Commentary

Presented biennially, the $25,000 KOBZAR™ Book Award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by authors who write on a topic with a tangible connection to the experiences of Ukrainian Canadians. As the Ukrainian community celebrates 130 years in Canada, the Ukrainian stories are limitless. KOBZAR™ Book Award entries can weave through fascinating moments in world history, acquaint us with the lives of both one and the many, introduce us to the challenges of different generations and waves of immigration. Ultimately, they paint a picture of a people that proudly continues to shape the Canada we know today. Distinctive to this Award is monetary recognition for both the winner and the winner’s publisher. This year’s jury, Kerry Clare (49th Shelf), Laisha Rosnau (Author and winner of the KOBZAR™ Book Award 2020), and Ben Sigurdson (Winnipeg Free Press), is very excited to include on the shortlist a novel, a graphic novel, and a book of poetry – three styles of literature as diverse as the Ukrainian Canadian experiences which the KOBZAR™ Book Award strives to recognize...

`Despite the claims put forward by opponents of the UPA, Roman Shukhevych was no “SS-Obersturmführer” (as stated by opponents of the UPA), nor was he an “SS-Hauptmann” (as claimed by Joel Lion, Ambassador of Israel to Ukraine). The Nachtigall Battalion in which Shukhevych served was not an SS unit but part of the Abwehr, that is, the Wehrmacht. Neither Yad Vashem nor historians are in possession of any information indicating that Shukhevych took part in the Shoah. In late February–early March 2008, a group of Ukrainian historians and staff members of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) visited Israel to examine documents about Shukhevych’s participation in the Shoah, specifically his involvement, while a member of the Nachtigall Battalion in the summer of 1941, in the killings of the Jewish civilian population in the city of Lviv. The reason behind this was the statement issued by Yosef Lapid, chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, about the existence of such materials in Yad Vashem, which was broadcast on Deutsche Welle...

On July 19, 2021, Artyom municipal court of the Primorsky Krai of the Russian Federation issued a ruling to liquidate the Prosvita Far East Ukrainian Spiritual Cultural and Educational Centre in Vladivostok, and on August 28, 2021 the respective ruling came into force. The court decision was adopted upon request from the Russian Federation Ministry of Justice’s Head Office in the Primorsky Krai. The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) strongly condemns this ruling. This is yet another example of the policy of systemic intimidation and persecution of the ethnic Ukrainian minority in Russia, aimed at eliminating the Ukrainian community and cultural life in Russia...

Disinformation: Ukraine is and always was a part of Russia. The Ukrainian state is a recent “invention” and has no actual history. Facts: “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names" (Confucius). The lands around today’s Moscow were on the north-eastern periphery of the Rus’ Empire, an early Ukrainian realm with its capital in Kyiv from the 9th to the 13th centuries. The invading Mongol Horde took this northern periphery in 1237 before devastating the heartland of Rus’, including Kyiv in 1240. The northern periphery with its capital in Moscow became an Ulus (province) of the Golden Horde. Kyiv and the core of the original Rus’ realm became incorporated into the Lithuanian Commonwealth, which adopted the Rus’ (Ruthenian) language and its codex of laws...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his September 22 address at the United Nations General Assembly to criticize the international community’s ineffective response to Russian aggression in Ukraine and support calls for the reform of the UN itself, which he branded a “retired superhero.” The Ukrainian leader painted a grim picture of the damage done to international security by the failure to stand up for international law and hold Vladimir Putin accountable for his attack on Ukraine. “No one in the world feels safe anymore. I emphasize: no one feels safe. And no one can hide behind international law as if behind a stone wall,” commented Zelenskyy...

In order to comprehend the degree of guilt of Waffen SS “Galizien” in this crime, it is necessary to make a careful study of the history of this division and then to determine that until the spring of 1944 all the infantry units did their training in the Polish camp Heidelager near the town of Dębica, east of Cracow, that is, approximately 300 kilometers from Huta. Following several requests, the division dispatched a battle group (SS Kampfgruppe Beyersdоrff, named after the commander of an artillery regiment, SS- Standartenführer Friedrich Beyersdorff, who also held the rank of police colonel). Kampfgruppe Beyersdorff consisted of an infantry battalion and an artillery battery under the command of Sturmbannführer Mykola Paliienko. But the point is that the Kampfgruppe Beyersdorff was never in Huta. According to the Polish historian Grzegorz Motyka, the Germans formed several SS police regiments numbered from 4 to 8 and called them “Galizien.” The 4th and 5th SS Pоlice Regiments, which in fact took part in the Huta Pieniacka (Ukr. Huta Peniatska) massacre consisted of 60 percent Ukrainians and 40 percent Germans; the officers were mostly Germans...

Yaroslav Stetsko was born on 19 January 1912 and died on 5 July 1986. He was a Ukrainian political leader, ideologue of the revolutionary Ukrainian national liberation movement, and a gifted interpreter of political and social phenomena, world affairs and the dynamics of international relations. He studied at the Faculty of Law in Poland (Cracow University) and at the Faculty of Humanities in western Ukraine (Lviv University). He joined the underground Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), and when the UVO merged with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1929, he became one of the OUN's leading members in the 1930s: ideological and field instructor of the OUN Youth Branch and editor of its journal "Youth"; and editor of the "Bulletin of the OUN Homeland Executive". He became a member of the Central Executive of the OUN in 1938. For his underground activities he was arrested several times in the 1930s by the Polish occupation authorities in western Ukraine...

Disinformation: During World War II Ukrainian nationalists as so-called “Nazi collaborators” took part in the massive killing of Jews, particularly in Lviv and Babyn Yar in Kyiv. Facts: The myth presenting the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) as the main actors in the killing of Jews was actively exploited by Soviet, and later Russian, disinformation to justify the campaign that Russia was waging against these organizations. An attempt was made to create a logical sequence to deceive the public, suggesting that during WWII Ukrainians who stood for an independent Ukraine were also nationalists, and at the same time Ukrainian nationalists were killing Jews. This makes all those who stood for an independent Ukrainian state anti-semites and criminals...

This year, Ukrainians and our friends throughout the world will commemorate the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s renewed independence and the fulfillment of the visionary words of our legendary prophet Taras Shevchenko who, in 1845, wrote in “The Great Vault” (Velykyi lokh): And from beneath Ukraine will rise. It will dispel the gloom of bondage, It will light the world of truth, And prayers will be said in freedom By children once unfree! Thirty years ago, countless, hopeful offerings of prayers were answered, the courageous David against Goliath struggle of Ukrainian freedom fighters was won, and tremendous sacrifices of generations of Ukrainians were rewarded, as Ukrainians received God’s greatest gift for a nation when the following words of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine resonated in the Ukrainian Parliament on August 24, 1991...

Dear Friends. You have just heard that by profession I am a historian who was raised and educated in the United States, and who has taught the history of Ukraine for over four decades at the University of Toronto in Canada. I come to you, then, as someone who has developed a professional and personal love and appreciation for the rich cultural heritage that your ancestors created on this beautiful land called Ukraine. Since becoming an independent state in 1991, Ukraine has made itself much better known throughout the world. While it is true that by now many people have heard the name Ukraine, they nonetheless know very little if anything about the country. But there is something even worse than no knowledge. And that is distorted knowledge. The unfortunate reality is that there are still many, many people, whether beyond and even within this country who see Ukraine only as a place of tragedy and who consider Ukrainians solely as perpetrators of suffering upon others. Such distortions need to be corrected. But how? To answer that question we must turn to the historical past...