BROVKO’S AMAZING JOURNEY Warwaruk, Larry Coteau Books, 2013. 159 p. ISBN 1-55050-555-9 ANDREI AND THE SNOW WALKER Warwaruk, Larry Coteau Books, 2002. 195 p. ISBN 1-55050-213-1 Reviewed by Myra Junyk Transcript: On this edition of Knyzhka Corner, we look at two books by Saskatchewan author Larry Warwaruk. Brovko’s Amazing Journey traces the incredible journey of a sheep dog named Brovko from his home in Ukraine all the way to Saskatchewan. In this companion volume to Andrei and the Snow Walker, Warwaruk once again explores the life of Ukrainian-Canadian pioneers at the beginning of the 20th century. This time, he tells his story from the perspective of a dog! In Andrei and the Snow Walker (2002), Warwaruk’s hero is 12-year old Andrei Bayda. As the novel begins: “It is the first day of April, 1900, and Andrei’s family is leaving their home in the Ukrainian village of Zabokruky in Horodenka province.” (p. 1) Before leaving, Dido Danylo receives a mysterious gift from the holy man Skomar. It is a Scythian cup … a relic of the people of ancient Ukraine, and its magic gives Andrei visions. The family’s journey takes them to a homestead near Batoche, Saskatchewan. Andrei works hard […]
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Ukrainian Jewish Heritage: Jews in Drohobych
Drohobych is a city located at the confluence of the Tysmenytsia River and Seret, a tributary of the former, in the Lviv Oblast, in western Ukraine. The current estimated population is nearly 78 thousand. Jews had lived in or near Drohobycz as early as the fifteenth century. However an officially recognized community was not established there until the end of the seventeenth century. From then on, the Jewish community grew rapidly. By 1765 it had reached nearly two thousand. In this period, Jews were involved prominently in the extraction, distribution, and sale of salt that was mined in the Drohobycz region. By 1869, the city’s more than 8,000 Jews made up 47 percent of city’s population, and constituted the largest single ethnic–religious group in this tri-ethnic town. The Jews were mostly lower-middle and working class, religiously Orthodox, and Yiddish-speaking. What made Drohobycz unusual was the existence there, from the mid-nineteenth century, of an important oil industry, in which Jews played a major role. The extraction of black gold in the region created a boom-town atmosphere. This made Drohobycz a more prosperous and cosmopolitan city than most Galician centers, at least until World War I. Drohobych’s Jewish community was also unique […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Kamianets-Podilsk
Kamianets was an ancient and important centre of Jewish life. Now called Kamianets-Podilskyi, today it is a city in western Ukraine, north-east of Chernivtsi. The first part of the city’s dual name originates from камiнь, meaning “stone.” The second part relates to Podillia, of which it is considered to be the historic capital. Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the southern and western areas of modern day Ukraine, and northeastern Moldova. According to achaelogical evidence, it was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic period. The earliest mention of Kamianets appeared in an 11th century chronicle, as a town of the Kievan Rus’ state. In the 13th century the Mongols destroyed Kamianets. A century later it was annexed by Polish King Casimir III, and remained mostly under Polish rule until the soviet era. The rest of Podillia was carved up over the centuries by surrounding empires — Hapsburg, Ottoman, Russian. Kamianets was a bustling trade centre, in which at times Jews made up 50% of the population. Kamianets is considered the cradle of Chassidic Judaism, and was a centre for the development of Jewish culture and politics. Jewish inhabitants were first noted in 1447. In 1598, […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Lviv Cemetary
Many distinguished figures have been laid to rest in Lviv’s Jewish cemetery. Among them are Izaak and Róża Nachmanowicz, the founders of the Golden Rose Synagogue in Lviv. The first mention of the old Jewish cemetery in municipal records dates back to May 27, 1414. The cemetery was established on lands that were bestowed upon the city by a royal privilege from King Władysław Jagiello. For the next several centuries, the cemetery was shared by several Jewish communities … those of the outer districts, founded in the medieval Ruthenian principality, and by Lviv’s Jewish community, which originated during the construction of the new city center by Polish King Kazimierz III. On August 22, 1855, the cemetery was officially closed. According to archival data, many Jews found their final resting place there that year after a cholera epidemic. Once closed, the cemetery began to fall into decline. However, for a brief time in the 20th century, the Jewish cemetery regained its the status of a landmark. In the 1920s the Lviv Rabbi Dr. Levi Freund together with architect Józef Awin established a Curatorship for the protection of Jewish Memorials within the Jewish community. In 1928 and 1931 the Curatorship organized renovation […]
Continue readingOpen Statement to the International Democratic Community from Ukraine
Kyiv: Dec.12, 2013 In the middle of the night, from 10 to 11 December 2013, Ukrainian special forces troops started another brutal attack on the peaceful demonstrators in Kyiv. Aside from the regular police, militia men were also widely involved, having been brought from the depressed cities of eastern Ukraine. Some of them were deployed to cause provocations, as it had been done during the scripted assault on the interior troops at the building of President’s Administration on December 1. This time the Government and their local and Russian political technologists started to conduct “Nazi-like” activities amongst the protesters. More than a dozen young individuals wearing helmets with swastika and armed with armature rods were trying to break through to Maidan and stir up a fight with the police. Fortunately, the protesters prevented them just in time. This incident could have been dismissed if there had been no ongoing campaign conducted for years by Moscow-financed agents in Ukraine, Russia and the West to discredit Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nationalist movement, and the modern Ukrainian democratic opposition. The campaign’s aim is to undermine national aspirations to Ukrainian independence and sovereignty, in order to recapture Ukraine and incorporate it into […]
Continue readingEuromaidan coverage on Nash Holos
