through 5 Nazi prisons and 12 prison camps. In any case, it is not
      difficult to imagine how many innocent victims are on the conscience of
      this impenitent Zionist provocateur. It is such loathsome services for
      the Fascist killers that were performed in the Yanivsky concentration
      camp, in which people of various nationalities found themselves
      Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews.
      L. A. Ruvinsky, The criminal conspiracy of Zionists and Fascists on the
      eve of, and during the years of, the Second World War, Ukrainian
      Historical Journal, 1985, No. 9, pp. 99-109, p. 105, translated from
      the Ukrainian by Lubomyr Prytulak.
      The above statement, by itself, is certainly insufficient to establish that Simon
      Wiesenthal passed the war years as a Gestapo agent. However, it is even by itself
      sufficient to lead an investigative journalist to ask Mr. Wiesenthal certain questions:
      (1) Was Simon Wiesenthal in fact arrested along with 39 other members of the Lviv
      intelligentsia?
      (2) Was Simon Wiesenthal the only one of the 40 who avoided execution?
      (3) Did Simon Wiesenthal pass through 5 Nazi prisons and 12 prison camps?
      (4) How could Simon Wiesenthal have avoided execution, and how could he have passed
      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
      father was allowed to view the body only after he repeatedly telephoned
      the Oblast Procurator threatening to send a telegram of complaint to
      the General Procurator of Ukraine. The local authorities eventually
      gave in with the exasperated reply: "Take your son home, and look at
      him there at least a hundred years!" His death certificate reported
      that he died 24-27 April 1979 at the age of 30. The cause of death:
      mechanical asphyxiation. Hanging from a noose - suicide. The death
      certificate was issued on May 21, 1979, and even back then, a mere
      three days after the body had been discovered, without any evidence or
      investigation it had been written in black and white that Volodymyr
      Ivasiuk had committed suicide.
      There immediately arises the question that if the composer had indeed
      hung himself on 24-27 April, and was not found until 18 May, whether he
      could have remained hanging from a tree for 21-24 days. Volodya
      weighed 80 kg (176 lb), such that hanging for so long, the noose would
      have cut into his neck to the depth of the bones. Also during May the
      weather was warm and dry. The body would have decomposed during this
      interval, and from it would have emanated an intolerable odour. All
      these substantiating signs were missing, and missing too were the
      autopsy photographs.
      On May 22 of every year let us remember that Volodymyr Ivasiuk became
      another innocent victim of a totalitarian regime.
      M. Masly, Volodymyr Ivasiuk: Light and Shadow of a Legend, Halas
      (Clamor), 3Jun97, pp. 11-12, as translated by Lubomyr Prytulak.
      Halas is a Ukrainian-language magazine which reviews popular music and
      is published in Kyiv. The section commemorating Volodymyr Ivasiuk in
      the 3Jun97 issue was sponsored and supported by Coca Cola Ukraine.
      And truly, the administration hated him while he was alive, and feared
      him once he was dead. Volodya's mother, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk met
      with the first secretary of the Lviv administration, V. Dobryk to plead
      with him to permit a monument to be placed on the grave of her son.
      "The war took from me my father and three brothers. My sister's
      husband did not return from the front," wept the woman, "and now my son
      too has been lost. Do I not after all that have the right to
      consecrate his memory?" In reply, Dobryk (what evil irony that such a
      soulless individual should have a name denoting goodness) pressed a
      concealed button and said in Russian to the lackey who entered, "Take
      that lady out." Following this visit, Sophia Ivanivna Ivasiuk received
      the "insult in the name of Dobryk." She has been in ill health ever
      since.
      Sooner or later will arrive the day when truth will emerge victorious.
      But in the meantime, those who come too near to the truth concerning
      what happened to Volodymyr Ivasiuk find themselves 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!
      M. Masly, Volodymyr Ivasiuk: Light and Shadow of a Legend, Halas
      (Clamor), 3Jun97, p. 12, as translated by Lubomyr Prytulak.
