THE SOCIETIES “PROSVITA” OF VOLHYNIA VOIVODESHIP IN CONFRONTATION WITH THE POLISH AUTHORITIES (1921 – 1934)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.20.240045Abstract
The article focuses on the analysis of the national policy of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which resulted in the persecution of the Ukrainian public organizations and the Ukrainian national movement, in particular in Volhynia Voivodeship, during the interwar period. The political situation in the lands of Western Ukraine after their entry into the Polish state and the peculiarities of the formation and implementation of Promethean policy in these areas are studied.
The national idea promoted by “Prosvita” was considered to be hostile by the Polish administration in Volhynia because it contradicted the state doctrine of transforming the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a unitary state. Advocacy by «Prosvita” of the Ukrainian language and culture contradicted the visions of the nation-state's national policy. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze comprehensively the causes and features of the Polish authorities' persecution of «Prosvita” in Volhynia Voivodeship during the 1920s and 1930s and to analyze the consequences of the liquidation of “Prosvita”. The methodological basis is the principles of historicism in the combination of all its components, systematics and scientificity. Interdisciplinary research is focused on the involvement of historical comparative and historical system methods, techniques of microhistorical analysis. The Scientific Novelty. The dynamics of the relations formation between the national and cultural organization of the people of Volhynia “Prosvita” and the Polish state administration has been traced on the basis of the new discovered archival documents. It has been found out that it was during the voivodship of Heinrich Yuzevsky in Volhynia that a purposeful policy of oppression and persecution of «Prosvita” by the Polish authorities began, which eventually caused the complete liquidation of one of the most popular and respected public organizations in the region. The liquidation meeting of “Prosvita” took place in Lutsk on July 1, 1934, after which the majority of the society's branches ceased to operate. On the basis of the researched archival documents the authors came to the conclusion that as a result of the implementation of the “Volhynia experiment” the voivode Heinrich Yuzevsky destroyed the cultural and educational society “Prosvita” under various pretexts in the region and created societies to implement the voivode's political programme. These societies became the “Prosvita Houses”.
Key words: “Prosvita”, the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Volhynia Voivodeship, public organization, oppression, national policy, persecution, the Ukrainian hromada, national idea.
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