You may not have known his name, but you certainly enjoy what will be his legacy. Ivano Toscani, owner and general manager of the Anchor Bar, died Tuesday after a prolonged illness. He was 68.
Toscani moved from his native Milan, Italy, to Western New York in 1973. He was originally introduced to Frank and Teressa Bellissimo, founders of the Anchor Bar, by a mutual friend.
"Frank and Ivano worked for many years together, and Frank taught Ivano every aspect of the restaurant business," said Dempsey. Following the death of the Bellissimos and their son Dominic, Toscani continued to grow the business into the binational franchise it is today.
The Anchor Bar is now the internationally recognized birthplace of wings, receiving numerous honors, including two gold medal James Beard Foundation awards. Dempsey said the company has 15 locations today, through franchising that began in 2009.
"The Anchor Bar Company, staff and franchisees will honor Ivano’s legacy by continuing the work he loved and cherished," Dempsey said.
[email protected]
The Russian media shared a fake news story about the death of Volodymyr Sachala, a 17-year-old orphan from Lviv oblast, supposedly the first to be conscripted to the TDF Brigade No. 103. In reality, the man was 26, not an orphan, and served in the Brigade No. 24, as confirmed to Ukrinform by Volodymyr Lys
"The Unified Information and Analysis System 'Children'
has no files on orphans or children deprived of a caretaker with the last name Sachala
The database has been operating since 2006
The Russians write that he is an 'orphanage caretaker'
citing one principal Chikel – I have never heard of such a principal in all my years of service," Lys said
The media outlet learned that Volodymyr Romanovych Sachala was born in Oselya
He received an incomplete secondary education in the Oselya general education school
Stanko Art School in the Ivano-Frankove village
"Volodymyr studied as 'carpenter and woodworking machine operator' under the guidance of his supervisor Volodymyr Murin. We remember him as a patient, balanced, thorough student," the school notes
Sachala was conscripted to the TDF Brigade No
after several months of basic military training at the Haimadatska Sich camp
only the educational center "Haidamatska Sich"
According to the Yavoriv City Council
and went back to civilian life after demobilization
He worked as a carpenter in Ivano-Frankove
traveled around to earn money to support his family
Volodymyr put on the army camouflage again
the boy was brave and ready to fight back against the enemy
he met his future wife and started a family with her," the City Council said
Sachala was fatally injured by mortar shelling near Druzhba
The soldier was buried in his home village on December 4
Reprinting and disseminating our information is allowed
but under strictly condition of reference to the source
Left: parade honoring Third Reich Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank
Right: march commemorating the establishment of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)
2014 (Yuri Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)
Note: In the years since the Maidan uprising brought a new government to Ukraine in 2014
numerous monuments to Nazi collaborators and Holocaust perpetrators have been erected
at times as frequently as a new one each week
the Nazi collaborator who led a faction of OUN (called OUN-B); above are his statues in L’viv (left) and Ivano-Frankivsk (right)
Tarik Cyril Amar and Jared McBride for their guidance on Ukrainian collaborators
Ternopil and numerous other cities — Another statue of Bandera in Ternopil
The banners include “Heil Hitler!” and “Glory to Bandera!”
Editor’s note: Dnipro and Tatariv were added to this list in October 2022
Right: Far-right march in honor of Bandera’s 112th birthday
Above right, the annual torchlight march on Bandera’s birthday in 2021; during the 2017 commemorations marchers chanted “Jews Out!”
Krakovets, L’viv and numerous other towns — Monuments to Roman Shukhevych (1907–1950)
another OUN figure and Nazi collaborator who was a leader in Nazi Germany’s Nachtigall auxiliary battalion
which later became the 201st Schutzmannschaft auxiliary police unit
Shukhevych later commanded the brutal Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)
responsible for butchering thousands of Jews and 70,000-100,000 Poles
Even more shocking are the Shukhevych monuments in Canada and the U.S.
