Hope's War

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

  Danylo gripped the two rings that hung from chain around his neck and remembered when he first began to wear them.

  The Nazis continued with the hated policy of communal farming that had been initiated by the Soviets. And as the months passed, their food requisitions became ever more impossible to meet. The resistance fighters who were hiding in the forest depended on the villagers to hide food for them. They also depended on them to steal medical supplies and weapons. Very young girls and old women were the best couriers. They could hide a pistol in the fold of a skirt, or vial of morphine in their head scarf, and the Nazis, who were disdainful of Slavs, took a long time to catch on to what they were up to.

  Danylo had managed to steal three pistols from the police station and he had hidden them under the manure pile. His mother was an expert courier, but she was caught on her way to the forest with the third pistol hidden at the bottom of a basket. For her transgression, the Nazis not only sentenced her to death, but they made her choose six other village women to join her. If she didn't choose, she knew that the Nazis would, so with a shaking hand, she pointed out the six eldest women in the village. After they were shot, Danylo was ordered to dig the grave. Before he buried his own mother, he gently tugged her wedding ring past her knuckle, and then he removed his father's ring from a strap around his mother's neck.

  So much grief. Too much for one soul to bear.

  Then the ballade ended.

  Ian sat with his head down, his hands stretched over the keyboard as if he were calming it, comforting it.

  The audience sat in stunned silence. Danylo sat in his chair feeling limp. How could mere music have such a powerful effect?

  The auditorium was so still that it could have been empty.

  Danylo pushed himself up to a standing position and with slow determination, began to clap his hands. For moments on end, the only sound in the whole room was of Danylo's two hands slapping together. Then another pair joined in. And another. Danylo noticed through the corner of his eye that Lisa's parents had stood up beside him. He turned to face Mrs. Nguyen and he nodded in acknowledgement. Danylo looked down and saw that Ian's mother's face was wet with tears, but she was grinning. She stood up, and so did Mr. Smith. And they continued clapping. Pockets of people throughout the audience stood too. By this time, the clapping had changed from a small peppering to a rhythmic intensity. Almost a chant. Within moments, the whole audience was on its feet, clapping and chanting, "More! More! More!"

  Danylo looked up to Ian on the stage. The boy was standing in stunned silence beside his piano. It was as if he were trying to figure out what all of this clapping was for. Ian had been so wrapped up in the music that he had forgotten about the audience. He was just now coming back to earth and it dawned on him that these people were clapping for him. That they actually approved of him. What a strange world it was.

  Ian bowed to the audience in thanks, and then held up one hand, asking for silence. "Thank you," he said. He walked towards the piano bench, and the people in the audience began to sink back into their seats, expecting him to play an encore. He hesitated for a moment in front of the bench, then shook his head slightly. He looked back up at the audience and said in a loud clear voice, "Thank you. Please enjoy the rest of the concert."

  Then he turned and disappeared behind the curtains.

  Lisa turned off the spotlight and the stage was plunged into darkness. The audience was murmuring their surprise and they were totally unaware of Lisa and Kat who had scrambled onto the stage to pull down the ribbons of cloth. In a flash it was down, and the two girls darted through the curtains close on the heels of Ian.

  Kat could see the light go back on the other side of the curtain, and Dr. Bradley was back on the stage introducing the next performance. She quickly followed Lisa and Ian as they walked away from the back of the stage and out a door that led to a school corridor.

  "That was fantastic," said Lisa.

  Ian looked at her with an expression of incomprehension. Kat understood. When she was in the midst of sculpting, she was totally in another world. The school could burn down and she wouldn't know it. He looked utterly exhausted. The best thing for him would be to get home and go to bed, but his parents were still in the auditorium.

  The three friends walked down the corridor that lead to the front of the school and they stepped outside into the winter air. The cold seemed to revive Ian somewhat. He breathed in, and then stretched out his arms as if to embrace the world.

  "It feels so good to get that over with," he said. "I had no idea whether I would be able to go through with it or not."

  "I'm amazed that you did," said Lisa. "You must be tired."

