Ukrainian humanitarians in the Second Polish Republic: participation in foreign scientific cooperation

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Ukrainian humanitarians in the Second Polish Republic: participation in foreign scientific cooperation

Vitalii Telvak

Oksana Salata

Albert Nowacki

Віталій Тельвак

Оксана Салата

Альберт Новацкі

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze comprehensively the implementation ways of foreign scientific cooperation by the Ukrainian humanitarians in the Second Polish Republic.

The methodological basis of the work is an interdisciplinary approach. Particular emphasis is focused on the structural andfunctional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative and historical method, based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. In the study there have been also used the methods ofperiodization, classification and typology. The scientific novelty of the article consists in the attempt to comprehensively reconstruct the participation of the Ukrainian humanitarians of the Second Polish Republic in foreign scientific cooperation. The Conclusions. As a result, we have noted that in some places, with the support and collaboration of the Polish authorities, but more often than not, contrary to its national and cultural policy, in interwar Poland the Ukrainian humanitarians adapted well to the existing difficult realities generally. Responding to socio-political and cultural challenges, they tried to preserve the established traditions of foreign cooperation successfully and, despite the chronic financial impoverishment, worthily represented Ukrainian science in the international arena. It has been proved that the most active in foreign partnerships were the staff of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Warsaw. It has been emphasized that the establishedforeign cooperation became especially important in terms of the last pre-war decade when the sub-Soviet Ukrainian socio-humanitarian sciences suffered several devastating waves of repression. It has been concluded that under the conditions of statelessness, the international scientific activity developed by the Ukrainian humanities representatives in interwar Poland acquired essential features of cultural diplomacy aimed at establishing the political subjectivity of the Ukrainians.

Key words: Ukrainian humanitarians, foreign scientific cooperation, the Second Polish Republic, Shevchenko Scientific Society, Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Warsaw.

Анотація

foreign cooperation scientist second language common language

УКРАЇНСЬКІ ГУМАНІТАРІЇ В ДРУГІЙ РЕЧІ ПОСПОЛИТІЙ: УЧАСТЬ У ЗАКОРДОННІЙ НАУКОВІЙ СПІВПРАЦІ

The Problem Statement

The studies of Ukrainian historiography in the Second Polish Republic move away from personality-centered approach in favour of a broader institutional one gradually. At the same time, scholars discover an increasingly wide range of previously marginalized problems. Considering further plans to reconstruct a complete picture of the Ukrainian scientific movement in interwar Poland these newly discovered aspects require independent research. Among the least known ones, is the participation of the Ukrainian humanitarians in an international scientific life. In the past, a deeper understanding of the Ukrainian scientific movement used to be hindered by the prevailing stereotype about the total meagerness of the Ukrainian scientific institutions and intellectuals, which allegedly made foreign academic trips completely impossible. Thus, we cannot deny the well-known issues with financing the Ukrainian science in the Second Polish Republic, we try to delve into this important historiographical problem more nuancedly.

The Analysis of Recent Researches. The main source for the reconstruction of the participation of the Ukrainian humanitarians in foreign scientific cooperation, in interwar Poland is information reports of scientific institutions. First and foremost, we refer to “The Chronicle of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv” and “Sprawozdanie Ukrainskiego Instytutu Naukowego”. We also consulted published epistolary and institutional document flow (indexes of publications, statutory documents, official correspondence, etc.).

Among modern researchers, Leonid Zashkilniak (Zashkilniak, 2014), Vitaly Masnenko (Masnenko, 2001, pp. 354-360), as well as Vitaly Telvak and Iiyna Lozynska (Telvak, Lozynska & Nowacki, 2020) studied individual aspects of the foreign scientific contacts of the Ukrainian humanitarians in interwar Poland. The scientific and organizational activities of representatives of the Dnipro Ukraine emigration in the Second Polish Republic were studied by Andriy Portnov (Portnov, 2009). However, the participation of the Ukrainian humanitarians in foreign scientific cooperation in the works of the aforementioned researchers is largely presented in a fragmentary manner. The relevance of our research stems from this issue.

The Purpose of the Article. The purpose of the article is to do a comprehensive analysis of the implementation ways of foreign scientific cooperation by the Ukrainian humanitarians in the Second Polish Republic.

The Results of the Research

During the first post-war years, the Ukrainian historians, like their European colleagues, tried to understand the consequences of a large-scale world confrontation and determine their place in new socio-political realities. The activity of scientific societies, which traditionally moderated foreign cooperation, resumed extremely slowly. The Shevchenko Scientific Society, the oldest and most respected in Western Ukraine, which united the majority of the Ukrainian humanitarians, gradually resumed its activity only at the beginning of the 1920s. During that time the Eastern Galician area became part of the revived Polish state, first de facto and then de jure.

