«Don’t be afraid, the Brits won’t hand you over to the Bolsheviks!»: THE TRIP BY VASYL KUSHNIR, PRESIDENT OF THE UKRAINIAN CANADIAN COMMITTEE, TO WESTERN EUROPE IN THE WINTER AND SPRING OF 1946

Vitalii Krukovskyi,

PhD (History and Archaeology),

Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2524-048X.2026.35.5

 

Abstract. This article analyses a historical episode in the life of the European and Worldwide Ukrainianhood – the mission of the President of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (hereinafter – UCC), Father Vasyl Kushnir, to the countries of Western and Central Europe with the purpose of rescuing Ukrainian refugees living in displaced persons’ camps after the Second World War – and to analyse its causes and consequences. The relevance of this research is heightened by the objective need to review the journey undertaken by the leader of the Canadian Ukrainianhood to study the plight of displaced persons on the European continent, driven by the growing role of the Ukrainian diaspora in the socio-political life of the free civilised world and the increased attention paid to it by contemporary Ukrainian historiography in light of events related to the full-scale phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic account of the circumstances and objectives of the mission undertaken by the UCC President, Vasyl Kushnir, to the countries of Western and Central Europe in January–April 1946, as well as its background, causes and consequences.

The scientific novelty of this study lies in the fact that, drawing on scientific-critical literature and new archival documents and periodical press materials introduced into academic circulation, the first attempt is made to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the trip undertaken by the leader of the Canadian Ukrainianhood to the countries of Western and Central Europe with the purpose of rescuing Ukrainian refugees living in displaced persons’ camps after the Second World War.

The methodological basis of the study is built on the principles of historicism, systematicity and objectivity, as well as specific historical methods such as the historical-systemic, problem-chronological, retrospective-analytical, comparative-historical and historical-biographical approaches. These methods were employed to conduct the research.

The author concluded that the mission of UCC President Vasyl Kushnir to Western Europe in the winter and spring of 1946 launched a campaign to facilitate the relocation of Ukrainian displaced persons from refugee and displaced persons’ camps in West Germany, in Western Austria and Italy to other countries of the free world, notably Great Britain, Canada, the United States of America, Argentina, Brazil and Australia. As a result, the process of consolidating the European and, subsequently, the Worldwide Ukrainianhood began.

Keywords: Canada, Ukrainian Canadian Committee, Europe, Ukrainian diaspora, Ukrainian refugees, displaced persons, camps for displaced persons.

 

Submitted 14.02.2026

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