John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk), April 3, 1920 (Dubovi Makharenci, Vinnytska oblast, Ukraine) – March 17, 2012 (Bad Feilnbach, Bavaria, Germany) was a Ukrainian-American auto worker, a former soldier in the Soviet Red Army, and a prisoner of war during the Second World War.
During World War II he was conscripted into the Soviet Red Army, where he was captured as a German prisoner of war.
In 1952 he emigrated from West Germany to the United States and was granted citizenship in 1958. In 1977 an American newspaper “News from Ukraine” published an article and a picture of a forged ID card with Demianiuk photo on it. The article stated that Demianiuk was a trainee in the Trawniki training camp for guards.
In 1986 he was deported to Israel to stand trial for war crimes, after being identified by eleven Holocaust survivors as "Ivan the Terrible," a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp in Nazi occupied Poland. Demianiuk was accused of committing murder and acts of extraordinarily savage violence against camp prisoners during 1942–43. He was convicted of having committed crimes against humanity and sentenced to death there in 1988. The verdict was overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993, based on new evidence that "Ivan the Terrible" was probably another man.
In 2001 Demianiuk was charged again, this time on the grounds that he had, instead, served as a guard named Ivan Demianiuk at the Sobibór and Majdanek camps in Nazi occupied Poland and at the Flossenbürg camp in Germany.
He was convicted in 2011 in Germany for alleged war crimes as an accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews. Since his conviction was pending appeal at the time of his death, Demianiuk remains innocent under German law, and his earlier conviction is invalidated. According to the Munich state court, Demianiuk does not have a criminal record.
Nick was born in the village of Shepenets in Bukovyna, on February 5, 1907 where he learned to play the dulcimer (cymbaly) at the age of 8. His uncle, a professional bandmaster, taught Nick the fundamentals of the instrument and he joined his uncle playing weddings and parties around the countryside. By the age of 12 years Nick Mischi was considered a professional by many musicians in Ukraine. In 1928 Nick left his homeland and immigrated to Canada. Having left his dulcimer with his uncle, Nick purchased another in Winnipeg in 1930. Nick Mischi played with a variety of orchestras in and around Winnipeg before moving west to Edmonton in the 1930's. His early career was limited because he moved across western Canada. Each place he lived, Nick picked up his dulcimer and joined a local band. Over the 77 years of his playing career, 63 he contributed in Edmonton and Central Alberta. Some of the musicians Nick played with in and around Edmonton are: Bill Boychuk (Easy Aces), Joe Trachyk (The Marango's), Peter Kassian (Sons of the Ukrainian Pioneers), Ron Lakustra's Orchestra.
As early as the 1930's Nick played on a variety of radio stations. In the 1950's Nick Mischi entertained radio audiences in the Edmonton area on radio shows, which were started by Henry Smichure on C.F.R.N. and C.H.F.A. radios. These programs were live at sponsors premises as well as live shows at the radio studios. When C.F.C.W. radio started their "Ukrainian Hour" program some 33 years ago, Nick was asked to preform many times.
Judging dulcimer competitions for many years, in places like Lakeview Pavilion, Red Barn, Vegreville Pysanka Festival and Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, in which he competed as well, Nick won many first place trophies and earned a reputation as one of Alberta's finest dulcimer (cymbaly) players.
Throughout the years during his playing career Nick cut many records with different orchestra's. His favourite was "Dulcimer in Concert" which was recorded with a nine piece Chamber Orchestra from the University of Alberta. Some of these records were sold across Canada.
Nick Mischi retired from playing with orchestras in 1986 but was still active teaching young people, some from as far away as Calgary, Alberta, to play the dulcimer and to carry on the tradition of ethnic Ukrainian music in Western Canada.
On August 30, 1992 Nick Mischi was one of many competitors at the Ukrainian Music festival held at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. First place performance in the master category by the 85 year young Nick Mischi on his dulcimer (cymbaly), an overwhelmed audience of over 400 people gave Nick a standing ovation. The Festival was hosted by Johnny Bohonos of C.F.C.W.'s radio "Ukrainian Hour".
In 1993 Nick Mischi appeared as one of the guest artists in two concerts at the Annual Vegreville Pysanka Festival 1993, and was applauded loudly by the audience. The same year Nick also took part at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village during Ukrainian Day, entertaining audiences.
Nick Mischi was a talented dulcimer musician. He played by ear, keeping alive the unwritten music for dulcimer. Nick passed away in 2006.
