Publishing activities of the interned soldiers of the UPR Army in Poland, 1921–1924

Abstrakt

The article highlights the peculiarities of the publishing activities of the interned soldiers of the Ukrainian People’s Republic Army who were held in the camps of Aleksandrów Kujawski, Szczypiorno, and Kalisz during 1921 – the first half of 1924. It has been established that publishing activities in the aforementioned camps can be characterized by considerable intensity, despite all the hardships of camp life endured by the Ukrainian soldiers. A significant contribution to the intensification of publishing activities was made by the publishing sections of the cultural and educational departments of the divisions, as well as by various public organizations. Thanks to their efforts, the needs of the interned soldiers of the UPR Army for Ukrainian printed materials were met – albeit minimally – and the publishing movement itself served as one of the foundations of cultural and educational work in the camps. Initially, camp-based publishing developed through the activities of divisional printing houses, which produced educational and professional military literature, memoirs, and other materials. The publishing effort gained additional momentum with the establishment of the “Chornomor” publishing house in Kalisz, which produced literature of a purely practical nature as well as works authored by internees – remarkable for their rather high quality, especially given the conditions of a camp-based press. The vigorous activity of this publishing house was largely driven by the desire of the interned soldiers to create a space for creative expression in their daily lives and to find opportunities for personal self-realization. Among the internees there were many who either possessed – or aspired to acquire – professional skills as writers, journalists, or artists (e.g. members of the “Veselka” society). Thus, the energy of their creative efforts was embodied in the publication of their artistic projects, which had a significant impact not only on the camp inmates but also on the broader Ukrainian political émigré community in Europe. The Ukrainian books published in the POW camps for Ukrainian soldiers in Poland laid a durable foundation for the internees’ national and state-building worldview, while also serving as the primary source of their knowledge of Ukraine’s history, geography, and culture.