NEWS AND VIEWS: Berchtesgaden, a microcosm of political emigraton (06/01/97)

NEWS AND VIEWS: Berchtesgaden, a microcosm of political emigraton

by Ihor Lysyj

The 50th anniversary of the first graduating class (1947) of the Ukrainian Gymnasium [high school] in Berchtes-gaden, Germany, will be commemorated with a reunion to be held at Soyuzivka on October 3-5. As part of this celebration a commemorative chronicle of the school will be published. The chronicle will profile the school history, personal recollections, as well as brief biographical profiles of individual students.

The Berchtesgaden chronicle will be based on school archives and input from former students. Working closely with two members of the editorial staff, Myron Radzykewycz of Warm Spring, Fla., and Walter Sharko of Jacksonville, Fla., I had an opportunity to examine school archives and individual biographical profiles of students while contributing to the organization of the bibliographical section of the chronicle. What emerged from this undertaking is a snapshot of the Ukrainian political emigration in the United States and Canada, as reflected by the microcosm of former students of the Berchtesgaden Gymnasium.

To put this story in proper historical perspective, one must go back to the origin of political immigration to the U.S. in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The genesis of this immigration lies in the cataclysmic events of World War II. Towards the end of the war, as the advancing Red Army of the Soviet Union was occupying and savagely brutalizing countries of Eastern Europe, a significant part of the professional, business, intellectual, political, academic and artistic segments of the population fled West to escape Communist oppression. The movement was most pronounced in western Ukraine and the Baltic states, the countries which had previously experienced (as a result of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939) the barbarism of the Soviet Union. Those who managed to escape (in many instances on foot and after abandoning all worldly possessions), before the Iron Curtain fell across the center of Europe and Berlin Wall was erected, become known as displaced persons (DPs). They came under the care and protection of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in West Germany. DP Camp Orlyk, located in the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, was one of such sites under UNRRA care. The refugees who settled there, as well as in other DP camps in West Germany, had the skills necessary to manage their own affairs. Consequently, their camps became largely self-governing, city-states with their own elected administration, police, school system, medical services and various social attributes such as political, youth, student, sport, musical and theater groups and organizations, as well as publishing facilities for books and periodicals. A Ukrainian gymnasium, a school of secondary education, was established in Berchtesgaden in 1946 and operated until 1950 staffed by the political refugees who had fled communism.

Under President Harry Truman administration's, a large segment of the DPs were resettled to the United States. Of the total, approximately 75 percent immigrated to the United States and 25 percent immigrated to Canada. Numerically, this emigration which took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s was rather small (estimated to be less than 200,000 individuals) and lasted only a few years. However, its impact on many aspects of American society has become significant. For example, both the current secretary of state and the chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are political refugees from Eastern Europe.

The microcosm of former students of the Ukrainian Gymnasium in Berchtesgaden provides a snapshot of this immigrant group. According to partial (but statistically significant) data submitted to the chronicle, 84 percent of our students entered schools of higher education and professional schools shortly after arriving in America. Of those, 32 percent graduated with degrees in engineering (B.S. through Ph.D.), 19 percent in business and commerce, 10 percent in medicine and pharmacy, 10 percent in the performing and fine arts, 7 percent in sciences (B.S. through Ph.D.), 7 percent in education, 3 percent in law, 3 percent in social sciences, and 3 percent in professional fields related to the government, military and national security.

Contributions made by this immigrant group to American society were stellar. As demonstrated by patents awarded and research papers published in the area of engineering and science, former students of the Berchtesgaden Gymnasium made major contributions to the advancement of such diverse fields as cancer research, electronics, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, and rocket propulsion. They also made significant contributions to city planning and redevelopment, and the development of the U.S. infrastructure in such areas as design of telecommunication, transportation and sanitary facilities, and bridge design and construction.

The performing and fine arts graduates became accomplished artists, composers, musicians, and stage and movie performers enriching the culture of America.

In the business sphere, gymnasium alumni became leaders and captains of industry, both in the United States and Canada, (among them a president and CEO of a major corporation), businesspersons (including a former president of a national manufacturing association), and philanthropists.

As they integrated into and became leading members of American society, the majority of our students remained deeply involved in all aspects of Ukrainian diaspora life, often playing key roles in social, political, cultural and religious affairs and providing leadership to youth, student and academic organizations. This type of political and social activity became more pronounced and visible with the collapse of communism and the independence of the Ukrainian state. Quite a number of our alumni are making contributions to this process: among them, a law professor who serves as an advisor to the Ukrainian government (Cabinet of Ministers) on constitutional issues, a national security specialist who serves as an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs; a city planner who spent the last years of his life revamping the legal and administrative structure for public housing in Kyiv and Kharkiv; a businesswoman who is training new businesses in Kyiv in Western business practices; a history professor who has established historical societies in Kyiv and western Ukraine; a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who is a leader of philanthropic activities in Ukraine and the recipient of the country's highest decoration, awarded by President Leonid Kuchma last year.

Keeping in mind that the contributions highlighted above were and are being made by members of a very small pool of 305 former students of one Ukrainian school, one cannot help but wonder how much the political migration from Eastern Europe to the West at the end of World War II contributed to the ultimate demise of communism. It is a fact that the political migration from Eastern Europe deprived countries occupied by the Soviet Union of trained and experienced professional, academic, artistic, intellectual and business human resources necessary for the efficient and effective management of national and international affairs. The effects of this brain drain can be felt to this day when visiting Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, the transplantation of human talent from East to West at the end of World War II significantly strengthened the fiber of Western democracies by providing leadership at the highest levels of government and policy-making, and ultimately contributing to the demise of communism.

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