Borys Hmyria’s memorabilia are under threat!

Ukraine may lose Hmyria’s archives! Hmyria Foundation’s president Hanna Prynts has appealed to the Ministry of Culture and Kyiv City Council for help. She told this newspaper that the apartment and memorabilia pertaining to the life of the famous opera singer and people’s artist of the USSR were under arrest for a debt (the borrowed money had been spent on publishing the book Borys Hmyria’s Diaries (1936-1969), which The Day’s Ukrainian-language edition had wrote about already in its No. 100, June 11, 2010). The singer’s heiress, niece of his wife and the book’s compiler Prynts told The Day:

“A real historical value is contained not in the singer’s furniture and his famous piano, but in Hmyria’s archives. It includes 7,000 letters to prominent contemporaries, sheet music collection with the author’s notes, complete phonograph discography, and, most valuable of all, archive of original records that during the singer’s life were recorded at the Melody firm... I asked various bodies to create the Hmyria National Center and Museum in his apartment. I wrote letters to various senior officials, up to president and prime minister of Ukraine, but have not received a single response. To publish the book, I have borrowed money from Josef Vondrous, a Czech citizen. I had expected the book to be purchased for university libraries by the government, but officials of the Ministry of Culture who had signed agreement to this effect have been dismissed, while the new leadership is not paying for Hmyria’s Diaries... After I failed to repay the loan earlier this year, Vondrous filed a lawsuit, and the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv charged me 261,560 hryvnyas in debt and 1,820 hryvnyas in legal costs this April, while the last hearing was held on October 28. I requested an extension of payment because I was unable to pay the entire amount, as the books had not been sold yet, with only 50,000 of them having been bought by the Kyiv City Council, but Vondrous’s representative disagreed and requested full and immediate payment. The judge decided against me, and the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ordered the seizure of the pro-perty, that is, Hmyria’s apartment... You know, I feel that our country is short of intellectuals and patriots who would care about the fact that the singer’s memorabilia will be auctioned to pay the debt. I am surprised with the attitude of the Ministry of Culture and the Kyiv City Council. The officials tell me there is no money for this purpose not only this year, but next year, too (the budget does not provide for the Diaries’ purchase). I do not know whom to ask now. The debt amount is still growing, and my impression is that it increases every day. Should the bailiffs come and make inventory of the property, Hmyria’s valuables would perish forever, and the museum apartment would never come to be! This should not be allowed!”

“Hmyria’s Diaries’ publication is a matter for the nation, and not the singer’s family (to publish this biographical study, his heiress Prynts borrowed 294,000 hryvnyas from a Czech citizen),” chairman of the Kyiv City Council’s Commission on Culture and Tourism Oleksandr Bryhynets was quoted as saying by his press service. “This undertaking should involve culturologists and professional managers. Not surprisingly, the family has not coped with the financial burden, and the property, which over time may become Hmyria’s apartment museum, is now in danger.”