Roman Andrew Brytan was born in Edmonton, AB, on December 4, 1959 to Michael and Annie Brytan. Roman was married to Suzanna Brytan (nee Sidlar). They had five children. Roman was the voice of the Ukrainian community across Alberta, as he worked with CKER Radio 1480-turned 101.7 World FM, from March 1982 until November 2017. Over these 35 years, Roman's practice of his calling brought together all parts of the Ukrainian Canadian community, as he was regularly called upon to host and MC many events - local, provincial, national and international. Roman devoted his life to his community and to his family. He always said that his children kept him young, and instilled in them a pride in their heritage, culture and traditions. A broadcaster, song-writer, playwright, poet, lyricist, deejay, movie actor and event producer, Roman was the consummate showman, making sure that any event associated with his name was carried out with the utmost of professionalism and flare. His work was a credit to the Ukrainian community, elevating the efforts of its arts sector beyond its own expectations. His devotion to the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) was evidenced by the many years he spent as local, and later national, president. Roman was a keynote speaker on many subjects connected to media and community, and in his later years, he earned the respect of his peers, playing the role of mentor and "elder statesman" to younger generations who sought his counsel. Roman passed away on November 26, 2018, at the age of 58 years.
Ashley Halko-Addley, born September 1, 1995 in Regina, Saskatchewan, is the youngest of three children to Kathy and the late Wayne Halko. Ashley was baptized Ukrainian Orthodox at the Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Melnychuk) near Tuffnell, SK.. Throughout school, she participated in Ukrainian dance and danced with the Chaban Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and Zabutnyy Dance Company in Regina, and the Cudworth Ukrainian Dance Club. While attending university for her undergraduate degree in Saskatoon, she was a member of the Solovei Ukrainian Dance Group and the Lastiwka Ukrainian Orthodox Choir. While attending university for her graduate degree in Edmonton, she was involved with the Veeteretz School of Ukrainian Dance and the Viter Ukrainian Dancers and Folk Choir (choir member).
Ashley attended the University of Saskatchewan from 2013-17, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts High Honours degree in Anthropology with a minor in Ukrainian Studies. Ashley was on the Dean's List (top 5%) each year, and in 2017, she was awarded the Most Outstanding Graduate in Anthropology from the College of Arts and Science. Ashley spent five weeks in Ukraine in 2016 studying Anthropology and language at the Ternopil National Pedagogical University, as part of the St. Thomas More College Spring Session in Ukraine program. During her undergraduate degree, Ashley received numerous awards and scholarships, including the John Russell Kowalchuk Award in Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Self-Reliance Association Language Award, the Rose Semko-Hrynchuk Scholarship, the Leo J. Krysa Family Undergraduate Scholarship, and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Saskatchewan Provincial Council Community Achievement Award in the Youth Achievement category.
Ashley was very active in the Ukrainian student movement. In her first two years of university, Ashley was a resident of St. Petro Mohyla Institute. During that time, she sat on the executive of the Kameniari Ukrainian Student Society, serving her first term as Treasurer, and second term as President. She served three terms on the executive of the University of Saskatchewan Ukrainian Students’ Association, as Mohyla Representative, Vice-President Internal, and co-President. Ashley also sat on the board of directors of the Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union (SUSK) for three terms, as Alumni Director for two years, and as Executive Vice-President for one year. Ashley also sat on the University of Alberta Ukrainian Students’ Society executive as Media Technician.
She has worked as a Museum Assistant at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada in Saskatoon, Marking Assistant for Ukrainian language classes at the University of Saskatchewan, as Assistant Director in the two sessions: children and teens at Green Grove Camp, Wakaw Lake, as counsellor at St. Petro Mohyla Institute’s Ukrainian Summer Immersion Cultural & Language Program, as a Research Assistant at the Kule Folklore Centre, and at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village.
Ashley moved to Edmonton in September 2017. She completed her Master of Arts in Media and Cultural Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies in 2019. Ashley received the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master’s (SSHRC CGS-M) in 2018. Her research topic was the Ukrainian wax healing ceremony on the Canadian Prairies.
Bohdan Medwidsky was born in 1936 in Stanislaviv in interwar Poland (present day Ivano-Frankivs'k in Ukraine) in the family of Konstantyn and Natalia (nee Lebedowych) Medwidsky. He was separated from his family at the age of 2, and grew up in Switzerland where he learned to speak French and German. When he was 12, he was reunited with his family in Vienne and that's where he first met his younger brother Wolodymyr. The family came to Canada on a ship from Hamburg to Quebec City as a post-WWII refugee in 1949. They settled in Toronto, where Bohdan's family operated a pharmacy. Both Bohdan and Wolodymyr were active in Plast, Ukrainian scouts organization. The family attended St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic church, a converted Presbyterian building, whose members were almost all also recent Ukrainian immigrants.
Bohdan attended Huron school in Toronto in his first year, then switched to Howard Park. He attended Humberside High School. He enjoyed history best among all his subjects. When he completed high school, Bohdan continued on to university. He was interested in furthering his Ukrainian studies, and chose that as his major field. He was quite committed to academics, and knew early that he wanted to continue into graduate school. His parents didn’t particularly push him to become a Ukrainianist, but neither did they discourage it.