He kept his word — the German invasion of Ukraine was accompanied by horrific pogroms with the incitement and eager participation of OUN nationalists. The initial L’viv pogrom alone had 4,000 victims
Ukrainian nationalist groups massacred tens of thousands of Jews
both in cooperation with Nazi death squads and on their own volition
Stetsko — the man who formally pledged his government’s loyalty to Hitler — moved to the U.S.
where he quickly rose into the highest circles of Washington
He was lauded as leader of freedom fighters by Ronald Reagan and George H.W
Stetsko meeting with then-Vice President Bush
Stetsko’s signature on the Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood with a pledge to “work closely with National-Socialist Greater Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.”
when an SS Galichina subunit slaughtered 500–1,200 Polish villagers
Below left, a march in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk), western Ukraine, 1941; below right, a march celebrating the 71st anniversary of SS Galichina’s founding, L’viv, western Ukraine, 2014. L’viv’s 2018 march consisted of hundreds giving coordinated Nazi salutes. See JTA report
Note: the entries below were added during the January/April 2022 project update
a monument in Berezne and streets in Lutsk
Note: The Rokytne street was added to this entry in August 2023
Volya Yakubova and eight other locales – A memorial complex and a separate museum to Andryi Melnyk (1890–1964)
the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) split into two factions: OUN-M
Melnyk’s faction was every bit as genocidal as Bandera’s – an OUN-M newspaper gleefully celebrated the liquidation of Kyiv’s Jews at Babi Yar (see Ivan Rohach entry below)
Germany’s 1941 invasion of Ukraine was welcomed with banners and proclamations such as “Glory to Hitler
Melnyk resettled in Luxembourg and was a fixture in Ukrainian diaspora organizations
gunned down 33,771 Jews in two days in one of the most horrific massacres of the Holocaust
Above left, soldiers of the 115th Schutzmannschaft Battalion, which included Bukovinsky Kuren fighters, march through Kyiv, 1942. See the U.S. section for a memorial to the Bukovinsky Kuren
A week later, he ran an article urging readers to be on the lookout for any Jewish survivors hiding in the city. The same week, the Ukrayins’ke Slovo celebrated the improved life in Kyiv
praising the abundance of “unoccupied” housing which had suddenly become available
(This housing was Jewish homes rendered “unoccupied” by the slaughter of their inhabitants.)
Eventually, the Germans grew tired of some of their OUN-M lackeys and executed Rohach. In 2016, the Ukrainian government made the obscene decision to mourn him as a Nazi victim during commemorations of the Babi Yar massacre – the massacre he had so enthusiastically endorsed (above right)
Rohach has an additional street in Khust and a plaque and street in Velykyi Berezhny
Kyiv and 35 other locales – A plaque to Oleg Olzhych (1907–1944)
Olzhych came to Kyiv part of an OUN-M formation designed to aid the nationalist takeover of Ukraine in 1941
He became a key figure in the Ukrayins’ka Natsional’na Rada
This OUN-M entity coordinated the formation of Ukrainian auxiliary police that aided the Germans
It also published propaganda such as the Ukrayins’ke Slovo (see Ivan Rohach entry above)
Perechyn – The town has a street jointly honoring brothers Ivan and Panas Kedyulich. Ivan Kedyulich (1912–1945) was an OUN-M member who came to Kyiv with the same formation as Oleg Olzhych (see entry above). Kedyulich became chief of the city’s local auxiliary police which aided the Nazis with massacres in Babi Yar and elsewhere
Police units organized by Kedyulich also provided fighters for the Schutzmannschaft battalions
fighters of the 115th Schutzmannschaft in Kyiv
Zolota Sloboda – A bust of Yaroslav-Mykhailo Starukh (1910–1947)
