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Lady Hamilton Speaks at UNWLA 4 0 th Anniversary Banquet Ukrainian poetess Vira Vovk “It gives me the greatest pos sible pleasure to be w ith you here tonight on the auspicious occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the U krainian National Wom en’s League of America. F irst because I admire you and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, and secondly be cause I feel we have so much in common. You m ight be interested to know how I happened to become a friend of Ukraine. In 1947, I decided th a t there should be created an organiza tion of distinguished Americans to combat international commu nism, and so I form ed Common Cause Inc., which was the first pioneer, non-partisan American citizen organization to combat communism, wherever or how ever it should m anifest itself. Quite a few of you here tonight, worked w ith me and helped me — some of you were even present a t the first exciting, emotion- filled and sometimes h eart breaking occasion at Carnegie Hall when Common Cause brought together for the first tim e in the United States all the responsible leaders in exile of all the countries in E ast Europe, the Baltic countries and the cap tive nations, inside the USSR, who had escaped from Soviet terror. It was called the Free dom Rally. It was at th a t time, in 1947, th a t as an ordinary American, newly involved in the struggle against communism, th a t I first came to know about Ukraine. I rem ember th a t I listened for hours to the whole story and was deeply moved. I felt then as I feel now, th a t your courage was enorm ous; your determ ination and your tenacity of purpose, am azing; your long struggle for freedom, inspiring. No great things can be ac complished in this world w ithout sacrifice, dedication, hard work and courage. These are all great U krainian attributes. I am sure th a t Ukrainians wherever they are —- enslaved in th eir own country or free citizens outside — will never be defeated. As an American, I salute you and ex tend to you my heart-felt trib ute. There are three things about U krainians in the United States th a t have won great respect and adm iration for you. F irst, there is the wonderful way th at as American citizens, now, you are preserving the tra ditions and ideals of Ukraine and carrying them on for the benefit of young people and the next generation, particularly through this splendid National Women’s League which has pros pered so greatly under the dedi cated efforts of Mrs. Lototsky. As a m other and a grandm other myself, I believe staunchly in th a t wonderful passage from the bible “Bring up a child in the way it should go and it will fol low th a t path forever.” How greatly we need th a t to d ay ! W ithout inspiration and idealism a nation or a people perish and you are to be m ost warmly con gratulated on the rem arkable way in which you are preserving the culture and traditions of Ukraine, until such tim e as your land will be free. Second, l am deeply impressed w ith the marvelous way in which Ukrainians have merged them selves into the American people and have become such outstand ing and constructive citizens. You are preserving the national culture of your fathers and grandfathers and at the same tim e you are m aking a great contribution to American cul ture. W e are happy to note that in 1948 at the W o rld Congress of Ukrainian W omen in Philadel phia, Lady H am ilton , then Mrs. Natalie Paine, was a speaker and YOUNG UKRAINIAN POETESS V ira Vovk belongs to the younger generation of U krainian poets, who have begun their lit erary careers beyond the borders of their homeland. Vira Vovk was born in Uk raine in the foothills of the sce nic Carpathian M ountains. The war years brought her to Ger many, where in the bom bard m ent of Dresden she lost her father. She completed her lan guage studies in Tubingen, and after receiving a doctorate in her field, she em igrated w ith her m other to Brazil. Here she found a position as an instructor of the German language in a C ath olic university in Rio de Janeiro. Vira Vovk has published four collections of her poetry and two novels. Her greatest achieve m ent has been an Anthology of Ukrainian L i terature in the Por tuguese translation, which she prepared with the assistance of Olena Kolodij. She has also pub lished a collection of her poetry in a Portuguese translation. In 1964 Vira Vovk served as the Brazilian representative to the PEN Clubs Congress which was held in Oslo. participated in the creation of the W o rld Federation of Ukrainian W o m e n ’s Organizations. НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ГРУДЕНЬ, 1965 23
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