EAST EUROPEAN HISTORICAL BULLETIN

URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS IN 18th CENTURY TRANSYLVANIA:THE CASE OF TWO PROVINCIAL TOWNS, SEBEȘ AND ALBA IULIA

2024-12-11T19:23:23+02:00

The towns in Transylvania appeared in the first decades of the fourteenth century and went through a spectacular evolution in the Middle Ages. However, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries their development gradually decreased. In the early modern age, shortly after the inclusion of the Principality of Transylvania in the Habsburg Empire (ca. 1690), the newly acquired province had only three free royal towns and 65 boroughs. Not only the number urban settlements was low, but these had rather small size, and their economy lagged behind that of other cities of the empire. Of these, many small towns were in difficulty, having been partly depopulated and having accumulated considerable public debt. Thus, after Transylvania was incorporated into the Habsburg Empire, its cities continued their development. Most of them underwent changes in their morphology during this period, reaching a new stage in their territorial enlargement. While the inner fabric of the urban structure of most of the old cities was not affected, apart from some localities where it was only slightly changed, the peripheral areas suffered numerous transformations. The suburbs expanded dynamically. The density of buildings increased concomitantly with a considerable territorial enlargement. Some localities, such as Alba Iulia, underwent massive restructuring of the inhabited areas as new neighbourhoods and suburbs planned according to modern urban rules appeared. In this article, a detailed analysis of the urban development of two Transylvanian cities: Sebeș, free royal town during the Middle Ages, capital of the homonymous Saxon Seat, and important trade and commercial center and Alba Iulia, an episcopal seat during the medieval period and after 1542 capital of the Principality of Transylvania. After 1690, Alba Iulia developed as an important military center of the Habsburg army. At Sebeș, new suburbs were constructed beyond the medieval city walls because of internal development, with the contribution of the local authorities, at least in one case. At the same time Alba Iulia underwent a radical transformation triggered by the construction of a new fortification with bastions encircling the former medieval fortress. The urban settlement existing in the vicinity of the medieval fortress was relocated to new emplacements.

Key words: Free royal town; oppidum; The Principality of Transylvania; The Habsburg Empire; intra muros town; suburbs.

THE POLES IN KYIV REGION, VOLYN AND PODILLIA: FROM THE DIVISIONS OF THE POLISH-LITHUANIAN COMMONWEALTH TO THE JANUARY UPRISING

2024-12-11T19:57:01+02:00

The purpose of the research is to do a comprehensive analysis of the policy of the Russian Empire concerning the population of Right-Bank Ukraine (nobility, peasantry) in the context of socio-political and military processes at the end of the 18th – mid-19th centuries. The principles of historicism, scientific objectivity, systematicity and comprehensiveness are the theoretical and methodological foundations of the research. Such general and special scientific methods of the study as: logical, problem-chronological, historical situational, comparative have been used to solve the objectives. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the study of the state authorities role in the settlement/intensification of ethno-social conflicts on the Right-Bank, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the Polish-Ukrainian (noble-peasant) relations at the micro level, the levelling of myths and stereotypes about them, which gave rise to the Polish and Ukrainian historiography during the last century. The Conclusions. At the end of the 18th century the entry of Right-Bank Ukraine into the Russian Empire did not decrease the influence of the Polish nobility in the region, which was integrated into the power vertical of the Romanov Empire gradually. The factor of “wealthy Polish nobility” and “poor Ukrainian peasantry” determined the priorities of St. Petersburg's ethno-social policy in the region: the former, de facto, received unlimited rights and opportunities, while the latter were granted a disenfranchised status, which naturally contributed to the growth of a social tension in the South-West region and stimulated anti-noble/anti-Polish uprisings. speeches. The anti-noble uprisings showed the shaky position of the Russian administration in the region, which was threatened with defeat without the support of the Ukrainian peasantry. In this context, the peasants of Right Bank acted as a kind of guarantor of the nobility's obedience.

Key words: Russian Empire, Right-Bank Ukraine, Polish-Ukrainian relations, nobility, peasantry, uprising, conflicts.

SOURCES ON THE HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE GALICIAN NOBILITY (the end of the 18th – the first half of the 19th century)