      Mr. Safer, you went to Ukraine determined to come back with a story of Ukrainians
      persecuting Russians and Jews. You failed to find any substantiation for such a story.
      You failed to find any Russian composer and poet who had been found hanging in a forest
      under mysterious circumstances. You failed to find any Jewish composer and poet who had
      been found hanging in a forest under mysterious circumstances. And you were not
      interested in a Ukrainian composer and poet who had indeed been found hanging in a
      forest under mysterious circumstances. You went to Ukraine determined to prove that
      Ukrainians persecute Russians and Jews, and you reported that story to tens of millions
      of 60 Minutes viewers despite a lack of evidence, and despite plentiful evidence that it
      is Russians and Jews who persecute Ukrainians, as they have done throughout history.
      In your 23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom, then, you sided with the
      strong against the weak. You sided with the oppressors against the oppressed. You
      sided with the butchers against the butchered. You sided with those who hang composers
      and poets and against Volodymyr Ivasiuk.
      Lubomyr Prytulak
      cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney,
      Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
      HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 669 hits since 17May99
      Morley Safer Letter 10 17May99 Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
      It is conceivable that had you not broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom, Volodymyr
      Katelnytsky would be alive today. And it is all the more conceivable that had you used
      the opportunity of your broadcast to defend Ukrainians against their oppressors,
      Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today.
      May 17, 1999
      Morley Safer
      60 Minutes, CBS Television
      51 W 52nd Street
      New York, NY
      USA 10019
      Morley Safer:
      Who Murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
      The death of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
      My source is a Ukrainskyi Holos (Ukrainian Voice) article mailed to me by someone that
      knew Volodymyr Katelnytsky. The citation that is hand-written on the article is "4-20
      August, 1997, p. 1."
      The Ukrainskyi Holos article reports that Volodymyr Katelnytsky was tortured to death in
      his apartment in Kyiv, Ukraine on the night of 7-8 July 1997. His mother, Lykeria, who
      was 81 years old, was tortured and died before the eyes of her son; her body was found
      with 21 stab wounds. When Katelnytsky's sister tried to enter the apartment in which
      the crime had been committed, she was roughed up by Kyiv police. Some members of the
      Katelnytsky family were arrested. The murders are considered to have been politically
      motivated. Volodymyr Katelnytsky's funeral was attended by some two thousand mourners.
      The life of Volodymyr Katelnytsky
      Volodymyr Katelnytsky was a professional journalist. He was active in the Ukrainian
      Orthodox Church, Kyiv Patriarchate, was head of the Brotherhood of St. Andrej
      Pervozvanyi in Kyiv, and supervised the tour of the chief cities of Ukraine by
      Metropolitan Wasyl in May 1993. He was also active politically, serving as Deputy Head
      of the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party. In Canada and the United States, he may be
      best remembered for the role he played as President of the Committee for the Defense of
      John Demjanjuk.
      Also prominent among Volodymyr Katelnytsky's activities was the dissemination of a
      Ukrainian version of what happened at Babyn Yar, similar, I believe, to the version
      advocated on the Ukrainian Archive. One result of Volodymyr Katelnytsky's Babyn Yar
      activities is that he was sued for them by Jewish organizations in Ukrainian court, that
      in his defense he brought forward historical aerial reconnaissance photographs showing
      that none of the activities said to have taken place at Babyn Yar was visible from the
      air - not visible, that is, were signs of the execution and burial of 33,771 Jews, or
      the later disinterment and burning of their bodies. As a result of his convincing
      defense, the court acquitted Volodymyr Katelnytsky of the charges brought against him.
      Who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky?
