Publishing Activity of Military Internees of UNR Army in Polish Camp of Piotrków Trybunalski (1921)

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is the attempt, based on a comprehensive analysis of archival and published materials, to study the specifics of the publishing process in Piotrków Trybunalski camp for military internees of the UNR Army in 1921; the study of the peculiarities of publishers’ life and their psychological state in the conditions of the camp society, the level of material and financial support for the replication of camp publications, and the characteristics of the readership.

The scientific novelty of the research is in the fact that the publishing activity of the UNR Army internees in Piotrków Trybunalski camp has become the subject of a separate independent study for the first time. In particular, for the first time, the process of publishing the wallpaper ‘Vsim’ (‘To Everybody’) is comprehensively analyzed, and its role in the everyday life of the camp and the readers’ attitude towards the periodical are characterized.

Conclusions. Introducing of cultural and educational activities in the camps aimed at using the time of internment for the benefit of the soldiers. It was supposed to prepare them for the further struggle for independence and give them spiritual consolation and moral repose. Each camp had its own publishing service or small printing works. Piotrków Trybunalski belonged to a number of those camps where the conditions of stay were very harsh. There was no opportunity to establish a publishing service in the camp. However, despite the difficulties faced by the internees, they managed to start their own publication of three periodicals: the wallpapers ‘Vsim’, ‘Na Khvyliakh Zhyttia’ (‘On the Waves of Life’), and ‘Ternystyi Shliakh’ (‘Thorny Path’). Ye. Malaniuk, who was the chief editor of ‘Vsim’ and ‘Na Khvyliakh Zhyttia’, played a leading role in publishing the mentioned periodicals. The primary aim of the replication of periodicals was to give the soldiers an opportunity to find some kind of safety valve and share their pain, which helped to overcome the moral and psychological crises. There was also a desire of some people to express themselves in the literary field. But first of all, many camp artists and caricaturists were involved in the publication of the wallpaper ‘Vsim’, the vast majority of whom worked under various pseudonyms.