This item is a recording of an interview conducted in English on October 3, 1976 with Algis Dudanavicius and Mrs. Birzagalis. Mr.Dudanavicius is a 51 year old telephone technician who arrived in Canada from Lithuania on July 25, 1949. He discusses his career and the Lithuanian community in Edmonton.
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This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Fred Zebrun, who immigrated to Canada in 1928 from the Province of Grodno, village of [Kruzhana]. About 700 people came from his village to Canada but they all spread out across Canada. He talks about the places he lived in Canada before eventually living in Calgary. He speaks a bit about the Russian speaking population in Calgary and the Russian Federation in Canada.
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This item is an interview with Rob Androschuk and an unknown female. Mr. Androschuk discusses being an officer in the Russian Army and what it was like living during this time period. The unidentified female also talks about living through WWI.
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This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Maria von Rosenbach, the daughter of Colonel Orest Durnovol, a writer and philosopher. He wrote a book in Russia, but his interpretation of religion was different than the State's and was therefore forbidden. This book was published in 1913 in Germany. The family left Russia in 1918 and Maria discusses this journey in the interview. She talks about her life and meeting her husband. Her family's occupations during the Depression are also discussed.
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This item is a recording of an interview conducted with Lorna Wiklun on June 28, 1982. Her grandparent left Russia sometime after 1903, they were Mennonites. She discusses her family's immigration to Canada through Mexico to Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
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This item is an interview with Fred Prybysh conducted in Ukrainian on February 19, 1976. In the interview Mr. Prybysh discusses immigration to Canada and the Russian Orthodox Church in Edmonton.
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This item contains an interviews with Mrs. Lydia Kupsch (nee. Rosnal), a German Russian who was born in Volynia in 1896 before immigrating to Canada in 1902. She talks of life in Russia and then life in Stoney Plain and Bruderheim. She also discusses her husband and her wedding. For part of the interview, there is an older interview being played while people are talking over it.
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This item is a recording of an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Fenske, recorded February 13, 1982. Mrs. Fenske discusses how a whole community came to Canada by boat because of the Depression and were pressed to join the Orthodox Russian Church, but did not want to. The church was the centre of all activities with service three times per day. They used the German language at home, and their parents went to German school back in Russia. Mr. Fenske's father came to Canada alone in 1893, Mr. Fenske was born in 1902.
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This item is a recording about artist William Kurelek and author Myrna Kostash
This item is a recording of a conference presentation. Shevchenko as a national poet of Ukraine. Major developments that might take place in the next few decades: long term climatic conditions, changes in climate are less predictable; the capacity for food production will be not as good but the population will be expending sharply – tremendous pressure for food, massive famines. Restructuring of political power is coming. Atomic weaponry is a threat. Expansion of education will result in diffusion of power of political decision making. Physical limits of human activity. Redistribution and optimization of natural resources. Economic shocks for the US: Japan’s economic growth, Vietnam war, Chinese experience. Product life cycle. The USA will not be able to impose their will on other nations. In Europe, new political construction will take place. There will be a power bigger than a nation-state. European countries have similar stages of development and are ready for globalization. Every nation will retain its national heritage but they will unite on a global political level. China’s influence will grow in the decades to come. It will be less dependent on other countries. Unlike the Soviet Union, China retained more equality. American model is not appropriate to countries that have no natural wealth. Japanese had high motivation and an obsession for learning technology while preserving own traditions. They have capacity for national cooperation in the face of a threat. Japanese will be performing another miracle – just watch them. They will be a model for European countries. Soviet Union has tremendous range of natural resources. Its potential productivity is very high. Marks’ proposition was true for limited resources. Communist society is supposed to be highly cooperative in the absence of material scarcity. But USSR is the last empire and it is disintegrating quite quickly. What is awaiting for the USSR? It can become a supplier for more developed countries. Atomic war is also a probability but it could happen only accidentally; possibly a conventional war with China. It does not pay to keep an empire. Now much energy is being wasted on keeping that empire alive instead of developing. Ukraine in this context is a modern nation; it has generous natural resources. It has a necessary infrastructure for an efficient country.