2024-12-11T20:25:56+02:00

The purpose of the research is to conduct a review and analysis of documents related to the history and genealogy of the Galician nobility at the end of the 18th – the first half of the 19th century; to do the research on their source science potential, preservation state. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, scientific research, verification, as well as the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special historical (prosopographic, historical typological, historical systemic) methods. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that a comprehensive analysis on the sources of history and genealogy of the Galician nobility of the Austrian era has been carried out. It has been sufficiently clarified which archinmical collections and gatherings have informative and original documentary material about the nobility of Galicia. There have been revealed numerous aspects of the potential use of these documents in scientific studies. The Conclusions. Documents on the history and genealogy of the Galician nobility of the end of the 18th – the first half of the 19th century consist of several complexes. The first complex includes documents, which were created in the process of ennobling the nobility. These are the legitimations, the Nobility Certificates that are in the form of copies, recorded in the so-called nobility metrics. These are the documents of the Department of States, consisting of several thousand cases, grouped by individual families and individuals, which included preparatory documentation that preceded the issuance of identification cards and the Nobility Certificates. The second complex comprises the documents of Lviv Noble Court, represented by almost 50,000 cases. These are the documents of a judicial and property nature, which revealed the material aspects of life of the nobility and cover a significant part of it. Another set of documents – the Krajeva (Regional) Tabula Acts, which reflected the history of land circulation in Galicia, generally of the Dominican Nobility, but partly also of free nobility. One more documentary complex was formed by the metrical books of the Greek-Catholic and the Roman-Catholic churches, which allowed us to reconstruct genealogy of the nobility and certain aspects of its social evolution on the example of individual families and individuals.

Key words: Galician nobility, sources on the history of the Galician nobility, Ennoblement, Lviv Nobility Court, Krajeva (Regional) tabula, church metrics.

MYKHAILO HRUSHEVSKYI’S PATH TO THE CHAIR OF UKRAINIAN HISTORY AT LVIV UNIVERSITY: AN ATTEMPT AT RECONSTRUCTION

2024-12-11T20:57:23+02:00

The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the circumstances of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi obtaining a professorship at Lviv University. The methodological basis of the research is an interdisciplinary approach. Particular emphasis is placed on the structural and functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative historical method, based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. In the study there have been also used methods of periodization, classification and typologization. The scientific novelty of the article consists in an attempt to reconstruct the process of M. Hrushevskyi’s appointment to the Department of History of Ukraine at Lviv University in a holistic manner. Conclusions. In conclusions, it is noted that M. Hrushevskyi’s appointment to the Department of Eastern European History at Lviv University was made possible by the successful coincidence of many objective and subjective factors. The former includes a sufficiently high level of cultural development and political self-organization of Galician Ukrainians, who in the second half of the 1880s and at the beginning of the 1890s articulated and brought to the public domain the issue of opening a university department for the history of their people, and managed to implement it despite numerous difficulties. The second is dominated by a personal factor: both the initiators of this educational campaign and the applicants for the chair were fully aware of the uniqueness of the historical chance, and therefore did not hesitate to put national duty above private interest. The situation was especially difficult for V. Antonovych, who, while realizing the importance of his personality at the beginning of the action, also understood that the challenges of the Lviv professorship were too much for him to bear. Skillfully playing a triple game (with Galician people’s representatives, Viennese bureaucrats, and Kyivan community members), he “delayed” the opening of the department until his student received his master’s degree. The considerable risks of this feat and the stormy emotions that raged among those involved were rewarded by M. Hrushevskyi’s phenomenal work in Galicia. Moreover, as a result of this project, the Ukrainians entered the era of war and revolution conscious of their cultural identity and historical unity as a nation.

Keywords: M. Hrushevskyi, V. Antonovych, Department of History of Ukraine, Lviv University, “new era”.

IMPERIAL RUSSIA’S MILITARY MANPOWER POLICY AND THE ISSUE OF JEWISH EQUALITY AT THE END OF THE 19th – THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURIES

2024-12-11T20:53:56+02:00

The purpose of the article is to analyze the main factors that led, firstly, to the spread of universal military service among the Jews of the Russian Empire on general terms in 1874, and then to the attempt to remove them from the ranks of the armed forces of the state on the eve of World War I. Research Methods. In the article there have been used general scientific and historical methods for the historical reconstruction of the main trends in the policy evolution of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire regarding the conscription of the Jews for a military service in the last quarter of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. In the article there have been used three purely historical methods, namely historical genetic, comparative historical and internal criticism of sources. The historical genetic method has been used in the attempt to trace the main trends in the development of the idea of a military duty in the Russian Empire. The comparative historical method has been used to identify the key features and consequences of the application of a general military service in the Russian Empire compared to Western European states. The internal criticism of sources has been used to analyze the archival materials. The scientific novelty of the obtained results consists in the establishment of the main reasons for the evolution of the leadership policy of the Russian Empire regarding the service of the Jews in the armed forces of the Empire from conscription on general terms to an attempt to eliminate the Jewish soldiers from the armed forces of the state completely. The Conclusions. The extension of near-universal conscription among the Jewish population as part of the 1874 military reform was a promising sign for supporters of the Jewish equality in the Russian Empire. At the same time, the initiators of the military reform hoped that military service could become an effective means for integration of this distinct national minority into the Russian society. However, the introduction of an inclusive manpower policy in the armed forces of the Russian Empire did not lead to the integration of the Jews and other national minorities into the dominant society. Furthermore, the Russian government eventually initiated an attempt to remove the Jews from service in the armed forces on the eve of World War I and found an overwhelming support for such reform among high-ranking military officials.

