Dying Zaporizhian oak is guardian of 700 years of history (09/29/96)

Dying Zaporizhian oak is guardian of 700 years of history

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

ZAPORIZHIA - Legend has it that in 1648 Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and his Kozak army rested under this mighty oak before he began his military campaign against the Poles.

Tales are told of how the Zaporizhian oak's branches swayed and leaves fluttered when the Kozaks wrote their famous letter to the Turkish sultan centuries ago.

Another story tells of how Alexander Pushkin was inspired to write "Ruslan and Ludmila," while relaxing under the old oak tree in 1820 as he traveled down the Dnipro River for a holiday in Crimea.

And, if this 700-year-old oak - nestled in the quiet valley near the Verkhnya Khortytsia River, just a stone's throw away from the Khortytsia isle on the Dnipro - could talk, it would tell tales of Kozak glory and Sich grandeur.

Its rustling leaves would also wail of the destruction of this Kozak stronghold by Russian Empress Catherine II in 1775.

It would describe the last days of Kyivan Rus', it would recount the era of the Kozaks, and the Russians and Tatars and the Turks, who battled in the steppes of this vast region. It would also tell of the German Mennonites, the colonists from Danzig (Gdansk) who settled in this region after the Sich was destroyed at the end of the 18th century.

And it would spin yarns from modern times, describing the thousands of tourists from all around the Soviet Union who would come see the robust oak dressed in greenery during the summer months, in colors of fiery red and golden yellow in the fall, and walk away with handfuls of acorns scattered on the ground. It would also describe the long winters, covered with white snow and crackling frost, and how it would eagerly await the spring, when again it would sprout buds, bringing in a new year.

But, the mighty oak - which measures 118.8 feet in height and 21 feet in width at the base, and has a 142-foot branch span - is dying. And, it can no longer tell tales of bygone days, years, centuries and eras.

What is left of the glory of this once-vigorous oak is but one small live branch, rustling with green leaves. Curiosity-seekers still make their way to the site, which bears a stone marker describing the oak as a symbol of the vast oak forests of Zaporizhia that flourished until the end of the 18th century.

No one quite remembers when the oak, situated at the end of a path at the edge of a city park, started dying, but many who still come to pay it homage agree that it was anywhere from 10 to 11 years ago that it started losing its leaves.

Specialists agree that after the Dnipro Hydroelectric (Dniprohes) plant was built in the 1932 and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was built in the 1980s in close proximity, Mother Nature reacted unfavorably. A drainage system implemented to redirect water and residue caused damage to the tree's root system, which contributed to its demise.

"The one live branch can survive for another two years - maximum," announced Borys Stupachenko, a modern-day Kozak, who belongs to a unit of the Zaporizhian Kish (regiment) totaling 450 kozaks.

He comes by every week and has his kozaks guard the old oak tree to keep vandals away from this national treasure. Just last year, he and his friends called in tree doctors (arborists) from Moscow, who charged over 100 million karbovantsi for their services.

They planted oak saplings near the base of the giant, and the Kozaks live with the hope that one of the saplings will graft onto the tree and revive it.

"The oak was always a symbol of strength to the Kozaks," says Kozak historian Olena Apanovych, 77, the author of numerous works about the Zaporizhian Sich, including a volume titled "The Armed Forces of Ukraine in the First Half of the 18th Century" (1969), which got her expelled from the Institute of History for more than 23 years.

"It also inspired Ukrainians who came to see it. It was a reminder of the past, of the strength of the Kozak Sich. It was, in its own way, a spiritual treasure," she added.

"When the Soviet system tried to destroy our past by manipulating the beauty of nature in this region with its modern technologies, when it disregarded our past - both our historic and environmental past - it disturbed the balance," said the historian, who explained that during the Kozak era there were more than 49,000 oak trees on Khortytsia alone. Kozaks often used the wood to build their vessels, the lightweight "chaiky."

She also explained that most of these oak forests were destroyed by the German Mennonites resettled in the region by Russian tsars, who gave away lands at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries so that the Kozaks would have nowhere to rebuild their destroyed Sich.

"This is my inspiration," exclaimed Hryhoriy Ripka, 53, who comes once or twice a month to the Zaporizhian oak to think and relax. He watches his goat graze near the oak, now surrounded by barbed wire to keep hoodlums away.

"I've been coming here since 1965," he said, as he reminisced about the café that used to exist on the territory, and the tens of schoolchildren who used to come and admire the sturdy tree in all its glory.

"There used to be an old bard, a descendant of the Zaporizhian Kozaks, who would spend hours in the 1960s and 1970s sitting around the tree, singing songs and telling stories of Kozak adventures," added Kozak Stupachenko, who is in his 40s and claims to be a descendant of one of the mighty Zaporizhian warriors.

The bard has long since died and few remember his name, but many remember the name of Mykola Kytsenko, who in the mid-1960s was the deputy chairman of the Zaporizhia Oblast Administration.

"It was his love for Ukraine's past that allowed the revival of Khortytsia and Kozak traditions," recalls Ms. Apanovych, who went on various archeological and historical expeditions to the site of the Sich.

It was Mr. Kytsenko who was able to cordon off Khortytsia and build a museum dedicated to the Kozaks, making the territory a historic reserve. He was able to secure the same kind of honor for the Zaporizhian oak, placing a granite marker near the tree.

Although he passed away in the early 1980s, his cause has now been revived by modern-day Kozaks, many of whom have been inspired by Ukraine's independence.

A few years ago, Mr. Stupachenko and his unit decided to combine their heritage with business, and planned to build a tourist complex, including a hotel, Kozak speciality cafe, bookstore and amusement park near the old oak, making it the focal point of their plans.

They had even been promised 30 billion karbovantsi from a local Ukrainian bank, but it folded before they ever received the money.

He still remains hopeful, however, that the Kozaks will maintain this site for future generations.

"If the oak can't be revived, we have plans to sculpt the faces of the heroes of the Sich into this oak, including Sahaidachnyi Kryvonis, Sirko, Nalyvaiko, Nechay, Bohun. It will then be a lasting monument," he added, as a few boys from the neighborhood gathered to hear his stories.

"See this branch," he said pointing to the sole survivor of its 700-year history. "It's pointing to the West, to western Ukraine, where our strength lies," he said.

"The oak may be dying, but our glory continues to grow," he concluded.