secretary of the ministry of information and propaganda in the self-declared OUN-B government
The village also has a plaque of Starukh on a school building
where he’s promoted as an example to children
L’viv – Above left, L’viv’s mayor Yuri Polyanskiy (1892–1975) welcomes Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank to the city, August 1, 1941. By this point, at least 6,000 of L’viv’s Jews were butchered in a series of pogroms incited and carried out in large part by Ukrainian nationalists
Bodnariv and L’viv – Bodnariv’s monument to Oleksandr Lutskyi (1910–1946), an officer in Nazi Germany’s Nachtigall auxiliary battalion which invaded Ukraine alongside other Third Reich forces in June 1941
the military intelligence division of the Third Reich’s armed forces
primarily from the OUN-B branch of the OUN
The Ukrainian commander was Roman Shukhevych who is glorified across Ukraine today (see his entry earlier)
Nachtigall was reorganized into the 201st Schutzmannschaft auxiliary police battalion
which was involved in lethal antisemitic violence and brutal suppression of anti-Nazi resistance in Belarus
See the Bukovinsky Kuren entry for more on the Schutzmannschaft
Nachtigall marching through L’viv on June 30
right as anti-Jewish pogroms raged throughout the city
1942; Roman Shukhevych is in the front row
Ternopil – A plaque and street honoring Omelyan Polovyi (1913–1999). Polovyi followed the familiar path of OUN-B members, serving in Nachtigall
then commanding a platoon in the 201st and later becoming a UPA colonel
Polovyi and other OUN-B fighters from Nachtigall
Schutzmannschaft and local auxiliary police battalions gained hands-on experience carrying out the Holocaust in 1941 and 1942
This murderous experience was put to use in 1943
when they joined the UPA and organized the ethnic cleansing of Poles
Volodymyrtsi – A plaque to Petro Gudzovatiy (1912–1946)
The plaque is erected on a government building where Gudzovatiy once worked
Lypivka (Rohatyn Raion) – A monument to Oleksiy Demsky (1922–1955), another member of Nachtigall and the 201st
the 201st Schutmannschaft in training with Roman Shukhevych in the front row
Sambir and Storona – Sambir’s bust to Terentiy Pihotskiy (1912–1944) who fought in Nachtigall before becoming a UPA commander
He also has a plaque on a school in his home village of Storona
Sadzhava – This village honors native son Oleksiy Khymynets (1912–1945) with a monument and street. Khymynets served Germany not just in Nachtigall and the 201st but also in local auxiliary police (see Volodymyr Schygel’skiy entry below for more on role of police)
His street uses his nom de guerre “Blagyi”
a chilling rare photo of the Holocaust by bullets as it happened; Ukrainian police execute a woman and two children in Miropol
Nazavyziv – A memorial plaque honoring Danylo Rudak (1917–1948), who served in Nachtigall and the 201st
Chortkiv – A bust of Petro Khamchuk (1919–1947), another member of one of Nazi Germany’s Schutzmannschaft battalions
Ivano-Frankivsk and three other locales – On the outside of the city’s Cathedral of the Transformation is a plaque to Vasyl Andrusyak (1915–1946). In 1941, Andrusyak was platoon commander in Nazi Germany’s Roland Battalion
Roland was a companion formation to the Nachtigall Battalion (see entries above): just like Nachtigall
it was a Ukrainian auxiliary unit in the Abwehr (Third Reich military intelligence) that participated in the Nazi invasion of Ukraine and was later reorganized into the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion
After serving in Roland, Andrusyak became a UPA officer. He also has a statue
street and museum in his hometown of Sniatyn and streets in Hrabivka (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) and Kalush
Roland Battalion training in Seibergsdorf Austria
