The Third Wave: The Post-Second World War Displaced Persons

When the Second World War ended, Germany and Austria teemed with over 16 million foreign workers, prisoners of war, and refugees. Of these, about 2.3 million were Ukrainians. The overwhelming majority of them were the Ostarbeiter, mostly young boys and girls from Soviet Ukraine who had been forcibly torn from their homes and subjected to years of exhausting and demeaning labor in Germany.

To care for the masses of homeless refugees, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA) was formed in 1945. Two years later, the International Relief Organization (IRO) took over this role. Basically, these organizations sought to provide the DPS with a modicum of food and shelter until they could be permanently resettled. Often grouped by nationality, the refugees were concentrated in “camps,” that is, requisitioned schools, army barracks, and public buildings. Because they were allowed to elect their own leadership to look after administration as well as educational and cultural affairs, these camps, which were located in the American-, British-, and French-occupied zones of Germany, were often referred to as “DP republics.”

About two-thirds of the Ukrainian refugees lived in the camps, eighty of which were all-Ukrainian. The remainder found private accommodations. Some of the major camps were located in American-occupied Bavaria, specifically in Munich, Mittenwald, Regensburg, Berchtesgaden, and Augsburg.

The Ukrainian DPS were highly heterogeneous. A minority of about 20% were political refugees par excellence. Consisting largely of members of the intelligentsia, they rejected the Soviet system and fled, often under harrowing circumstances, before the advancing Red Army. The vast majority were workers, who had been forcefully brought to Germany during the war. By refusing the Soviets’ insistent repatriation attempts, they, too, became refugees. About two-thirds of the DPS were from Galicia and belonged to the Greek Catholic church, and the remaining third were from Soviet Ukraine and were Orthodox. Other important subgroups among the DPS were emigres from the 1920s period; Ukrainian students in Germany; former German prisoners of war; and released inmates of the concentration camps. In Italy, there were about 10,000 members of the interned Galicia Division. And in 1947–48, several hundred UPA soldiers, who had fought their way from the Carpathians through Czechoslovakia to Germany, also joined the DPS. Thus, this largest of all Ukrainian political emigrations reflected Ukraine’s various regions, religions, social classes, and cultural and political traditions.

Unlike previous emigrations, the DPS had a large pool of well-educated people among them. The numerous professionals included about 1000 teachers, 400 engineers, 350 lawyers, 300 physicians and an equal number of clergy, and close to 200 scholars. There were also more than 2000 university students. Judging by these numbers, it was clear that a large part of the West Ukrainian intelligentsia had chosen not to stay under Soviet rule.

For many of the camp inhabitants, the two to three years they spent there was a unique and not altogether unpleasant experience. The “DP republics” had a surfeit of young, energetic, and educated people. Although simple food and shelter (terribly crowded) were available, jobs in the shattered German economy were practically impossible to find.

Statistics underscore this point. Despite very limited material resources, the Ukrainian DPS maintained 2 university-level institutions, about 40 gym-nazia (high schools), and over 100 elementary schools. They also operated dozens of vocational courses, established 85 parishes, and rebuilt Plast, the scouting organization. Cultural activity was especially great. The camps had 35 libraries, 41 choruses, 13 orchestras, 33 theatrical groups, and 3 professional theatrical troupes. They staged over 1400 plays, 900 concerts, and 350 cultural-commemorative events (akademii). A vibrant if qualitatively uneven press produced about 230 periodicals and over 800 books. Young DPS also plunged into other activities. Forced to delay marriages and childbirth by the conditions of war, they established families at a rapid rate.

Map 29 Destinations of Ukrainian emigrants

But the hothouse atmosphere of the camps also brought out negative features among the DPS. Forced to live in close proximity, West and East (Soviet) Ukrainians became painfully aware of the considerable social, cultural, and psychological differences between them. The Catholic/Orthodox split only exacerbated the problem. Most destructive were the feuds that broke out among the numerous political parties that emerged in the camps. Especially bitter, even murderous, was the unabated conflict between the Bandera and Melnyk factions of the OUN. Intent on establishing its political and ideological hegemony over the entire emigration, the numerous Bandera faction was particularly aggressive and domineering. Although the Banderites failed to gain a substantial following among the intelligentsia, they did exert a strong influence among the peasants and workers, who constituted the majority of the refugees.

Between 1947 and 1951 the resettlement of the DPS to their permanent homes occurred. The approximate numbers of those who left Germany and Austria for various countries were: United States 80,000; Canada 30,000; Australia 20,000; Great Britain 20,000; Belgium 10,000; France 10,000; Brazil 7000; Argentina 6000. Many of those who went to Britain, France, Belgium, and Latin America eventually settled in North America.

The decision to leave their homeland was one of the most crucial that individual Ukrainians made. Its influence on the socioeconomic, cultural, psychological, and political aspects of their lives was deep and dramatic. Invariably, the question arises of who made the more fortunate choice, those who left or those who stayed behind. Because no empirical studies of this fascinating question have been conducted, one is forced to respond through impressionistic observations.

It would appear that in material terms at least, those who emigrated fared better than those who did not. The emigrants also avoided many of the catastrophes that befell their former homeland in modern times. They enjoyed the priceless advantage of living in free and open societies. But the costs of leaving the homeland were considerable; usually they included gnawing homesickness, psychological insecurity, alienation, and discrimination. For the political emigres, who had held responsible positions at home, there was often a precipitous drop in social status as a result of their inability to find work in their fields of specialization. Nonetheless, it seems that for those who emigrated, the decision brought a net gain. Ukraine’s society, however, probably suffered a net loss. Judging by the emigrants’ organizational activity alone, it is evident that Ukraine lost some of its most energetic inhabitants. And in their host countries the contribution of the hard-working Ukrainians has been clearly positive – in Canada, dramatically so.