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Euroasian Jewish News
Speech of the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Chairman of the Organizational Committee on the Preparation of the Celebration
05.03.2009
March 2, 2009
Kyiv
National Academic Theater Named After I. Frank
Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear friends!
Today, in the capital of the independent Ukrainian state, we pay tribute to the great Jew, the accomplished world-famous author, a classic of Jewish literature, and our fellow countryman Sholom Aleichem.
It is my honor tonight to congratulate you on behalf of the Prime Minister, the government of Ukraine, and the Organizational committee with his 150th anniversary.
A museum to the author has been opened several hours ago in Kyiv. A photo documentary exposition is working. A commemorative coin, stamp, and envelope have been released. A state decision has been made on "Creating a [Literary] Prize Named After Sholom Aleichem." And dozens of other events will take place during the whole year, both in the Ukraine and beyond its borders, aiming at fulfilling the edict of the President of Ukraine and the decision of the State committee.
The heritage of Sholom Aleichem belongs to all of humankind, it has been translated to many languages of the world. But it is closest, best understood, and most beloved here – in the land where our fellow countryman, Sholem Rabinovich – the great Sholom Aleichem – was born and where he spent most of his life.
The characters in his works are dearest and most familiar here, in the land of Ukraine, where they were born, lived, and dies. They are our brothers and sisters.
They and their creator, Sholom Aleichem, are remembered and will be remembered by the villages and towns of the lands surrounding Kyiv and Poltava.
They are remembered and will be remembered by Pereyaslav, Lubny, Bila Tserkov, Berdychyv, Odessa, Chernovtsy, Lviv – those Ukrainian cities in which the great writer had lived, and where he had visited.
They are remembered and will be remembered by Kyiv. In the year 1908, when responding from Italy to a letter about the Kiev celebration of the 25th anniversary of his creative activities, Sholom Aleichem wrote: "The return address moved me to tears. It is Kiev, and Kiev is my city."
His love to Kyiv, his love to Ukraine was, is, and will remain mutual. Sholom Aleichem is dear to use, he is our kinsman, and very close to us – both as a human being and as a writer. The Ukraine is integral to his work, and he is integral to Ukraine, to her culture, to her moral ideals and spiritual values.
Let us remember, that one of the best experts and scholars on the work of Sholom Aleichem was the important Ukrainian poet and cultural worker Nikolai Platonovich Bazhan, and the unsurpassed actor in the role of Tevye the Milkman is the important Ukrainian actor Bohdan Sylvestrovich Stupka.
"To write truth from the bottom of the soul, with one's own heart's blood, but all – for joy." This credo of Sholom Aleichem is a credo the best Jewish and Ukrainian artists go by.
Let us, too, create truth. From the bottom of our souls. With our heart's blood. But for joy. Ukraine remembers you, Ukraine loves you, our dear Sholom Aleichem. Ukraine gedenkt aich, Ukraine liebt aich, unser taerer Sholom Aleichem.
More about Celebrating Sholom Aleichem's 150th Birthday in Ukraine
Photo by UKRINFORM News Agency
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