FOCUS ON PHILATELY: Diplomatic mail of the Western Ukrainian National Republic (10/02/05)

FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych, Roman Dubyniak and Peter Cybaniak

Diplomatic mail of the Western Ukrainian National Republic

Background

In the closing days of World War I (late October-early November 1918), the empires facing defeat - known collectively as the Central Powers (Ottoman, German and Austro-Hungarian) all began to disintegrate. The latter was the most ethnically diverse and its demise enabled several new nations to emerge, including Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), Hungary and Austria (the latter two greatly reduced in size). In the easternmost part of the former Austrian crownland of Galicia the dominant Ukrainian populace also declared its independence as the Western Ukrainian National Republic (ZUNR) on November 1, 1918.

Although the eastern part of Galicia was overwhelmingly Ukrainian, the western part was predominantly Polish, and the Poles claimed all of Galicia as their historical patrimony. In Lviv (formerly Lemberg), the capital of the new Western Ukrainian republic, the Poles formed a strong underground military organization. Not long after the Western Ukrainian declaration of independence, the Poles began an armed uprising. Aided by reinforcements from Poland proper, the insurrection was ultimately successful, and on the night of November 21-22, 1918, Ukrainian forces were compelled to withdraw from the city.

The Polish-Ukrainian War continued with varying fortune through the first several months of 1919, but the Poles, in general, only held certain areas north and west of Lviv; nearly all of the rest of Western Ukraine remained in Ukrainian hands. It was during this time that most Western Ukrainian stamps were created in Kolomyia (December 1918-March 1919) and Stanyslaviv (today Ivano-Frankivsk; March-May 1919).

The situation changed in mid-April, when the Polish army received vital aid from fresh Polish divisions that had been recruited, trained and equipped in France for defense against Russian Bolsheviks. Breaking a promise made to international peacekeepers, the Poles sent these forces against the Ukrainians. Despite stiff resistance, the Ukrainian Galician forces were eventually driven into central Ukraine (held by a separate Ukrainian National Republic, UNR) during July 16-18, 1919. These forces then aided the UNR in its struggle against the Russian Bolsheviks who invaded from the northeast.

Meanwhile the ZUNR government in exile, headed by Eugene Petrushevych, carried on diplomatic efforts on behalf of eastern Galicia. Missions were set up in Paris at the ongoing peace conferences, in Great Britain, at the Conference of Ambassadors (an executive body of the Allied Powers that oversaw the fulfillment of the peace treaties of World War I) and before the League of Nations. Representatives were also sent to the U.S. and Canada, where large diasporas from Galicia provided moral and financial support over a period of several years. Eventually however, all these efforts proved insufficient and in mid-March 1923_1_ the Council of Ambassadors declared for the incorporation of eastern Galicia (Western Ukraine) into Poland.

Although full autonomy for the region's Ukrainian population was stipulated, the Poles failed to honor the terms of the declaration.

Diplomatic mails

One of Western Ukraine's finest representatives during these uncertain years between 1919 and 1923 was Osyp Nazaruk (Figure 1). He was born in Nahirianka, Buchach county, Galicia, in 1883 and studied law at the Vienna and Lviv universities. He originally enlisted with the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (Sichovi Striltsi) at the outbreak of the war and in 1915 directed its press bureau. Dr. Nazaruk became a member of the Ukrainian National Rada (Parliament) for central Ukraine and served in a number of positions for the UNR Directory that involved press and propaganda. From the middle of 1919 he worked closely with Mr. Petrushevych and the rest of the ZUNR government in exile. In the second half of 1922 he was sent to North America: briefly to the U.S. and then for a longer period to Canada.

We have been able to locate several different examples of mails from 1922-1923 sent to Dr. Nazaruk from various Ukrainian offices or agencies. The earliest is a registered letter sent from Vienna on August 29, 1922, by an Andreas Nazarenko of the Directorate of the Ukrainian National Republic (Figure 2). He used a pre-printed bilingual (Ukrainian-French) envelope displaying the trident, and he addressed it to Dr. Nazaruk, the "Diplomatic Representative of Galicia," at his address in Washington.

Not long after, Osyp Nazaruk moved to his new posting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he served as the Western Ukrainian representative and worked at raising loans for the government in exile. We have two letters sent to him in October of 1922 from the West Ukrainian Press Agency in Vienna._2_ The first, from 14, bears a simple, one-line, English-language return address (Figure 3), while the second from 24 has a two-line, bilingual (English-German) return address in the upper left and a Ukrainian, boxed inscription in upper right that translates as: Press and Propaganda Division West UNR/Press Agency (Figure 4).

Dr. Nazaruk kept in contact with fellow representatives in Washington, as well as in Paris. The U.S.-stationed envoy called himself the diplomatic representative of Galicia (Figure 5) and was apparently a single individual, but the West Ukrainian mission in the French capital was termed a delegation (Figure 6) and presumably was composed of several people. This would not be surprising, since it was in Paris that all the critical peace negotiations were being conducted.

We have also been able to acquire an example of Dr. Nazaruk's correspondence in Canada. Figure 7 is a cover mailed by him that shows a handsome lion-on-trident emblem and a bilingual Ukrainian-English return address. Sent to a Mr. Wasylewycz in Sellwood, Ontario, on April 17, 1923, the item proved undeliverable and was returned.

This letter was dispatched a month after the Council of Ambassadors awarded eastern Galicia to Poland and the Western Ukrainian question was "settled" (at least as far as the Allied diplomats were concerned). Technically, Dr. Nazaruk was no longer the ZUNR representative, since after the ambassador's decision, the ZUNR's government had dissolved itself. Sometime after he lost his status as a diplomat, Osyp Nazaruk underwent a conversion from socialism to Catholicism and moved to the United States. There he edited the weekly Sich in Chicago and co-edited Ameryka in Philadelphia. In 1926 he returned to Lviv, where he was active in various Christian and Catholic organizations; he died in Krakow in 1940.

Postal remnants

In carrying out its self-liquidation, the ZUNR government destroyed most remaining vestiges of its postal system - much to the chagrin of philatelists. Stamps and postal stationery that had been prepared for the ZUNR, but which were never used, were destroyed by burning. Less than five examples are known of many of the types of postal cards or postal forms that had been printed in Vienna. Figure 8 is a postal card with an imprinted 10-sotyky stamp of which only three are documented to still exist. It may be worth about $500.

A beautiful 12-stamp set created for the ZUNR in 1919 in Vienna - but not delivered until after the Western Ukrainian government had been driven from its territory - was also largely destroyed (Figure 9). Today the set goes for about $300.

1. Sources vary as to the exact day; dates ranging from March 12 to 19 have been found. [Back to Text]

2. It was in Vienna that the ZUNR set up its government in exile. [Back to Text]

Dr. Ingert Kuzych may be contacted at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150, or via e-mail at ingert@starpower.net.

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