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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЛЮТИЙ 2009 21 OUR LI FE Monthly, published by Ukrainian Na tional Women’s Leag ue of America Vol. LXVI FEBRUARY 2009 SHARING THOUGHTS, VIEWS, & NEWS February is a month that strongly evokes the spirit of the past, a month during which we commemorate Ukrainian heroines, extraordinary women who are remembered by our branches and honored for their bravery and love of country. Indeed, many UNWLA branches are named in their honor, with members choosing a particular patroness whose life and sacrifices are admired and deserve to be remembered. On Sunday, February 26, 1956, a mass protest rally was held by Ukrainian American women at the Ukrainian National Home in New York City. The women participating in this protest unanimously adopted a set of resolutions regarding the 500 Ukrainian Women murdered in Soviet camps — the victims we’ve come to know as “The 500 Ukrainian Heroines of Kinghir , ” and a letter signed by the United Ukrainian Women’s O rganizations of America was written to President Eisenhower, stating that the signatories had “resolved to call your attention to an act of deliberate murder committed by Soviet authorities upon five hundred Ukrainian women in the concentration camp of Kinghir, Karaganda, by ordering heavy tanks against these defenseless women and crushing them to death.” The resolutions further requested that these acts of wanton murder against a civilian population during peace time be brought to the attention of the United Nations. These brave women remain a part of our consciousness as Ukrainian women and are remembered annually during “Sviato Heroiny.” In February 1871, Lesya Ukrainka, one of Ukraine’s most prolific and important poets , was born. We are fortunate that her literary legacy is abundant and accessible to us. The many documents (such as the letters published in the UNWLA- sponsored book “Lysty Tak Dovho Idut,” 2002), photographs that capture her with the people important to her, and her memoirs all help us understand what meant most to Lesya Ukrainka and what defined her. Lesya Ukrainka’s poetry often returned to the melodies of her native land, and two recurring words often found in her poetry are “kryla” and “pisnya” (wings and song). Literary critics conclud e that she must have had a subconscious yearning to free herself from her ailing body and “soar on imaginary wings like a song.” We see this in the way she lived as well as in the poetry she wrote. Despite her illness, Lesya Ukrainka never gave up on her l ife’s motto —“Contra spem spero” or “Hope against hope , ” words that underscore the determination and tenacity that produced the persona whose life and literary works we commemorate each February. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the inception of “Nashe Zhyttia” or Our Life and, as was noted in the January issue and has been done in the past, we plan to feature archival materials and articles that commemorate the magazine’s history and reflect its purpose. On the 60th anniversary of the magazine the U NWLA proclaimed 2004 as the “Year of Our Life ” and Regional Councils and Branches across the country held events to celebrate the magazine’s successes and also to raise funds to ensure its continuation. The January 2004 issue (page 9) featured an article written in 1944 by Our Life ’s first editor Claudia Olesnycky who wrote, “In publishing the first issue of Our Life , our intention is to work on what has united us and not what divides us. To those who question whether it is the right time to publish, our answer is a definite yes!”
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