NEWS AND ANALYSIS: Ukrainian-language version of war documentary is completed (03/06/05)

NEWS AND ANALYSIS: Ukrainian-language version of war documentary is completed

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - The Ukrainian-language version of Slavko Nowytski's documentary film "Between Hitler and Stalin - Ukraine in World War II" has been completed and a broadcast-quality copy sent to Ukraine. The narration, speaking voices, graphics and maps were translated and redone under the supervision of the director. The Ukrainian graphics and map labels were prepared by Olenka Nowytsky through her graphic design firm, Renaissance Jane. The translation of the film was done by Halyna Korian of Montreal, formerly with the Dovzhenko Film Studio in Kyiv.

Mr. Nowytski, who had chosen Jack Palance for the English-language version, wanted a narrator with a theatrical education and experience for the Ukrainian film and chose actor Nazar Stryhun, originally from Lviv. Six other voices for the English-speaking experts were taped for voice-overs, while the original voices of the Ukrainian-speaking witnesses were restored. Ukrainianization of the film was budgeted at $40,000, which was collected through fund-raising, mostly at premieres, and through a mail campaign.

Although there are long-range plans to do other languages - there is a copy of the film in Argentina for translation into Spanish, and Russian and German versions are also planned - the UCRDC was very eager to get the film shown in Ukraine before the 60th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II. Negotiations are already under way to maximize the screening and distribution of the film in Ukraine as soon as possible.

The official international celebrations of the end of the second world war on May 9 are scheduled to be held in Moscow, with the endorsement of the United Nations. U.S. President George W. Bush, Germany's Gerhard Schroeder and many other world leaders have been invited, as has been President Viktor Yushchenko. It will be interesting to see how the celebrations handle the two year period (1939-1941) of Soviet-Nazi collaboration and explain why World War II in the Soviet Union, the so-called Great Fatherland War (Velyka Vitchyzniana Viyna, often translated, incorrectly, as The Great Patriotic War) is considered to have begun only on June 22, 1941.

The presidents of the Baltic states - which, like western Ukraine, were invaded and incorporated into the USSR at the end of World War II - have split on the question of going to Moscow. Latvian President Vaira-Vike Freiberga has agreed to participate, Estonian President Arnold Ruutel has not decided, while Lithuanian President Valdus Adamkus said he does not view May 9, 1945, as a day of liberation for his country. "On that day we traded Hitler for Stalin, and we should not celebrate it," he said.

Whether President Yushchenko will go to Moscow and what will happen in Ukraine on May 9 still is not clear. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has replaced Viktor Yanukovych as head of the organizing committee of the celebrations in Ukraine.

The myth of the Great Fatherland War is still deeply rooted in Ukraine, and not only in Eastern Ukraine, as can be confirmed by checking out the "Methodological recommendations with respect to marking the 60th anniversary of the Great Fatherland War and the study of the subject 'The Great Fatherland War' in educational institutions" that appears on the official Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science website (www.mon.gov.ua) which were posted on February 25. Out of 88 recommended topics to be studied, only five - dealing with the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) - are ones that would not have appeared during Soviet times. And they seem to have been tacked on, here and there.

Teachers are told to "emphasize the deviousness of the attack of Nazi Germany" (but no mention is made of the period of Soviet-Nazi collaboration ); "in treating the occupation of Ukraine during World War II, emphasize that the Nazi leaders did not allow Ukraine state status" (as if the Stalinist Soviets did). There is a lesson on "The new order of the Nazis and their allies on the occupied Ukrainian lands," but nothing about Stalin's internal war against his own population and the scorched-earth policy implemented by the retreating Soviets in 1941.

Prof. Roman Serbyn has published widely on the topic of the myth of The Great Fatherland War showing how the myth was built on distorted historical facts and lies, and answered not the interests of the Ukrainian nation, but those of the Stalinist empire. The myth continues to undermine independence, pulling people back to a common fatherland. It brings up youth on false historical ideals and is an important factor in dividing the nation.

Independent Ukraine's former regime incorporated the myth into its nation-building and Ukrainianized it somewhat, but kept its basic concepts of fatherland, victory and liberation. So far, independent Ukraine has not been able to acknowledge as veterans those who fought for the UPA - the only armed formation that fought both Hitler and Stalin.

The aim of the English version of the film "Between Hitler and Stalin" was to inform Western audiences about the war in Ukraine, to show, as American journalist Edgar Snow says at the beginning of the film, that "The whole titanic struggle was first of all a Ukrainian war." The film has been successful in doing this; a typical reaction was one expressed by a young Canadian history student: "I didn't know so much of the war took place in Ukraine." The task of the film in Ukraine will be more difficult - not only to inform, but also to root out and challenge a decades-long myth that is still dividing the country and hindering true nation-building.

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