Turning the pages back... February 8, 1915 (02/04/96)

Turning the pages back...

February 8, 1915

As Ukrainians in North America ponder the difficulties of integrating with the newest arrivals from Ukraine, let alone those who arrived in the 1980s from Poland, a figure worth considering is Bohdan (Gordon Robert) Panchuk.

Born near Peterson, Saskatchewan, on February 8, 1915, in 1940 G.R.B. Panchuk enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was posted in the United Kingdom. Three years later, he helped establish the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen's Association (UCSA).

While serving on the Continent, he gradually became aware of the scale of the massive dimensions of the refugee, or displaced persons, problem as millions of Eastern and Central Europeans fled to escape the Red Army's advance.

At first, Panchuk naively believed Ukrainian Canadians would be welcomed by their Soviet allies if they chose to visit their ancestral home. He soon became aware of the reasons that impelled the human torrent westward.

In late 1945, as the infamous repatriation provisions of the Yalta agreement were being implemented by Stalin and his U.S. and (to a lesser extent) British co-conspirators, Panchuk co-founded the Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau (CURB), which campaigned against repatriation, worked for resettlement of DPs abroad, and provided material relief.

After assisting this effort into the late 1940s, Panchuk returned to Canada, where he served in the Ukrainian-language section of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's foreign service (now known as Radio Canada International) until 1955.

In a memoir delivered at the "Refugee Experience" conference in 1982, since published in a book of the same tit]e, Panchuk said: "The salvation of the Ukrainian refugees was predicated upon the joint efforts of old and new Ukrainian emigrants. From the newcomers we needed solidarity and unity of purpose to demonstrate their relevance and utility for the Ukrainians already settled in the West."

G.R.B. Panchuk died in Montreal on June 20, 1987.

Sources: "Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau," "Panchuk, Bohdan Gordon, " Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vols. 1, 3 (Toronto University of Toronto Press, 1984, 1993); The Refugee Experience (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1992).

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