Ukrainian archives and archeology - a double feature at the Shevchenko Society (01/26/03)

Ukrainian archives and archeology - a double feature at the Shevchenko Society

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - A treasure trove of Ukrainian historical archives was recently discovered in Poland by Yevhen Misilo, director of the Ukrainian Archive Center of Documentation and Studies in Warsaw. On December 7, 2002, Mr. Misilo related his sensational findings to a packed house at the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) in New York.

Among the materials found in Warsaw were the archives of the NTSh, Prosvita and Ridna Shkola societies in Lviv, those of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, the Galician Army, the army of the Ukrainian National Republic, the Western Ukrainian National Republic, the Ukrainian Representation to the Polish Parliament, to name just the major ones, as well as the personal archives of a number of prominent Ukrainians, among them Dmytro Dontsov.

All of these archives were removed from Lviv in 1944 by the retreating Nazis, who brought them to Silesia, now part of western Poland. From there most of the materials were transferred to the National Library in Warsaw. In 1982 Mr. Misilo found these treasures in Warsaw, discarded in a dumpster. It took seven years of his efforts to get the Polish authorities to acknowledge the existence of these archives and then to make them available for study. Since then, Mr. Misilo has been researching and cataloguing this chunk of Ukrainian history with the part-time help of Halyna Svarnyk, a prominent archivist from Lviv.

Equally bizarre has been the fate of the smaller portion of the Lviv archive, which remained in Silesia and is now stored in the Ossolineum building in Wroclaw. To this day, the Poles deny its possession and won't allow anyone to research it.

Very disappointing, said Mr. Misilo, has been the attitude of Ukrainian government officials, who, despite his numerous appeals, have refused to get involved in trying to gain access to or retrieving these archives that rightfully should be returned to Ukraine.

Another major project on Mr. Misilo's agenda has been the study of Ukrainian martyrology on the territory of Poland during and immediately after World War II. Prominent within this genre are his three documentary works dealing with the expulsion of ethnic Ukrainians from the territory of Poland in the years 1944-1947, an example of "ethnic cleansing" before that term was in vogue. The first two volumes deal with the deportation of some 500,000 Ukrainians to Soviet Ukraine in the years 1944-1946. The third documents the so-called "Akcja Wisla" of 1947,' which refers to the forcible, often violent, removal of some 150,000 Ukrainians from their ancestral lands, which were incorporated into Poland, and their resettlement elsewhere in Poland. That volume was published in 1993 in Polish, but was subsequently translated into Ukrainian and published in Lviv by the NTSh.

As soon as Mr. Misilo had published his book on "Akcja Wisla," he said he was dismissed from his job at the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Decades of persistent efforts enabled Mr. Misilo to access the original records of the Polish concentration camp at Jaworzno (a branch of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp, which Polish authorities utilized after World War II), where in the years 1947-1949 some 4,000 Ukrainians were imprisoned. Mr. Misilo has compiled a reference volume with complete biographical data on each of the Jaworzno prisoners, including the dates of their arrest, conviction and sentencing.

Furthermore, Mr. Misilo has been preparing a file on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) soldiers who died on the territory of Poland, and has been assisting in the efforts to locate their burial sites.

In 2003 Polish authorities are planning to mark the anniversary of what they refer to as the "Slaughter in Volyn" - the alleged killings of a large number of ethnic Poles by the Ukrainian underground in the Volyn region of Ukraine in 1943. The committee charged with the documentation and commemoration of these alleged crimes includes a number of high government officials and is chaired by Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski. It has already received $100,000 in funding.

Mr. Misilo feels that Ukrainians must launch a counter-project that would demonstrate and document the fact that during and after World War II Ukrainians were no less victimized by the Poles. This would require a thorough search of the pertinent archives, as well as interviews with survivors, which in turn requires considerable funding. Mr. Misilo said his goal is not to exacerbate Ukrainian-Polish relations, but only to set the historical record straight.

The second part of the program at the Shevchenko Scientific Society featured a video and a slide show on "New Archeological Discoveries in Baturyn," presented with commentary by Prof. Volodymyr Mezentsev of the University of Toronto.

Baturyn, located in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, is today a provincial town with a population of about 4,000, but in the period of 1669-1708 and again in 1750-1764 it was the capital of the Kozak Hetman state and the residence of Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1708). At its peak, Baturyn had a population of about 20,000, boasting some 40 churches, two monasteries, one hetman's palace inside the town and another, built by Hetman Mazepa, on its outskirts.

In 1708, after Hetman Mazepa sided with Charles XII of Sweden in the latter's war against Tsar Peter I of Russia, Russian troops stormed and seized Baturyn. Its Kozak garrison of 8,000 and most of the civilian population, including women and children, were massacred. The town was razed and burned to the ground. Today a modest plaque commemorates the estimated 21,000 people who perished in Baturyn at the hands of the Russians in 1708.

Under the Soviet regime, no historical studies of Baturyn or of the Mazepa era in general were permitted. Excavations in Baturyn by an archeological expedition from the University of Chernihiv began only in 1995, under the guidance of Prof. Volodymyr Kovalenko. They continue today as a joint Ukrainian-Canadian project with the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies of the University of Toronto. The excavations, in which Prof. Mezentsev has also participated, are financed primarily by NTSh in New York and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies in Toronto.

So far the archeologists have reconstructed the plan of ancient Baturyn, excavated the foundations of the hetman's palace, several churches, houses of Kozak officers as well as ordinary townspeople and the town's fortifications. The excavations have yielded many artifacts of historical significance, attesting to the importance of Baturyn in commerce and culture in its day. Furthermore, they have uncovered evidence of the massive destruction of the town by fire as well as a multitude of skeletons bearing signs of violent death as Prof. Mezentsev noted that in 1708 Baturyn was turned into a mass grave.

The Ukrainian-Canadian archeological team has made two professional documentary videos in Ukrainian about the history, architecture and excavations in Baturyn, adorned with picturesque views of the area. Currently in preparation is a collection of scholarly articles dealing with Baturyn. Prof. Mezentsev is also planning a bilingual electronic publication on CD-ROM of selected articles on Baturyn. Finally, there is a need for Ukrainian researchers to visit the archives and museums in Sweden that contain a plethora of historical materials from the Mazepa era brought there from Ukraine. Realization of all of these projects, however, depends on the further support of donors, stressed Prof. Mezentsev.

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