LETTER TO THE EDITOR (05/28/06)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Ukraine's history, then and now

Dear Editor:

I would like to make some comments in regard to an article in The Ukrainian Weekly on Sunday, April 30: "Von Hagen revisits the question 'Does Ukraine Have a History?' " by Roma Hadzewycz.

This question was raised in the past, and often negated by the occupiers of Ukrainian territories, but Ukrainians always believed in their history. Some Polish historians argued in the pre-World War II period that Hrushevsky's history of Ukraine was fiction. Tsarist Russia's imperialistic dictum about the existence of Ukraine as a nation was: It did not exist, does not exist and will never exist. Communist historians wrote their own Marxist version of Ukraine's history as a part of Russia. Austria considered Ukraine part of its empire, and Germany saw it as its colonial "Lebensraum."

In the 20th century, Ukraine as an independent and sovereign nation, came into the political arena only in 1917-1921, and finally in 1991. Its historical past was not factually and critically known to Western and U.S. historians, whose main source of information about Ukraine's past until recently was the writings of Russian historiographers. Therefore, they denied the existence of Ukraine's history.

Prof. Mark von Hagen stated back in 1995: "if we ... look to the political geography of history teaching, we find virtually no recognition that Ukraine has a history." In his lecture during the spring 2006 he concluded by noting that "time and place do matter" and that, indeed, Ukraine has a history, though perhaps not one that easily fits the traditional nation-state paradigm.

When researching or studying Ukraine's history, one needs to account for its historic, economic and geopolitical complexity, and its "borderland legacy," as Dr. von Hagen rightfully states.

Other Western European nations or island nations (like England) had relatively secure or safe borders, and did not have to bear the brunt of invaders from all sides, as Ukraine did from its earliest history.

The history of the 21st century will record the glorious Orange Revolution as a politically important world event and will affirm Ukraine's place among the free nations of the world.

Myroslav Burbelo, M.D.
Westerly, R.I.

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