The Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and the Ukrainian radical liberation movement in the mirror of Ukrainian historiography

Abstract

The interwar years became a period of active struggle for the restoration of state¬hood in Ukraine. The mission to revive the state in a revolutionary way was undertaken by the military circles of the Ukrainian emigration who found themselves outside the homeland after the defeat in the War of Independence of 1917–1921. Lithuania was the country that responded most actively to helping the Ukrainian movement. Support was provided mainly through the paramilitary Lithuanian Riflemen’s Union and public organizations associated with the Riflemen’s Union. This article provides a historiographical review of the scientific massif that was created by Ukrainian science in the context of studying the problems of establishing and developing relations between the Ukrainian liberation movement and Lithuania through the connecting role of the Union of Riflemen. The work reflects and analyzes studies on this issue, divided into two conditional periods: 1) works published outside Ukraine, in a chronological interval from the end of World War II to the restoration of the Ukrainian state in 1991, the authors, who were mainly participants Ukrainian liberation movement; 2) studies on the problem, published in Ukraine after 1991.