As I See It: Ukraine Matters. . . at least to me

by Kay Schten McAdam

John Mooy’s “The Ukraine Situation” published in the February 24 edition of The News is very much appreciated by one who cares personally about Ukraine.

 Why should we care about Ukraine? Why should the average American care about the possible instability of Eastern Europe? The return to a repressive regime by a country seeking democracy and alliance with the West? The Blofeld-esque maneuverings by a too long in the saddle (Are we mixing metaphors here?) ex-KGB agent? China’s chumminess or, should we say, “Xi and V sittin’ in a tree”? The potential loss of life of innocent people on both sides?

As I see it, it is about the people. Millions of Russians have family in Ukraine and vice-versa. Millions of Americans no doubt have long distance relatives in both countries as well. That’s why I’ve been personally P-O’ed at Putin since 2014. My grandfather was born in Ukraine. 

In April 2013, while reading the latest newsletter from GGD.org (Galizien German Descendants), I was intrigued by a notice for a bus trip to Stryj and surrounding villages in May 2014. Stryj is in the western part of Ukraine, just south of L’viv and north of Dolina. My grandfather, who I never knew, was born in Dolina, Galicia, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, on September 2, 1896. 

I was ready to hop on the bus. I contacted the trip’s leader, who was based in Germany, Angela Fabian, and instructed her to sign us up. My grandfather’s personal history had always been a bit murky and even though I knew I could never conquer the Ukrainian language, let alone Cyrillic, I could not pass up the opportunity to visit at least one of my many ancestral homes (we all have quite a few, don’t we?), especially since, at the time, we did not know the name of my grandfather’s father. That’s all I really wanted to know – who was he?

That none of us knew his name was a complicated story full of hush-hush, the people “back there,” a stepfather, and a group of half-siblings. (Well, someone did know, but she took it with her.)

During the process of registering for the trip, sending in copies of our passports, etc. and so forth, I explained to Ms. Fabian, the details of why I wanted to visit Dolina. I merely wanted to see if I could find some hint of a great grandfather and, possibly, any living relatives. Within 24 hours she sent me a photocopy of my grandfather’s baptismal record. Of course, I couldn’t read it, so with help from a Ukrainian genealogy group on Facebook, I learned that my grandfather, one V. Edward Schten, who lived on Hemlock Lake Road southeast of Marcellus from 1942 – 1957, was in fact Vladimir Szten. The baptismal record said he was baptized September 3, 1896, at the Greek Catholic Church, in Dolina, by Priest Michael Klurc. The godparents were Simon Szten and Anna Macewicz, and the midwife, Franzisca Stasysyn. The mother is listed as Theresia Pohonycz, close to the spelling we knew – Theresa Pohonec, a good Polish name, Fabian explained. The father was Nicolaus Szten. And there it was. All so seemingly simple. Nicolaus.

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Enter Putin in the shadows. Remember the Ukraine crisis of 2013, which spilled violently into 2014? In a nutshell, then Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych rejected signing a deal that would lead Ukraine to greater integration with the European Union (sound familiar to the issue today?). Ukrainians protested en masse, because the country had been leaning more to the West and western democracy for over twenty years. Yanukovych tried to put down the protests via violent means and by February 2014, anti-government protesters toppled the government and ran him out of the country. In an attempt to retain its influence in Ukraine, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in March and the relationship with the west has gone downhill from there. 

While we watched this unfold on the nightly news, my travel partner regularly asked, “Are we still going to Ukraine?” I never gave up hope, but, of course, the tour was ultimately cancelled. I’ve been holding Mr. Putin personally responsible since then. And he is responsible for so much more. 

It’s difficult to surmise what the status of Ukraine will be when this goes from layout to print to a newsstand and mailbox. Hopefully, there can be a diplomatic solution; however, the saber-rattling has taken a very ominous tone.

War, what is it good for? It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker. War. It’s got one friend and that’s the undertaker. . .