Keywords: Jews, Russian Empire, military manpower policy, near-universal conscription, equal rights.

CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF LOCAL RAILWAY NETWORKS IN GALICIA BEFORE WORLD WAR I

2024-12-11T20:09:49+02:00

The Purpose of the Research. In Galicia local railways of contributed to all local socio-economic goals, including passenger transportation. However, the issue of historical reconstruction of a holistic picture of the railways development, and the volumes of passenger and freight transportation, and infrastructure on the basis of new data remain unresolved. Therefore, the purpose of the article is a comprehensive study of the local railways network from the beginning of their construction to World War I. The Research Methodology. In the article, the following methods have been applied: the method of periodization, the historical genetic method (for a sequential disclosing the scope and features of construction, railways operation and staffing), the comparative historical method (to compare the development of local railways in different crown lands and voivodeships during different periods), the elements of the historical systemic method for the analysis of the territorial structure and functions, internal and external railway connections of regional importance in Galicia. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the complex analysis of railways in Galicia as an administrative territorial unit of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

The Conclusions. The construction of local railways became possible with the assistance of enterprises that built the first main railway arteries in Galicia. At the end of 1890, there were 41 km of such access lines in Galicia, including: 13.3 km on the C. K. Privileged North Railway of the Emperor Ferdinand; 6.5 km on state railways; the 23.8 km long line Tlumach – Palahychi; 3.9 km along private railways. By the end of 1890, there were 892.5 km of local railways. Railways were built at the expense of local budgets or private investments under the guarantee of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria. During the period of 1896 – 1912, 940.835 km of railways were built with a total cost of 95 million Kr. At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 37.3 thousand trains operated on 15 private local railway lines with a total length of 811 km. In 1902, they transported almost 1,750 thousand passengers and over 138,000 tons of freight. In Bukovyna, at the beginning of the 20th century, there were 16 railway lines with a total length of over 520 km. In terms of the length of local railways, Galicia ranked second among the 14 crown regions of Austria, although in terms of density per 100,000 people, it occupied only the 12th place.

Key words: local railway, narrow-gauge railway, the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, railway section.

MYRON KORDUBA AND “NOTES OF THE SHEVCHENKO SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY”: COOPERATION FEATURES

2024-12-11T19:41:34+02:00

The purpose of the research is to make an attempt regarding a complete reconstruction of the cooperation between the renowned Ukrainian historian Myron Korduba (1876 – 1947) and the scientific journal “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society”. The methodology of the research is based on the combination of principles traditional for the historiographic studies (historicism, objectivity, holism and systematicity, as well as a value approach to the object of study) and general scientific (comparison, generalization, analysis and synthesis) and special historical (historical genetic, historical comparative, historical typological and historical psychological) methods of studies. The scientific novelty of the research: on the basis of a wide range of sources (studies, reviews, chronicle materials) to reproduce the features of M. Korduba’s cooperation with “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society”. Conclusions. The conducted research proved that M. Korduba developed as a researcher and reviewer in a real creative laboratory “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society”. The scholar developed a critical style of historical thinking, mastered modern practices of source research, and mastered the theoretical and methodological tools of the time due to professional advice given by Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, a teacher and editor-in-chief of the journal as well as his own hard work and determination. Thus, a talented public intellectual emerged, who affirmed M. Hrushevsky’s historiographical model consistently, substantiating his research with the maxims of the cultural uniqueness and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian people. Hence, he became one of the most popular authors of “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society”, as evidenced by the favourable professional reception and mass reprinting of many articles in the form of brochures. In general, the multi-genre posts of M. Korduba on the pages of “Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society” are an important part of the magazine’s intellectual heritage, which in many cases continues to be relevant. It is an important task of modern historiography to take this legacy into account.

Key words: M. Korduba, “Notes of the ShSS”, cooperation, reception, intellectual biography.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOTEL AND TOURIST COMPLEX IN THE MORAVIAN KARST DURING THE CZECHOSLOVAK PERIOD (1918 – 1938)

