Croatian-Ukrainian ties are very old. The so called White Croatians originate from the western part of Ukraine. It is no surprise that, for example, the Ukrainian traditional art and the architecture of wooden churches are close to that of the north of Croatia. In 2010 a nice monument was erected in honor of distinguished Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko in Croatian town of Lipik, who spent a few years in Croatia. Ukraine was the first country which, as a member of the UN, recognized the Republic of Croatia. On the photo one can see Croatian and Ukrainian Easter eggs, decorated by Annette Hricko Czupylo, an Ukrainian living in the USA. |
Rimokatolička crkva sv. Barbare kod Zagreba, 17. st.
Unutrašnjost crkve sv. Barbare kod Zagreba za vrijeme svečane nedjeljne mise.
The name of the Croats is met in many places throughout Ukrainian soil. It is contained in Ukrainian written documents since the 2nd century until the end of the 10th century. The famous Ukrainian chronicler Nestor from Kyiv (in his "Povest vremennyh let", 1113) mentioned also the White Croats inhabiting early-medieval Old-Ukrainian empire, known as the Kyiv Rus'. According to a very old legend, one of the three brothers who founded the Ukrainian capital Kyiv was Horiv, whose name might be at least hypothetically related to the Croatian name: Horvat. See [Hrvatska/Ukrajina], p. 9, and [Pascenko], p. 105. Even today some of the Ukrainian citizens say for themselves to be the White Croats. There are many proofs that the Croats once lived in common with Ukrainian and Slovak people: their language (very widespread ikavian dialects in Croatia and Slovakia, ikavian language in Ukraine), legends, customs, many common toponyms etc.
In central part of Kyiv there are three hills: Starokyivska gora, gora Shchekovitza and gora Horevitza, and even a street Horev (ulica Horeva). The very beginning of Nestor's "Povest Vremennyh let" mentions the above legend: I bysha tri brata: Kij, Shchek i Horev, i sestra ih Lybed'. I sotvorisha grad vo imya brata svoego, i narekoshe ego Kyiv.
Ukrainian archaeologist Dr. Orest Korcinski has undertaken an extensive study of White Croatian site from 8th-11th centuries near the town of Stiljsko, not far from Lviv in Ukraine. He estimates that in the 9th century the Stiljsko archaeological site with environinig settlements had nearly 40,000 inhabitants, more than Kiev at that time! The region of historical Pagania around the Neretva river has many common toponyms and hydronyms with Western Ukraine, like Neretva, Mosor, Ostrozac, Gat. Also Sinj, Kosinj, Kostrena, Knin, Roc, Modrus, and many other throughout Croatia and Western Bosnia. Too many to be just an incidence.
There are numerous names of villages, hills and rivers in Slovakia, Czechia (especially in Moravia), Poland and Ukraine, which have their obvious equivalents in Croatia and Bosnia - Herzegovina. Many of them are indeed surprising:
Bac, Bajka, Baska, Bila, Bistrice, Blatce, Bohdalec, Boskovice, Brezovica, Budin, Budisov, Cehi, Chrast, Chvojnica (= Fojnica), Dol. Krupa, Dolni Lomna, Dolni Domaslovice, Doljani, Doubrava, Doubravice, Doubrovnik, Drienovac, Gat, Harvatska Nova Ves, Hor. Mostenice, Hradec, Hvozd (Gvozd), Javornik, Kal'nik, Klenovec, Klenovice, Klobuky, Kninice, Konice, Koprivnice, Kostelec, Krasno, Kuhinja, Lipa, Lomnice, Ljubica, Mali Javornik, Markusovce, Nova Ves, Novosad, Odra, Okruhlica, Parac, Plesivec, Pohorelice, Porin, Raztoka, Rogatec, Ribnik, Rudina, Selce, Slatina, Sopotnia, Stitary, Sumperk, Tabor, Tajna, Travnik, Trebarov, Trzebinia, Tucapy, Veliki Javornik, Vinica, Vinodol, Vrabce, Vrdy, Vrbovec, Zabreh, Zubak, Zumberk.
The once prosperous and rich Ukrainian village of Horvatka near Kyiv (note well: Horvat = Croat) disappeared overnight in 1937, together with all of its inhabitants, during Stalin's infamous collectivization, sharing the tragic destiny of millions of Ukrainians. The only witness is an innocent brook, called Horvatka, today Hrobatka (Hrovatka), about 70 km south of Kyiv. See "Marulic", 1998/2, p. 263, and also [Pascenko], p. 293. On the brook of Hrovatka (~30 kms long right confluent of Dnipro) there is a village bearing the same name Hrovatka, personal information (2010) by mr. Djuro Vidmarovic, former Croatian ambassador to Ukraine In the 1990s in Kyiv, Ukraine, a youth organization of scouts was founded, and named - White Croat (Bili Horvat; reported by Croatian ambassador Gjuro Vidmarovic in 2000)!
