Conservative Hetman Environment of the Interwar Ukrainian Emigration in the Southest Europe (1918-1939)

The work highlights the issues of formation and development of conservative Hetman environment in the Southeast Europe. The peculiarity of Ukrainian political emigration in this region consisted in the fact that it arrived in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia as a part of the White armies of A. Denikin and P. Wrangel, and it arrived in Romania as part of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian partisan-rebel troops. Peripheral migration centers were established in the first two countries, emigration in Romania occupied an intermediate position between political centers and peripheral centers. In 1920s, national democratic environment was the most numerous and active among Ukrainian emigration in these countries, as well as radical-nationalist environment in 1930s. Interim place was occupied by conservative Hetman environment. It was represented by two political organizations — Ukrainian Union of State Grain Growers headed by V. Lypynsky and P. Skoropadsky and the Ukrainian National Cossack Society headed by I. PoltavetsOstryanytsia. The Union did not establish its party branches in the region, but it carried out its public social and political activities through public organizations — Ukrainian Union of State Grain Growers and the Ukrainian community in Bucharest and the Ukrainian Union of State Grain Growers in Serbia. There have been attempts to take on leadership in central emigration organizations — Ukrainian association “Prosvita” in Belgrade and the Union of Ukrainian organizations in Yugoslavia, as well as Public-Assisting Committee in Romania, but they failed. National Ukrainian Cossack Association opened in Bulgaria its legal branch. It initiated the establishment of Ukrainian Cultural Association in Bulgaria, which was fighting for the influence over Ukrainian emigration with the Ukrainian community in Bulgaria. Branch leaders were members of the council of the Union of Ukrainian organizations in Bulgaria. In the early 1930s, the branch initiated the dismissal of I. Poltavets-Ostryanytsia from the leadership. Since the middle of 1930s, conservative Hetman environment shifted its orientation on the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. In the late 1930s, conservative Hetman environment was gradually losing its position among Ukrainian emigration in Southeast Europe, and the radical nationalist environment started strengthening its role.

Source: Vlasenko V.M. (2015). Conservative Hetman Environment of the Interwar Ukrainian Emigration in the Southest Europe (1918-1939). Sumy Historical and Archival Journal. № XXV: 56-67

Source web-site: https://shaj.sumdu.edu.ua/data/25_2015/7-Vlasenko.pdf