FEATURES OF THE VOLHYNIA “PROSVITA” SOCIETIES LIQUIDATION BY THE POLISH AUTHORITIES DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of peculiarities of the “Prosvita” societies liquidation in the Volhynia Voivodeship, which was carried out by the Polish authorities during the interwar period. Since the “Prosvita” societies in Volhynia did not have a centralized structure, as it was observed in neighbouring Galicia, and operated according to separate statutory documents, or did not have registered statutes at all, the Polish authorities took advantage of this moment to ban the activities of the national organization of the Ukrainians. Taking into account the fact that the “Prosvita” societies in Volhynia existed only since the end of World War I and failed to win the favour of the majority of Volhynia residents, the Polish authorities tried to prevent the growth of the number of the “Prosvita” societies in the first half of the 20s of the 20th century, and from the turn of the 20s – the 1930s, “Prosvita” was on the way to liquidation. This is not accidental, because the national idea, which was widely promoted by the Volhynia “Prosvita” societies, the upholding of the Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian language and culture, contradicted the statist doctrine of the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: a complete assimilation of the Ukrainians and transformation of Poland into a mono-ethnic state. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze the peculiarities of the Volhynia “Prosvita” societies liquidation by the Polish authorities during the interwar period, as well as to trace the evolution of the Polish authorities position regarding the activities and existence of the “Prosvita” societies in Volhynia. The methodological basis of the article is the principles of the authrs' objectivity, historicism, systematicity and scientificity. Historical and comparative, historical and systemic methods have been also widely used. The scientific novelty of the article is based on the involvement of new archival documents that are being introduced into a scientific circulation for the first time, as well as on the research focus narrowness, because so far no materials have been published that would trace the specifics of the “Prosvita” societies the liquidation in Volhynia during the interwar period. Instead, in the scientific publications there were analyzed the reasons for the liquidation of the “Prosvita” societies and were, rather, of a descriptive nature.

The Conclusion. As a result of the research, the authors came to the conclusion that, taking into consideration the lack of a unifying centre among the Volhynia “Prosvita” societies, the Polish state administration managed to relatively quickly liquidate the “Prosvita” societies in Volhynia and replace them with public organizations “Prosvitianski Khaty” loyal to the authorities. The process of liquidation of the “Prosvita” societies lasted for five to seven years, depending on the region of Volhynia, the liquidation of the “Prosvita” societies took place chaotically, their duration of activity depended on the leadership's position (its ability to resist). The biggest problem faced by the Volhynia “Prosvita” societies was the transfer of property and finances.

Key words: “Prosvita”, Volhynia, liquidation, the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
statutory documents, national policy, Polish government.