On the north of Croatia's captial there is a very small village called Velika Horvatska (Great Croatia!), and a small brook bearing the name Horvatska. It reminds us about existence of White Croatia. We find it pertinent to mention that we know of several cases during former Yugoslavia in which young Croatian soldiers were not allowed by Serbian officers to declare that they were born in the village called Velika Horvatska, but were pressed to declare a nearby village Zbilj.
The brook of Horvatska near the village of Velika Horvatska. Another village of Horvatska exists near Klenovik, SW of the city of Varazdin north of Zagreb (many thanks to mr. Nenad Hancic, Duesseldorf, Germany, for this information).
Old Norwegian - Viking travel writers Sigurd, Ohtere, and Wulfstan from the 8th century mention the Kingdom of Krowataland on the territory of today's Ukraine. It has been investigated by a Czech historian and writer Karel Krocha.
Source www.croatianhistory.net
Eduard Miloslavic, photo from pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Miloslavić
According to an article published in Vjesnik, December 27, 1992, due to his testimonies related to Katyn wood tragedy, Prof. Miloslavic was sentenced to death in absence by the ex-Yugoslavia.
For more details see the CROWN - Croatian World Network.
See also hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Miloslavić in Croatian.
One of the great tragedies of the Second World War was the slaughter of 12,000 Polish officers in the Katyn wood (Poland) in 1940. Also a mass grave with more than thousand Ukrainian peasants and workers in Vinica (Ukraine), killed in 1938, was found by Germans. The Soviets accused Germans for these horrible crimes, and vice versa. Among leading European experts from 12 countries in pathological anatomy, two Croatian specialists were invited by the International Committee of the Red Cross to take part in the investigation in 1943: prof.dr. Eduard Miloslavic and prof.dr. Ljudevit Jurak. The result was that this cold-blooded mass slaughter was committed by the Soviets. Prof.dr. Miloslavic emigrated in time from ex-Yugoslavia to the USA by the end of WWII, while prof. Jurak remained in Zagreb, and was imprisoned on the demand of the Russian NKVD by the Yugoslav communists in May 1945. It was offered to him that he would not be accused as a military criminal and that his life would be spared if he declared that his report for the Red Cross Committee had been signed under pressure. He refused to do so, fully aware of the consequence.
For example, NKVD officers forced Bulgarian specialist Markov to withdraw his signature under the threat of death sentence.
Ljubica Stefan: Ljudevit Jurak - nasa rana i ponos.
Dr. Edward L. Miloslavich Croatian investigator of the Katyn Forest tragedy
Source www.croatianhistory.net
Taras Belej je s crtanjem također započeo kao dijete u Zagrebu, u Školi za umjetnost na Pantovčaku. Završio je Kiyjivsku nacionalnu akademiju likovnih umjetnosti i arhitekture. Organizirao je nekoliko izložaba hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika u Ukrajini, jednu i u Ukrajinskoj likovnoj akademiji u Kiyjivu, koje su održane pod visokim pokroviteljstvom i uz podršku Ukrajinske ambasade u Zagrebu.
Taras Belej: Prof. Mladen Lovrić, ekspert za verbotonalnu metodu u SUVAG-u u Zagrebu,Â
veoma zaslužan za širenje te metode u Ukrajini
Knjiga utisaka tijekom izložbe Hrvatska u srcu u ukrajinskom gradu Ivano Frankivsku, ožujka 2010., na poticaj Tarasa Beleja.
Na izložbi su zajedno sudjelovali hrvatski i ukrajinski likovni umjetnici.
Privit horvatam vid galičan (bilih horvativ) - Pozdrav Hrvatima od Galičana (Bijelih Hrvata)
Galičani su stanovnici Ukrajine i Galicije, zapadne Ukrajine. Sjeverno od njih su Volinjani.Â
Zahvaljujem Katerini Kondratenko iz Kijiva na ovom pojašnjenju.
Taras Belej, a young Ukrainian painter: Moj Jadran (My Adriatic)
Taras Belej: Snijeg u Kijevu (The Snow in Kiyiv)
Taras Belej: Kamenita vrata u Zagrebu (The Stone Gate in Zagreb)
Taras Belej: Skalinska ulica u Zagrebu (The Skalinska Street in Zagreb)
Taras Belej: Dalmacija u mom srcu (Dalmatia in My Heart)
Taras Belej: Otok Hvar (The Island of Hvar, Croatia)
Taras Belej: Zalazak sunca na Hvaru (Sunset on the Island of Hvar)
Ukrainian Corner in the City Library in Zagreb, Croatia, contains several hundred of book in Ukrainian language
Središnja knjižnica Ukrajinaca i Rusina Republike Hrvatske
Formated for CROWN by Darko Žubrinić
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