Future Generations Will Speak Ukrainian In the Donbas and Crimea

As an old friend of The Day, I would like to share some of my ideas and impressions. One day, thanks to your column “Ukraine Incognita,” I plunged into the unknown pages of Ukrainian history. This activity revived my interest in my own family history. Much of what I learned was carried in your article entitled “The Story of One Family.” Even now I am amazed by the patriotic act of my grandfather Mykhailo who, in 1918, during the period of the Ukrainian National Republic, left his home in Petrograd and returned to Kyiv. Here is what he wrote in a letter (in Ukrainian) titled “Request,” to the general secretary of finance (a copy of the original has been preserved): “As a Ukrainian citizen and wishing now to live in and serve my homeland, I have the honor to request that the General Secretariat assign me a post in the city of Kyiv.” Sadly, his life took a dramatic turn; eventually he had to emigrate from Ukraine, but my father stayed. But my point is this. Somehow I didn’t pay any special attention to the fact that my grandfather wrote in Ukrainian, and that I speak and write in Russian, and subscribe to the The Day’s Russian version, although when I returned to Ukraine in 1954, I sent my children to a Ukrainian school. Needless to say, my granddaughters speak Ukrainian, but I’m ashamed of my Ukrainian — at my age.

I’m not particularly concerned about the debate concerning the status of Russian as an official language in Ukraine, because this was a question related to the pre-election battles, and it will eventually be dropped. I am certain that future generations will study and use Ukrainian, including the Donbas and the Crimea. For me, attending a concert of Ukrainian romances at the National Philharmonic Society was both a lesson and a revelation. To my shame, I felt at a loss because of the shortcomings in my knowledge of Ukrainian folksongs and my lexical inadequacy. The only consolation was that I could listen to the charming Ukrainian romances and the beautiful voices of Nina Matviyenko, Taras Kompanychenko, the group Hurtopravtsi, and of course, Oleh Skrypka, who organized the soiree. I’m immensely grateful to them all. I regret to say that my education is incomplete, that I missed my chance to master the colorful and melodious Ukrainian language, although perhaps it’s possible to correct this mistake even at my age. I also think that the Ukrainian state should undertake to teach the official language to all citizens; that it should follow the Soviet example, when all those schools “for the liquidation of illiteracy” were organized and proved quite effective in the 1920s-1930s.

Your newspaper has always been a source of good advice for me; I’ve found answers to many topical questions in the pages of your publication, although I must admit that I don’t always agree with some of your authors and that some are simply unacceptable to me. There are also some I can’t stand, if you don’t mind my saying so. A number of politicians who represent various forces continue to write the Soviet way, resorting to distorted facts, forgetting that this country and its people have learned to separate the husk from the grain over the past 14 years. Personally, I feel more affinity with the students of Ostrih Academy and their views on the Orange Revolution and the new government (Den’, #57), because although I speak Russian, all my thoughts are linked to the Ukrainian idea. That was why I often visited the Maidan where I joined the ranks of the Kyiv- Mohyla students. These events left with the most memorable impressions.

Concluding my confession, I would like to advise everyone who is hesitating: “Ladies and gentlemen! Don’t feel embarrassed! Learn the state language of Ukraine!”