JEWISH AND POLISH DISCOURSES AMONG THE UKRAINIAN DIASPORA IN 1940s – 1980s (BASED ON MYKHAYLO DEMKOVYCH-DOBRIANSKYI ARCHIVE)

The paper describes M. Demkovych-Dobrianskyi’s views on Ukrainian-Polish and Ukrainian-Jewish relations in historical perspective and his efforts to reach reconciliation between three nations after World War II. Mykhaylo Demkovych-Dobrianskyi, well-known Ukrainian publicist and historian, edited a few Ukrainian periodicals both in Lviv and during his immigration afterwards. Early in 1930s he published articles in different Western Ukrainian newspapers, in which he underlined the necessity for a constructive dialog with Poles. As a “Problemy” magazine editor in late 1940s, M. Dobrianskyi gave a start to the Ukrainian-Polish discussion in European media. During 1950–1970 he was the editor-in-charge of Ukrainian section of Radio Liberty (Munich). In 1950s he began showing his scientific interest toward the Jewish problematic. M. Dobriansky prepared a manuscript of a monograph research entitled “Jews in Ukraine. 14‒18 century”. The manuscript has never been published. Also the author presented a few articles dedicated to the Jewish-Ukrainian relations and the State of Israel. The interest in the Jewish question and Jewish history was a rare phenomenon among Ukrainian diaspora after World War II and many of M. Dobriansky’s thoughts were confronted by other foreign Ukrainians. During his stay in London M. Dobrianskyi was in contact with famous activists from Poland (A. Hermaszewski, J. Giedroyc, J. Iranek-Ośmiecki etc.) and Polish organizations established in postwar Europe (Eastern Institute “Reduta”, Polish-Ukrainian Society for Promotion of Friendship and Understanding, “Kultura” (Paris-based) magazine etc.). He is also the author of two monograph researches dedicated to Polish-Ukrainian relations “Ukraina i Polska”, “Potocki i Bobrzyński”. In his works M. Dobrianskyi always raised important issues, some of which are still presented in public agenda, especially an idea of Ukrainian-Polish alliance against Russian imperialism.