September 26, 1997

Major Ukrainian historical series reaches the English world

Dr. Frank Sysyn

For more than 50 years, no one dared utter his name for fear of punishment. Ukrainians living under Soviet occupation from the 1930s on could not speak of Mykhailo Hrushevsky or refer to his 10-volume works.

The Soviets were trying to wipe out any trace of Ukrainian culture and history, says Dr. Frank Sysyn, director of the Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research at the U of A. As a result, an entire generation of Ukrainians is not familiar with the works of its "most important modern historian" and president of the Ukrainian National Republic in 1918.

But that all changed with Ukrainian independence. Now, the History of Ukraine-Rus' is being translated into English, with volume one published and ready for sale.

Sysyn, who is also editor-in-chief of this enormous task, says Hrushevsky's work is the authoritative history of Ukraine and its people, and the English version comes at a time of increasing interest in Ukraine given its recent independent statehood. "His writings of scholarly history were an acclamation of cultural affirmation," says Sysyn. The launch of History of Ukraine-Rus' in English serves to "unite the Ukrainian past with the Canadian present."

Hrushevsky's series trace Ukrainian history from prehistoric times to the mid-seventeenth century. They were originally published between 1898 to 1937. One volume is missing. It disappeared from Ukrainian archives in the 1970s. It was never published because of Stalinist persecution of Ukrainian culture.

In the late 1980s, Ukrainians once again had access to the books and 100,000 copies were reprinted as one of the celebrations of their new freedom.

"People lined up in the streets to buy them," says Sysyn.

There is a German version of volume one and four volumes in Russian. But when the Peter Jacyk Centre was founded in 1989, the Hruchevsky English translation project was born. The University of Alberta soon became headquarters for a team of scholars working in Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Britain, Canada and the United States.

The translations will have full bibliographies of the more than 1,700 works cited in 30 languages, in addition to updates on scholarly literature.

Sysyn says a scholastic achievement such as this moves beyond the realm of academia. While many scholars, graduate and undergraduate students can make use of the series, many people in the Ukrainian community are purchasing the volume to give as gifts to their children, says Sysyn. You don't even have to be Ukrainian to enjoy it, he laughs.

"I have a friend who's an astrophysicist and loves history, and he's happily reading it."

Two hundred books have already been sold, with a press run of 1,500 copies. And that's before any publicity, says Sysyn.

"Some people have paid the $500 cost for the entire series up front, even though we hope to publish one volume every 18 months. That's a vote of confidence."

Such a formidable task does not come without huge production costs -$6 million for the entire project. But more than $700,000 has been raised from private donations, including funds from the National Endowment Council in Washington, D.C.

"Two school teachers in Saskatchewan donated $25,000 of their money because they want the younger generations of Ukrainians, who don't read Ukrainian, to know about their history," explains Sysyn.

After the official book launch in Edmonton, the celebrations continue in New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Saskatoon, Regina, Seattle, Munich, Kyiv and Lyiv.

As for Sysyn, he's headed to a well-deserved sabbatical in Germany, "cut to six months because of my obligations here."

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