This item contains recordings of an interview with Dr. Tova Yedlin for "Cultural Crossroads", information about the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, and recordings of German music
Sans titreOpening speaker: Several objectives: 1. Have academics and community interact. 2. To have interaction among ethnocultural groups. 3. To reduce intergroup tensions. 4. To see what educational resources there are to accomplish the first 3 goals. What is the ambitious goal? To ensure we and our children know about each other. To remember that Canada itself is part of the global village.
Dr. Lock: Recites a poem.
Presentation by Dr. Yamila Horna, Chair of the Department for Soviet and East European Studies: This is a great opportunity to share one’s heritage the one brings to this country. This is one of the few opportunities where people from academia can share contributions to the community.
Dr. Golitsyn: Some anecdotes about his family. Always gets asked where he’s from, for some reason someone interested in Eastern European studies must be from Europe. Has Canadian roots though. Feels as a North American Canadian and an European Canadian too. The government will at some point have to look at our roots, our heritage. The British and French like to call themselves the founders, but the Celts a while ago had a conference, and they also had a large role. Even the French component if very Celtic. What about the other Europeans? That which divides us is far less than that which binds us together. Have been asked to look at the roots of this organization and its destiny. The destiny is great, it brings people together in the area of learning. Our schools DO teach us about us. Our schools MUST teach us about us. The interest of the academics is bringing people together to make these kinds of things happen. There are many people who are not necessarily Slavic or Eastern European that will be interested in Slavic and Eastern European studies. By this time next year there will be a patent as a society, and some legal status, and that we will be electing a national and regional board. Those from each province will be asked to meet together as one group and recommend who will be their two representatives to the national board, who will serve in the interim as provincial chairman.
Some closing remarks about a cathedral made of rocks.
Continuation of the speech made in tape c263-b: The community is served by the university in the same way as elementary schools but on a different level.
Mr. Birov: A foundation for Hungarian history would cost half a million. The government promised that if the foundation reached half of that ($250,000) the government would match the rest. Due to such a small Hungarian group, they had trouble reaching that. Is there anywhere else that could be approached to acquire the other quarter million? What do ethnic groups have to go through to get cooperation?
[The person with the recording equipment had to leave]
Continuation of presentation by Dr. Sukoversky: Continues story about community engagement with the public library. On the question of liaison groups: it’s up to the ethnic groups, they have their own organizations and should get in touch, it’s not the university’s job.
Mr. Kostash: The usefulness of the University Senate come in two areas: monitoring the academic things going on in the university and ensuring there’s no favoritism in programs. Private organizations have a responsibility to ensure that funds are being allocated intelligently and efficiently. Some things don’t require the demanding funds when they can be done at better times or in better ways.
Unknown speaker: Publications should be released with the contacts of liaisons that can be contacted between ethnic communities and publications.
Unknown speaker: The community should help the division to find ways to release the kinds of publications that the community desires.
Presentation by Mr. Kistner: Wasn’t prepared to present but is talking from the perspective of a foot soldier. He is Baltic German born in Tallinn Estonia. Talks about how maps often forget about the islands of Estonia. Baltic Germans is a very small group. It’s worthwhile for even very small groups to write their history and preserve their heritage. In doing work there’s lots of assistance needed, time, and footwork. Being a small group has its advantages, no need for sampling.
Open Session
Professor Rolland: University officials are just paid assistance, to help the community to spread unbiased facts about people from Eastern Europe. Funding, publishing, liaison, money, structure. What good is a building without anyone in it? Being asked many tasks, but we ask you where are the people we are supposed to be teaching? Where is the interest in the young people? A severe lack of numbers in the classroom.
Unknown speaker: Many high school trips go to the UK and France, but none go to Eastern Europe, there’s no interest in a country if they’ve never been to it.
Unknown speaker: Primary teachers don’t get enough information about Eastern Europe, very early interest cannot be built. There’s a marvelous library and studies that are unknown to the public, and inaccessible. If a pride cannot be instilled in Canadian Pluralism, then numbers will remain low, and ignorance will prevail.
This is a mutual affair, if the division is to serve the community, it must go above the head of the faculty of extension, the faculty of extension doesn’t cover all they community’s needs.
Unknown Speaker: A course was offered, in which every means at the university’s disposal was used, still only had 12 enrolled. Not enough to satisfy the university. UKR 320, only 1 student enrolled.
Mike Torman: One reason for low enrollment: very utilitarian society, if a course doesn’t offer something ‘useful’ it won’t be taken. Languages are very disciplined subjects, it takes a highly disciplined student to learn them.
