shawel Room provided examples of popular historical ignorance and how it can be remedied. He pointed out the irony of asking young people to defend their country without educating them about events like the Battle of Kruty, where in January 1918 young volunteers gave their lives not, as some believe, for a lost cause, but in order to slow the advance of the Red Army long enough to permit international recognition of the Ukrainian Republic at Brest-Litovsk.
Mr. Kipiani cited the hundreds of videos that Istorychna Pravda has distributed throughout Ukraine, particularly in the eastern and southern regions where Ukrainian history is poorly understood. He noted that even schoolteachers are often insufficiently knowledgeable about Ukrainian history to pass it on to their students. (This writer can attest that Mr. Kipiani is not exaggerating; while teaching in Ukraine, he was shocked to find that fourth-year university students had only the vaguest idea of what happened in Ukraine in 1918.)
The talk was followed by questions and answers. Afterwards, Mr. Kipiani chatted with the attendees over wine and cheese.
This was the second in this year’s series of events co-sponsored by the Shevchenko Scientific Society. On March 16, the society participated in a Taras Shevchenko celebration at the Embassy of Ukraine, co-sponsored by the local branches of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Ukrainian Engineers’ Society of America, and featuring speaker Prof. Leonid Rudnytzky and pianist Serhii Morozov.
Future events of the Shevchenko Society DC Chapter and the UCNS Library, to be held at the UCNS, include a book signing by Jaroslaw Martyniuk on April 15, a lecture on Ukraine’s foreign policy by Dr. Lidiya Zubytska on April 29, a lecture by Prof. Jean-Pierre Cap on Mazepa in French literature on May 13, and a poetry reading by Yarka Bohach on May 20.
Bohdana Urbanovych
Vakhtang Kipiani of Istorychna Pravda speaks at an event co-sponsored by the Shevchenko Scientific Society Washington Chapter and the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine.
Andrew Sorokowski is secretary of the Shevchenko Scientific Society’s Washington Chapter.