2024-12-11T20:21:02+02:00

The Purpose. In the article, the authors considered the development of the hotel and tourist complex and hospitality infrastructure in the Moravian Karst during the Czechoslovak period, which at that time was represented by hotels, tourist hostels, private guest houses and restaurants. Also, the authors of the study analysed the influence of the construction of the hospitality infrastructure of the Moravian Karst on the development of the all-Czechoslovak tourist movement in 1918 – 1938, determined the historical conditions and factors that influenced the development of the hotel-tourist complex during this period. The Research Methodology. During the scientific research on the development of the hotel and tourist complex in the Moravian Karst during the Czechoslovak period (1918 – 1938), the authors of the publication applied the following general scientific methods, in particular: analysis, synthesis, systematicity, generalization, historicism. It should be noted that during the research, the authors preferred historical methods: historical descriptive method (historical genetic, historical comparative, historical synthetic), historical diachronic, empirical analysis method. Literary sources, architectural plans, investment documents, tourist advertising materials, statistical data on attendance, profitability and other economic indicators of the hotel-tourist complex of the Moravian Karst were analysed with the help of the mentioned methods. The Scientific Novelty. The research opens up an opportunity to fill historical gaps related to the development of tourism and the hotel tourist complex in the region of the Moravian Karst during the period between 1918 and 1938. The specified period is key to understanding tourism and economic transformations after World War I in Czechoslovakia. Also, for the first time in the Ukrainian historiography, the article focuses on the analysis of hospitality and tourism infrastructure formation process in the Moravian Karst during the interwar period. The Conclusions. It has been proven that the period between 1918 and 1938 was important for tourism in the Moravian Karst region. Since Czechoslovakia gained independence after the war, the specified period was marked by the transformation of the hotel and tourist complex under the influence of new socio-cultural and political realities. At that time, there was an expansion of the tourist infrastructure, in particular, an increase in the number of hotels and restaurants. This shows the growing interest in the region as a tourist centre. Also, the development of the hotel and tourist complex was connected with the popularity of objects such as the Macocha abyss and the Punkevní caves – which attracted tourists and contributed to the development of the hospitality infrastructure of the Moravian Karst. Finally, the authors proved that tourism in the Moravian Karst turned out to be an important factor for the local economy, especially in the context of supporting the hotel and tourist business and attracting investments.

Key words: hotel-tourist complex, hospitality infrastructure, Moravian Karst, Punkevní caves, Macocha abyss, Baltsarka cave, Kateryzhynska cave, Slopsko-Shoshuv caves, Vypustek cave, hospitality, tourism, hotel establishments.

PROCLAMATION OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC AND WEST UKRAINIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC UNIFICATION ACT: THE PRESS RESONANCE IN HALYCHYNA

2024-12-11T20:15:55+02:00

The article focuses on the analysis of the Unification discourse in the Galician periodicals related to the Unification Act – the solemn proclamation of the Unification of the West Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) with the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). The main thematic dominants have been highlighted with comparative parallels from the Trans-Dnieper publications, on the basis of the “press dialogue” consonant and debatable points have been outlined. The object of the study is the Galician editions “Narod”, “Republika”, “Republikanets”, “Nove Zhyttia” (all published in Stanislaviv), “Ukrayinsky Holos” (Ternopil), “Zolochivske Slovo”, etc. In order to compare the historical, cultural and ideological contexts, the texts of some Trans-Dnieper newspapers have been also included, in particular: “Renaissance” (Kyiv), “Vistnyk Ukrainskoyi Narodnoyi Respubliky” (Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kamianets-Podilskyi), “Nova Rada” (Kyiv). The purpose of the research is to outline and analyse the main problem nodes of publications about Velyka Zluka (the Unification Act) in the Galician press space of the ZUNR era, to single out the vectors of influence on the public reception of this event, to trace the retransmission in magazines of unanimous and oppositional ideas, vision of the Unification process of by the Galicians and the Trans-Dnieprians. The methodological basis is a comprehensive approach to the object of research – the use of analytical, comparative methods and content analysis in addition to general historical ones. An interdisciplinary approach combining historical and press studies is also relevant. The Conclusions. The analysis of publications proves the influence of historical, ideological and mental factors on the Unification Act of the UNR and ZUNR. In the Galician press the Unification discourse takes on different interpretive forms, as the articles are of a conceptual, informational and polemical nature, illustrating the desire for national unity and at the same time obstacles on the way to its realization. Comparative parallels with publications in the journals of the Ukrainian National People's Republic make it possible to avoid one-sidedness of evaluation and to present the Unification process in the format of a dialogue of the Ukrainians in Galicia and Naddniprianshchyna.

Key words: the Ukrainian press, the Unification Act of 1919, the Ukrainian People's Republic, the West Ukrainian People's Republic.