Unknown speaker: Motivation is extremely important, advertising isn’t enough. The travel course it a really good thing. The generosity of the community, the province, made starting new programs easier, even when the province was much poorer. The community must do its share to promote the material basis of the division. If the division is to prosper, this is what we need. The end product is service to the community. [The recording cuts out]
Continuation of presentation by Dr. Sukoversky: Continues talking about how collections are made. Story about how a collection that had been abandoned was resurrected. Talks about the Sorbian people living in South East Germany, and how a collection was made about the Sorbs. University of Alberta has the strongest collection of materials on Sorbs and Vends. Collections must go back as far as possible. Collections can morph from one topic into another: Russian to Ukrainian, Ukrainian to Polish, Polish to Czech, Czech to Yugoslavia. Talks about the weak Slovak and Hungarian collection. To non-Slavs, Hungarian is expected. Importance of objective study of the Soviets, teachers and students can get an objective lens on the Soviet Union.
New speaker: The community has supported many cultural programs.
Presentation by the Chairman of Edmonton Historical Board: Begs the division to do things for the community: research into the history of ethnic groups needed. Role of ethnic groups missing from history books. Record of ethnic peoples needed. Record must include when people came to Edmonton and district, who were they, what did they do? Those who came to the urban areas, what did they do? An accurate, non-biased, non-prejudiced record needed. Coordination of research needed. Books are needed that are easy to sell and easy to buy. The third need is for funding to publish existing nearly finished works on ethnic groups.
Mr. Kostash: Funds are public funds for publishing, justification must be given as to why financial support should be given to many works. What liaison exists in terms of public funds and works that wish to be published?
Dr. Sukoversky: The University Library exists for a variety of purposes. To expand the library, tax payers would need to pay more. The public library exists to serve many purposes for the public. Every ethnic group can have newspapers, periodicals in books, and other literature in the public library, it has to be requested.
[The recording cuts out during a story about buying Ukrainian books for the public library].
Tape opens with some joking about Jews and Germans in Canada. A question is asked about where to find guidance about the Eastern European Germans living in Canada. The speaker [presumably Dr. Bergin from the previous tape] responds that it’s easier to find guidance for East Germans than it is for West Germans post WWII. Questioner responds that there’s plenty of information about German immigrants to other parts of the world, but not Alberta. Speaker responds that they must make like a detective and find things.
A questioner asks about the social cohesion of German Canadians. Speaker discusses that there are many issues that exist, particularly the disconnect between the scholarly world and the communities (jokes about the ‘civilized’ manner of scholars and how it doesn’t mesh well for example if the scholar cannot stand Beer Halls). Discusses the difficulties brought about by a national guilt complex following the two World Wars, making it difficult for academically trained Germans to go out into the communities.
A new speaker points out the lack of courses that seem to deal with Hungary in the Division of Eastern European and Soviet Studies Courses. [The tape cuts off to a new speaker]
Mention about the United States stance on Taiwan. Discussion about joint Soviet-American action on China. Mention of the high possibility that world conquest still on the minds of the Soviet Union. Debate as to whether or not the Soviet Union still adheres to the idea of World Revolution and Global Communism. Discussion about the difference between European Communist and Soviet Communist models. Debate as to whether the rise of European Communist Parties in European governments would increase the power of the Soviet Union or not. Discuss whether or not the Soviets would strongarm their way to influence Yugoslavia. More discussion about whether or not Yugoslavia may enter the Soviet sphere. It is mentioned that the Soviet Imperialist approach is far more realistic than the other Imperialist approaches of other powers. The Western powers lack the will of resistance to oppose every act of Soviet opposition in the world. Example of China as a failure of the United States to oppose the spread of Communist influence due to a lack of will. Discussion of the ideological differences between Euro Communism and how the Soviets wouldn’t approve of an undermining of their control. Question of Soviet involvement in Quebec separatism, responding with the notion that the Soviet Union supports multinational states ‘sticking together’. Example of PQ support for Ukraine independence annoying Soviet officials.
Importance of protesting Russian violations of the Helsinki pact.
Presentation by Dr. Sukoversky: the definition of a collection, and that professors start collections. Students can start collections too. Ethnic groups can start collections.
