U.S.-Ukraine joint commission discusses cultural heritage issues

Embassy of Ukraine

WASHINGTON - The U.S.-Ukraine Joint Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) on May 17 held its third plenary meeting in Kyiv and discussed a broad range of issues important to both sides, including national legislation to protect cemeteries from development, progress in the restitution of religious communal properties, and efforts to document the condition of cemeteries, massacre sites and synagogues throughout the country.

Vice Minister of Culture and Arts Leonid Novokhatko represented Ukraine. Also present were officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Committee for Construction and Housing, and the Jewish community, including Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine Yaakov Bleich.

Commissioner Irving Stolberg led the American delegation, which included Prof. Harry Reicher of Agudath Israel of America, Andrew Fedynsky, director of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland, Dr. Samuel Gruber and Christopher Hill.

Participants discussed implementation of a July 1998 executive order which took steps toward preserving burial sites of all religious groups throughout Ukraine. The American side commended efforts by the government of Ukraine to consider national legislation to protect these sites and agreed to provide its advice as that process moves forward.

The two sides also discussed several other issues, such as new laws dealing with preserving cultural heritage - including the repatriation of cultural assets taken from Ukraine - as well as highlighting and preserving Ukrainian culture in cooperation with museums and universities in the United States.

U.S. Ambassador Steven Pifer encouraged both sides to continue to make progress on cultural issues of common concern, including Ukraine's adoption of a "transparent and non-discriminatory process" for returning properties seized from religious groups. He also expressed the commitment of the U.S. government to provide support to Ukraine in its democratic and economic transformation.

The meeting also provided a venue to announce the publication of a catalogue of Jewish cultural artifacts in Ukraine. The two sides discussed future plans for publishing an extensive survey of the condition of other religious properties. Plans were made for the fourth meeting, which will be held in Washington and Connecticut in the spring of 2001.

In addition to attending the meeting, delegation members visited a historic Jewish cemetery in Berdychiv, which had been threatened by development, dedicated a Holocaust memorial at a massacre site in Zhytomyr, and met with regional officials. They also spent time working with local youths to clear brush and debris from gravesites at the municipal cemetery in Kyiv.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 25, 2000, No. 26, Vol. LXVIII

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