ГУЛаг Палестины

through so many Nazi institutions, unless he had agreed to serve as a Gestapo agent?

Had you asked Mr. Wiesenthal any such questions in your 60 Minutes broadcast of

23Oct94, The Ugly Face of Freedom, you would have taken a step toward digging

underneath the surface, a step of the sort that some 60 Minutes viewers have come to

expect as standard from investigative journalists.

I bring to your attention further that the above quotation from Ruvinsky is not the

only reason that we have for thinking that Simon Wiesenthal may have worked for the

Gestapo. Further reasons can be found in my following three letters to Simon

Wiesenthal:

(1) 15Dec94 in which I ask Simon Wiesenthal, among other things, why he kept detailed

notes on the Polish partisans who were sheltering him, and why he allowed these notes

to be captured by the Nazis.

(2) 14Aug97 in which I ask Simon Wiesenthal why the Nazis allowed him, a Jew and

supposedly a prisoner, to keep two pistols.

(3) 28Aug97 in which I ask Simon Wiesenthal why, where other prisoners were shot upon

being recaptured following their escape, he was instead relieved from work and put on

double rations.

It looks very much, Mr. Safer, as if on your 60 Minutes broadcast of 23Oct94, The Ugly

Face of Freedom, your chief witness testifying to Ukrainian collaboration with the

Nazis was himself a war criminal of substantial proportions, a former Gestapo agent

with the blood of many on his hands, perhaps much of it Jewish blood, and who may have

used your interview with him to cast blame on Ukrainians so as to deflect attention

away from his own guilt.

If this blunder of yours is allowed to stand, then it threatens in the end to be

remembered as your chief legacy to 60 Minutes. Would it not be better to finally break

your long silence and by embracing truth to make some attempt to redeem your

reputation?

Lubomyr Prytulak

cc: Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl, Mike

Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 979 hits since 15May99

Morley Safer Letter 9 15May99 Who murdered Volodymyr Ivasiuk?

But in the meantime, those who come too near to the truth concerning what happened to

Volodymyr Ivasiuk have been the victims of an unusual number of accidents. One man's

wife unexpectedly hangs herself, another man throws himself from a balcony, still

another drowns, yet another falls under the wheels of a car.... But remember, butchers,

God's punishment will descend even upon you!

May 15, 1999

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

51 W 52nd Street

New York, NY

USA 10019

Morley Safer:

Who Murdered

Volodymyr Ivasiuk?

Volodymyr Ivasiuk is best known as a composer and poet,

author of the widely popular song Chervona Ruta whose first

two lines appear below as he wrote them in his own hand,

which song more than anything else made him beloved

throughout Ukraine, and even beyond the borders of Ukraine.

On top of that, Volodymyr was a man of many talents, having

earned a degree in medicine, and having demonstrated talent

in art, photography, and cinematography.

However, having reached his prime

showing so much promise, it was not

given Volodymyr Ivasiuk to develop his

talents further. He was dead at the age

of 30. To the right is a photograph of

his funeral procession, attended by

thousands of mourners despite the

suppression by the state of the

publication of information concerning

his burial, despite official warnings to

not attend funeral services, and despite

the calling of Komsomol meetings, which

carried mandatory attendance, on the

same day. The magazine Halas, on whose

information I rely in the present

letter, states that Rostyslaw Bratun who

was the first to step forward and speak

at Volodymyr's funeral lost his job two

months later. Words spoken at the

funeral by the Sichko family landed them

in prison.

To the right is a second photograph

showing the statue that was eventually

erected in Volodymyr Ivasiuk's memory.

And just how did Volodymyr Ivasiuk meet

his end? His death certificate which

appears below states that he died on

24-27 April 1979 from mechanical

asphyxiation caused by hanging in a

noose, and attributes the hanging to

suicide.

The details of Volodymyr Ivasiuk's death, however, do not support the official view that

he killed himself:

They waited and searched for Volodya for 24 days. Following the

mysterious disappearance of the composer, the search for him was not

disclosed to the public, the explanation being given that such an

announcement would create a disturbance. However, the mass media are

daily used not only to help locate people, but sometimes even their

pets. [...]

It was not until May 18, 1979 that Volodymyr Ivasiuk's body was

accidentally discovered in the heavy forest near the village

Briukhovych near Lviv.

One couldn't bring oneself to believe it. The parents were allowed to

identify their son only on the following day, even though it was only a

five-minute walk from the apartment where Volodya lived to the morgue;

and the identification was conducted with gross violations of law. The