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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.

Lupul, Manoly (14 August, 1927 in Willingdon, Alberta - 24 July, 2019 in Calgary). Historian, educator, and community leader. A graduate of the University of Alberta, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University (PH D, 1963), he taught educational foundations and Canadian educational history at the University of Alberta from 1958. He became a leading figure in the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation and played a major role in the establishment of the Ukrainian-English bilingual program in Alberta schools (1974) and the creation of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). The Institute's first director (1976–86). He also was prairie regional chairperson and national vice-chairperson of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism (1973–9) and a key member and first chairperson (1982–3) of the Ukrainian Community Development Committee.
(Source: Danylo Husar Struk. “Lupul, Manoly.” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CU%5CLupulManoly.htm)

The Ukraine Millennium Foundation (UMF) was incorporated in Toronto, Canada, as a not-for-profit corporation on November 2, 1983, at the initiative of Maestro Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, newly arrived from the Kyiv State Opera, and Luba Zaraska of Toronto. Its immediate objective was the recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Choral Concertos to celebrate 1000 years since Ukraine’s adoption of Christianity in 988. The Foundation quickly drew members from all over the world and a Board of Directors was formed, with members from Australia, Canada and the United States. Its presidents have been Mrs. Zaraska, Bishop Yuriy Kalistchuk of Winnipeg, and Gordon Conway and Lilea Wolanska of Edmonton. UMF’s overall objectives are to support the identification, development, enhancement and appreciation of the Ukrainian musical arts: vocal, instrumental, choral, operatic and musicological. Its purpose is to promote Ukrainian musicians, assist in preserving Ukrainian culture and to disseminate Ukrainian accomplishments in the musical arts.

Aims and Objectives
In celebration of the millennium of Christianity in Rus-Ukraine and for the next millennium, to support the enhancement, development and appreciation of the musical arts;
To support and promote the appreciation and study of church, choral and orchestral music generally, and of Ukrainian church, choral and orchestral music in particular;
To assist in the establishment of choirs and choral societies;
To assist in the establishment of creative contacts among musicians, composers, conductors, music scholars, choirs and choral societies by promoting and organizing concerts, music conventions, choral and orchestral competitions, and lectures and seminars in the musical arts;
To establish and maintain programs in the musical arts intended to promote and enhance the study of music;
To establish and maintain a philanthropic and charitable program intended to support all of the above activities;
To receive, acquire and dispose of real and personal property;
To receive gifts and donations to be used for the above philanthropic and charitable purposes;
To create, provide and enlarge a fund for charitable and philanthropic purposes in conjunction with the foregoing.

Beginnings

The recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Concertos was produced with artistic director, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk. A choir comprised of 64 members from across Canada and the United States was assembled to record the concertos. The total cost of the project was $800,000, and a set of 5 long-playing records was produced. After the project’s conclusion, interest in Toronto waned and UMF headquarters moved to Edmonton under President Gordon (Bud) Conway, who had been chairman of the Edmonton branch since the inception of the project in 1983. He was succeeded by Lilea Wolanska, who has been president since 2007. In 2002, UMF was granted a license by the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, and its scope has changed in accordance with AGLC guidelines to focus on Ukrainian musical projects in Alberta.

Projects

In 1989, the Foundation completed the recording of Dmytro Bortniansky’s 35 Sacred Choral Concertos as a 5-LP set. In 1997, Wolodymyr Kolesnyk and an UMF Edmonton committee consisting of Maria Dytyniak, Lilea Wolanska and Gordon Conway initiated the reproduction of the recordings onto 4 compact discs at a cost of $10,000.

The UMF has also funded the annual Ukrainian Music Society of Alberta (UMSA) choral directing seminars held in Edmonton over two decades, directed initially by Maestro Wolodymyr Kolesnyk, with assistance from Zenoby Lawryshyn. Following Kolesnyk’s death in 1997, the seminars were directed by prominent conductors from Canada and Ukraine, such as Laurence Ewashko and Ivan Hamkalo. Participants have included choral directors from across Canada, the US, Europe, South America and Australia.

The book The World of Mykola Lysenko
In the 1960s Dr. Tamara Bulat of Kyiv, began her lifelong study of the life and works of Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. Fearing that much politically sensitive information would be lost under Soviet conditions, Dr. Bulat took on the burden of recording this information for posterity. She interviewed Lysenko descendants, who were assured of her pro-Ukrainian intentions, and researched archives in Ukraine, Russia and throughout Europe, uncovering unique archival information and photos.

In the 1980s her son, Taras Filenko, also a musicologist, joined his mother in compiling information from archives throughout Canada and the United States. In 1990 the authors approached UMF for publishing support. The album The World of Mykola Lysenko in its supplemented and enhanced English-language version was translated and edited by Lilea Wolanska and contained 450 photographs. It was printed in Kyiv in 2001. The album immediately received the Book of the Year award from the Publishers Association of Ukraine. The album was enthusiastically reviewed by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, and a Ukrainian-language version was subsequently printed in 2002, which was officially proclaimed the Year of Mykola Lysenko.

Other Projects Funded

• Artem Vedel': Divine Liturgy and 12 Sacred Choral Concerti, published by the Ukraine Music Society of Alberta

• Kontrasty Lviv Annual International Music Festival, for two years.

• Kyiv Philharmonic Symphony premiere of Valery Kikta’s oratorio Dnipro

• The Lviv Ivan Franko State Opera and Ballet Theatre premiere of the opera Moses by Myroslav Skoryk

• The Composers of the Ukrainian Diaspora, researched and authored by Dr. Taras Filenko, translated and edited by Lada Hornjatkevyc. Available online for research at the Bohdan Medwidsky Archives at the Kule Centre of the University of Alberta.

  • Ukrainian Art Song Project, Stepovyi CD recording, funded and premiered in Edmonton

• The Ukraine Millennium Foundation Online World Library of Ukrainian Art Songs, administered by the Ukrainian Art Song Project and funded by UMF, which gives anyone with internet access the ability to download the scores of Ukrainian art songs free of charge.

• St. Nicholas Mandolin Orchestra history and video

  • Resurrection Liturgy by Fr. John Sembrat, composition and recording

• Sounds Ukrainian radio program on CJSR FM

• University of Alberta Kule Centre Medwidsky Archive - two major projects

• Artem Vedel sacred concerto cycle, concerts and CD recording by Luminous Voices and Spiritus Choir; CD publication (in progress)

• Golden Harvest oratorio by Larysa Kuzmenko, conducted by Laurence Ewashko, printing of orchestral scores ($5000) for premieres in Winnipeg and Ottawa, 2015

• Grant MacEwan annual bursaries and awards of $3000 each given to students in Ukrainian music research, composition and performance.

• Dnipro Chorus, funding for choral workshops, CD recording

• Akolada Ensemble, 4 concerts funded

• Verkhovyna Choir funding

• Kappella Kyrie, Vedel/Vivaldi concert and art song concert (in progress)

• Ukrainian Bilingual Schools, purchasing banduras and funding bandura workshops

• Ridna Shkola Ukrainian Heritage School, purchase of musical instruments

• St. George Church Choir, CD recording

• Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Edmonton Heritage Days, annual funding

• Alberta Kontakt television program

UMF has financed numerous community concerts, such as Shevchenko concerts and others arranged by UCC, UMSA and other community organizations.

The Ukraine Millennium Foundation expresses its thanks to Alberta Gaming for permitting use of gaming funds to support Ukrainian music in Alberta.