Kaminne – A memorial plaque to Petro Melnyk (1910–1953), who served in Roland
then the 201st Schutzmannschaft and then became a UPA commander
The plaque omits any mention of his service for the Nazis
Rai – Dmytro Myron (1911–1942) aka Orlyk was one of the OUN’s main ideologues who authored the “44 Rules of the Life of a Ukrainian Nationalist,” a set of tenets considered foundational to the OUN
L’viv and Brovary – Both have streets named for Roman Sushko (1894–1944), OUN leader who commanded the Bergbauernhilfe aka the Ukrainian Military Units of Nationalists or the Sushko Legion
The Sushko Legion was another Ukrainian volunteer unit composed mostly of OUN members in Nazi Germany’s armed forces
The Sushko Legion entered WWII earlier than the Nachtigall and Roland battalions (see entries above)
Nachtigall and Roland were used by the Nazis in the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union; the Sushko Legion was designed to aid the Third Reich’s 1939 invasion of Poland
The plaque describing this war criminal as a “legendary commander” is on a building where he attended school
Unlike the Schutzmannschaft battalions (see entries above)
which were deployed by the Third Reich to various locations
local auxiliary police units such as those Schygel’skiy served in were based in specific cities
These local collaborators were invaluable to the Nazis: they spoke the local languages
knew the people and were intimately familiar with the terrain
including where Jews or anti-Nazi resistance fighters could hide
Auxiliary police participated in the Holocaust by rounding up Jews
forcibly relocating them to be exterminated in death camps or simply massacring them on the spot
on the outskirts of towns or in pits dug in local forests
The security and guard duties performed by local auxiliary police freed up SS Einsatzgruppen death squads and Schutzmannschaft battalions
which were then deployed to perpetuate the Holocaust in other regions
Tashan’ – This memorial to “Fighters for Ukrainian Freedom” features a plaque to Petro Samutin (1896–1982), an officer in the Abwehr
the Third Reich’s military intelligence division
Hrabets then became a colonel in charge of the UPA-South division
He also has streets in Ladyzhyn and Vinnytsia
Note: the Ladyzhyn street was added to this entry in March 2024
Zhytomyr and two other locales – A street named for Leonid Stupnytskiy (1891–1944) who led the OUN-B’s 1st Ukrainian Regiment “Holodny Yar,” an auxiliary police training battalion in Rivne in 1941
his unit was reformed into a police training regiment under control of the German army
See Omelyan Hrabets entry above for more on the Holocaust in Rivne
Stupnytskiy also has streets in Rudnya and Ostroh
Jews in Storow forced to dig their own graves before being massacred
Such haunting scenes were commonplace in WWII Ukraine
in which Ukrainian police played a key role (in Hebrew with English subtitles)
Editor’s note: Koziar’s monument and street were added to this entry in March 2024
“The German authorities met the passionate desires of Ukrainians
of which there are still 150,000 remaining
Note: The Derman’ museum and Kyiv and Rokytne streets were added to this entry in August 2023; the Kaniv street was added in March 2024
Kyiv and 10 other locales – A memorial plaque to Stepan Skrypnyk (1898–1993) who became Patriarch Mstyslav
around the time Skrypnyk was ordained into the priesthood
he was the publisher and manager of the extraordinarily antisemitic paper Volyn (see Ulas Samchuk entry above)
On March 29, 1942 Skrypnyk wrote a paean to the “Great European named Adolf Hitler,” who was “sent by providence” to liberate Europe and the world from Jews and Bolsheviks
Skrypnyk waxed poetic about Ukraine’s deliverance from “Moscow-Jewish Asiatic bondage,” eagerly anticipating the day “the fanfares of the German army will carry the song of victory across the globe.”
