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Andy Fedynsky - ClevelandSenior Interview

Andy said that in 1918 the building was used as an oprhanage for Ukrainian kids and then for nuns, then scouting and then as the Museum and Archives for the last 50 years or so. They have collections of documents and artifacts including 40,000 books, embroidery, pysanky, literature, musical instruments (banduras) and even postage stamps. The mission statement includes not just the Ukrainian story but the broader immigrant experience. Andy says it is an American museum.

The Cleveland Ukrainian community goes back to the 19th century when immigrants came to the industrial valley at Tremont for jobs. The Tremont neighborhood became a dangerous place in the 1980's and Andy says the UMA helped in the comeback of the historic neighborhood which includes numerous ethnic churches. Andy credits his experience on Capitol Hill working for Senator Bob Dole and then as Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar for helping him learn about the system to aid with the development of the Museum and neighborhood. Of course the UMA includes history and current information on Ukraine's struggles for independence and liberty.

Andy's parents were political refugees after WWII and were placed in a Displaced Person camp in Innsbruck Austria where Andy was born in 1947. He tells a great story of how this Ukrainian kid ended us as a Fighting Irishman at Notre Dame - because of his birth in Innsbruck. Watch the video.