NATIONAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES OF VASYL PROKHODA IN POW CAMPS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Abstract

The article deals with the national-cultural activities of Vasyl Prokhoda in the POW camps in Austria-Hungary during the First World War. First of all, the stages of military service in the Russian army on the eve and during the Great War have been clarified (1912 – beginning of service in the 51st Lithuanian Regiment in Simferopol; 1913 – courses of the reserve ensigns; November 1914 – the rank of ensign; the Austro-Hungarian front of the First World War; winter 1914–1915 – participation in the Carpathian Operation of the Russian Army, captivity). Special attention is paid to his staying in the POW camps (Josefstadt, Liberec, Brux (Most), Theresienstadt (Terezin), stages of his national identity evolution. It stated that the formation of V. Prokhoda's national identity was facilitated by various factors: first of all, acquaintance with K. Kuril, program documents of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, creation of Ukrainian libraries, choirs, drama clubs in the camps, reading of works by T. Shevchenko, M. Vovchka, etc. The author also investigates the public activities of V. Prokhoda in the POW camps, his contribution to the organization of Ukrainian life there, highlights living conditions in the camps (according to his observations), as well as specifics of inter-ethnic relations against the backdrop of events of the Russian Revolution 1917. The perception and attitude of nationally conscious Ukrainians (prisoners of war), in particular, V. Prokhody, to the creation of the Ukrainian Central Rada, its I and II Universals, the resolutions of the first military congresses in Ukraine, the Bolshevik coup in Russia in October 1917, compared to the estimates of these events by Russians (prisoners of war). The circumstances that opened the possibility of forming Ukrainian divisions of prisoners of war and sending them to disposal of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in the first half of 1918 were clarified. The last months of V. Prokhoda's staying in the POW camps under conditions of his health deterioration, the circumstances of his returning to Ukraine after the coup of P. Skoropadskyi are presented. Keywords Vasyl Prokhoda, national and cultural activity, POW camps, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.