Friday 24 September 2010

I want to tell about one sad page from the history of Ukraine. This thread is about the first Ukrainian and the second European museum-prison, about "National museum-memorial of the occupational regimes' victims "The Prison on Lontskyy str." in L'viv. The prison on Lontskyy str. was famous as political prison during three occupations of L'viv region: the Polish in 1919-1939, the Soviet in 1939-1941 and in 1944-1991, the Nazi in 1941-1944. The cruelest pages of this prison are dated in 1941 year, when during 22-28 on June were shot 1681 prisoners by the agents of NKVD. And also very cruel events were in 1941-1944, when the Nazi have begun to arrest the members of OUN and their relatives there. In 1936 the Ukrainian hero Stepan Bandera, a leader of OUN, stayed in the prison on Lontskyy str. after his arrest of 1934. Katheryna Zarytska, the organizer and the chief of Ukrainian Red Cross of UPA, stayed here too from 1935 till 1941. Ivan Klymiv, one of the chieves of OUN in West Ukraine in 1940-1941 and a minister in the Ukrainian government of Yaroslav Stestko, was shot on December, 4 in 1942. Yuriy Shukhevych, the member of OUN and a brother of Roman Shukhevych, the leader of UPA, was shot on June of 1941. Iryna Senyk, Ihor and Iryna Kalynets, Ivan Hel', the famous public figures in the period of the second soviet occupation (1944-1991), were arrested and stayed here for "antisoviet activity". And V'yacheslav Chornovil, the eminent public figure and politician, candidate for president of Ukraine in 1991 and in 1999, stayed in the prison in 1972-1973 for "antisoviet activity" too. (Many people considered him the best pro-Ukrainian candidate in that elections; V. Chornovil died in the autocatastrophe in 1999 under the strange circumstances).
After staying in the jail on Lontskyy str. the prisoners were shot or were sent to the camps for political prisoners. The last arrests for "antisoviet propaganda" were organized in 1989, when the citizens of L'viv went on patriotic demonstration and then some of them were taken here. Nowadays it's only memorable museum, not a prison. The museum was created to know and to remember the real Ukrainian history of that cruel XX-th century. Because who doesn't know the past, that one isn't worth for the future.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Shock. I'm shocking with the last events in Ukraine. I'm shocking with that high price for gas and with growing of the pensioner's age, proposed by the Ukrainian authority, with foolish reforms in the educational branch and with rewritting Ukrainian history in the textbooks, with taking of the frequencies of two independent from the modern authority channels ("the 5-th" and TVI) and with blocking of the participation of the party "Batkivshchyna" in Lviv and Kyiv regions in the elections on October, 31. Just great shock...
How can the Ukrainian men be the pensioners only after their 65 years old when the average life's duration of men is 63 years in Ukraine?
Why can't Ukrainian children have the right to know about the UPA (Ukrainian Revolting Army) and the Ukrainian Sichovi Striltsi, about the young heros of the fighting near the city of Kruty and the Orange revolution of 2004-th?
How can people pay for gas according new price when many of them are unemployed and the state's authority does NOTHING to change this situation? But also why should the Ukrainians pay for Russian gas for such high price when Russia pays for the transit of its gas on the Ukrainian territory for very low price? Then, the agreement about the staying of the Russian navy in the Crimea till 2042 was written providing low price for Russian gas. So? What was it? The empty promises?...
And, You know, I can't believe that the future elections will be without Tymoshenko's party "Batkivshchyna" in Lviv and Kyiv regions, in these two regions, which support the oppositional leader, probably, the most. The reason is the refusal of the ministry of the justice to register the new chieves of Lviv and Kyiv organizations of "Batkivshchyna", elected this summer. And the official election's company will start on September, 11...So that organizations have only 2 days to be registered...
(P.S. Why are the new chieves there? Because the former chieves united to the coalition with power's party).

I'm in the sorrowful spirits from this reality in Ukraine.