SPORTS IN THE LIFE OF POLISH STATE POLICE OFFICERS IN 1919 – 1939. (ON THE EXAMPLE OF VOLYN VOIVODESHIP)

2024-12-11T20:46:48+02:00

The state police was a constituent part of the internal affairs bodies in the Second Polish Republic. This institution united three corps: general, investigative (criminal) and political. Its territorial organization corresponded to the administrative division of the state. District (voivodeship) administrations, county administrations, commissariats and precincts (posts) functioned under the leadership of the Main Directorate of the State Police in Warsaw. Since 1919, the above-mentioned state armed body of the executive power began its activities on the territory of Volyn as well, which during the interwar period was part of the newly revived Polish state as Volyn Voivodeship. The everyday life of police officers consisted of service and a private life. An important role was given to physical education, which helped law enforcement officers rest from the performance of professional duties, and at the same time made the body strong and contributed to a better working capacity. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to study individual manifestations of the sports life of Polish state police officers in 1919 – 1939 (on the example of the Volyn Voivodeship). The research methodology is based on the use of general scientific and specially historical research methods, including problem-chronological, synchronous, diachronic, comparative historical and the others. The scientific novelty is that the authors tried, on the basis of unpublished archival materials, to highlight certain manifestations of the sports life of Polish state police officers in 1919 – 1939 (on the example of Volyn Voivodeship). The Conclusions. In the first decade of the interwar twenty years, the sports life of Volyn police officers was not distinguished by activity and was limited mainly to football matches, athletics and shooting. At the end of the 1920s, police sports clubs appeared in various towns of the Volyn Voivodeship (Lutsk, Rivne, Zdolbuniv (“Zoriia”), Kovel (“Turiia”), Kremenets (“Horyn”)). Such clubs consisted of sections according to sports (football, hockey, shooting, boxing, etc.). As a rule, police sports clubs had their own statutes that regulated their activities. Such an institution was headed by a board consisting of a president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary. The highest body of the club was the general assembly.

The first sports competitions of policemen in Volyn took place at the end of July of 1928 in Lutsk under the protectorate of Volyn Voivode Henryk Józewski. In June of 1933, sports competitions organized by the efforts of the local police sports club took place in Rivne. The following year, cycling competitions were held in the voivodeship centre. Volyn police officers also took part in national competitions in Warsaw, where they also demonstrated quite high results.

Key words: Volyn, Poland, police, sport, competition.

THE FIRE-FIGHTING ACTIVITIES OF THE NATIONAL AND CULTURAL SOCIETIES IN EASTERN GALICIA IN THE 1920s – 1930s

2024-12-11T19:35:02+02:00

The purpose of the research is to elucidate the development of fire-fighting movement in Eastern Galicia in the 1920s and 1930s through the prism of the history of national cultural societies in the region: “Gymnastics and Fire Society “Sokil” / “The Ukrainian Sports Society “Sokil-Batko”; Rukhanka Fire Society “Sich” / Rukhanka Fire Society “Luh”. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of scientificity, historicism, structuralism and criticality. There have been used general scientific methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special historical methods: historical genetic, historical systemic, historical typological, historical comparative. There has been applied a problem chronological approach in order to clarify the main aspects of the fire-fighting movement in the historical retrospect, as well as a systemic structural approach in order to determine the historical development patterns of the fire-fighting movement during the interwar period. The Scientific Novelty. Based on a wide historiographical and source base, the main milestones in the fire-fighting direction formation of the Sokil-Sich societies in the 1920s and 1930s have been outlined thoroughly; the forms of this activity have been generalized. Conclusions. Due to World War I and the national competitions for the Ukrainian statehood, including the Polish-Ukrainian War, there was the decline of national cultural societies, in particular, the rukhanka-fire societies, such as “Sokil”, “Sich”. The institutional restoration of these societies faced a considerable resistance by the Polish administration, which was not satisfied with the national patriotic direction of organizations, their active practical activities in training young people, teaching military affairs, and later fire defense. Despite the fact that the fire-fighting societies “Sokil” and “Sich” from the beginning of their activities, and later in a restored form during the interwar period, became a significant support for state fire-fighting for ideological reasons, especially after the beginning of the “pacification” measures, their activities were limited or prohibited.

Key words: fire-fighting movement, Sokil-Sich organizations, fire-fighting movement societies “Sokil”, “Sich”, “Luh.

