Dr. Bohdan Bociurkiw, distinguished scholar and long-time friend of CIUS, dies at 73 (10/18/98)

Dr. Bohdan Bociurkiw, distinguished scholar and long-time friend of CIUS, dies at 73

by Bohdan Klid

EDMONTON - Dr. Bohdan R. Bociurkiw, a long-time friend and associate of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), and retired distinguished research professor of Carleton University, passed away on October 1 at his home in Ottawa following a lengthy illness. He was 73. The deceased was laid to rest in Edmonton on October 7. He was among the founders of CIUS and an associate director from 1979 until 1982.

Born in the western Ukrainian town of Buchach in 1925, Dr. Bociurkiw completed his secondary education at the oldest ("Main") Ukrainian gymnasium in Lviv. During the second world war he was imprisoned by the Gestapo for his activities in the Ukrainian national liberation movement and was sent to the Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany. In 1947 he emigrated to Canada. He married Vera Wasylyshyn of Edmonton in 1950, and together they raised six children.

Dr. Bociurkiw completed his higher education in Canada and the United States, receiving a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Manitoba (1952, 1954) and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago (1961). During his student years, he was co-founder and first vice-president of the Ukrainian Canadian Students' Union (SUSK) in 1953.

Prof. Bociurkiw began his academic career at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where he attained the rank of full professor, teaching in the department of political science in 1956-1969, and afterwards at Carleton University in Ottawa until his retirement in 1992. He was widely acknowledged and respected as an expert and specialist in Soviet and post-Soviet politics, and had a long-standing research interest in Soviet religious policy, especially in Ukraine.

Other research interests included nationality policies, human rights and dissent in the USSR, political succession problems in the Soviet Union and Church-state relations in Eastern Europe. In Canadian studies, he wrote on multiculturalism and ethnic identity, especially with respect to Ukrainian Canadians.

Over his career, Dr. Bociurkiw edited several collections and published over 70 papers in academic journals and symposia. His most recent book, "The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Soviet State (1939-1950)," published by CIUS Press in 1996, was the product of his long-term study of the history of the Ukrainian Catholic Church under Soviet rule, and is recognized as the most authoritative work on this topic. He also edited and co-authored "Religion and Atheism in the USSR and Eastern Europe" (London, 1975), co-authored and edited the section on Ukrainian Churches in Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia, Vol. 2 (Toronto, 1971), and in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vols. 1 and 2 (Toronto, 1984, 1988).

Prof. Bociurkiw was a talented organizer who initiated and participated in the founding of many academic and professional projects, organizations and institutions. He played an instrumental role in the planning stages that led to the founding of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, and in the early period of its existence helped develop a detailed program of activities. His last act as a founder was to initiate the establishment of the Ukrainian Church Studies program at CIUS, to which he donated his invaluable archives and library.

From 1969 to 1972, at Carleton University, he served as founding director of the Institute of Soviet and East European Studies. He was co-founder and first chairman of the Inter-University Committee on Canadian Slavs, which later developed into the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association. In 1972 he served as a Canadian delegate to the Canada-USSR Mixed Commission in General Exchanges, participated in the drafting and negotiation of the Canada-USSR agreement on exchanges, and headed an academic Canadian delegation that visited the Soviet Union in 1972.

Dr. Bociurkiw worked closely with CIUS Press, was a member of the editorial board of Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1978-1998), Slavic Review (1981-1983), and a member of the international editorial board of Religion, State and Society, formerly Religion in Communist Lands (1974-1998). In 1984-1985 he was a senior fellow at the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in Washington.

He also was visiting professor at the Harvard Summer School and McGill University, and lectured at a number of other universities and research institutes in Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Australia, Israel, the Vatican and Ukraine. He was a fellow of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and past president of the Canadian Association of Slavists. Dr. Bociurkiw was often asked to participate in scholarly conferences and symposia, where he almost invariably presented research papers, most of which were later published.

Prof. Bociurkiw dedicated a significant part of his life to the study and defense of human rights in the Soviet Union. He published and frequently wrote on the subject, and served as a founding member of the Brussels International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, patron and panel member of the International Sakharov Hearings, director of the Freedom House Center for Appeals of Conscience, and consultant to the U.S. Department of State and several committees of the U.S. Congress.

He also actively participated in the early debates on multiculturalism in Canada. From 1973 to 1979 he served on the Canadian Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee in the Department of State and as a consultant to several ministers of state for multiculturalism.

In the Ukrainian community in Canada, Dr. Bociurkiw was recognized and respected for his ability to encourage compromise and bridge gaps between various political and religious factions. He was a devout Ukrainian Catholic, but was able to grasp well and portray with objectivity and fairness religious issues involving other confessions as well, both in his academic writings and in his role as community facilitator.

Dr. Bociurkiw leaves behind his wife Vera, sons Taras, Roman and Michael, and daughters Jeannie, Marusia and Lida, five grandchildren and other family members. He is mourned also by his many colleagues and friends at CIUS.

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