The first thing that the leaders of the SSS faced under the new socio-political conditions was the complete disregard of the cultural needs of the Ukrainian community by the officials of the Second Polish Republic, as well as the refusal to support scientific institutions, even the biggest ones financially. The concerns of the scientific community in regards to the new circumstances were reflected in the first post-war “SSS Chronicles”, in which it is stated: “The most concerning issue of this discussion is that for the first time since the Society changed into a scientific one, both local and state subventions to support scientific activity, were terminated” (Khronika, 1920, p. 2). Since then, in the majority of the protocols of the SSS, the issue of appealing to state officials of various levels in the matter of the return of the funding was raised on the obvious grounds by the Ukrainian population being one of the major taxpayers, and therefore their cultural needs had to be financially covered at least partially.

However, despite numerous delegations to Warsaw and repeated parliamentary interpellations, the funding never returned to its pre-war level. In this regard, in the “SSS Chronicles” it was noted: “The activity of any scientific institution depends not only on its members, their energy and flexibility, but even more on the material resources at its disposal.

The members of the Society did not lack energy, yet many important projects were cancelled due to lack of funds” (Khronika, 1926, p. 23). Although eventually the Society was awarded a small monthly subsidy of 1,000 zlotykh. Thus, the SSS regained the right to publish school textbooks and their accumulated communal debts were written off from time to time during the period of relative normalization of the Ukrainian-Polish relations. Furthermore, the Ministry of Religion and Education financed the Ukrainian humanitarians' participation in international scientific events several times during the two interwar decades in response to constant appeals for financial support.

However, such support was rather an exception, and most often the heads of the SSS received refusals for their appeals, which were always explained by the state economic issues. These unsuccessful appeals were reflected upon in the protocols of the Society meetings. For example, in the protocols dated December 23, 1936, it is stated: “It was noted that the Ministry of Religion and Education responded negatively to the Society's financial assistance request for scientific needs; we decided to address the entire Ukrainian society with an appeal to help the Society fulfill its scientific objectives” (Khronika, 1937, pp. 22-23). Under such unfavourable conditions, financial support for its oldest scientific society was forced to be provided by mostly poor Ukrainian citizens sending small donations and by the Ukrainian businesses, that grew owing to the cooperative movement. The Ukrainian diaspora in the USA also provided a strong support. These facts of sacrifice by the Ukrainian public were carefully noted on the “SSS Chronicles” pages. However, this was obviously not enough to realize the available scientific potential fully.

Considering an acute shortage of funds, it should be noted that among the Ukrainian humanitarians, there was no unanimity in the vision of what required priority funding. The letters of the intellectuals of that time contain reflections on whether it was worth spending extremely limited funds on expensive foreign trips, or it was better to direct them to the publishing activities of the SSS, causing both scientific and important public resonance. In the end, the position outlined in Mykola Chubatyi's letter to Ivan Krypiakevych in regards to the need to send the SSS delegation to the VIII International Congress of Historians in Zurich became dominant: “Despite all our difficulties, I consider our participation in the Congress final, and I think that our section [Historical and Philosophical Section of the SSS - the authors] must organize, or at the very least initiate the organization of our participation in that Congress. Absentees are never right, and my participation in the VII Congress convinced me in its importance” (Zashkilniak, 2014, p. 153).

In general, at that time the foreign scientific activity of the Ukrainian humanitarians had two vectors - Western and Eastern European, the former being the oldest and most diverse. Participation in scientific forums as a form of academic communication dominated there. During the above mentioned period, representatives of the SSS took part in the following significant conferences: Congress of Slavic Geographers and Ethnographers (K. Studynskyi and I. Rakovskyi), Congress of Bibliographers in Rome (I. Svientsitskyi), II Congress of Slavic Philologists (K. Studynskyi, F. Kolessa, I. Bryk), the Congress of Folk Art in Antwerp (F. Kolessa), the II Congress of Folk Art in Belgium (F. Kolessa), the 5th International Congress of Byzantinists in Rome (Y. Skruten and V Zalozetskyi), the Pax Romana International Congress in Austria (M. Chubatyi), the Congress of the Union of Historical Societies of Eastern Europe in Zurich (M. Korduba).

