Kivshar T.

Letters from Olga Petlura to Doris Yanda

Abstract: Two letters from Olha Petlura dated August 24 and October 1, 1949 and sent from the town of Bessancourt (near Paris) are published for the first time. Those two letters were most likely sent for Paris and addressed to a journalist, art scientist, poet, editor and famous participant of Ukrainian Women’s Movement in Canada in 20 century, Doris Yanda (Canada, Edmonton). Since Olha Petlura did not leave behind any dairies not memories, every letter that she wrote is a unique source of her biographical information. Our work proves that these letters arevaluable pieces of information to help reconstruct the biography of the least known period of Olha Petlura’s life, studying her every day life, public involvement, her emotional, psychological and physical conditions. These letter show us peculiarities of Olha’s personality, including her life long inclination to help others, former soldiers of UNR Army, who were close to her husband’s circle. Those documents demonstrate Olha Petlura’s efforts and efforts of Canadian Ukrainians, including Doris Yanda, in 1949, to organize immigration of Ukrainian refugees from camps and displaced people (Di-Pi), created in the Western Europe after the end of the World War Two, to Canada, which is considered the third wave of immigration to this country. Olha’s letters show that migration of Ukrainians from refugee camps and Di-Pi was supported by the Ukrainian organizations as well as some distinctive people, who helped Ukrainians to escape repatriation in the USSR and move to Canada. It is possible, that family of Dr. Chepchik, whom Olha mentioned in her letters, from Belgium was a part of thethird wave of immigration. Commentaries are provided for the letters.

Keywords: Olha Petlura, Doris Yanda, Ukrainian emigration to Canada, refugee camps, displaced people (Di-Pi)

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.18.213     Citation

• Kivshar T. (Shevchenko Scientific Society in Canada (Toronto, Canada))

Cite:
Kivshar T. (2019). Letters from Olga Petlura to Doris Yanda. Biographistica Ukrainica, (18) 213-232. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.18.213

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