Charitable activities of the Young Men’s Christian Association in the camps of interned Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, 1921

The purpose of the paper is: to reveal the content and forms of charitable aid provided by the Young Men’s Christian Association (UMCA) in the camps of interned Ukrainian soldiers of the UPR Army in Poland during a certain chronological period, as well as to determine its overall amount and impact on the everyday life of camp residents and their family members. The research novelty is demonstrated by the all-sided coverage of the whole amount of the YMCA’s activities, whose members initiated a humanitarian aid campaign in the internment camps, thanks to which it became possible to organize a full cultural and educational life of the campers, as well as to satisfy the basic needs of children and women most suffering from hard living conditions of camp life. Conclusions: The content of the YMCA support campaign in the camps was material assistance to improve nutrition for children, organization of their special care (creation of kindergartens and maintenance of their staff), and purchase of clothing for children and women, assistance to women in childbirth. At the same time, the Association intensively supported the activities of camp cultural, artistic and educational centers, and in particular amateur theaters, choruses and orchestras. The unconditional merit of the YMCA was the development of sports, for which the latter never spared money – equipping gyms, purchasing special equipment for them. At the same time, the YMCA relied on the development of game sports (football, volleyball, basketball, etc.), participation in which enabled to stabilize the emotional state of the military, forced to spend much of time in camp isolation. But the most important aspect was that the YMCA gave a possibility to the internees to acquire new knowledge and specialties, creating additional opportunities for them to integrate into the socio-economic life of their new countries of residence. Thus, thanks to the YMCA, camp schools and courses became able to fulfil their educational mission, and the internees – to overcome difficulties of the first months of staying in camp isolation.