Battle of Kruty: Participants and Commemorative Practices in Interwar Volhynia

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to identify and clarify the biograms of the participants in the Battle of Kruty, Bakhmach, known in the literature as the ‘Battle of Kruty’, who resided in Western Volhynia during the interwar period, as well as to analyze the peculiarities of preserving the memory of that heroic act of the period of the Ukrainian Revolution in the Volhynian Voivodeship (Wołyń Voivodeship).

The scientific novelty is in the introduction into scientific circulation of the newly discovered, processed, and verified archival documents, including those from the archives of Soviet special services. The study of archival documents, materials from interwar periodicals, and memoirs make it possible to identify the names of the Battle of Kruty participants, to reconstruct their activities after the revolution, and to prove that, at the initiative of Ukrainian political emigrants and youth, the memory of Kruty in the 1930s became one of the major events of the national calendar of Ukrainians in interwar Volhynia.

Conclusions. The lives of the participants in the Battle of Kruty in January 1918, who resided during the interwar period in the territory of Western Volhynia, which, under the terms of the Treaty of Riga, became part of the Second Polish Republic, are identified and reconstructed in the research paper. It is uncovered that some of them were local residents, while others settled in Volhynia as political emigrants. The most significant periods of their biographies are traced, with an emphasis on participation in the Ukrainian Revolution and public and social activities in the interwar period. Information is summarized about the environment of emigrants, in the past figures of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which was distinguished by its concern and activism. Their initiatives regarding the spread of educational activities, the Ukrainization of church practices, cooperation with the intelligence services of the UNR, assistance to needy emigrants, as well as the preservation of the memory of the Ukrainian Revolution events are highlighted.

The forms and methods of preserving the historical memory of Ukrainians about the events of the national liberation struggle during the years of the Ukrainian Revolution are traced. It is proven that in the 1930s, at the initiative of political emigrants and youth, the Kruty Heroes’ Day became one of the key events in the national memory of Ukrainians in Western Volhynia. It is stated that caring for places of remembrance, preparing reviews and conducting research were at the center of the national life of Ukrainians in the Volhynian Voivodeship.

Based on the declassified, discovered, and processed documents of the Soviet special services, it has become partially possible to reconstruct/clarify the fate of nine identified participants in the battle near Kruty and Bakhmach.