  "And sore," said Kat.

  "I am," said Ian. "And I couldn't have done it without your help." With that, he gave both girls a bear hug.

  Just then, the front door of the school opened and Dylan and his friends walked out.

  "That was quite the performance," said Dylan with a smirk. "Didn't think you'd be up to it."

  "Why don't you just get out of here?" said Kat angrily. "Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Kat had trouble reconciling this new Dylan with the one she used to know. What was his problem, anyway?

  Dylan regarded Kat with an offended look on his face and addressed Ian, "I see you've got your bodyguards with you."

  At that, Dylan's friends chuckled. "Two girls and a fag. I'm scared," Dylan said in a taunting voice.

  Ian stepped away from Kat and Lisa, then walked over to where Dylan stood. "You wouldn't be so brave without your own body guards," he said, pointing at Dylan's husky friends.

  "I'll fight you anytime, anywhere. Just name the place," said Dylan, anger flashing in his eyes. His fist was midway in the air when the door of the school opened again.

  Dr. Bradley stepped out of the front doors of the school. She was accompanied by an artsy-looking man wearing a camel hair sports jacket over a T-shirt and jeans. She looked from Ian to Dylan and surmised what was going on. "I take it you three are leaving the concert?" she said to Dylan and his friends. "Students from other schools are not allowed to loiter at Cawthra. If you're not off school property in one minute, I'll call the police."

  "Come on guys, this place is boring," said Dylan. The three slouched away into the night.

  "Were those the boys who beat you up today, Ian?" asked Dr. Bradley.

  "I didn't get a good look at them," said Ian evasively. Kat and Lisa remained silent.

  During this exchange, the man quietly waited a few steps behind Dr. Bradley. When it was clear that nothing more was to be said on the subject, he stepped forward and reached out his hand to Ian.

  "My name is Hal Stevens," he said. "I would like you to give me a call."

  Ian looked at the card. It said, "talent agent". He frowned in confusion and stuffed it in his back pocket.

  CHAPTER 39

  WHEN KAT WOKE up the next morning, she was surprised to see Genya up and dressed. "You're not wearing a uniform to school today?" Kat asked.

  "I'm going to the hearing," replied Genya. "Dido's testifying today, isn't he?"

  It was as if they were almost a family again, thought Kat as the four of them walked into the hearing room. If only her father were here. She surveyed the audience and noticed that there were more people than usual sitting on the plaintiff's side. On Danylo's side, Kat was delighted to see several familiar faces. In addition to Michael, both Ian and Lisa were there, as well as Lisa's father and grandmother. Danylo's friends from the Ukrainian community were also out in full force. In fact, there were so many people that some of them ended up sitting in the last row on the plaintiff's side. Genya sat between Kat and Orysia in the front row of the defendant's side.

  When Danylo took the stand, he wore a brilliantly white starched shirt under his grey suit. Kat had expected his face to be pale and his hands to tremble, but she was wrong. Her grandfather looked full of anticipation. As if he were finally being given the opportunity to set the record straig
ht. For his sake as much as hers, she hoped that was possible. She glanced over at Genya, and noticed her sceptic's demeanour: arms crossed and brow furrowed.

  Kat looked back at her grandfather on the stand. He nodded courteously towards the people who had come to support him.

  Step by step, Mr. Vincent took Danylo through the fateful years between 1939 and 1945. She listened in awe as he described how his position with the auxiliary police had been planned from the beginning by the organizers of the resistance. He hadn't gone from policeman to fighter: he had been a patriot all along. As Danylo spoke, Kat watched Genya's demeanour from the corner of her glasses. Slowly the arms uncrossed and the brows unfurled. Almost imperceptibly, Genya began to sit a bit straighter in her seat. It was as if she were no longer ashamed of her grandfather. Could she even be a little bit proud? wondered Kat.

  "Mr. Feschuk," said Mr. Vincent. "Why did you and your fellow auxiliary police wait until the winter of 1942–43 to defy the Nazis?"

  "How do you rebel with no strength?" asked Danylo. "We had no government, no weapons, no organization."