Bohdan di his graduate studies at the University of Toronto. Toronto had a well developed Russian program, but little Ukrainian studies at that time. There were two graduate courses in Ukrainian literature, taught by Professor George Luckyj. Though Bohdan had declared a research interest in Ukrainian linguistics, he attended more classes on Russian literature than Ukrainian, and more on Ukrainian literature than linguistics. Professor Luckyj’s own research specialization dealt with Ukrainian literary politics in the early Soviet period. Bohdan’s classmate Danylo Struk pushed to be allowed to write his dissertation on a Ukrainian literature topic, rather than a Russian one, which in a way paved the way for Bohdan who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the language of Vasyl' Stefanyk's novels.
After a short teaching contract at Carlton University in Ottawa, he moved to Edmonton in 1971, when he received a teaching position at the University of Alberta. In 1977, he offered his first class in Ukrainian Folklore. Soon after, several class offerings grew into a graduate program in Ukrainian Folklore, third folklore program in Canada to offer both master's and PhD degrees. Medwidsky became the founder of the Ukrainian Folklore Archives and in 1989, established the Ukrainian Folklore Archives Endowment Fund.
Over the years, Dr. Medwidsky was very active in professional societies in Alberta, Canada, and abroad, as well as in numerous Ukrainian community organizations. In the late 1970s, he served to develop bilingual Ukrainian school programs in Alberta supported by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. He was a founding member of the Ministerial Advisory Board to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village in 1982. Bohdan Medwidsky served on the board of the Friends of the Ukrainian Village Society, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Association of Ukrainian Writers Slovo, the Alberta Society for Advancement of Ukrainian Studies, the Ukrainian Pioneers Association of Alberta, the Alberta Ukrainian Commemorative Society, the Western Canadian Branch of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and many other organizations.
Born at Elphinstone on 1 March 1910, son of Anna Dziewer, he attended the Brandon Normal School and, over the next 40 years, taught at Rossburn School, Elphinstone School, and Minnedosa North School (1952-1953). He served as the Principal of Sandy Lake School (1946-1952) and McCreary School (1953-1956). In 1956, he moved to Fort Frances, Ontario where he taught for 16 years in the local high school, retiring in 1974. While teaching, he attended summer school and received BA and BEd degrees from the University of Manitoba, an MA from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD from the Ukrainian Free University of Munich, Germany. He translated first-person accounts by Ukrainian pioneers to Canada during the period from 1891 and 1914, and in 1978 published the book Land of Pain, Land of Promise based on them. He also co-edited a pocket book guide Ukraine and Ukrainians in 1984-1985. He died at Fort Frances on 27 July 1990.
Monica Kindraka Jensen holds graduate degrees in Art History, Comparative Literature, and a PhD in Folklore. She was a graduate student in the Ukrainian Folklore program at the University of Alberta in 1999-2005. Monica defended her doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky.
Monica worked as a curator in a succession of Contemporary Art museums, Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin, Texas, the last among them. In 1984, she moved to Berkeley where she met her future husband. They now live in Bloomington, Indiana, where Monica continues scholarly pursuits as a Visiting Associate Professor. She volunteers as a docent at the university's Eskenazi Museum of Art and she loves sewing.
Anna Drepko was born in 1925 in Novosilka, a small village in Ternopil, Ukraine. Her life as she knew it was disrupted when the second world war started and she was forcibly taken to Germany to work as a labourer. When the war ended, Anna immigrated to Scotland. There she lived in a hostel with young Ukrainian women, all of whom worked in a thread factory. In 1949, Anna met and married her husband, who was residing in Oldham, England, at the time and who coincidentally was also from Novosilka. They settled in Oldham for the next several years. Shortly after the birth of their first child, Maria, the family immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba where, four years later their second child, Myron, was born. Anna has resided in Winnipeg ever since.
Life in Winnipeg centered around the Ukrainian community, primarily the Ukrainian Canadian Institute Prosvita and the church. It was very important for Anna and her husband to raise their children according to Ukrainian culture and traditions: They enrolled them in the Ukrainian youth organization SUM, Ukrainian dance classes and ridna shkola.
Anna's passion was embroidery. i assume her interest may have been sparked while living and working in Scotland. Upon arriving in Canada, Anna spent a great deal of her spare time embroidering. As life in Winnipeg unfolded, Anna's time eventually became devoted elsewhere, but she did continue to embroider on a lesser scale until the early 1990s.
Anna passed away in Winnipeg on September 8, 2018. The following information is the obituary from the Korban Funeral Home website: Retrieved from https://www.korbanchapel.com/notices/Anna-Drepko on 2019-01-09.