The Ukrainian delegations were the most numerous at international forums, which were held in Polish cities. Thus, M. Korduba, M. Chubatyi, R. Zubyk, Y. Pasternak, I. Svientsitskyi and Y. Skruten took part in the VII International Congress of Historians, held in Warsaw on August 21-26, 1933. Another delegation represented the SSS at the II International Congress of Slavic Philologists, which took place in Warsaw and Krakow on September 21-30, 1934. Among the representatives of the Society were researchers of language and literature: Y. Gordynskyi, S. Smal-Stotskyi, R. Smal-Stotskyi, V. Scherbakivskyi, K. Studynskyi, V. Simovych, I. Sventsitskyi, F. Kolessa, M. Tershakovets, and V. Lev.

Despite a fairly representative list of the scientific forums just given, the SSS was forced to respond to the absolute majority of invitations from Western institutions with only a grateful decline. In the protocols of the Society, we can often come across variations of a phrase stating the following: “Unfortunately, our Society did not have the ability to send its representatives to another international congress and had to limit itself only to sending written regards” (Khronika, 1937, p. 33).

A crucial experience of international inter-institutional communication was the participation of SSS representatives in various anniversary celebrations of scientific societies in other countries, most often the Slavic ones. For example, Z. Kuzel represented the SSS at the 100-year anniversary of the museums in Berlin in October of 1930. O. Kolessa took part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of “Matice ceska” in Prague on 16-21 of May, 1931.

Another form of foreign cooperation among the SSS members was participation in internships at Western universities. In May of 1936, the director of the museum of the SSS, Y. Pasternak, went on an academic trip to the museums of Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Transcarpathia, where he gave speeches popularizing the cultural activities of the Galician Ukrainians. In June of 1938, he completed an internship at the scientific institutions of the Third Reich where he had scientific lectures about the Galician princely faculty in Krylos at the universities in Berlin and Breslau. During this research trip to Germany, which was partially financed by the Ministry of Education and Religion, the director of the museum of the SSS studied historical artefacts of the Middle Ages in seven German cities and 17 different museums. It was noted in the “SSS Chronicles” that “the conclusions of these studies will be used in separate monographs on the excavations in Kiylos” (Khronika, 1939, p. 98).

Finally, Western Ukrainian members of the SSS were actively involved in the work of international scientific societies, which were also important platforms for professional communication. For example, the Ukrainian historians, such as M. Korduba, I. Krypyakevych, I. Svientsitskyi, I. Ohienko, R. Smal-Stotskyi joined the Federation of Historical Societies of Eastern Europe, which was created in Warsaw on the initiative of the well-known Polish historians O. Galecki and M. Handelsman, as part of the Polish policy of “Prometheism” in 1927 (Korduba, 1927, pp. 196-199). At the same time, I. Krypiakevych was elected to the Dictionary Commission of the Federation, and M. Korduba joined its Board. On August 19-20, 1933, the Federation held a convention in which M. Korduba and M. Chubatyi took part.

The Eastern European vector of international cooperation, which was focused on the institution of the humanitarian profile of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, was less intense and was chronologically limited till the second half of the 1920s. This is the period that began with the return of M. Hrushevsky from exile in 1924. He began to restore communication with the Galician colleagues and vigorously develop scientific life that had been broken by years of war and revolution. This period ended in 1931, when the first “battles on the historical front” broke out and, as a result, the historical institutions of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences were liquidated, and their head was effectively exiled to Moscow. However, during this short period of time, the Galician historians (mainly representatives of the Lviv historical school of

M. Hrushevsky) established close relations with their Dnipro Ukrainian colleagues (Telvak, Pedych & Telvak, 2021). Thus, V Herasymchuk, M. Korduba and I. Krypiakevych joined the Historical Section, the Scientific Research Department of the History of the Ukrainian People, and the Archaeological Commission of UAS. K. Studynskyi, the head of the SSS, and F. Kolessa were even elected full members of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences on the initiative of M. Hrushevsky.

The establishment of contacts with colleagues from Kyiv was mentioned for the first time in the report on the activities of the SSS during the years of 1926 - 1929: “Cooperation with the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv was also established. We publish the works of scholars from Great Ukraine, and in return, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv publishes the works of our scholars, for example, about Drahomanov, Franko, etc.” (Khronika, 1930, p. 2). Since then, the participation of the Galician humanitarians in Kyiv academic projects has always been mentioned for several years. In their annual reports, among the priority tasks, the heads of the SSS always emphasized the need for “the Society's activities to be in close agreement with the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences” (Khronika, 1930, pp. 5-6).