YEVHEN KONOVALETS AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS

2024-12-11T21:02:01+02:00

The purpose of the research is to study the formation, directions and results of the international activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists under the leadership of Ye. Konovalets in 1929 – 1938. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, general scientific methods of generalization and typology, as well as special scientific research methods: comparative historical, historical systemic and critical analysis of sources. The Scientific Novelty. On the basis of a rich source material, the major part of which is introduced into a scientific circulation for the first time, the following issues have been elucidated: development and challenges during of international activities implementation; directions and result of international activity. The Conclusions. Therefore, the international activity of Ye. Konovalets and the OUN can be divided into two periods. The first one is 1929 – 1934. During this period, there was an attempt to define conceptual issues of international politics. However, due to the lack of experience in international activities, a sufficient number of specialists and the dynamics of international processes, this was not done. In the process of discussing foreign policy, there was an initiative to unify with other stateless peoples of the former Russian Empire. Due to the lack of specialists and weakness of other national movements, this was not implemented. Instead, in 1930 – 1933, they launched international activities within the framework of the League of Nations successfully. Several times the Ukrainian issue became the subject of consideration in this global international institution. It mainly concerned the life of the Ukrainians in Galicia under the Polish occupation. Trying to convey the truth about the life of the Ukrainians in Poland, it was possible to establish diplomatic relations with Italy, Japan and England, which were engaged in the Ukrainian issue. Diplomatic relations were especially close with Italy, which was considered a kind of lawyer, both in the League of Nations and Germany. At the same time, Ye. Konovalets had no hope for Germany led by A. Hitler in support of the revival of the Ukrainian state. Instead, Germany and Japan were considered the strongest of those capable of breaking the borders formed after World War I. The OUN planned to use the situation in its favour. The second stage of international activity under Ye. Konovalets began in 1937. A kind of pause in international activity, lasting almost for three years, was connected with the murder of the Minister for Internal Affairs B. Pieratski by a member of the OUN in Warsaw. After that, Poland succeeded in getting the activities of the OUN branches in Czechoslovakia, Germany and Lithuania to be limited for a certain time. However, when it became clear that Germany's ambitions in the redistribution of Europe could not be put to rest, Ye. Konovalets and the PUN resumed international activities, especially with Japan. There was hope that this state would start a war with the USSR. Although joint actions with Japan were not agreed upon. In the end, we should state that Ye. Konovalets and the OUN in general in their international combinations did not develop relations with the USA.

Key words: Yevhen Konovalets, Yevhen Onatsky, Dmytro Andriyevsky, Rico Yariy, Stepan Bandera, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, League of Nations.

THE PROBLEM OF POLISH MILITARY’S COMPLICITY IN THE EXECUTION OF CARPATHIAN SICH MEMBERS ON THE VERETSKYI PASS IN MARCH OF 1939

2024-12-11T20:42:19+02:00

The purpose of the article – based on a broad scope of available sources, foremost documents discovered in the Polish archives, to reconstruct events on the common border between Hungary and Poland in March of 1939 related to the involvement of Poland’s military formations in violence against the combatants of Carpatho-Ukraine’s armed forces on the Veretskyi Pass. The research methodology is based on general scientific principles of objectivity and historicism, which allows for considering the studied phenomena based on objective regularities in their internal relations and interaction with specific historical circumstances. At the same time, the following methods have been used: chronological, analysis and synthesis, internal and external critique of sources, and legal historical, which has allowed to sum up, consider the historical context of events, and avoid political stereotypes and prejudices. The scientific novelty consists in a detailed reconstruction of specific historical circumstances of the execution of the Carpathian Sich riflemen on the Veretskyi Pass, determining an approximate number of victims, defining the character of the acts of violence from an international humanitarian law perspective and its link with Poland’s broader policy in the Ukrainian issue in 1938 – 1939. Conclusions. In March of 1939, Poland acted not only as an energetic mastermind and inspirator of anti-Ukrainian policies of the Hungarian occupational authorities in Transcarpathia but also as an accomplice in the violence campaign in Carpatho-Ukraine which included participation in the killings of its citizens on the territory of a neighbouring state. New archival evidence indicates that summary executions of Carpathian Sich riflemen on the Veretskyi Pass took place on March 22, 1939, and not on March 17–18, 1939 as previously assumed. Their main perpetrators were the servicemen of Poland’s Border Protection Corps (KOP). The minimal number of victims as documented by the Polish reports was 43. Herein, one should not exclude the possibility of individual executions on this strip of the newly created Polish-Hungarian border before and after March 22, 1939, however, they did not have the same scale. This, in turn, allows to refute assumptions that have dominated Ukrainian scientific and popular literature for a long time indicating the number of victims at 500-600, which eventually was not confirmed by the materials of archaeological excavations on the murder sites. The execution of the Carpathian Sich riflemen should be qualified as war crimes for they were committed in violation of the fundamental norms of valid international humanitarian law – the Hague Convention and Geneva Convention – concerning members of Carpatho-Ukraine’s National Defence. The crimes were sponsored by the state since the greenlight on their perpetration was given by the high military leadership of the Second Polish Republic, which was reflected in the materials of deliberations on March 15, 1939 with the participation of high-ranking commanders of the Polish troops deployed on the border with Carpatho-Ukraine.

