Who will save Ukrainian treasure in Sarcelles?

Representatives of the contemporary Ukrainian scholarly elite residing in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, France — and their colleagues from Ukraine, of course — arrived in Paris toward the end of September. They were made welcome at the Ukrainian embassy’s cozy cultural center. What brought together these noted scholars from all over Europe in France was the noble mission of organizing Ukrainians studies outside Ukraine, preserving the national attributes — the language, history, and traditions— in the countries of residence, and of course, full-scale education, so today’s school students could attend classes at Ukrainianinstitutions of higher learning.

Characteristically, everyone arrived in Paris at his own expense, taking a short break from intensive daily work. Paradoxically — but pleasantly — many said they really felt they were patriots of Ukraine only when they found themselves outside its borders. Many turned out to be untrained teachers who had started teaching with little else except their enthusiasm, using elementary and secondary school curricula [they remembered]. I found myself thinking about the Ukrainian immigrants before and after the First World War, following the tragic events of the 1920s, people who were actively developing Ukrainian culture, education, science, art, and history in the absence of the Ukrainian state. In fact, they succeeded in laying firm European-caliber national and intellectual foundations upon which our independent state can rely today.

Representatives of the contemporary Ukrainian scholarly elite residing in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, France — and their colleagues from Ukraine, of course — arrived in Paris toward the end of September. They were made welcome at the Ukrainian embassy’s cozy cultural center. What brought together these noted scholars from all over Europe in France was the noble mission of organizing Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine, preserving the national attributes — the language, history, and traditions — in the countries of residence, and of course, full-scale education, so today’s school students could attend classes at Ukrainian institutions of higher learning.

Characteristically, everyone arrived in Paris at his own expense, taking a short break from intensive daily work. Paradoxically — but pleasantly — many said they really felt they were patriots of Ukraine only when they found themselves outside its borders. Many turned out to be untrained teachers who had started teaching with little else except their enthusiasm, using elementary and secondary school curricula [they remembered]. I found myself thinking about the Ukrainian immigrants before and after the First World War, following the tragic events of the 1920s, people who were actively developing Ukrainian culture, education, science, art, and history in the absence of the Ukrainian state. In fact, they succeeded in laying firm European-caliber national and intellectual foundations upon which our independent state can rely today.

By way of historical parallels, even if virtual, today’s emigres are functioning in the reality of Ukrainian statehood, although this reality proves rather problematic; it has caused an exodus of what later turned out to be a number of strong, clever, and resourceful Ukrainians. Following a period of adjustment, these people set about helping Ukraine in a most active manner, setting up ethnic communities, associations, joining local authorities, winning certain preferences in their host countries, founding cultural centers and Ukrainian schools, and lobbying for Ukraine and fostering its positive international image. These are just the first tentative steps, yet their dedication and energy inspires hope: they will succeed if Ukraine turns its face rather than back to them — as was the case this time.

This seminar was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the International Ukrainian School headed by Liudmyla Ivanova. The Ukrainian embassy in France and the Ukrainian Art School in Paris made arrangements for its effective performance.

I attended the seminar to represent the educational projects of the International Institute for Education, Culture, and Contacts with Diaspora at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute National University (director Iryna Kliuchkovska), as well as the project “Emigre Children Telling About Themselves.” Since I had to pay for the trip out of my pocket, I tried to find a place to live for which I wouldn’t have to pay. Thanks to Bishop Mykhailo Hrynchyshyn, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Paris, I found myself settled in Sarcelles, in the historic building of the Europe’s Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society. It is hard to describe my emotions, considering that I had spent so many years as the executive secretary of a similar society in Lviv (from its revival in 1989 until the death of its first president Oleh Romaniv in 2005).

On the one hand, I was happy to be seated at the table around which the people who created the brilliant Encyclopedia of Ukraine, including its editor in chief Volodymyr Kubijovyc, once gathered. We were made welcome by Anna-Maria Dovhaniuk, who is essentially in charge of the mansion and its intellectual treasures. Its recent president, Arkadii Zhukovsky, is currently in his relatives’ care in Paris. His advanced age and poor physical condition prevent him from visiting this favorite brainchild of his to which he has dedicated all his knowledge and creative and organizational talents.

While with the Shevchenko Society in Lviv, I knew that the one in Sarcelles going through some hard times. Dr. Zhukovsky repeatedly wrote to the society’s board in Lviv, to that of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and to our political leadership. In 2005 I left my executive post with the Shevchenko Society in Lviv and so I knew nothing about the developments in Sarcelles. I thought it was in good hands. After I glimpsed through its library (for want of time), I was shocked and bitterly ashamed of my fellow Ukrainians and of their being so inconsistent, superficial, indifferent, verbose, vainglorious, ineffective, and evasive.

