Interviews and articles
VICTOR PINCHUK: a film, a mission, and a vision
BY PETER COHEN
The setting was a historic Kiev theater. More than 2,000 people-including Ukraine's president and prime minister-gathered together on a chilly, moonlit October night. Steven Spielberg, renowned for his cinematic mastery, was the guest of honor. He was making his first visit to the country of his ancestors, indeed, his first visit to any of the countries of the former Soviet Union. The media presence was formidable - more than 200 journalists from Ukraine, Russia, and Western Europe, watching every move with an interest and an enthusiasm (and for the Ukrainians, a pride) that would startle many Westerners. And the attraction was Spell Your Name, a feature-length documentary film exploring the Holocaust in Ukraine, directed by Sergey Bukovsky, one of the country's most respected directors.
Quietly, but a force nonetheless and serving as master of ceremonies, was Victor Pinchuk, one of the country's leading businessmen and philanthropists and the driving force behind the creation of Spell Your Name. He had worked for more than two years with the University of Southern California's Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History to bring the project to reality, serving as co-execu¬tive producer with Spielberg. Yet as the ceremonies started, Pinchuk's thoughts were else¬where-to a spot several miles west of the theater, a ravine in the northern part of Kiev called Babi Yar, the site of one of the earliest and most horrific of Nazi atrocities in World War II. It was Babi Yar, its role in the history of Ukraine, and the history of Kiev's Jewish population, Pinchuk said in a recent interview with Lifestyles, that was the genesis of the film.
"My family managed to escape Babi Yar, but my parents knew people who were murdered there," Pinchuk recalls. "It was a defining event for Kiev, and for all the people of Kiev and Ukraine. And it's a story that needs to be remembered, not just by my generation, but for all generations." Babi Yar, which literally means "old woman's ravine," entered the modern lexicon 65 years ago this fall as the German army was in the midst of its march east toward the heart of the Soviet Union. After taking Kiev and deciding to liquidate the city's Jewish population, the German occupying officers realized the ravine would save the army the trouble of digging mass graves. On September 27, 1941, the executions of Kiev's Jewish prisoners-of-war and civilians began. Over two days, September 29 to 30, 33,731 people were executed. Babi Yar went on to be the site of thousands of more deaths, perhaps as many as an additional 70,000, before the war ended.
The film's website, www.spellyourname.org , contains a wealth of information on the project and the events of 1941, including a chilling sentence (in translation) from records and documents kept by the German army regarding its operations in Kiev: "Incidentally, the experience of the preceding days indi¬cates that it did not cause any objection."
Pinchuk knew that a story with the scale and historical importance of Babi Yar needed to be told cinematically, and that the man with the vision to bring the story to life was Steven Spielberg. Shortly after this realization, he met Spielberg in New York, where the director was working on War of the Worlds. "This is a story that needs to be told and now is the time to do it," he said to Spielberg.
Spielberg readily signed on, and his commitment resulted in the vital involve¬ment of the Shoah Foundation Institute. Video testimonies by survivors of Babi Yar, among thousands of Holocaust testi¬monies collected by the institute, are the heart and soul of the film.
Spell Your Name was well received by the large audience and critics during the premiere, and the question-and-answer session with the creative team following the viewing was wide-ranging and thought-provoking. 'The questions and comments were excellent-very substan¬tial, very thoughtful," Pinchuk remarks. "It was a testimony to the film, and to the people of Kiev, that the discussion was so productive and informative."
Plans are being developed for the film to be premiered in the United States and released in Israel and Europe. "This is about much more than the film," Pinchuk says. "It is about education."
A teaching companion guide is in the final stages of preparation, and the goal is for school children throughout Ukraine to see the film and study its impacts. The budget for the film itself was approximately $1 million, "but the education budget will be bigger," says Pinchuk. "It is essential that we learn the lessons of history, and this film sheds light on one of the darkest pages of Ukraine's past."
Producing a film on the Holocaust is fruit of extensive work with Bukovsky and the Shoah Foundation Institute over the past two years, and also the result of a successful business career built over the past two decades in Ukraine. Pinchuk's background is in metallurgy and pipes-crucial industries in Ukraine and a driving force in the economy.
Pinchuk graduated with honors in 1983 from the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute, earning a Ph.D. on the basis of his innovative research in pipe design, engineering, and pro¬duction. In fact, he holds several scien¬tific patents for processes and designs that were successfully adopted by leading metallurgical factories of the former USSR.
He founded Interpipe: The Scientific and Production Group in 1990 and served as the company's president from 1997 to 1998 and as the chairman of the board. He now serves as founder and former chairman of the board. The company's core business includes the manufacture and supply of steel pipe and related products and the manufacture and supply of machine-building products for the gas industry.
Interpipe is now the fourth-largest producer of steel products and ferro-alloy material in the world and is ranked as Ukraine's fifth-largest exporter. The company employs more than 30,000 people in Ukraine, and also is involved in banking and finance, as well as manufacturing.