      As we have no direct evidence of who murdered Volodymyr Katelnytsky, we can only perform
      a Cui bono? analysis which will at least tell us where to start looking. That is, if it
      is the case that the three most prominent events in Volodymyr Katelnytsky's life were:
      (1) that he defended John Demjanjuk, (2) that he contradicted the Soviet-inspired
      Holocaust version of the Babyn Yar story, and (3) that he was tortured to death along
      with his mother, then it would take a mental paralysis with which I have not as yet been
      seized to refuse to consider the first two of these events as possibly having caused the
      third.
      I don't accuse you of having failed to cover the Katelnytsky assassination.
      As you broadcast the Ugly Face of Freedom on 23 October 1994 and Volodymyr Katelnytsky's
      assassination did not take place until 7-8 July 1997, I obviously do not accuse you of
      having failed to cover the Katelnytsky assassination in your broadcast.
      But I do accuse you of having missed the big story of which Katelnytsky's
      assassination is but one piece.
      However, the persecution and assassination of Ukrainians did not begin in 1997. It
      began hundreds of years earlier, carried right up until your broadcast in 1994, and
      continued through 1997 to this day. What I do accuse you of, then, is ignoring a
      centuries-long stream of evidence attesting to the persecution of Ukrainians, and of
      broadcasting instead the story of the persecution of Russians and Jews even in the
      absence of evidence. Your investigations in Ukraine failed to turn up anything like a
      story of a prominent Russian activist being tortured to death in his apartment, whether
      along with his mother or alone. And your investigations in Ukraine failed to turn up
      anything like a story of a prominent Jewish activist being tortured to death in his
      apartment, whether along with his mother or alone. The story that you would have been
      able to document, but that you chose to ignore, is that Ukraine is a nation which is
      ruled by Russians and Jews, and in which Ukrainians are routinely persecuted and
      murdered.
      And I do accuse you of having helped cause Katelnytsky's assassination.
      But even though you could not have covered Katelnytsky's assassination in 1994, you
      could have in 1994 avoided giving encouragement to assassins who were at that time
      plotting such assassinations. Instead, you did give encouragement to Katelnytsky's
      assassins by demonstrating to them that the world press can be counted upon to continue
      broadcasting anti-Ukrainian calumnies even while Ukrainians were being victimized in
      their own land. It is conceivable that had you not broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom,
      Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today. And it is all the more conceivable that had
      you used the opportunity of your broadcast to defend Ukrainians against their
      oppressors, Volodymyr Katelnytsky would be alive today.
      Lubomyr Prytulak
      cc: Yaakov Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney,
      Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace, Simon Wiesenthal.
      HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 630 hits since 30Jun99
      Morley Safer Letter 11 30Jun99 Who murdered Vadim Boyko?
      We cannot believe that his death was just pure accident; although it is reported that
      8,000 people a year in the former Soviet Union die due to their television sets exploding,
      we all believe that Vadim would have survived this kind of accident.
      June 30, 1999
      Morley Safer
      60 Minutes, CBS Television
      51 W 52nd Street
      New York, NY
      USA 10019
      Morley Safer:
      The conclusion that you offered in your 23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of
      Freedom was that Ukraine is a place where Jews and Russians are oppressed by militant
      Ukrainian nationalists, and where they are the targets of Ukrainian violence. The
      closest that you came to substantiating this claim was to broadcast Rabbi Bleich's
      allegation that an elderly Jewish couple had been attacked and robbed somewhere in
      Western Ukraine. However, this allegation was devoid of substantiating detail, and my
      request for specifics (both in my letter to you of 24May98, and in my letter to Rabbi
      Bleich of 23May98) was answered with silence. I repeat that request to you now - please
      inform me of the details of this attack, which minimally would include the time, the
      place, the names of the victims, and the address where a police report is available. If
      you do not have such information, please retract the allegation.