  As soon as the Nazis arrived, Kataryna and the others had fled to the forest. She knew she was safer there than in the village because the Germans lost their way each time they came there. But Kataryna and her friends could not fight the Nazis yet, they could only hide. They had no weapons. They had no military training. While Kataryna and her friends prepared the forests with bunkers and hideouts, other resistance fighters stayed in Orelets and let the Germans think they were on their side. How else to steal weapons and information?

  "Mr. Feschuk," said Mr. Vincent. "On a single day in February, 1943, three thousand Ukrainian auxiliary police suddenly turned on their German superiors and killed them, and then all three thousand fled to the woods. Why was that particular time chosen for a mass revolt?"

  "The leaders of the Ukrainian underground initially wanted us all to wait just a little bit longer. Our undercover members were a key source of information on German movements. However, when the villagers in Volhyn refused to provide any more slave labourers for the Ostarbeiter program, the Germans initiated even more brutal reprisals."

  "What would they do?" asked Mr. Vincent.

  "By the fall of 1942, the Germans were burning down whole villages."

  "How many times did this happen?" asked Mr. Vincent.

  "In all of Ukraine, the Germans exterminated every single person in 459 villages. They burned down 28,000 villages. We knew that if we rebelled in an uncoordinated way, the Germans would accelerate their rampage," explained Danylo. "So we had to wait until the time was exactly right."

  "And when did that happen?"

  "When we had stolen enough weapons, and when most of the population had prepared refuge in the forests and in underground bunkers. Had they not been able to hide when we rebelled, the Enzattzgruppen would have come in and murdered them all."

  In his mind's eye, Danylo relived that fateful day.

  Danylo's nostrils flared at the distant smell of fire. He stepped out of the police station and scanned the horizon. Smoke was billowing from three distinct spots. Had the Nazis locked yet more villagers into churches and then set them on fire? How many times could they do this and still get away with it? Who would be left in Ukraine by the time they were done?

  Just then, Myroslaw appeared beside him. "The time has come," he whispered.

  Danylo had been waiting for this moment. He and Myroslaw quickly told the others and then they retrieved a small stash of rifles. Most of the weapons that they had stolen were already in the forest, but they had kept one automatic rifle each hidden in the latrine.

  It was early in the morning, and so the black uniformed SS officer was still sitting in the kitchen sipping a second cup of tea. Myroslaw, Danylo and the others burst through, and without warning, shot him dead.

  Petro Manchuk, the traitor, had not been with the officer, and he had not reported for duty yet that day. Danylo saw Myroslaw leave the police building, rifle in hand, walk towards Manchuk's house. Moments later, Danylo heard gunshot, and then he saw Myroslaw walk briskly back up the street.

  "It is done," he said. "Now we must get the rest of the villagers into the woods before the killing units arrive."

  Kat listened to this testimony in wonder. She could almost smell the fire from the villages.

  Mr. Vincent paced back and forth in front of Danylo. "You mention that there were some auxiliary police who did collaborate with the Nazis, and that some of these men hurt civilians."

  "That is correct," replied Danylo.

  "Did any of these men join the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA?"

  "Some tried," replied Danylo.

  A ripple of murmurs filled the courtroom. Danylo's mind flashed to the past.

  A clearing in the heart of the forest. A firing squad standing at attention. In front of them, stands Commander Krymka. One soldier, hands tied, is brought forward.

  "You have been sentenced to death for crimes against civilians," states the commander.

  The man is offered a blindfold, but he refuses. He faces the firing squad, and is executed.

  "Mr. Feschuk," said Mr. Vincent. "Was the UPA only for Ukrainians?"

  "Most UPA members were Ukrainians," answered Danylo. "But there were Hungarians, Jews, Poles, and Russians. There were also Germans. The one thing we had in common was a love of freedom. Freedom is more precious than gold."

  "One more question," said Mr. Vincent. "Did immigration authorities ever ask what you did during the war?"

  "No, they did not," replied Danylo.

  "Thank you," said Mr. Vincent. "No more questions."