"Peacefully, on September 8, 2018, after a lengthy debilitating illness, Anna entered into God’s Kingdom. Anna was born in Novosilka, Ternopil, Western Ukraine, to parents Antin and Kateryna. At the age of 17, she was taken from her home and family by the German army, to work forced labour on a farm in Germany. She was liberated by the American army when the Second World War ended, and spent time in a DP camp in Germany. From there she immigrated to Paisley, Scotland, where she lived in a hostel with other young Ukrainian women, all of whom worked in a thread factory. When Anna married her husband Hryhorij, they settled in Oldham, England, where their daughter Maria was born. In 1952, Anna and her family crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Winnipeg, where their son, Myron was born. Beginning a new life in Canada posed many challenges, but Anna and Hryhorij worked tirelessly to provide a good life for their young family.
Anna was very proud of her rich Ukrainian heritage, culture and language. She spent any spare moment embroidering traditional Ukrainian designs. Some of her vyshyvky are at the University of Alberta at the Kule Folklore Centre. She also ensured that her children attended Ukrainian School (Ridna Shkola), Ukrainian dancing, CYM (Ukrainian Youth Organization), and the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Anna was a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Institute Prosvita, the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women, and Sts. Volodymyr & Olha Cathedral. In later years, she became a member of the Senior’s Club of Prosvita, where she loved to sing, dance and socialize. She also sang in the Dumka Choir.
She always yearned to return to Ukraine. In 1985, she was able to fulfill her dream. She reunited with her family in Ukraine for the first time after being apart for 50 years.
Anna was predeceased by her husband Hryhorij. She leaves to mourn her daughter Maria Stolarskyj, son Myron (Tania), grandchildren Laryssa, Teresa (Tim), Oleh, Kathryn (Jay), Alexa (Shane), great grandchildren, Luke, Sofia and Mia. Anna loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were her pride and joy.
The family thanks Drs. Terry and Andrea Babick for their wonderful care. Thank you to St. Joseph’s Residence for the exceptionally kind and compassionate care of our mom for the past 10 years.
Funeral Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2018, at St. Joseph’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, 250 Jefferson Ave., followed by interment at All Saints Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Oleh Stolarskyj, Myron Pawlowsky, Shane Yanke, Tim Stokes, Jay Comeault, and Andrew Leskiw."
Anne Elias was born in 1921 in a Ukrainian family on a farm near Two Hills, Alberta.
Larysa Saban is a folklorist and a researcher at the Mykola Lysenko Music Institute in L'viv, Ukraine. She studies folk music and dances. From 1980 and on, Larysa conducted a lot of fieldwork in western part of Ukraine.
In September 2001, Myeong Jae Lee went to Kyiv, Ukraine where he taught Korean language at the Kyiv National Linguistic University. He lived in Ukraine from November 2001 to February 2004. In 2005, he graduated with a master of Russian studies degree from the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea. His master's thesis was "The Festival Culture of Eastern Slavs: National Identity and Vitality as a Revival." In 2015, Myeong Jae Lee started his PhD studies at the Department of Information & Archival Science at the same university.
In 2013-2014 academic year, Myeong Jae Lee was the Academic Visitor at the University of Alberta at the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore. In 2016-2018, he served as the attache at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Myeong Jae Lee has been always interested in the theme of culture, especially folklore, festival and religion. The coexistence of four kinds of festivals with completely different characteristics was the most striking element that he observed in Ukraine: Christian festivals, traditional festivals, Soviet festivals, and new festivals (after the collapse of the Soviet Union). He began to document the festivals by taking pictures and video, and did so for 27 months while in Ukraine. Myeong Jae Lee lived "according to the local calendar", experienced more than 40 festivals, and found every one of them gorgeous. He was able to see the different dimensions of the Ukrainian culture, and the Eastern Slavs’ culture.
Myeong Jae Lee was also attracted by Ukrainian natural landscape and characteristic local colour. He visited about 30 cities and villages in Ukraine including Uzhhorod, Kharkiv, Yalta, and Bila Tserkva.
Myeong Jae Lee thinks photography is one of the best ways to document something, and that as time passes, the value of photography as a record increases. When he stayed in Ukraine he thought he should record Ukrainian daliy life. These photographs and video films will become valuable records and good representation of Ukraine 100 years from the time they were recorded. He was the author of several photo exhibits in 2003-2014, among them: Two Diaries (Gallery Palitra, Kharikiv, Ukraine), The Festival Chronotope of Eastern Slavs (Sejong Center, Seoul, Korea), The Time on the Way (Artbit Gallery, Seoul, Korea), The Wonderland (SangSangMadang Gallery, Seoul, Korea), The Week of Ukrainian Culture (Wangsan Culture&Art Hall, Yongin, Korea), and Photo & Travel (COEX, Seoul, Korea). He also co-authored two publications: The Wonderland, KT&G SangSangMadang (2010) and Youth, Share, and Time On the Way, Photonet (2008).