Keywords: Carpatho-Ukraine, Carpathian Sich, Second Polish Republic, Czecho-Slovakia, Veretskyi Pass, war crimes

SEXUAL ASSAULT AGAINST WOMEN IN SOVIET PARTISAN UNITS

2024-12-11T20:31:47+02:00

The purpose of the study is to do the research on the issue of sexual assault among Soviet partisans and against the civilian population, to clarify its moral and psychological foundations and behavioral models. The methodological basis of the study is a combination of interdisciplinary research tools in the field of gender studies and history of everyday life. An appropriate, special conceptual apparatus has been used. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the formulation of the problem, methods of solving it, conclusions, and the complex of sources used. The Conclusions. The existential nature of World War II had various manifestations and forms, covering all spheres of social existence. The destruction of the established legal field under conditions when several military political powers fought on the territory of Ukraine occupied by Hitler's troops (German occupation units and garrisons, “red” partisans, participants in the Ukrainian national liberation movement, Polish nationalist underground), the civilian population was in an extremely difficult situation, having no protection from various types of violence, including sexual assault. War causes the spread of legal nihilism, a sharp lowering of a moral threshold, trivialization of coercion and armed violence. Women become the least protected category of participants and contemporaries of war. Enshrined in tradition and specific stereotypes of mass consciousness, gender behaviour models among the Soviet partisans doomed women to stigmatized social roles, when in the absence of gender parity, they were assigned the function of a subordinate, secondary, serving cohort. The image and status of the Soviet “people's avengers,” formed (largely owing to the Bolshevik propaganda), de facto secured for them a position that was often interpreted as permissiveness and impunity for any actions, including those that were prosecuted under the Soviet criminal law. If male partisans, prone to deviation, abuse and sexual violence, were guided by purely physiological reflexes (less often by the desire for punishment or satisfaction), the behaviour patterns of the majority of potential and actual victims of sexual assault were motivated by survival strategies. The efforts of the military political leadership of the USSR to eliminate sexual assault were not entirely successful. A large number of women became victims of severe physical and psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder for many years after the war.

Keywords: German-Soviet War, Ukraine, partisans, gender relations, sexual assault, civilian population.

FOREIGN BUSINESS TRIPS OF RIGA MEDICAL INSTITUTE ACADEMIC STAFF FROM 1950 TO 1990

2024-12-11T19:29:58+02:00

The scientific novelty of this study is due to the fact that it presents a new perspective on foreign travels of Riga Medical Institute (RMI) staff during the period from 1950 to 1990, which is an understudied aspect of Latvian medical history. It has been emphasized that international communication, despite bureaucratic and political constraints, played a key role in the professional development of medical staff and the evolution of medical education in Soviet Latvia. This study reveals the impact of different political periods – Stalinism, Khrushchev's thaw, Brezhnev's stagnation and the collapse of the Soviet Union – on international academic communication. The purpose of this study is to analyse the foreign academic contacts of RMI faculty members and how their international travels contributed to the development of medical education in Latvia, especially in the context of the political and historical constraints of the Soviet era. The study employs historical and comparative analysis methods and utilizes primary archival documents, including personal files, travel reports, and official documents from the Soviet era from the Latvian State Historical Archives. International trips in different historical periods have been analysed in detail in order to identify factors that influenced their frequency and effectiveness. As a result, the analysis shows that international travel provided significant opportunities for professional development, it was often constrained by political control and limited access to capitalist countries. Despite these challenges, however, RMI staff were exposed to new technologies, scientific knowledge, and work practices in the countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Finland, and Switzerland. This experience contributed to the improvement of medical education and scientific development in Latvia. The study suggests that international trips, although limited in number, played a crucial role in the development of professional competencies of RMI faculty. These trips facilitated the exchange of medical knowledge and scientific experience, influencing the development of Latvian medical education during the Soviet period. This study offers a valuable perspective on the role of international academic relations in shaping the medical education system in Soviet Latvia.

Keywords: higher education, scientific and academic staff, internationalisation, primary archival sources, professional training, higher medical institutions.

THE ROLE OF THE LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF UKRAINE (at the end of the 20th – the beginning of the 21st centuries)

2024-12-11T20:36:54+02:00

The purpose of the research is to determine the influence and significance of the local governments in the development of education in Ukraine from 1991 to 2023. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, authorial objectivity, multifactoriality, historical-genetic, historical-typological and historic-systemic methods. The Scientific Novelty. The impact of local government reforms on the education system in Ukraine in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was studied for the first time. The Conclusions. Therefore, the history of local government educational policy in independent Ukraine can be divided into three periods. The first one (1991 – 1997) was a period of uncertainty regarding the competencies and powers of local government bodies in the field of education due to the variability of legislation, fluctuations between community and state models of local self-government, as well as a severe economic crisis in the country. The second one (1997 – 2014) was the period of establishment of the state-public model of local self-government, the distribution of functions for the management, financing and control of education between state authorities and local governments, and the growth of the role of local governments in financing education, which covered 60% of expenditures on educational institutions. At the same time, education funding remained low due to low local budget revenues. The third one (from 2014) is the period of decentralization (administrative), educational, and budgetary reforms, as a result of which the issue of education has become one of the central issues in the activities of local government bodies. This period is characterized by increased investment in education, modernization of the education network, improving the quality and accessibility of education, and ensuring its inclusiveness. Local governments form strategic objectives for the development of education as one of the main ones for the further development of territorial communities, and therefore plan significant expenditures on education – 40–60% of their budgets.

