In a speech given in January 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined a plan for an international group called the League of Nations.
The organization’s intent, as set out by Wilson, was to prevent what Russia is now doing to the people of Ukraine and began doing on Feb. 24, 2022.
Brock Bierman of Lyndhurst was in Europe that day. After he heard that Russia had invaded Ukraine, he set out to assess the needs of Ukraine’s people. One need was ambulances, which he has delivered as president of Ukraine Focus.
On Monday, Bierman spoke at Wilson’s birthplace, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, about Ukraine and its needs.
“It has been the most horrific, but uplifting time in my career,” Bierman said.
The Ukrainians are on the forefront of fighting for democracy. Bierman said Russia first attacked schools so as to destroy the nation’s culture and “reeducate” its people. The Ukrainians are fighting with World War II machines guns from Germany and tanks from Soviet Russia. They are brand new and have not been used but they were made during WWII.
Bierman said he has been asked why Ukraine should matter to the United States. The nation matters because its people are fighting against authoritarianism and dictatorship.
“If we are not victorious in our pushing back on this type of philosophy, on this type of government, it’s going to become more overwhelming for the next generation,” Bierman said.
A lot of needs exist throughout Ukraine. Russia has targeted political leaders. For example, Russian military went after the mayor of Bucha and blew up his house.
According to Bierman, after the war ends, it will take one or more generations to get Ukraine back to normal.
Americans can donate money and supplies to charities such as Ukraine Focus and Rotary International. Bierman said Americans can tell the charity they are donating to where they want supplies to go.
Ukrainians need laptops, medical equipment and medical supplies that are less than six months old.
So far this year, Ukraine Focus has raised $2.3 million for Ukraine, including ambulances, computers, playgrounds, solar lamps and coats for children.
The organization’s president began his journey to helping Ukraine when he was asked about his family’s ancestry. He learned that his grandfather immigrated in 1906 to the U.S.
“The fact of the matter is, I didn’t even know I had ancestors who were immigrants,” he said. Twelve of his mother’s ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, but he wanted to know more about the Biermans.
In a 1920 U.S. Census, he found that his father’s father immigrated from Russia and was Jewish, but later would not speak of Russia because of how horribly he and his family had been treated.
“I’m actually concerned that we are making those same mistakes today with Ukraine,” Bierman said. “Not understanding what had happened in the second World War.”
In the U.S., his grandfather became an engineer and a business owner, her served in the military and helped others whenever he could.
“I’m very proud of the gift of freedom he gave me,” Bierman said.
He is proud of his Revolutionary War ancestors, but, he said, his Russian grandfather makes him a real American, and is why he became interested in eastern Europe. He visited Moscow in 1997.
“We failed to understand, I think in a lot of degree, we needed to be more engaged [in eastern Europe],” Bierman said of the U.S. after World War I. The time will come to hold Russia accountable for its atrocities.
Russia is recreating discourse and hate toward Americans just as it did in Moldova before the fall of the Berlin Wall and in the nation of Georgia in 2008.
“Then, of course, what we’re seeing now is an entirely new scale of what I think is barbarism and war crimes and just crimes against humanity,” he said of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Yet, he is impressed with how united Ukrainians are, much like Americans were after 9/11.
“They are suffering in ways that it’s hard to even photograph to tell you,” he said.
The people of Ukraine are the strongest displays of focus, resolve and resilience he has seen.
The latest atrocity by Russia in Ukraine is shelling an area and shelling again 15 minutes later in order to kill first responders.
“It’s hard to believe that humans in the 21st Century could perpetrate such atrocities,” Bierman said.
The war in Ukraine “isn’t any war that we have faced since World War II.”
Next week, Bierman returns to Ukraine where the nation’s people work around the clock to fight Russia.
“Their resolve and their understanding of the complexities of this war will keep not only me but my team going,” he said. “I hope the war ends tomorrow.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