Over the years of Ukraine’s independence Sarcelles has been visited by dozens of people who represented the current elite, as well as by scholars, teachers, lecturers, art critics, and politicians. Doubtlessly, all of them saw the horrible condition of this priceless repository of the Ukrainian intellectual thought concentrated in the multivolume edition Proceedings of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, monographs, and works of art that were damaged by water, which had been leaking through the ceiling and roof for years.

Hard as it is, one can put up with the acts of vandalism perpetrated by our enemies, when they destroyed our cultural treasures, burning hundreds of unique editions and works of art in the furnaces of the Vasyl Stefanyk National Library, destroying statues created by gifted sculptors, among them Alexander Archipenko; when the invader sent home trainloads of our masterpieces, thus bleeding white our national culture. But what about our attitude today, about all of us who are living in an independent Ukraine, without the Iron Curtain? Why can’t we protect such relics of our history, science, and culture from wilt, mildew, and total destruction, when no one will be able to do anything to revive and add them to the intellect of our nation? Folly. Indifference. Immorality. A crime against the nation, against the world’s cultural heritage. A crime against our Lord, for every intellectual idea is conceived by Him, and no one has the moral right to ignore it. And we’re talking about a cultural treasure that belongs to an entire nation.

At the end of our visit Anna-Maria invited us to make an entry in the Shevchenko Society’s “Golden Guest Book.” I saw that the latest entry dated from 2008, signed by such noted Ukrainian cultural figures as Dmytro Pavlychko, Ivan Drach, and Mykola Zhulynsky. Their entry was very emotional. I will not quote it for ethical reasons, except for the last phrase: “If we fail to save this Ukrainian cultural treasure-trove in Sarcelles, we will have no right to be called patriots of Ukraine.” A year later the roof was still leaking. So who are we after this national disgrace? Perhaps the nascent contemporary Ukrainian-European elite, whose representatives paid for their trips to Paris to discuss the assertion of Ukrainian identity by organizing Ukrainian study schools abroad, will take upon its tender shoulders the burden (which would otherwise be the responsibility of the state) of saving and reviving this Ukrainian heritage in Sarcelles. And this heritage must be saved, because it was accumulated by Ukrainian emigres in the 1920s through the 1950s, when there was no Ukrainian nation-state and when they had to work in the conditions of utter deprivation. They were different but all believed they were doing something for the good of their Mother Ukraine, laying its national intellectual foundations which the new generation, the elite of a free and independent Ukraine, would use with gratitude in order to build a country after the European standard; that the new Ukraine would never forget their names and would gratefully put their intellectual heritage to good use.

So much for their expectations.

P.S. I would like to use The Day, a periodical that I respect as one that is sincerely concerned about the Ukrainian cause and all its aspects, to address all concerned Ukrainian nationals and Ukrainians who live abroad with an appeal to help solve this acute problem in Sarcelles and preserve the stock of its Shevchenko Scientific Society. Perhaps a collection campaign would spur certain governmental agencies to action in order to preserve this bulwark of Ukrainian culture in France and help it start breathing again. I sincerely hope that our independent Ukraine remembers its heroes and is actually doing something to maintain its cultural presence in the world as a genuine European country.

Yurii SAVCHUK, head of the State Service for Monitoring the Transfer of Cultural Values across the state border of Ukraine:

“It’s a fact that our government isn’t paying enough attention to cultural values that remain abroad. This is an established fact, and there are many examples to prove it. The main problem is that we don’t have a special body of authority — or a subdivision of a government agency — responsible for preserving our cultural heritage abroad. Before the financial crisis there was a project aimed at establishing a separate and all-embracing agency in charge of cultural heritage and vested with appropriate power. It hasn’t come to fruition.

“Scholars are enjoying the Encyclopedia of Ukraine; it is a valuable and, to an extent, unique reference source. It was created by the Shevchenko Society in Sarcelles. As a scholar, I can appreciate what they did. It was an exploit. Our government cannot remain uninvolved with regard to the Sarcelles problem. The general public must be made aware of it.

“In 2004, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolved to allocate $40,000 for the Shevchenko Society in Sarcelles. The main point is that this money was meant to be spent on legal paperwork needed to hand over the premises to Ukraine. This is the only possible way to save this legendary scholarly institution, but the Ukrainian parliament had to approve the appropriation. Before the 2004 elections the Verkhovna Rada was practically paralyzed. This is how even the best official decisions fall victim to political circumstances.

“I’ve visited the Taras Shevchenko Society in Sarcelles and can hardly find words to describe my feelings of pain and shame for the Ukrainian state.”

Natalia Humnytska is a research fellow with the International Institute for Education, Culture, and Contacts with Diaspora