Turning the pages back... March 26, 1961 (03/25/01)

Turning the pages back...

March 26, 1961

Forty years ago, on March 26, 1961, the Ukrainian American community mourned the passing of a notable leader: Dmytro Halychyn, supreme president of the Ukrainian National Association and president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America,

"The untimely death of Dmytro Halychyn ... is a great and grievous loss to the entire Ukrainian American community. In him over 2 million Americans of Ukrainian descent have lost not only an acknowledged leader, but also an outstanding patriot and citizen," noted The Ukrainian Weekly's editorial of April 1, 1961.

The editorial went on to eulogize Mr. Halychyn by recounting his many accomplishments. Following are excerpts of that article.

* * *

From the very first days when Dmytro Halychyn, then a 28-year-old veteran of the struggle for Ukrainian independence, set foot on American soil, he was marked to play a leading role in the intricate, yet dynamic Ukrainian life. For the past 30 years Dmytro Halychyn was closely bound to the steady development of Ukrainian American organizational life. It was under the influence of his forceful and vigorous leadership that the Ukrainian National Association has grown tremendously since 1933, the year he assumed the position of recording secretary in the association, and after 1950, when he became supreme president of the UNA. Under both his tenures as secretary and president of the UNA, the association expanded to the extent that it has today a total of 79,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, and $24 million in assets.

But the patriotic devotion and zeal of Dmytro Halychyn were not limited to the Ukrainian National Association exclusively. He was an intrepid political and civic leader as well. In the '30s Dmytro Halychyn occupied a leading role as an executive officer of Obiednannia, the United Ukrainian American Organization, which was an overall representative organization of Americans of Ukrainian descent, and which endeavored to bring moral and material assistance to the Ukrainian people in Ukraine in their struggle for freedom and liberation. He was one of the leaders who sponsored and organized mass Ukrainian American protest rallies against foreign oppressors of the Ukrainian people. In 1940, prior to the United States entry into World War II, Dmytro Halychyn was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, in which organization he occupied the most important executive posts, those of treasurer, vice-president, acting president and, since 1956, that of president. During World War II, when pro-Soviet forces in this country were attacking Americans of Ukrainian origin for their steadfast anti-Communist attitude, Dmytro Halychyn was one who led Ukrainian American organizations in their patriotic activities, such as the U.S. Bond drive, American Red Cross and USO activities, proving again and again that to him the United States was as dear and close as Ukraine, for which he had fought and suffered physical hardship as a young lad.

After World War II, when Soviet American relations worsened and many Americans saw for the first time Communist Russia for what she really was, the part played by Dmytro Halychyn in the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and in the formation of the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, was one of paramount importance. He was among those Ukrainian American leaders who advocated the passage of the U.S. displaced persons law, whereby over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and escapees succeeded in coming to this country for permanent resettlement.

... One of the great projects in which Dmytro Halychyn was actively engaged was the Shevchenko Memorial Committee of America of which he was elected executive director, the most important and responsible post in that committee.

Dmytro Halychyn has departed from us. But he has left a rich and exemplary heritage for our younger generation. That heritage comprises his selflessness, devotion to freedom, not only of Ukrainians but of all other peoples, a dedicated sacrifice to noble causes, enlightened liberalism, prudence and statesmanship, and above all, unqualified patriotism and good citizenship. ...

Source: "Dmytro Halychyn, Patriot and Citizen" (editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, April 1, 1961.

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