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Susan F. Makohin Dr. Sofia F. Rusova My love for, interest in and asso ciation with the Ukrainian people and all things Ukrainian goes back a num ber of years. Like so many things in the lives of all women it can be blam ed on — or credited to — my hus band. Without Mr. Makohin and his great love for Ukraine I could not have had the interest in and love for" that land that I have. During our many yearf abroad it has been my privilege to really know some of the most outstanding Ukrain ians there ■— both men and women. I know them well enough to love them for their faults as well as for their good points,, and to know them well enough to appreciate just what they have done — and many of them are jStill doing — for the Ukrainian nation and people, as well as for humanity in general in this present struggle. One of the most interesting personalities in this group — perhaps the most out standing one — was Dr. Sofia Ruso- va. I wonder if the Ukrainian people — particularly those in the United States and Canada — fully realize just how great a personality and a patriot Dr.' Rusova was and what the Ukrain ian nation really lost by her death in Prague on February 5, 1940. I doubt it. Although Dr. Rusova was not a Ukrainian by birth — she was Swed ish — when she married Professor Rusov she adopted the Ukraine as her Country and its people as her peo ple and never ceased working, for them until the day of her death. She spent her entire life for that one cause and worked with an energy and intel ligence seldom seen anywhere by any one. It was our very good fortune — my husband’s and mine — to have known Dr. Rusova intimately. She was our friend as we were hers. We both had a deep understanding of and love for this frail little woman. She was tiny — scarcely five feet in height — and so very frail and delicate looking, one was very deceptive, however, for in spite of her frailness, she had the en ergy of six normal persons. Until I really knew her intimately even I did not have the slightest conception of just how much of a human dynamo this tiny Httle* woman was. She was very active — mentally and physical ly — and had the keenest of minds. Nothing was too much trouble or too much work for her to do. She was in telligent as well as intellectual, a rare combination. In her personal tastes and habits she was extremely simple and even frugal. I have known her to walk three miles through the city streets of Prague in order tro save the few pennies the street car would have cost her so that she might be able to give that small amount to help some one else. And this, too, at the age of eighty. She had — like so many truly great people — a deep love for her fellowman, as well as an unusual un derstanding of his problems and heartaches. 1 knew Dr. Rusova best, and saw her most frequently, while she lived in Prague during the last ten years of her life. During these same ten years she also visited us a few times in Ge neva, Switzerland. These holidays with us in Switzerland were always a source of great happiness to both of us and she enjoyed them wholeheart edly as a small child would. You Ukrainian women of America and Canada may not realize it — in fact you may not even know it — but Dr. Rusova did more for the Uk rainian cause abroad than any other woman I have ever known. She had an unlimited faith in the women of the world — and particular ly in the women of Ukraine. They were both her life and her hope for any kind of a future worthy of the sacrifice that the world is going through today. She used to spend ma- ; ny hours arguing with Mr. Makohin on woman's place in world affairs and their ability to carry on, and through, whatever might be necessary under any and all circumstances. When she thought that perhaps he (Mr. Mako hin) did not entirely agree with her she would then appeal to me to help her convince him how right she was. All women know that all battles 1 fought in any wars are not fought on the battlefields — nor are they fought by men. I believe that the Ukrainian women know this fact perhaps better than any other women in this world. Certainly the Ukrainian women living in any part of Eastern Europe know this with a greater degree of clearness than most Their ■ lives have been -— still are — a continued battle. Most Nations have suffered from Wars. In our own time it has been the World War of 1914-1918 and now this present war, but for the Ukrain ian people it has been a continued succession of wars for many, many years — even during the so-called “Peace Years” following World War I. The women of the Ukraine have had far more .than their share of mis ery, suffering and heartbreak that comes with and follows any war and all wars. In this present war they have again been forced to bear far more than their share of the load. They have fought, they are still fighting and they will continue to fight with a courage beyond all understanding. They surely deserve full credit for their sacrifices and they surely have earned and deserve full recognition of the almost super-human part that they have played in this war. They are entitled to — for they have earned — some consideration and a little more justice in the final settlement of things than they have received up until this n oment. This they must get for they have earned it. The Ukrainian people, and particularly the Ukrainian women, have earned the right to the same jus tice that has been promised so freely to aii other nations. They have fought in this war as no other nation fighting in this or any other war —< has fought. And in this statement I in clude both the Poles and the Greeks — two nations who have also fought magnificently — but not more so than the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians have earned — and earned the hard way — their right to freedom and indepen dence, their right to live and to gov ern th^ir own lives. They have earned the right to some of this justice that has been promised to one and all, rich and poor, great and small nation. All this too must be given to the Ukrain ians. Jtf it is not given to them then there is certainly