The Day has received a cry for help from Ukrainian residents of Moscow. The city authorities want to close Russia’s only Library of Ukrainian Literature by “reorganizing” it as a Library of the Peoples of Russia.
The Soviet regime tried to destroy this library in 1938. It took 18 years to restock this unique collection of books. The Ukrainian library has existed in its new premises for less than a year. Now they want it closed, implying that all Ukrainians know Russian, so they don’t need books in their mother tongue,
The mayor of Moscow is receiving letters from ethnic Ukrainians. Below is the abridged text of a letter from the Moscow-based Popov family.
N.B. On Wed., March 14, 2007, Yurii Kononenko, the head of the Unified Press Service of the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of Ukrainians in Russia and the Union of Ukrainians in Russia issued the following announcement:
“Today it was officially announced that the reorganization of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow will not take place. The library remains a separate state cultural institution. The order to close the library to check the collection has been rescinded, and the library is functioning as usual.”
To: Yu. M. Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow
13 Tverskaia Street, Moscow 125032, Russia
From: Herman H. Popov
Dear Mr. Luzhkov:
I write to you as the father of two little girls born in Moscow, aged eight and six. My name is Herman Hennadiovych Popov. I am 40 years old and reside in Moscow with my wife and children. I came to Moscow from Ukraine in 1983, enrolled in Bauman State Technical University of Moscow, graduated, and stayed in Moscow to work.
It was difficult for a young fellow from the Soviet provinces to get used to the capital. I was never ashamed that I was from the provinces, from Ukraine on top of it. On several occasions Moscow residents made me feel ashamed of not knowing my native Ukrainian well enough. I am from eastern Ukraine, Luhansk, and studied in a Russian school. I finished learning Ukrainian in Moscow so I wouldn’t be ashamed! I visited the Ukrainian library and the Ukrainska knyha bookstore at 9 Arbat Street.
You will agree that it is unpleasant to hear a descendant of Russian emigres somewhere in France giving an interview no longer in the Russian language. So I have tried my whole life to remember that I am Ukrainian, although a citizen of the Russian Federation. Ukrainians who live in Moscow have almost nothing but this library. But in my native city of Luhansk Russians and other Russian- speaking residents have everything and to spare.
We were immensely grateful to you when the government of Moscow resolved to establish a government-run Ukrainian library. We voted for you. For my daughters this library is the only link to the land of their forefathers; they enjoy visiting it.
The attempt of the Moscow Committee of Culture to reorganize this library as a Library of the Peoples of Russia will above all result in the loss of public respect for it. It is not even possible to imagine how this small building could accommodate collections of books representing more than 100 nationalities, or how it will serve its readers.
On behalf of my family, I ask you to please reconsider the library reorganization issue. How can a single library help the multitude of nationalities residing in Moscow?
Respectfully,
Herman, Tetiana, Khrystyna, and Yustyna Popov, residents of Moscow
COMMENTS
These letters don’t seem to have very much effect on Yurii Luzhkov - maybe they never reach him, but are shelved by his aides. Maybe other levers should be used. The Day asked parliamentarians from various factions how official Kyiv should respond to the closure of the Ukrainian library.
Viacheslav KYRYLENKO, NSNU:
We will soon issue a statement, although this issue is within the cabinet’s jurisdiction. I doubt Yanukovych or his deputy in the field will rise to the defense of the Ukrainian library in Moscow. There are no grounds to expect this. We will do our best on the level of parliamentary supervision, but from the current government we can’t expect any measures aimed at protecting Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian values, or the interests of Ukrainians who live abroad, including those in the Russian Federation.
Yaroslav SUKHY, Party of Regions:
The response from both official and unofficial Kyiv should be the same: this is a moronic, unwise, and shortsighted policy. When they say that we are fraternal peoples, it means that you cannot rob your brother’s home of a sewing machine or otherwise harm him. I don’t think that this is Russia’s policy; rather it is the policy of individual bureaucrats, who are pursuing ends best known to themselves. I don’t understand them.
The Union of Ukrainians in Russia requests all those who are genuinely concerned about the fate of Russia’s only Ukrainian library to forward their letters to Yurii Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, 13 Tverskaia Street, Moscow, 125032, Russia ([email protected]), with copies to the UUR at 10 Khokhlovsky per., Bld. 4, Moscow, 109028, Russia ([email protected]).