As Pinchuk's business grew, so did his investments. He now holds interests in several national media properties, including a nationally broadcast television channel, and has approached his investments as an opportunity to spur growth and, importantly, increase professionalism and transparency in the sector.
He has organized his philanthropic work in the way you would expect an engineer and businessman would: with strict attention to detail and an organizational rigor. The activities are oper¬ated by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which develops and supports projects that contribute to the development of Ukraine. Its main areas of focus, in addi¬tion to the cultural programs, are: health, education, rule of law, interna¬tional development, and support for local Jewish communities in Ukraine.
He has also put his political thinking and ideas about government and policy into action. Pinchuk served two terms as an elected Member of Parliament in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. He was first elected in 1998 and represented the Dnepropetrovsk area, in the central part of Ukraine, south of Kiev. His work in parliament focused on investment policy, economic policy, and property law. He was also a leader in the efforts to close the Chernobyl nuclear plant. He was reelected in 2002, but in 2004, he announced that he would not run for the 2006 parliamentary elections.
As a businessman, he has a keen understanding of the role economics and education will play in the develop¬ment of his country.
Just a week prior to the film pre¬miere, Dr. Robert Engle, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics, and noted intellectual Francis Fukuyama, spoke (at Pinchuk's invitation) to a group, The Economics Education and Research Consortium (EERC). That organization was created in 1995 to strengthen economics education and research capabilities in the countries of the former USSR.
"Such a position should push us toward building bridges rather than erecting walls. We should be thinking more of 'and,' and less of 'or.'"
His international relationships ensure that Ukraine's perspectives are heard in some of the world's most elite policy circles. Pinchuk is the only Ukrainian member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and is a member of the International Crisis Group and the international advisory council of the Brookings Institution. In addition, he is a member of the board of the William |. Clinton Foundation. At the 2006 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, his forum on the investment cli¬mate in Ukraine drew more than 100 participants, including Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski and George Soros.
Participating on a national stage in Ukraine is nothing new for Pinchuk-and his interests and passions are not only for business and philanthropy. He is also focused on Ukraine's growing involvement in European politics, especially as it con¬cerns the country's historic and vital ties to Russia. This is an especially inter¬esting topic in Kiev's currently dynamic political climate.
In 2004 he created the Yalta European Strategy (www.yes-ukraine.org ), an international network for Ukraine in the EU. YES is now chaired by Stephen Byers, a member of the United Kingdom Parliament and former member of Prime Minister Blair's cabinet. In November 2005, YES met with EU President Barroso in Brussels to present its activities and promote Ukraine's aim of joining the EU. And the day after the film premiere he discussed the group's work with Ukraine's presi¬dent Victor Yushchenko.
Ukraine, at the east of most people's idea of Europe, and at the border with Russia, is a hot topic of dis¬cussion as the European Union contem¬plates the future shape and scope of its organization. Pinchuk, as usual, sees opportunity in the position.
"Such a position should push us toward building bridges rather than erecting walls. We should be thinking more of 'and,' and less of 'or.' Not Russia 'or' the European Union, but Russia 'and' the European Union," he wrote in the International Herald Tribune earlier this year. "It is in the interest of Ukraine to develop good and strong relationships with its neighbors rather than conflicts."
While Spell Your Name is certainly the most prominent of Pinchuk's forays into the art world, it is not the only one. Recently, he organized his extensive collection of modern art and estab¬lished The Pinchuk Art Center, housed in three floors of a renovated older building in the center of Kiev. Its opening in September was-until the film premiere-the cultural highlight of the year in Kiev.
His interest in arts and music was nurtured by his parents and he aims to share his knowledge and acquisitions with the Kiev community. The Pinchuk Art Center will hold master classes for artists, discussions for art fans, and exhibits of contemporary Ukrainian and international artists.
His participation in the Biennale di Venezia 2005 marked a new stage in the evolution of his foundation and its work in the arts world, creating visibility and an opportunity for exchanges on an international level.
"We see the center as a way to build new momentum for the devel¬opment of the contemporary artistic scene in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe in general," Pinchuk says. "At the same time, we see this as an opportu¬nity for all Ukrainians to learn about the newest art trends and eventually help make Ukrainian contemporary art - an even bigger part of the world of contemporary art. And, I hope that the center will help with the moderniza¬tion of all society in Ukraine," he adds.
All these projects would seem to leave little time for anything else. But that is not the case, as he dotes on his wife and three children, and has time to indulge his interest in classical music and Japanese gardens. In fact, he has been able to make his philanthropic work a bit of a family project. This fall he traveled to New York with his wife, Elena Franchuk, to sign a cooperation agreement with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. With the assistance of a grant from the Elena Franchuk ANTIAIDS Foundation, Ukraine will receive access to the best practices to fight the epidemic and the latest know-how in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care. Pinchuk and his wife are contributing $2.5 million to the five-year project.
It is another project that looks to the world for inspiration, for the benefit of Ukraine.
"Those who have been fortunate have a duty to give back," Pinchuk says.