Skrypnyk’s Volyn incited genocidal hatred as the Holocaust raged across Ukraine. On November 6, 1941, Germans and Ukrainian collaborators exterminated about 21,000 Jews in Rivne. Three days later, Volyn – a Rivne-based paper – celebrated by running antisemitic cartoons with a caption: “For the Judeo-Bolshevik hydra
Below, the masthead from Volyn’s inaugural edition, September 1, 1941. It lists Skrypnyk as publisher and manager, Ulas Samchuk as editor and the printing press’ address as 81 Adolf Hitler Street. See the U.S. section for an honorary street designation for Skrypnyk
Romny and Poltava – Both places have streets named for Leonid Parhomovych (1921–1990) aka Poltava. An antisemitic poet, Poltava celebrated the destruction of Romny’s Jews and churned out tracts like his ode to Hitler’s 53rd birthday
the boundless sky is blue/It’s no coincidence that on this day
was born the Great Führer,” warbled Poltava
evoking images of Hitler as a deity of spring and rebirth
Afterward, Chav’yak went on to command a UPA battalion
he also has a street and plaque in Ivano-Frankivsk
Mizernyi’s Third Reich police identification allowing him to carry a handgun and baton and granting him police power
Yabluniv (Kosiv Raion) – Yuri Dolishnyak (1916–1948) was an officer in the Nazi-controlled local auxiliary police in the village of Kosmach who later became a UPA commander
Yabluniv also gave Dolishnyak a street which uses his nom de guerre “Bilyi”
Zarichchya (Nadvirna Raion) – A monument and street to Pavlo Vatsyk (1917–1946) in his home village; Vatsyk served in the Nazi-controlled local auxiliary police in his home region
Stopchativ – A monument to Vasyl Skrygunets (1893–1948) who served in the local auxiliary police before becoming a UPA commander
His monument uses his nom de guerre “Hamaliya”
Jews made up half of Kovel’s pre-war population; the community was virtually exterminated
Ukrainian police (with white armbands) preparing to execute Jews in Chernihiv
Nyzhniy Bereziv and two other locales – A monument to Mykola Arsenych (1910–1947), who headed the OUN-B’s Sluzhba Bezpeky
He also has a bas-relief in Nyzhniy Bereziv and streets in Kolomyia and Novohrad-Volynskiy
Editor’s note: The Lutsk street was added to this entry in March 2024
when its fighters burned 500–1,000 Polish villagers alive
Kubiyovych’s genocidal activities include chairing L’viv’s Ukrainian Central Committee, a collaborationist organization recognized by the Third Reich. In addition to helping organize and recruit local auxiliary police, the committee warned Ukrainians that anyone helping Jews hide would be severely prosecuted (below left). Thanks to such efforts, L’viv’s thriving Jewish community
which had comprised a third of L’viv prewar population
less than 800 survived (which makes for a 0.4% survival rate)
L’viv and Sokal – Both have streets named for Viktor Kurmanovych (1876–1945)
festivities in Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk) in honor of SS Galichina
swastikas and SS Galichina lion and crowns placards
Rohatyn – A street and museum for Mykola Ugryn-Bezrishniy (1883–1960), who advocated for SS Galichina’s creation and served in the division under the rank of SS-Obersturmführer
Rogatin’ske Slovo article from November 1941 celebrates the annihilation of Ukraine’s Jews: “the cities still have a certain percentage of Jews
albeit much diminished…Jews in the villages have been liquidated
one way or another….in some villages this took on a festive mood – for example
Jews were forced to march with signs saying ‘We are your tormentors’.”
The Ugryn-Bezrishniy museum is part of the Rohatyn Museum Complex which includes the nearby Church of the Holy Spirit, a medieval wooden church. In 2013, the church was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
It’s important to note that UNESCO lists only the church and not the museum as part of the heritage site; however the formal link between a UNESCO-designated site and a “museum” glorifying a Waffen-SS officer can be easily used to whitewash Ugryn-Bezrishniy
Kyiv and three other locales – A major street in Ukraine’s capital named for Mykhailo Omelyanovych-Pavlenko (1878–1952)
Omelyanovych-Pavlenko was a hero of Ukrainian liberation movements of the WWI era
he was recruiting soldiers for the Third Reich via the Ukrainian Liberation Army
an umbrella organization which funneled Ukrainian volunteers to various Nazi military formations
Omelyanovych-Pavlenko was overjoyed to learn of Hitler greenlighting SS Galichina’s creation – “Hail Hitler
Hail the Ukrainian Army!” he wrote in a letter celebrating the news (above left)
Pervomaisk (Mykolayiv Oblast) and Voznesensk
Omelyanovych-Pavlenko (sitting) with SS Galichina officers
Ternopil and 23 other locales – The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church played an important role in SS Galichina’s creation
Bishop Iosif Slipyi (1892–1984) was the Church’s point man
He celebrated mass at SS Galichina’s founding and even furnished the division with priests who served as chaplains