      You must be aware that I. M. Levitas, Head of the Jewish Council of Ukraine as well as
      of the Nationalities Associations of Ukraine has questioned whether such an attack on
      the two elderly Jews ever took place. Levitas's doubt was first expressed in an open
      letter to you, and I reminded Rabbi Bleich of it in my letter to him of 23May98, of
      which you were mailed a copy. In view of I. M. Levitas's doubt, and in view of your and
      Rabbi Bleich's silence in response to my request for particulars, the impression grows
      daily stronger that you and Rabbi Bleich made the incident up.
      The chief purpose of the present letter is to demonstrate to you yet again that your
      conclusion which I summarize in my first sentence at the beginning of the present letter
      is exactly backward. Ukraine is not a place where Ukrainians attack and murder, it is a
      place where Ukrainians are attacked and murdered, as has been the case for the last
      three hundred years, at least. Below is documented one further instance in support of
      this conclusion. It is the story of Vadim Boyko, member of parliament, and popular
      television investigative journalist. I would have expected that the story of Vadim
      Boyko would have appealed to you, and for that reason that you might have included it in
      any broadcast that you prepared about Ukraine, as his life - at least up to the final
      moments - was not unlike your own:
      February 23, 1992
      Journalist's notebook in Ukraine
      by Marta Kolomayets
      Kiev Press Bureau
      A colleague's tragic death
      "He was a man engaged to a young Ukraine," said Volodymyr Yavorivsky, as
      he bid farewell to Vadim Boyko, who died tragically on February 14, at
      the age of 29.
      Hundreds of mourners crowded into the third floor atrium of the
      Ukrainian State Television and Radio headquarters, tearfully passing
      each other on the steps Vadim so often bounded, rushing to the studios
      where he recorded his popular television programs.
      Now, on February 17, the mourners paid their last respects to Vadik (as
      he was affectionately known), searching for a reason why such a
      promising, talented life was cut short. As slow dirge-like music played
      over the loudspeakers, they filed past the closed coffin, sewn up in
      black cotton and laden with bunches of carnations of all colors.
      At the foot of the coffin stood a black and white photo of the young
      journalist and politician. An enlarged copy of the same photo,
      decorated with a black mourning band, hung above the coffin. To the
      left, the newly adopted Ukrainian national flag, also decorated with
      black bunting, kept guard over its native son. Wreaths from the
      Ukrainian Parliament, co-workers and friends surrounded the coffin.
      Perhaps as a carryover from the Communist-atheist state of the past, the
      wake of devoid of all Christian symbols and rites.
      Vadim's father sat at the foot of the coffin, numb to the proceedings.
      As a few speakers addressed the crowd, he wiped tears away from his
      weary, red eyes. Vadim's mother was too weak to make the trip from the
      family's home in Svitlovodsk to Kiev.
      Mykola Okhmakevych, the stagnant, Communist head of the State Television
      and Radio, whose removal has been pressed for by both democratic
      deputies and workers of the television station, said a few uninspiring
      words. Often harshly criticized by Vadim and his colleagues, Mr.
      Okhmakevych now spoke of how Vadim had always loved his job. An angry
      mourner, who saw this hypocrisy, cried out: "He loved Ukraine above
      all. He loved Ukraine, say it."
      We all descended the steps with Vadim for the last time. The coffin was
      then placed in a vehicle for Vadim's journey home to Svitlovodsk,
      Kirovohrad Oblast, his final resting place.
      x x x
      It has been almost a week now since my phone rang just before midnight,
      on Valentine's Day, February 14. It was my friend and colleague Dmytro
      Ponamarchuk. Yet his voice sounded different.
      "I don't know how to say this, Marta. Vadim Boyko burned to death
      tonight." I could not believe what I was hearing: "What is this, a
      cruel joke?"
      Dmytro, working at the radio station, had been called about a fire at
      Vadim's apartment; the fire department reported that his television had
      blown up. Dmytro arrived at the scene just an hour or so after the
      reported fire, only to find Vadim's body sprawled across the floor,
      burned beyond recognition. There was nothing left of his apartment, a
      dormitory-type dwelling in a building that housed quite a number of
      State television and Radio workers.
