Lately, it has become fashionable to blame Ukrainians for every conceivable evil that has befallen the human race.  A few weeks ago, we had to deal with the ramblings of Abraham Brumberg, Stephen Budiansky, Thomas Nichols and others.  Now, we have Time besmirching Ukrainians in its February 22 article on abuses of Bosnian women, "Unspeakable."  Will this defamation ever end?  The magazine's choice of photograph and its libelous caption are indeed outrageous.

     The photograph published in Time on page 50, and used to illustrate Lance Morrow's point has appeared, uncredited, in many other publications.  It appears on page 111 of the 1990 pictorial "World War II" (edited by Philip Kunhardt Jr.) but with a different caption than the one created for Mr. Morrow's story.  Time-Life Books on Books on History of the Second World War (1989 edition) also features this photo, indicating that the subject has been mistreated by the occupying Germans.  The 1966 "American Heritage Picture History of World War II" by C. L. Sulzberger also features this photograph with no mention of abuse.

     No one seems to know the history behind the objects of this photograph.  It seems to be of a generic nature to which anyone can print and attribute any story they wish.  This is the first time that Ukrainians have been credited with doing harm to the object of the photo.

     Maybe we need to establish an anti-defamation organization to pursue this problem before it goes any further.

     Incidentally, has anyone read the March 1992 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, where Sergei Kiselyov, identified as a Ukrainian journalist, states that "Russia ... oppressed Ukraine for over 33 years...."  How much over 33 years, Mr. K.?