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Ukraine war strikes chord in area

Ex-pats worry about homeland; local archivist aims to save cultural treasures

Gary Belenitsky and his wife, Mina, immigrated to the United States from Ukraine 32 years ago.

But, for nearly a month now, Belenitsky’s attention has been focused on the horror of the war in his native land and on the city of Kharkiv, where he once lived.

“I am proud to be an American,” he said Friday. “I love this country.”

Still, the horror in his homeland is devastating, the Altoona resident said.

“It is terrible. It is (happening) in the middle of Europe. Nobody expected it,” he said with emotion.

He doesn’t blame the Russian people for the war. They, too, suffer under the rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He called it “Putin’s dream” to recreate the old Soviet Union, but Belenitsky explained when the old Soviet Union collapsed, the Ukrainian people moved toward integration with Western culture.

Ukraine is no longer a Russian state, and the Ukrainian people are fighting the invasion of their land.

“It’s a fight for their own lives … for the motherland,” he said.

He pointed to the start of World War II when Hitler invaded Russia. The Russians fought hard for their motherland.

He hopes the war will soon end.

“I want to finish the war as soon a possible. It’s the simple people who suffer — the children. Ukraine is a beautiful country. It’s a shame the world allows this to happen. We have to stop Putin,” he said.

Putin, on his own, will not stop his aggression, Belenitsky warned.

Archivists scramble to save culture

While it understandable why the war in Ukraine would be on Belenitsky’s mind, it also is a focus of many people who are not native to the land and who, until very recently, possibly never heard the name to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which has a population of more than a million people and has been bombed repeatedly in the past couple of weeks.

Historian and archivist Valerie A. Metzler of Altoona has her own private practice.

As the war ensued, Metzler joined more than 1,000 volunteers worldwide who are using their skills to preserve Ukrainian culture.

The volunteers have become part of Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online by going to websites that pertain to Ukraine and transferring them to the Internet Wayback Machine, where they will be preserved and protected from possible destruction by Russia.

Within a few weeks, volunteers captured more than 1,500 Ukrainian museum and library websites, digital exhibits and publications for preservation, according to a news release from the organization.

Metzler reports she is focusing her effort on Ukrainian music.

The SUCHO movement was launched by Quinn Dombrowski of Stanford University, Anna Kijas of Tufts University and Sebastian Majstorovic of the Austrian Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage.

“As soon as I heard about (SUCHO), I wanted to help with this,” Metzler said.

Reaching out to help

Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tem Jake Corman, R-Centre, sent out a notice calling on the state police and other police departments to donate used bulletproof vests and other protective gear for use in Ukraine.

“Innocent people are being injured and killed every day in Ukraine, and the need for aid has never been greater,” Corman stated.

In addition, William Wallen, the executive director of the Greater Altoona Jewish Federation, pointed out that many groups are urging the government to open the nation’s doors to the millions of refugees fleeing Ukraine — that is where the story of Gary Belenitsky began more than three decades ago.

Before Ukraine gained its freedom and was still a part of the Soviet Union, a movement began that would allow Jews to immigrate from Russia.

Wallen remembers 200,000 Jews gathering on the Mall in Washington, D.C., asking the American government to pressure Russia into allowing the Jewish people to leave.

Wallen reported the Jewish people in Russia were being oppressed.

President Ronald Reagan convinced Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to allow the Jewish people to immigrate.

Wallen reported that 2 million left the Soviet Union — 1.5 million traveling to Israel and 500,000 coming to the United States.

The American government had placed a quota on the numbers entering the United States for economic reasons.

Organizations like the Jewish Federation stepped up and agreed to provide support and guidance to the refugee families.

Most of the former Soviet citizens went to larger cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston, Wallen explained.

Wallen said the Greater Altoona Jewish Federation agreed to accept two families.

Belenitsky, his wife and two teenage children, Leonid and Victoria, had left Ukraine and were awaiting visas to the United States while living in Italy.

The Belenitskys and another family from Rega, Latvia, came to Altoona.

The Jewish Federation helped the families adjust to American ways, find employment and learn the language.

Both families eventually brought other members into the United States, Wallen reported.

Gary Belenitsky became a machinist and eventually retired from his job at North American Communications.

Belenitsky said he and his wife came to the United States for a better life.

His son and daughter both live in Chicago. The son works for Wells Fargo Financial Services and Bank, and his daughter is a registered nurse.

He said Altoona was a good place to raise a family.

He supports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for a no-fly zone.

The idea of the United States helping Ukraine is akin to Russia helping Syria in recent years.

“If you do not stop Putin, he will go further. He needs to stop, right now, right now,” Belenitsky said.

Prayers for peace

On March 25, Pope Francis will celebrate the Act of Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.

Locally, Bishop Mark L. Bartchak will hold a special Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona. The Mass will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, March 25, and priests will be available for confessions. At 4:30 p.m., the Rosary will be recited. Mass will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Joining the bishop will be Father Andriy Kelt, the pastor of two Ukrainian Catholic parishes in Cambria County, and Deacon Anthony Dragani, the deacon at those Ukrainian Catholic parishes.

Also on that day, an evening of prayer for peace in the Ukraine will be held at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Annunciation of the Mother of God Church, 22 Bentz St., Ramey. The Holy Rosary will be at 5:30 p.m. followed by Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Annunciation and conclude with the Novena for Peace in Ukraine. All faiths are welcome.

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