September 2, 2003

Letters to the Editor
The Globe and Mail
444 Front St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5V 2S9

Dear Editor:

In his article WAY NOW CLEAR FOR EXTRADITION OF RETIRED MILL WORKER TO ITALY (The Globe and Mail, August 28, 2003) Rod Mickleburgh claims that (the allegedly!) Ukrainian-born Michael Seifert is Ukrainian. Strange!

On the other hand, in the article JEWISH CONGRESS URGES DEPORTATION OF B.C. MAN (The Globe and Mail, November 25, 2000) your reporter David Matas insists that Michael Seifert was born in Narva, Estonia, and happens to be Canadian (not Estonian!).

Is Michael Seifert, then, as far as The Globe and Mail is concerned, Canadian, Estonian, Ukrainian, neither or all of these?

I am terribly sorry to confuse with facts your "guru" of objective investigative journalism, Rod Mickleburgh, but could Michael Seifert (who grossly detests everything Ukrainian!) possibly be German? After all, he bears a German name, proudly proclaims to be German, speaks at home exclusively German, belongs only to German organizations and church, and was a Nazi SS man - the status categorically denied to all Ukrainian "Untermenschen".

Frankly, it's totally incomprehensible to me why this "journalistic Sherlock Holmes" deliberately ignored all these indisputable facts and falsely declared Michael Seifert to be Ukrainian? Pray, explain!

May I also point out to your potential Pulitzer Prize recipient - the rehasher of your paper's rather lengthy and stale "expose" - that the noun "ethnic" is defined in Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary as "a member of minority group who retains the customs, language or social views of this group" (and not of his group's geographical location!).

Obviously, regarding as The Globe and Mail so arrogantly does, Michael Seifert as Ukrainian isn't merely irrational and false, it's downright malicious, racist and obscene.

Hopefully, your paper will have enough decency to publicly extend its sincerest apologies not only to all Ukrainian Canadians, but also to those 2.5 million brave Ukrainian soldiers who were killed in action during World War Two fiercely fighting the likes of Michael Seifert.

Myroslaw Prytulak
Windsor, Ontario