Ukrainian Prague Between Two World Wars: Academy, Scholarship and the Free Word

After the political and military upheavals of 1917–1921, Czechoslovakia became a major centre of Ukrainian emigration. In July 1921, with the Czechoslovak foreign ministry and the support of T. G. Masaryk, the state Russian Relief Action (Ruská pomocná akce) began (R0100; E00-11). The programme covered émigrés from the former Russian Empire, not only Ukrainians, and supported humanitarian aid, scholarships, and educational and cultural institutions. Ukrainian institutions were among its beneficiaries.

The Ukrainian Free University (UFU, R0034) opened in Vienna on 17 January 1921; in autumn 1921 it moved to Prague, and on 23 October 1921 the solemn Prague period of its activity began (U02, U03). According to its official history, over 700 students attended two faculties in 1921–1922. The dossier does not name the venue of the ceremony: the Carolinum (R0085) is a separate entity, and a link between the UFU and its lecture halls is not confirmed.

The Mykhailo Drahomanov Ukrainian Pedagogical Institute (R0036) operated in Prague in 1923–1933, training teachers and sustaining Ukrainian-language education. Sofiya Rusova (R0005) was among its teachers; sources give her years of teaching differently (see the corrections log, CORR-06). The institute’s archive is held at the Slavonic Library (collection T-DRAH).

The Slavonic Library was founded in 1924 and moved to the Klementinum in 1929 (R0084; KL01, KL03). Its holdings include Ukrainian émigré books, periodicals and institutional archives, among them the UHA (T-UHA) and the Drahomanov Institute (T-DRAH) (R0100). The Klementinum itself (R0084) is a place, not a separate organisation of the Slavonic Library.

At the Olšany Cemeteries (R0070) Oleksandr Oles (R0018) was buried in 1944; in January 2017 his remains were exhumed and reburied in Kyiv, so Olšany is only a former burial site. According to the UINP register, Sofiya Rusova is buried at Olšany in sector 2ob (R0005). The dossiers do not establish the grave locations of Siropolko or Cherkasenko. At Malvazinky (R0073) Ivan Puluj (R0001) is buried according to the official register: sector AII, grave no. 25.