Newsletter do Congresso Mundial Ucraniano, № 1 (41) – Janeiro, 2007

NEWSLETTER UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS, № 1 (41) – January, 2007

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PRESIDENT YUSCHENKO REPLIES TO UWC AUSCHWITZ PROPOSAL

In a letter to the UWC President, the President of Ukraine replied:

"I am sincerely grateful for your letter regarding the formation of an exposition about incarcerated Ukrainian at the state museum in Auschwitz-Birkenau. I am pleased that Ukraine's historical matters are important to you.

I would like to inform you that the matter raised by you is under my personal supervision. The Ministry for foreign affairs has been given appropriate instructions to devise a strategy for setting apart space on one of the floors of the 14th barrack for the Ukrainian exposition."

UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN CANADA ACKNOWLEDGES LONG TERM COMMUNICATIONS WITH MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE

Responding to a letter from the UWC’s President, which questioned the propriety of meetings with representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada confirmed a recent meeting between the Head of the Church’s Consistory and Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabadan of the UOCMP. In fact, the Church’s letter signed by the secretary of the Church’s Primate stressed that since 1993 the Church has been meeting and conversing on church matters in the spirit of Christian brotherhood with all segments of Ukrainian church orthodoxy in Ukraine including the Moscow Patriarchate. As pointed out in the letter, the most recent meeting was limited to the UOCMP due to time constraints. The letter does not spell out just what “church matters” were the subject of the recent meeting.

UWC ISSUES STATEMENT ON AKCIJA WISLA ANNIVERSARY

The UWC has issued a bilingual (Ukrainian and English) statement on the 60^th anniversary of Akcija Wisla. The UWC’s statement stresses the inadequacy of the Polish position in condemning, rehabilitating and restituting. It also urges the President of Ukraine and Ukrainian communities worldwide to mark the anniversary with solemnity as well as an international campaign through the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations to put pressure on the Polish government. The statement will be translated into Polish.

Central observances of the anniversary have been scheduled for April 28, 2007 in Peremyshl by the Ukrainian-Polish community. The UWC President has communicated with both the Association of Ukrainians in Poland and Metropolitan Jan Martyniak of the Ukrainian Catholic Church urging them to change venue to Warsaw in order to maximize political pressure on the Polish Sejm. The Association has deferred to the Metropolitan on this issue, but the Metropolitan has been unbending in this regard. In fact in a telephone conversation with the UWC President, the Metropolitan stressed his satisfaction with Polish-Ukrainian relations.

UWC OFFERS ASSISTANCE FOR GREAT FAMINE 75^TH ANNIVERSARY PREPARATIONS

In a letter to Chief of the Presidential Secretariat Victor Baloga with copy to the Chair of the National Memory Institute, Ihor Yukhnovsky, the UWC provided a summary of international “Great Famine was Genocide” resolutions’ efforts and offered financial assistance to the Kyiv monument-memorial project. This project which is specifically referred to in the Verkhovna Rada’s recently passed resolution on the Holodomor was initiated by the UWC some five years ago and has been debated and procrastinated ever since. The thrust of the UWC’s letter was to spur implementation of the memorial project to ensure completion by 2008.

UWC SEEKS RENAMING STREET IN KYIV METROPOLYT VASYL LYPKIVSKYJ STREET

In a letter to Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyj, the UWC has urged renaming Urytskyj Street in Kyiv Mytropolyt Vasyl Lypkivskyj Street. The UWC missive was spurred by a letter addressed to the UWC from the Ukrainian Orthodox Brotherhood of Mytropolyt Vasyl Lypkivskyj from North Port, Florida seeking assistance in this effort. The Brotherhood has been working on this matter for some three years and appears to have hit a stonewall. Mytropolyt Vasyl Lypkivskyj was the founder and Primate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which was liquidated by the Soviets. The Mytropolyt was arrested and executed. Moisei Urytskyj was a Soviet secret police leader in Petrograd who was born in Ukraine.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

The UWC would like to express its sincere gratitude to all who through their donations in the month of December 2006 enabled the UWC to meet its budgetary needs. In particular, we should like to mention several Ukrainian financial institutions who traditionally have been very supportive and who heeded our plea once again last December: Self Reliance (New York) Federal Credit Union 10,000 $US, Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union (Chicago) 5,000 $US, Selfreliance (Cleveland) Federal Credit Union 2,000 $US, Buduchnist (Toronto) Credit Union Ltd. 5,000 $CAN, Caisse Populaire Desjardins Ukrainienne De Montreal 2,500 $CAN, Ukrainian Credit Union 2,500 $CAN and St. Mary's (Toronto) Credit Union $500 CAN. Thank you very much!