Key words: local self-government, decentralization reform, education reform, educational policy, local self-government development model.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH: CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARLY CURRENTS

2024-12-11T19:47:14+02:00

The purpose of the article. This article summarises developments in contemporary Ukrainian history regarding the use of digital technology in historical research, examining both successes and challenges. In writing it, we fill a need within Ukrainian historiography by highlighting the challenges of using digital technologies in historical research, broadly, along with particular obstacles to doing history in the digital era. The methodology of the study is based on a combination of the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematicity, and the use of general scientific methods – analysis, synthesis, abstraction and generalisation; historical methods – chronological, typological and comparative historical; historiographical methods – specific historiographical analysis and synthesis. The scientific novelty of the article is that it is the first attempt at historiographical reflection on scientific publications that highlight the problem of using digital technologies in historical research, the peculiarities of their implementation in the context of the global information society as a new post-industrial form of social organisation. We conclude that a digital turn in history has indeed occurred, as others have argued, and that information technologies have significantly expanded the possibilities for research, storage, and publication. While the field of history remains independent-with its own disciplinary rules, methods, and norms-digital methods have nevertheless irreversibly entered its space. In the last ten years, there has been a certain amount of research around this topic in Ukrainian-language scholarship, which we cover in this paper. Nevertheless, we find that the historiographical and methodological problems posed by digital history have been covered by scholars in an ad hoc and uneven manner. More work is needed, because while the opportunities presented by digital technology are significant, a common understanding of its elements, and even a common definition of digital history itself, will be required for historians to benefit fully from this promise.

Keywords: digital history, digital humanities, digital turn, digital methodology, historical research, internet, contemporary historical discourse.

WAR AND LANGUAGE: LANGUAGE POLICY ISSUES OF UKRAINE IN DOMESTIC MASS MEDIA DISCOURSE (2014 – 2022)

2024-12-11T20:02:33+02:00

The purpose of the research is to clarify the content of the media discourse on the full policy in Ukraine, to identify the main topics covered by the Ukrainian media, and to indicate the analytical and evaluative component of materials on reforms in the field of language policy. The chronological framework of the study (2014 – 2022) is determined by: a) the completion of the Revolution of Dignity and the coming to power of the pro-European governments in Ukraine, b) the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, which forced the Ukrainian government to reconsider traditional approaches to language policy. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientificity, systematicity, as well as the use of discourse analysis as an interdisciplinary approach to the study on mass media space. The scientific novelty: the content of media discourse on language policy in Ukraine during the current Russian-Ukrainian war has been studied for the first time. The Conclusions. Thus, the Ukrainian mass media focused on the language policy issues in Ukraine. The reasons for this were, on the one hand, the importance of resolving efficiently the issue on the ratio of the state language, the Russian language and the languages of the national minorities in Ukraine for the stability of society, on the other hand, aggravation of this issue under the conditions of the modern Russo-Ukrainian War, the ideological discourse of which included the myth of “oppression of the Russian language”. The Ukrainian mass media during the priod under analysis (2014 – 2012) focused on three key manifestations of the language policy: 1) conflicts regarding the abolition of the conflict-generating language law of 2012 (the Kivalov-Kolesnichnek law), as well as the development and public adoption of a new law on languages in Ukraine; 2) discussions on the legislative introduction of the language quotas for television, radio, and book publishing; 3) internal and external disputes about the language article of the law “On Education”. It should be recognized that the majority of the Ukrainian media outlets supported the language policy of the Ukrainian governments regarding the establishment of Ukrainian as the state language in Ukraine, although they tried to adhere to objective coverage of events and interpretation of the positions of political forces.

Key words: language policy, current Russian-Ukrainian war, language legislation, educational reform, mass media discourse.

THE UKRAINIAN ELITE IN MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY: A NEW STUDY IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL HISTORY (peer-review of the collective monograph: The Ukrainian Elite in the Second Half of the 19th – the Beginning of the 21st Centuries: Formation Features, Transformation of Ideas, Intellectual Potential. Western Lands. Selected Issues / ed. Ihor Soliar, compiled by Oleh Muravsky, Mykhailo Romaniuk; NAS of Ukraine, I. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Book 1. Lviv, 2023. 536 p

2024-12-11T21:07:06+02:00

peer-review of the collective monograph:

The Ukrainian Elite in the Second Half of the 19th – the Beginning of the 21st Centuries: Formation Features, Transformation of Ideas, Intellectual Potential. Western Lands. Selected Issues / ed. Ihor Soliar, compiled by Oleh Muravsky, Mykhailo Romaniuk; NAS of Ukraine, I. Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Book 1. Lviv, 2023. 536 p.