Despite newly occurred passport and visa issues in addition to the financial problems, the Galician humanitarians also took an active part in a number of scientific forums during the aforementioned period. Thus, in June of 1927, literature historians K. Studynskyi and I. Svientsitskyi took part in a linguistics conference in Kharkiv; K. Studynskyi, F. Kolessa and O. Makarushka came to Kyiv in 1927 to celebrate the centenary of the publication of M. Maksymovych's songs; the SSS delegated M. Korduba to the scientific conference in memory of V Antonovych, which was held in Kyiv in 1928; in April of 1929, K. Studynskyi participated in the inaugural conference of the Taras Shevchenko Institute in Kharkiv; in 1934, M. Smishko studied historical collections in museums of the USSR.

In addition to scientific forums, the SSS delegated its representatives to the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the life path and the fortieth anniversary of the scientific work of its former head M. Hrushevsky which took place on October 3, 1926. For the anniversary of the author of the “History of Ukraine-Rus” academicians K. Studynsky and Dr. I. Svientsitsky visited Kyiv and presented him with a silver crown as a gift for many years of fruitful scientific and organizational work at the Society's forum (Khronika, 1930, pp. 65-67). It is noteworthy that in his welcoming speech, K. Studynskyi praised the efforts of the mentioned author to bring the activities of the SSS to the international level and emphasized that it was he who introduced the Galician Ukrainians “to the family of cultured European nations” with his multifaceted work.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Ukrainian scholars in Poland received alarming news from Kyiv about the destruction of scientific research institutions created by M. Hrushevsky as well as mass repressions against the Ukrainian intellectuals. In his speech at the Society's General Meeting in December 1937, the head of the National Academy of Sciences, Ivan Rakovsky, emphasized “the importance and the mission of the SSS in the modern era, when the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kyiv has lost all opportunities to nurture and develop independent Ukrainian science” (Khronika, 1939, p. 3).

Along with the SSS, members of another well-known institution - the Ukrainian Scientific Institute, which was founded in Warsaw in 1930 - participated in foreign cooperation, albeit on a much more modest scale. It also lacked sufficient funding, but its financial problems were of a different nature (Portnov, 2004). The USI was financed from the budget as it was built as a part of the implementation of the state policy of the “Prometheus” movement. It is unknown whether budget funding for foreign business trips was provided and in what amounts. But we know from many sources that the USI members often took part in scientific conferences at their own expense. It is clear that these were sporadic actions due to either the exceptional importance of the scientific forum or the fact that the event was held in the Polish capital and participation did not require financial expenses (Ukrainskyi Naukovyi Instytut, 1935). In general, the USI carried out international institutional exchange through the mediation of the state International Exchange Bureau. The Institute established contacts with 35 foreign institutions in this manner (Potocki, 1999, p. 214).

Mainly, the USI delegated its director Oleksandr Lototskyi to scientific forums. He was a well-known historian of the church and the Ukrainian socio-political movement. We know about his presence, for example, at scientific events in Czechoslovakia and Greece from the Ukrainian periodicals of that time. O. Lototskyi also represented his institution at the aforementioned VII International Congress of Historians held in Warsaw in August of 1933 (Khronika, 1932, p. 28). A much larger group of the USI members took part in the 2nd International Congress of Slavic Philologists held in Poland in September of 1934. In addition to the director, the representatives of the Institute at this forum were R. Smal-Stotskyi, B. Lepkyi and L. Chaikovska (Potocki, 1999, p. 215). R. Smal-Stotskyi, a well-known literature historian, represented the USI at international congresses of linguists in Geneva (1930) and Rome (1933).

The Conclusions

In conclusion, we note that sometimes with the support and cooperation from the Polish authorities, but more often contrary to its national and cultural policy, the Ukrainian humanitarians in interwar Poland generally adapted well to the existing complex realities. They successfully attempted to preserve the traditions of foreign cooperation established years ago and, despite a chronic financial impoverishment, represented the Ukrainian science in the international arena in response to socio-political and cultural challenges. The members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Warsaw were the most active in foreign cooperation. It should be noted that the well-established foreign cooperation became especially important from an image point of view in the last pre-war decade when the under-Soviet Ukrainian socio-humanitarianism experienced several destructive waves of repression. In conclusion, considering the stateless status, the international scientific activity developed by the Ukrainian humanitarians in interwar Poland acquired key features of cultural diplomacy aimed at establishing the political subjectivity of the Ukrainians.

Acknowledgement. We express sincere gratitude to all editorial board members for the consultations provided during the preparation of the article for publishing.

Funding. The research was conducted owing to the financial support of The Krzysztof Skubiszewski Foundation.

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