something very wrong somewhere. You women over here have done much — -.you are doing a wonderful work and you must continue to do even more — for it is always the wo men who must carry the burden. It is also the women who could — and should — see to it that another war cannot happen again in another twen ty to twenty-five years. It is truly amazing how very little it takes to really make people happy and it is al ways the simple things in life that make- people the happiest and that they want and are both willing to fight and to die to protect. These simple things could be, and should be, avail able to all and there is no just reason on earth why they cannot be. If all women act intelligently and cooperate they can produce a force so strong that they can accomplish anything that they wish to accomplish. They can compel that honesty, decency and truth be restored once more in the world. Public opinion is still the most, powerful weapon that we have and the women of the wold have the pow er in their own hands itov make this world as they wish it to be — as it could be and as it should be. There is room enough on this earth for all and “live and let live” has yet to be improved upon as a motto. We need so desperately 4right now, and all over the earth, a; little more of both,'love of God and love of fellow man. All these simple truths Dr. Ruso- va recognized too and tried so hard to do something about. She foresaw very clearly much of what has happened in the world in the past five years — she foresaw all this, years before there was more than a bare possibility of its happening. She tried so hard to awak en the women of Europe to their dan ger and to their duty in doing some thing to avert the present catastrophe. I will quote here a very small part of her speech at the International Wo men’s Congress at Grenoble, France in 1935. “Delegates and representatives of the Women of the World. Today, as on so many occasions in the past, I have the honor and privilege of add ressing you — the women of the na tions of the world — as a representa tive of my nation, the Ukraine. To day, as in the past, I wish to say and to insist that this go on record, that the women of Ukraine are not only willing but that they are anxious too and insist upon, cooperating with the women of all other nations for justice and freedom for all nations. Justice and freedom for all nations —■ small or large, rich or poor, and that they also insist on this same justice and freedom for their nation — the Uk raine. I am an old woman but I cannot help but see that there are signs now showing that unless the women of alf nations get together, insist upon, work for — and if necessary fight for and die for — real justice and free dom for all nations — then within the coming five or ten years at the very longest this world will be plung ed into the greatest catastrophe that has ever stricken it. If we do not heed these signs history will condemn us for not doing our duty and for not trying to avert and prevent such a calamity. So I beg of you — all of you — work together and prepare for a real freedom for all, including the Ukraine.” We watched her make this speech — this tiny little woman with the voice of a dove and the fighting spirit of a modern Jeanne d’Arc. She was truly a great soul and a great patriot and even those delegates at the Con gress who did not care to hear any- thing about any kind of freedom for any kind of “a Ukraine, (and there were many such there), had to ap plaud her. To the everlasting sorrow of all the world her prophecy has since come true, and we, the women of the world, did not do enough to stop it. Are we doing enough now to stop a future repetition of the same thing? I wovtld also like to quote a bit from another letter that I received from Dr. Rusova,for I think it will interest you women. It was written for her, by a friend at JBoruvka Sanatorium in Pague on February 4, 1940. This was the day before she died. “Dear Lady Makohin — Sasha no doubt is writ ing you. She keeps telling me all will be well, but I know better. My time has come and I am not sorry to gdt I tried my best to do my small part for my suffering Ukraie. Before I Write you on other and more personal things " I want to -beg of you to influence yuur good husband, who has done so much for us, to study the work or bet ter still the results of the work, of the Ukrainian women emigre and particularly of those in America. You know that during the ma“y years that I have had the privilege of knowing and admiring him your husband has always been very enthusiastic and full of admiation fojr the work of the Uk rainian women in their homeland. He was, however, very often discouraged and at times even bitter about the work of the Ukrainian women abroad. “He said that they did not do as much as they could have done and should have done. I disagreed with him many times but this did not help. I am sure that if he studies this ques tion — and the results — cafe fully, he will — he must — change his mind. I am sure of this for he is very just and having done so much for the Uk rainians (maybe they do not either know or realize just how much, but I do) I would want him to know that he was mistaken. Maybe this is my last letter to you although I sincerely hope not, but I want you to do this one thing for me. And just one thing more, please — if I am right, I hope that some day he will tell some of the Ukrainian women in America just this.” The rest of the letter was personal and it was her last letter for she died the next morning. Because of Dr. Rusova’s request Mr. Makohin did study the work of the Ukrainian women here in the U. S. and has since told some of you that he was wrong aiid that it gave him great happiness to be able to tell you that. You have done and you are doing fine work. After listening to the speech of one of these women — Mrs. Lototska the head of Soyuz Ukrainok of America here in Boston on May 7th I decided that you should know this. Dr. Ruso va was right and it gives me great (Continued on Page 7) Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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