Yevhen Bereznyak: I have never lost hope…
13 February 2009
For the today's intelligence personnel the Hero of Ukraine, retired Major-general Bereznyak Yevgen Stepanovich is a striking example of a disinterested service to the Motherland, love to his people and selflessness in the performance of the assigned tasks.
For the today's intelligence personnel the Hero of Ukraine, retired Major-general Bereznyak Yevgen Stepanovich is a striking example of a disinterested service to the Motherland, love to his people and selflessness in the performance of the assigned tasks.
On the eve of his 95th anniversary, which Yevhen Stepanovich will celebrate on the 25th of February, 2009, he had a meeting with the Chief of the Defense intelligence of Ukraine.
A legendary "Major Whirlwind" told about his difficult life path, full of turbulent events, and shared his memories about the activity of the intelligence personnel in the years of the Great Patriotic War. With his eyes shining, he spoke about the activity of the group "Voice" headed by him, grace to which the city of Krakiv - the capital of the Polish kings - was saved from ruining.
Touching on the subject of the actual development of the society, Yevhen Bereznyak noted, that today a real threat exists that citizens will loose their trust in the authorities, and, finally, human beings will loose their trust in each other. And this, in its turn, is very frightful.
It is possible to correct this situation, according to the words of Y.S.Bereznyak, only by reaching understanding between the State structures, and also by fostering and cultivating respect for them. The most important for the head of any administrative branch today is not to become confused in these difficult circumstances, to have a proactive life position, and also to have hope and faith in what he is doing.
In the opinion of Yevhen Stepanovich, the main characteristics of the modern leader of a civil organization as well as of a military one are identical. A leader must be competent and decent, he must believe in the future of Ukraine as a European state, and to be devoted to his work.
On the basis of his own life experience Yevhen Bereznyak believes, that many of the actual heads of the ministries and bodies of different organizations are lacking professionalism. "When I became 50 years old, I had an impression that I knew everything. And now, when I am almost 95 years old, I believe that the science of management must be learnt during the whole life. The leading positions in the power structures of the State must be occupied by the professionally trained experts in their work, who, step by step, from one year to another, mounted the career steps. Their main task is to renovate the prestige of the military service and the authority of the people wearing military uniform. The people in the State must acquire confidence in the Ukrainian army, in its elite - the officers corps".
The life credo of the "Major Whirlwind" has always been and still remains creative work and inexhaustible optimism, which he inherited from his father.
Yevhen Bereznyak has never lost faith and hope for his forces: "Confusion and the loss of faith are the major reasons of our failures. An individual must be firm and confident in any situation and to overcome own diffidence. Grace to the faith into the Victory we managed to win the fascism in the years of the Great Patriotic War".
Touching on the issue of establishing a sound microclimate immediately in the military collective, Yevhen Stepanovich mentioned: "If a leader criticizes his subordinate unfairly - it is a very bad thing. Any person reacts very painfully at this and feels hurt, what later results in the lack of respect and confidence towards the leader. The leader must see not only negative sides of the subordinates, but also positive ones, developing their professional qualities and stimulating their initiative".
Giving a piece of advice to his colleagues, Yevhen Stepanovich mentioned, that an intelligence officer must take the decisions quickly under any conditions, but one has to do it professionally, in a well-pondered way, and to be certain that they are right, because the destinies of many people depend on it.
In the opinion of the prominent intelligence officer, it is not less important to be a great patriot of one's own Motherland. The patriotism of the actual generation - it is that human quality, which puts the Ukrainian State at one level with the other European countries of the world, and we will be proud because of the fact that we are Ukrainians.
At the end of the meeting Yevhen Stepanovich Bereznyak thanked for the attention and the attitude towards him: "Today communicating with people - is a stimulus for life for me. People come to visit me, they call me, they ask for a piece of advice, they simply speak to me and this helps me to stay in the world. I have always supported the idea that one should never hurry up to reach the "eternity". I am not yet ready for the "eternity".
A legendary "Major Whirlwind" told about his difficult life path, full of turbulent events, and shared his memories about the activity of the intelligence personnel in the years of the Great Patriotic War. With his eyes shining, he spoke about the activity of the group "Voice" headed by him, grace to which the city of Krakiv - the capital of the Polish kings - was saved from ruining.
Touching on the subject of the actual development of the society, Yevhen Bereznyak noted, that today a real threat exists that citizens will loose their trust in the authorities, and, finally, human beings will loose their trust in each other. And this, in its turn, is very frightful.
It is possible to correct this situation, according to the words of Y.S.Bereznyak, only by reaching understanding between the State structures, and also by fostering and cultivating respect for them. The most important for the head of any administrative branch today is not to become confused in these difficult circumstances, to have a proactive life position, and also to have hope and faith in what he is doing.
In the opinion of Yevhen Stepanovich, the main characteristics of the modern leader of a civil organization as well as of a military one are identical. A leader must be competent and decent, he must believe in the future of Ukraine as a European state, and to be devoted to his work.
On the basis of his own life experience Yevhen Bereznyak believes, that many of the actual heads of the ministries and bodies of different organizations are lacking professionalism. "When I became 50 years old, I had an impression that I knew everything. And now, when I am almost 95 years old, I believe that the science of management must be learnt during the whole life. The leading positions in the power structures of the State must be occupied by the professionally trained experts in their work, who, step by step, from one year to another, mounted the career steps. Their main task is to renovate the prestige of the military service and the authority of the people wearing military uniform. The people in the State must acquire confidence in the Ukrainian army, in its elite - the officers corps".
The life credo of the "Major Whirlwind" has always been and still remains creative work and inexhaustible optimism, which he inherited from his father.
Yevhen Bereznyak has never lost faith and hope for his forces: "Confusion and the loss of faith are the major reasons of our failures. An individual must be firm and confident in any situation and to overcome own diffidence. Grace to the faith into the Victory we managed to win the fascism in the years of the Great Patriotic War".
Touching on the issue of establishing a sound microclimate immediately in the military collective, Yevhen Stepanovich mentioned: "If a leader criticizes his subordinate unfairly - it is a very bad thing. Any person reacts very painfully at this and feels hurt, what later results in the lack of respect and confidence towards the leader. The leader must see not only negative sides of the subordinates, but also positive ones, developing their professional qualities and stimulating their initiative".
Giving a piece of advice to his colleagues, Yevhen Stepanovich mentioned, that an intelligence officer must take the decisions quickly under any conditions, but one has to do it professionally, in a well-pondered way, and to be certain that they are right, because the destinies of many people depend on it.
In the opinion of the prominent intelligence officer, it is not less important to be a great patriot of one's own Motherland. The patriotism of the actual generation - it is that human quality, which puts the Ukrainian State at one level with the other European countries of the world, and we will be proud because of the fact that we are Ukrainians.
At the end of the meeting Yevhen Stepanovich Bereznyak thanked for the attention and the attitude towards him: "Today communicating with people - is a stimulus for life for me. People come to visit me, they call me, they ask for a piece of advice, they simply speak to me and this helps me to stay in the world. I have always supported the idea that one should never hurry up to reach the "eternity". I am not yet ready for the "eternity".
