COURAGE

connecting collections

Following graduation from studies in the field of electronic data analysis, Jan Faktor worked as a programmer in Prague. Together with his wife, he moved to East Berlin in 1978 for personal reasons and found employment as a locksmith and kindergarten teacher, but also engaged heavily in the independent literary scene. Through his numerous experimental texts, Faktor enriched the group of authors belonging to the “Prenzlauer-Berg-Connection”.

Although the German language was foreign to him, he gradually gained his own perspective on its usage and challenged its artistic and political conventions as well as those of the independent literary scene. In 1983, he published his four part “Manifest of Trivial Poetry” (Manifest der Trivialpoesie) and one year later, together with Papenfuß and Stefan Döring, another manifest  “Zoro in Skorne”. He became a regular at apartment, studio and courtyard readings and he released his writings in Samizdat form.

Jan Faktor's texts often parodied techniques which are utilized linguistically to enhance meaning. These include repetition (for emphasis) and the usage of comparatives. Faktor's techniques are on display in his 23-page long poem "George's Worries about the Future" ("Georgs Sorgen um die Zukunft") from the volume "George's Attempts at a Poem and Other Positive Texts from the Poet's Garden of Horror" („Georgs Versuche an einem Gedicht und andere positive Texte aus dem Dichtergarten des Grauens“). Through the inclusion of meaningless albeit grammatically correct suprelatives ("the eight-hour working day becomes more eight hourly", etc.), the nonsense of the ideologically motivated and delusional degrees of comparison present in the official language of the GDR are laid bare. In other poems, the author constructs sentences without regard to German conventions for doing so thereby producing comical results.

In 1989, he became a member of the New Forum (Neuen Forum) and later an employee of the first GDR Civil Rights Movement weekly, The Others (Die Andere). Since the 1990s, Faktor has reflected retrospectively on the character of the independent literary scene of the GDR on multiple occasions in his own writings as well as in interviews.

Polish actor, comedian and by background – graphic artist. He was involved in the Solidarity movement from its beginnings. In the 1980s he thought against the socialist regime with his humour as a weapon. He produced numerous posters, comics, graphics and illustrations that were humorously discrediting the authorities. His works were commonly recognised and illegally distributed by the underground opposition. He also opposed the state propaganda during illegal performances of a stand-up nature.

Jacek Fedorowicz is a member of the Historic-Programme Council of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. He donated to the institution a wide collection of his graphics (along with stamps and patterns) and video recordings of his illegal performances.

Alexander Fedynsky served as director of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in the years 1977-1981. Like his predecessor, Leonid Bachynsky, Fedynsky was a refugee and immigrant from Western Ukraine. Arriving in the U.S. with a Ph.D. in law, he worked in management at a factory, while actively amassing a private collection of Ukrainian books and other printed material. Under his guidance, the UMA continued to function as an institution that worked toward the goal of a free Ukraine and in service to the local community, which meant actively preserving the heritage and history of Ukraine and Ukrainian-Americans.

In addition to actively acquiring periodicals, Fedynsky’s major contribution was his work in compiling bibliographical indexes of the Ukrainian press outside of Ukraine, which were published by the UMA. During his tenure, the UMA published nineteen titles, while also collecting most of the UMA’s émigré literature via Fedynsky’s wide network of acquaintances around the world. In 1981, Fedynsky resigned as director due to ill health.

Andrew Fedynsky was born in 1947 to political refugees living in displaced persons camps in Innsbruck, Austria. He was 8 months old when the family came to America. His older brother George was born in Poland and spent his formative years in a warzone. His younger brother Peter was born in Pennsylvania after they had already emigrated to America. The family moved to Cleveland, OH, when Andriy was 7 years old, where he attended Cleveland Public Schools. Later he graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he majored in English and German. One of the primary reasons, Andriy went to Notre Dame is because they had a sophomore study abroad program in Innsbruck, which he attended in 1966-1967.  

After graduation in 1969, Andriy taught in the Cleveland Public School system for nine years. During that time, he became involved with the Ukrainian dissident movement, Helsinki group and the publishing house Smoloskyp, which published samizdat materials smuggled out of the Soviet Union. He translated Ukrainian dissident literature, gave lectures at various universities, lobbied for human rights, and was even arrested in Belgrade in 1977 at the first Helsinki follow-up conference. He and a few friends had organized a press conference to bring attention to the plight of Ukrainian dissidents, specifically Mykola Rudenko and Oleksa Tykhyj, in order to demonstrate to signatory countries that citizens of Soviet Ukraine that had volunteered to help their country implement the Helsinki Accords were now being arrested and put on trial. Fedynsky was arrested, put on a plane and thrown out of the country, a much milder fate than that faced by many of his contemporaries. Within a year he was offered a position on Capitol Hill to work as a speechwriter and foreign policy aid for Bob Dole in 1978. After going back Cleveland to get a masters degree in history at John Carroll University, he returned to Washington to work for the Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar who represented Cleveland. As a senior legislative assistant, he worked on issues important to the city of Cleveland, such as development, transportation and foreign policy, as well as the Ukrainian community. Fedynsky was involved in the creation of the Congressional Famine Commission in 1983.

While Fedynsky was working on Capitol Hill, his father Oleksandr became the director of the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland. It was during that time that Andrew became aware of the scope and value of the collection there. When his father passed away in 1987, Andrew returned to Cleveland to straighten out the collection. What was meant to be one year stretched into thirty. His boss Mary Rose Oakar allowed him to work half days for her in the district office in Cleveland and then half days at the museum. During that period, Fedynsky oversaw the stabilization of the collection, repairs on the house, and the acquisition of a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to construct an archival building. Now, Tremont is one of the premier neighbourhoods in Cleveland, with million dollar properties. For instance, the hall of the Ukrainian American Youth Association was sold for $40,000 and its worth upwards of 2 million now.

The Ukrainian Museum-Archives was also under pressure to move the museum to the suburbs, but Fedynsky resisted that outcome with the help of a number of dedicated people—helpers, colleagues, co-workers—all of whom were all of the opinion that Ukrainian culture belongs at the center of influence, which is the city, where banking, economics, politics, and culture thrive. If the museum was moved to the suburbs, that would have been akin to moving to the village. According to Fedynsky, that has been Ukraine’s problem historically. Ukraine was a rural society with a thriving farming culture, which is wonderful, yielding beautiful handicrafts, Easter eggs, and deep traditions. Citing Mykola Khvylioviy, who saw in the development of the city an opportunity to create an urban Ukrainian culture, Fedynsky believes that maintaining a presence in the city of Cleveland is important for the UMA and further integration into the fabric of a reviving neighbourhood is one of the guiding principles shaping future projects and plans.

Christine Panchuk Fedynsky grew up in Chicago where she attended Ukrainian schools and participated in Ukrainian organizations.  She was particularly active in the Plast Scouting organization where she served as counsellor and Head Counsellor in summer comps. 

Christine received her undergraduate education at the University of Illinois in Chicago with a degree in Pharmacy.  She received a Masters of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.  She married Andrew Fedynsky in 1988 and settled in Cleveland where she continued to volunteer in community organizations, including Plast, the Ukrainian-language Saturday school, Ridna Shkola as well as the Ukrainian Museum-Archives.  She was the inspiration and, for at least a decade, chief organizer of the annual UMA Easter Bazaar, now in its 25^th year. 

Christine also helps with the preparation of exhibits, lectures and receptions at the UMA, maintains membership rolls and assists with accounting.