Scholar seeks photographs of displaced persons camps (06/21/98)

Scholar seeks photographs of displaced persons camps

KINGSTON, Ontario - Ukrainian Canadian activist and scholar Prof. Lubomyr Luciuk is asking for the public's assistance in compiling photographs showing conditions in displaced persons camps for Ukrainians in the immediate post-World War period.

Dr. Luciuk is currently completing work on a major new monograph, titled "Searching for Place: Ottawa, Ukrainian Displaced Persons and the Migration of Memory," which will be published by the University of Toronto Press in the spring of 1999. The author is asking for persons who lived in the DP camps of Europe to send him photocopies of any photographs they have which show major events in the camps, particularly protests against forcible repatriation, political rallies and typical housing conditions.

Commenting on his search for these materials, Dr Luciuk said:

"While doing my Ph.D. research I was privileged to meet with a large number of Ukrainian political refugees and displaced persons, people who have spent years in the refugee camps of Europe just after the second world war. I have incorporated some of their stories into my book, but would now like to have good illustrations to accompany that text. Readers who have such materials are invited to contact me or mail photocopies of any photographs they think might be helpful. I will, of course, acknowledge all correspondence and, if I use a photograph, will give its owner full credit in the book, with thanks."

He continued: "This will be the first monograph that deals with the Ukrainian refugee experience and with the efforts of North America's Ukrainian communities to help these people escape forcible repatriation efforts while countering Soviet misinformation. The formative influence that the post-war immigration had on organized Ukrainian society is only now being fully appreciated. I am hopeful that we can capture a glimpse of what it was like to endure the refugee experience and then rebuild a dynamic community in the diaspora, maintaining it and the Ukrainian cause for decades until an independent Ukraine re-emerged on the maps of the world, I hope our community can help recall this period by providing photographs of the DP camps."

Persons wishing to assist Dr. Luciuk, or wanting more information, are invited to contact him by writing to: Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, Department of Politics and Economics, The Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7K 7B4; telephone, (613) 541-5010, ext. 6390; e-mail, [email protected]