Categorized | Editorial

Editorial: The Past Creeps Into the Present — Here’s Hoping for a Brighter Future

Click on photos to enlarge.

Under threatening skies on 8/23/14 the 2014 Ukrainian Independence Day was celebrated at a flag raising ceremony and program at City Hall, Perth Amboy.

Those who participated included from the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption included the Pastor, Rev. Ivan Turyk and Principal of Assumption Catholic School, Michael Szpyhulsky and President of the St. Ann’s Society Melanie Fedynyshyn.

Mayor Wilda Diaz presented a proclamation to the Pastor.

The most poignant speeches were made by Melanie Fedynyshyn and Alexander Gologovski.

Fedynyshyn gave a brief history of how the Ukrainian nation came about and the hardships that it endured at the hands of the Communist Dictator Joseph Stalin. She spoke about the Ukrainian language and history. Many people want to have its history diminished, rewritten or written in what she called, “invisible ink.”

flag-gerb-ukrainy bbbShe spoke about the famine in the early 1930’s where between 6 to 9 million Ukrainian men, women and children were deliberately starved to death under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. At that time Ukrainians were dying at a rate of 30,000  people a day.

Food and grains were stolen from the homes of Ukrainian farmers by Stalin’s soldiers.

She also talked about Ukrainians who served under George Washington. Some of the last names included: Bizun, Lator, Rolyn and Zubley, among others.

Then she became very personal, talking about family members who served in Military and in the City of Perth Amboy. (See Page 11)

I personally (Carolyn) used to play in Rudyk Park quite often not realizing that it was named for the first Ukrainian American to give his life in World War II, Army PFC Stanley Rudyk. This is something that I learned from Melanie Fedynyshyn when she mentioned that in her speech.

Fedynyshyn talked about how the Ukrainians built up a whole block in Perth Amboy with the Church and School on Alta Vista Place. She was extremely proud how the Ukrainians have achieved in Law Enforcement, Education and Medical Fields.

She was proud of the fact that the Ukrainian National Federal Credit Union opened up not far from the Church.

Unfortunately there is now great turmoil and pain that Ukraine is experiencing.

Alexander Gologovski talked about this when he personally visited Ukraine. “The death toll that was reported in the media is much higher. They only count those whose bodies are fully intact, not mentioning the various body parts strewn about.”

He as a father of a 1 1/2 year old could not imagine what the parents of a child who was killed is going through.

Fr. Ivan Turyk remarked that the skies are overcast and then would suddenly become sunny, then overcast again. It reflected a day that was both joyous and sad at the same time, but at the end the spirit of the Ukrainian people will survive.

C.M.

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