  Mrs. Caine stood up. "Mr. Feschuk," she said. "Were you forced to become an auxiliary police officer?"

  Danylo looked confused.

  "Let me rephrase my question," she continued. "If you hadn't become an auxiliary police officer, would you have been sent to Germany as an Ostarbeiter?"

  "I may have been," said Danylo. "Or I may have been shot, or hanged, or burned to death like other Ukrainians. Or I may have been put in a concentration camp like other Ukrainian patriots."

  "So basically, you collaborated with the Nazis to avoid harsh treatment."

  "Madame," said Danylo. "I did not collaborate, I infiltrated."

  "And by doing so, you survived."

  "Had I been caught as an infiltrator by either the Nazis or the Communists, Madame, I would have been executed."

  She regarded him sceptically, but abandoned the line of questioning. Mrs. Caine paced in front of Danylo for a moment or two, as if trying to think of a diplomatic way to phrase her next question. "Mr. Feschuk," she said. "Did the UPA turn away some Jews who had escaped the Nazis and fled into the woods?"

  "You are correct, Madame," replied Danylo. "There was much distrust between Jews and Ukrainians when the Germans first arrived. Ukrainians associated Jews with the Communists, and Jews associated Ukrainians with the Nazis. We were both wrong."

  There was a ripple of outraged whispering from both sides of the audience. "Order!" said the judge. The silence was immediate.

  "No more questions," said Mrs. Caine.

  Kat sat back. That was it? No more questions? It was clear to Kat that her grandfather had not collaborated with the Nazis.

  Mrs. Caine gave her final summary. "It is clear that Danylo Feschuk collaborated with the Nazis in his role as an auxiliary police officer in Orelets between 1941 and 1943," she began. "It is also probable that Mr. Feschuk did not mention to immigration authorities that he had collaborated with the Nazis. Had he done so, he would not have been allowed to become a Canadian citizen. Therefore, he obtained his citizenship by fraud. It is my recommendation to this court that Mr. Feschuk's citizenship should be revoked, and that he should be deported from this country."

  Kat sat there, stunned at Mrs. Caine's view of the situation. There was a ripple of murmurs in the audience, some approving what she said, and others not.

  The judge banged his ga
vel. "Order," he said. Then he regarded Mr. Vincent. "The summary for the defence."

  Mr. Vincent stood up. "This court has listened to countless experts and countless witnesses, and yet not a single piece of evidence has been brought forward to show that Mr. Feschuk collaborated with the Nazis."

  Kat glanced over at Genya and noticed that her sister was listening intently.

  "Additionally, there has been no evidence brought forward to show that Mr. Feschuk lied to immigration officials. Indeed,

  why would he lie? Being an auxiliary policeman in Ukraine was not a prohibited category.

  "Given the fact that there is no evidence of criminality, and given the fact that there is no evidence that the defendant lied during immigration proceedings, I have to wonder why this case was brought forward in the first place?"

  Mr. Vincent's final statement stuck in Kat's mind: "Imagine yourself as a teenager in a Canada with no government, no army, no weapons," said Mr. Vincent. "Now imagine that the Russian army and navy and air force attacks on one front, and the American army and navy and air force attacks on another. What would you do? Would you do what Danylo did when he was a teen? Would you fight for your country as he did?

  "Mrs. Caine asked a question earlier on. She asked, 'if a man betrays the country of his birth, what stops him from betraying his country of adoption?' The reverse is true too: if a man fights for his country of birth, he is the kind of man who will fight for his country of adoption. Mr. Feschuk has earned the right to call himself a Canadian."

  Kat looked over to Genya. Their eyes met. Kat saw that her older sister's eyes were wet with tears.

  Then the hearing was over. Kat breathed a sigh of relief; her grandfather was clearly innocent.

  "I will review the evidence before me," said the judge. "I hope to have a decision soon. The court is adjourned."

  As people filed out silently, two people stayed behind from across the aisle: the protester, and the girl with the hair clip. They waited until most of Danylo's supporters had left and then they walked up to Danylo and his family.