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By Larysa Ivshyna, Editor-in-Chief, The Day,
The Day Weekly Digest in English,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 11, 2004
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Last year, I visited Geneva and explored the Red Cross Museum. I
was
impressed by its spacious exhibition halls and by their fundamental
approach; I saw long mural lists of names, with the names of victims of
major calamities and military conflicts included if numbering at least a
thousand, specifying the date and the place in a given country.
I was shocked not to find an entry reading something like "Holodomor,
Ukraine, some ten million victims," and I told so to the organizing
committee.
I believe that this lack of information in the West shows precisely how
little the international community actually knows about Ukraine in the
twentieth century and about its realities as an independent national state
for the past twelve years. This is also graphic evidence of the Herculean
effort undertaken by Prof. James Mace, a brilliant US scholar and a
selflessly dedicated friend of Ukraine. Much has been said and written about
his achieving a singular insight into this country, about his becoming
perhaps a better Ukrainian than most, about his sharing the grief of the
Holodomor victims in his own singularly empathic way.
His own, very keen sense of justice must have been the reason for his
decision to become a part of Ukraine. He wanted to expose that official
conspiracy to remain silent on the Holodomor Manmade Famine; he wanted the
tragic truth made public knowledge worldwide. It was a very hard task. We
know that a number of his US counterparts remain Soviet-minded researchers
specializing in Soviet history, that they are vague about singling out
Ukraine with its disasters and national interests.
What Dr. James Mace witnessed in Ukraine, when visiting it for the first
time and then spending a couple of years here, turned out a very dramatic
experience, filling him with pain and a desire to do something to right the
wrongs, as evidenced by his subsequent commentaries carried by the Den'
and the English-language digest, The Day. The sad fact remains that we in
Ukraine are still a postgenocidal society. This truth explains practically
everything, including the status of our national elite, the way the
Ukrainian man in the street feels, our consciousness, and cultural standard.
Prof. James Mace has accomplished a great deal for the good of our country.
But do we know enough about this man? His ratings were high enough in the
intellectual quarters, but can we be sure that his creative talent has been
put to the best use in Ukraine? True, he was very much in the limelight;
true, when he started collaborating with the The Day we all had received a
friend and a powerful ally. For me, it was like starting a second front in a
war for my country.
I would like to emphasize a campaign carried out by this newspaper last
year, largely due to Prof. Mace's support, aimed at revoking from Walter
Duranty his Pulitzer Prize, which he received for publishing a pack of lies
about the Holodomor. The response was on a very small scale, and this pained
Prof. Mace's heart, even though he knew why and had written about it,
stressing that national independence was received by the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic.
However, he believed that efforts should be made and he clearly saw a
solution to the problem. He was firmly convinced that Ukraine would have a
very hard time as a polity unless it remained Europe-oriented, seeking
allies elsewhere in the civilized world. He said that we Ukrainians should
learn from our mistakes quicker, just as we should learn how to upgrade our
society, so we could fit into the world rhythm, without losing our national
identity, of course.
As an American Indian, he warned us against the threat of Ukraine becoming
marginalized, turning into a Ukrainian reservation of sorts in this cruel
world. I do believe that all those that have learned from him, his students
and colleagues, will do their utmost to promulgate his ideas.
Here at the The Day, we will do our best to help set up an international
foundation to support this newspaper's projects to publish Prof. James
Mace's papers and articles. I have discussed the idea of establishing an
annual
James Mace Award to be conferred on literary works and newspaper articles
marked by sincerity and national dedication.
Dear James, you shall remain alive in our fond memories.
http://www.day.kiev.ua/DIGEST/2004/16/issue.htm
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
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