      News of Vadim's death spread quickly among fellow journalists - many of
      whom had attended Kiev State with Vadim, many of whom worked with him on
      numerous projects.
      He was an elected democratic deputy from Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast. He
      had come from the neighboring town in Kirovohrad oblast, just across the
      Dnipro River, arriving in the capital city of Kiev in the early 1980s to
      obtain a college education.
      And from then on, he gained popularity as the founder and host of
      "Hart," one of the first serious investigative shows on Ukrainian
      television, reporting on everything from Chornobyl to Shcherbytsky.
      After he was elected a deputy to the Ukrainian Parliament in March 1990,
      he was appointed vice chairman of the standing parliamentary Committee
      on Glasnost and the Mass Media, a job he took very seriously, often
      going to Moscow to discuss problems of disinformation in Ukraine, as
      presented by central television.
      But Vadim never forgot his first vocation - journalism - and he would
      often join his colleagues, including a few of us foreign correspondents,
      on the press balcony of Parliament during the sessions to give us some
      inside news or highlights of his commission's work.
      He was our friend, and with his death, our circle has been broken. Many
      of us - Ukrainian journalists and foreign correspondents, as well as a
      few of his close friends outside this journalistic fraternity - spent
      last week trying to come to terms with the tragedy that has struck us.
      We cannot believe that his death was just pure accident; although it is
      reported that 8,000 people a year in the former Soviet Union die due to
      their television sets exploding, we all believe that Vadim would have
      survived this kind of accident.
      We have gone through the story over and over. Most of us saw him in
      Parliament on Wednesday afternoon; he was excited and invigorated by new
      opportunities: he was applying for a National Foundation internship for
      the spring in Washington, D.C., he was going to travel on business with
      Ukraine's deputy prime minister. His dancing blue eyes were smitten
      with the possibilities of new TV shows and programs in an independent
      Ukraine.
      None of us saw Vadim in Parliament on Thursday or Friday, February
      13-14; he missed a few meetings he had scheduled on Friday.
      Currently, there are many rumors flying around Kiev surrounding Vadim's
      death, based on political, business and personal motivations.
      Parliamentary committees have promised to work on an investigation,
      although no special committee has been formed to investigate what many
      democratic deputies, among them Les Taniuk and Stepan Khmara, have
      labelled as murder. Some speculate that Vadim's TV work in Chornobyl
      may have triggered an early death...
      On Friday, February 14, Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper) in
      Moscow ran an interview with Vadim on journalists' responsibilities and
      cooperation between Moscow and Kiev.
      "At this time, we (referring to Russian and Ukrainian journalists) can
      be friends, if we are honest to the end. We are currently living in a
      commonwealth, the root of the word is found in the word "druh,"
      friend... We will never become true friends, until we journalists
      understand that we are the ones who can, who have the responsibility to
      stop our peoples from total degradation, from the catastrophe that can
      occur between our peoples," he said. "If we cannot prevent this we stop
      being journalists. We will become persons who today do their work and
      tomorrow, one by one, are destroyed."
      Vadim's deep sense of responsibility, his courage and commitment to the
      truth will always be admired by his friends and colleagues. And we are
      all committed to learning the truth.
      Given the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death, I can only
      hope that his last interview prophecy did not become self-fulfilling.
      Mr. Safer, you travelled to Ukraine looking for stories of persecution and violence
      against Jews and Russians, you failed to find the evidence, but you broadcast the story
      anyway. All the while, you were surrounded by stories of persecution and violence
      against Ukrainians, but that plentiful evidence you ignored. In other words, you went
      to Ukraine not to discover its reality, but to confirm your prejudice. You played the
      role not of journalist, but of propagandist. Given the opportunity to make a
      contribution toward protecting the lives of journalists in Ukraine by broadcasting the
      story of Vadim Boyko, you declined. Showing anything on 60 Minutes that might win