Slipyi served as first deputy in the 1941 self-declared OUN government which had pledged allegiance to Hitler (see Yaroslav Stetsko entry for more)
According to Slipyi’s own memoirs
by 1943 he was well aware of the fate Germany had for the Jews; he still helped provide the Third Reich with SS recruits
In 1983, forty years later, Slipyi remained proud of SS Galichina. By then, Slipyi, who had spent years in Soviet labor camps, was in Rome. He commemorated the anniversary of SS Galichina’s founding with praise
“Let the memory of Ukrainian Galichian Division live with us forever as a testament to nations that we strive for freedom, statehood and are prepared for the greatest sacrifices for truth, fairness and peace to be in our land,” he proclaimed
calling on the faithful to pray for SS men
Zalishchyky and Zhovkva; and a square in Stryi
Lanchyn – This town’s plaque honoring Vasyl Kosiuk (1921–1984) calls him a veteran of the 1st Division of the UNA (see above)
Ivano-Frankivsk – In 2013, Ivano-Frankivsk inaugurated the “Ivano-Frankivsk – A Place of Heroes” program which unveiled memorial plaques throughout the city and environs. These “heroes” include Volodymyr Malkosh (1924–2009), SS-Unterscharführer in SS Galichina. In a 2010 interview about his SS service
Malkosh claimed he fought “not for Hitler but against Stalin,” a common whitewashing lie designed to deny fighting in the Waffen-SS
Malkosh reminisced about how under Nazi rule
with the Jews (whom he called “capitalists” and “merchants”) exterminated
L’viv’s higher education schools became composed of 90% ethnic Ukrainians
Malkosh didn’t explain the reason for the sudden demographic change: the schools’ Jewish students had been liquidated by Germans and Ukrainian collaborators
which left mostly ethnic Ukrainian students
Lutsk’s local auxiliary police played a key role in the murder of over 20,000 of the city’s Jews
Koval commanded a unit in the UPA which participated in the ethnic cleansing of Polish villages
His plaque is in his home village of Mykytyntsi
These plaques are in Ivano-Frankivsk, where the Nazis together with Ukrainian collaborators, exterminated over 20,000 Jews; no more than 1,500 of the city’s Jews survived
Malyi Khodachkiv – a plaque honoring SS Galichina fighter Teodor Barabash (1923–2014). After the war, Barabash emigrated to Spain
where he became a businessman and leader of the country’s Ukrainian diaspora
Barabash with Iosif Slipyi who was deeply involved in the creation of SS Galichina (see entry above)
Perehyn’ske – A memorial to hometown fighter Volodymyr Deputat (1918–1946) who served in SS Galichina before joining the UPA
Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernihiv – Both have streets for Ivan Rembolovich (1897–1950)
Note: The Chernihiv street was added to this entry in August 2023
Ternopil – On the façade of a Ternopil school is a plaque celebrating one of its graduates
Lukasevich served in SS Galichina before becoming a UPA commander
The plaque describes him as a hero of the “national liberation” movement
Voinyliv – A plaque to town native Roman Rudiy (1923–2005)
The plaque calls him a “civil and political activist and a political prisoner.” Above right
Governor of Galizia Otto Wächter (far left) and Governor-General of Poland Hans Frank (third from left) inspect SS Galichina volunteers in L’viv
Ivano-Frankivsk and two other locales – Both Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil have streets and memorials dedicated to the SS Galichina division as a whole
Ivano-Frankivsk’s memorial (above left) thanks the “heroes” of the Ukrainian Division Galichia (another name for SS Galichina) as well as UPA fighters
Pozychanyuk was minister of propaganda in the OUN-B’s 1941 Nazi collaborationist government (see Ivan Klymiv entry above for more). Later, Pozychanyuk became a lieutenant-colonel running propaganda for the UPA. He also has a memorial bas-relief in his home village of Dashiv
Berezova Luka and two other locales – In the village of Berezova Luka is a memorial plaque and museum to Petro Dyachenko (1895–1965). Dyachenko, like Pavlo Shandruk (see entry above), was a general in the Ukrainian National Army; for his services
Dyachenko was personally awarded the Iron Cross by Third Reich general Wilhelm Schmalz
Dyacheko was also attached to SS Galichina
also has streets in Nikopol’ and Voznesensk
Editor’s note: The Nikopol’ street was added to this entry in March 2024
The UPA murdered thousands of Jews as well
Correction: The original caption with the photograph of Yaroslav Stetsko meeting with then-U.S
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— We will force this plastic and Chinese hazardous toys out of our market. Our toys are made from aspen because this wood even drives the devil away. You know who is killed by an aspen stake? Vampires are. So the children were given these toys starting from their childhood for evil not to touch them. And because of this the aspen toy has the strength of a guardian talisman.