Dec. 4th – Nash Holos Nanaimo – special 2.5 hour live broadcast with long-distance guests: • Mirko Petriw (Vancouver) – local commentator and author of spy thrillers Yaroslaw’s Treasure and Yaroslaw’s Revenge. Mirko provides an overview of events in Ukraine. • Volodymyr Valkov (Lviv) – Executive Assistant at the Jewish Heritage Museum in Lviv and Project Manager of Ukrainian Jewish Heritage on Nash Holos gives his experience as a citizen of Ukraine during this troubled time. • Mychailo Wynnyckyj – Director of PhD programs at Kyiv Mohyla Business School. Follow his coverage and analysis of Euromaidan here. • Yevhen Hlibovytsky – former news anchor at 1+1 TV Channel and at Kanal 5, and co-founder of Ukraine’s newly launched public broadcasting channel Hromadskе TV . Dec. 1st – Nash Holos Vancouver – one-hour live broadcast. • In-studio guest: Mirko Petriw Mirko provides an overview of events in Ukraine and a backdrop to them, and discusses the Vancouver rally in support of protests at Euromaidan and across Ukraine. Mirko is a local political commentator and author of spy thrillers Yaroslaw’s Treasure and Yaroslaw’s Revenge. Follow his blog here. To hear or download podcast audio files just click on radio station logos on the […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Hannukah 2013
Hannukah starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. This year on the Gregorian calendar it starts on November 27 and ends on-December 5. Hannukah is a joyous holiday, celebrated every year by Jews around the world with the lighting of candles on the Menora. TraditionalHannukah treats include hot potato latkes called also platski or draniki in Ukrainian, and donuts with jam – called pampuchi in Ukrainian. And there are games such as Draidel, andHannukah Gelt which isHannukah money or gifts, for children. In soviet times Judaism could not be practiced freely in Ukraine so the Menora was impossible to buy. It wasn’t even possible to see a Menora in the museums as it was considered a forbidden religious item. So in those times Jews made Chanukkah lights out of a half potato with sunflower oil and wicks made out of cotton. Hannukah, known as The ‘Festival of Dedication’ and also ‘The Festival of Lights’ commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians in 165 B.C.E. The Maccabees wanted Jews to renounce their G-d and turn to idolatry. Hannukah also honours the memory of the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The […]
Continue readingCanadian students explore Ukrainian contribution to Parliament and multiculturalism
Canada’s Parliament Education Forum is a unique educational leadership event for high school and university age students from across Canada. Students participate in an exciting five day exploration of the Ukrainian contribution to Canada’s Parliament and to our Canadian Policy and Legislation on Multiculturalism. It gives young leaders the opportunity to learn how our government touches the lives of Ukrainian Canadians, and how our Ukrainian community has helped build the Canadian nation and Canada’s multicultural society. The second annual forum took place from November 20-24, 2013 in Ottawa. It was hosted by the Paul Yuzyk Institute For Youth Leadership, in collaboration with the UNF Ottawa-Gatineau branch. Borys Gengalo explained the program to Nash Holos listeners prior to the event, and provided a brief report by email: The Paul Yuzyk Youth Institute program at parliament was a success this year, with our optimum number, 10, participating. It was a great success. MP Ted Opitz and Senator Reynell Andreychuk hosted the group to a long lunch and discussion in the parliamentary restaurant, with MP Malcolm Allen dropping by to join in. Peggy Nash, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition, spoke with the group in the conference room attached to the Leader of […]
Continue readingLive performance of Holodomor: Murder by Starvation in Victoria online
Thanks to CHLY Radio Malaspina in Nanaimo for recording the live performance of Holodomor: Murder by Starvation by Father Edward Danylo Evanko. It took place in Victoria on Saturday, November 16. The recording is available in two parts: Part 1 (17:52) Part 2 (59:21) Father Edward’s series of performances of the play this year are part of the 80th anniversary commemorations of the Holodomor – the famine-genocide in which 7-10 million Ukrainians were deliberately starved to death by Stalin’s communist regime in 1932-33. (Holodomor in Ukrainian translates literally as “death by starvation.”) The western media, in particular, the New York Times, helped Stalin to cover it up … while it was happening, and for decades after. The NYT in fact awarded the Pulitzer Prize to the journalist who deliberately lied about in print, yet admitted the truth “off the record.” The NYT refuses to revoke the award, and to this day many journalists, as well as academics and politicians, still refuse to acknowledge the Holodomor, or dispute the facts about it. Thanks to the good folks at CHLY for being better than that, and providing a venue for the truth to be broadcast. Father Edward is currently on tour across Canada […]
Continue readingHolodomor – genocide by famine in Ukraine 1932-33
In the early 1930s, in a region considered to be Europe’s breadbasket, Stalin’s Communist regime committed a horrendous act of genocide against the Ukrainian people. An ancient nation of agriculturists was subjected to starvation, one of the most ruthless forms of torture and death. The Soviet government imposed exorbitant grain quotas, in some cases confiscating supplies down to the last seed. In many villages special troops were brought in to gather any and all food that could be found, including meagre supplies that hungry families managed to save or scavenge. Armed units isolated the territory of Soviet Ukraine and the predominantly Ukrainian-populated Kuban region of Soviet Russia, to stop the starving from going to neighbouring Soviet regions in search of food. The result was the Ukrainian genocide of 1932-33, known in Ukrainian as the Holodomor, or extermination by famine. An estimated 10 million Ukrainian men, women and children perished. (Source: www.ucc.ca) For decades, the Soviet regime kept this atrocity a secret, threatening any survivors who dared to mention it. The western media, in particular the New York Times, was also complicit in the cover up. I first learned about the Holodomor in 1982, while studying Russian and Ukrainian history at […]
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