— Will there be enough aspen to revive the toys?
— Aspen is a kind of material that is not used anywhere for construction purposes. There’s enough aspen to last us for the next hundred years. Will we live as long? I am already 52 (laughs).
— You works are rather colorfully painted. What colors and ornaments do you use for toy decoration?
— Our decorative art is the second famous in Ukraine. Petrykivsky ornaments take the first place and Yavorivsky’s are at the second one. Our ornament is called “verbivka” (verba means willow in Ukrainian) – because the ornaments look like willow twigs. There have always been a lot of willows in Yavoriv which grow on sand. So, people made toys, sold them and made their living by this, as the soils there have never been fertile because of the sand.
There are four colors in the ornaments: green, red, blue and yellow. Red is for fruit and berries. Green is for grass and leaves. Blue is for the sky and water. Yellow means the sun. I do not use any other colors. I have even ordered a shirt in these colors to match the toys and also have ornamented my straw hat with these patterns.
— Do you ornament your works yourself or you have some assistants?
— I ornament toys and make the templates for them myself, because I am still teaching the future artists. Now I teach girls to make ornaments because the work with a circular saw is definitely not for them. And as for the boys and men, it is they who will be occupied directly in making toys. Thus they will have a place of employment and will travel to different exhibitions with me. I’m even preparing a kind of a uniform for them – national shirts embroidered with Yavoriv ornaments.
I am completely independent because I am educated and have experience. In addition God gave me a kind of a gift – to be able to play with toys at the age of fifty. You know, I have worked in different areas during my life. I used to restore ancient things which were 500-1000 years old; my brothers and me decorate restaurants in imitation of ancient times, build churches and take moderate payment for all this so God helps us.
— We already have both enemies and admirers. But we will not give in and our horses will definitely live. And we want to have a representative office for our toys in each of the Ukrainian region centers.
— Do you have a representative office somewhere at present?
— Our toys are already available in Lviv studios. We also have an agreement for Kiev. We will be given a place in some busy region. We don’t need much: just two walls are enough to make an exposition with more than a hundred toys.
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widely respected restaurateur Roberto Valente couldn’t be there Saturday night to see the full-capacity crowd that came out to the 28th annual Daffodil Gala to honour him
The devoted family man of three young kids died early last year of brain cancer
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“There’s a very good chance he might not show up,” his brother and business partner Richard Valente
from the Fratelli restaurants and Roberto Pizza
including Roberto’s widow Katie and parents
were among the nearly 500 people at the gala
Anthony’s Banquet Hall in Little Italy and organized by members of Ottawa’s Italian-Canadian community
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Attendees included veteran Ottawa Senators defenceman Chris Phillips and his former teammates Martin Havlat and Jason York
along with friends of the Valente family from the business community and local food and restaurant scene
The response to this year’s gala was “overwhelming,” said long-time gala committee chair Fulvia Marcantonio
while noting they had to add seating up in the mezzanine
Organizers were expecting to reach their goal of $30,000 in support of the Canadian Cancer Society’s brain cancer research program
Michael O’Byrne from CTV Ottawa News emceed the dinner
Up for grabs during the live auction were two dinners for eight
with one donated by Fratelli and the other by Beckta
The Valente family thanked a long list of people for their invaluable support in helping them deal with the crushing loss of Roberto
While Roberto’s dying regrets included not being there for his wife and kids nor for his aging parents
He knew some cancer victims never make it to adulthood
“He was an amazing human being,” said Pasquale Valente
before telling everyone how much he cherishes the gift that Roberto left behind: his three beautiful grandchildren
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