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OUR LIFE Monthly, published by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America VOL. XLIV SEPTEMBER 1987 Editor: Marta Baczynsky IWANNA ROZANKOWSKY UNWLA — BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT (Continuation) After the war, the refugee problem stabilized in Europe and various ethnic groups started to establish their national organizations. In November 1945, the Central Representation of Ukrainian Emigrants in Germany was founded. Under the auspices of that body, the Federa tion of Ukrainian Women constituted itself with Irene Pavlykovsky as their president. Women refugees from all regions of Ukraine who happened to reside in Ger many at that time joined the new organization, as did former members of the Union of Ukrainian Women in Galicia. As soon as channels of communication opened between the continents, contacts were taken up with women’s organizations in the United States and Can ada, and in November of 1948, at a World Congress of Ukrainian Women that was called in Philadelphia in con junction with the VIII Convention of UNWLA, the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organization became a reality. Delegates from the United States, Canada and Europe elected Olena Kysilewsky to the position of president of the new superstructure. In spite of intima tions that the World Federation was to continue the legacy of the World Union of Ukrainian Women’s Organ izations after its war-imposed demise, Milena Rudnycky was not invited to attend the Congress. The reason was a conflict between Irene Pavlykovsky and Milena Rud nycky which up to this day has not been adequately explained. In light of the historical context regarding the Ukrainian women’s movement in which Milena Rudnycky played an extremely important role, the conflict should be researched and discussed openly, objectively, and soon, since there are few witnesses still alive who could shed light on the conditions which caused it. The year 1950 was a turning point for the Federation of Ukrainian Women in Germany. The two preceding years had seen massive relocation of refugees to the United States, Canada, and other countries of the free world, to the detriment of Ukrainian organizations in Germany which finally succumbed to a state of semi inactivity. With the influx of the war refugees to the United States, numerous new organizations sprang into exist ence which catered almost exclusively to the interests of the recent immigrants. The women, on the other hand, chose a different approach. When, in 1950, the IX Convention of UNWLA celebrated the 25th anniversary of the organization, a small group of newly immigrated women attended, four of whom were elected to the National Board. From that time the new immigrants readily joined the ranks of UNWLA, first as memebers of existing branches, later forming their own. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, 69 new branches were founded. As stated before, UNWLA had no clearly defined theoretical basis but rather embraced a philosophy of pragmatic altruism. With the influx of new members with a rather different existential outlook, conflicts were bound to emerge between them and the Ukrainian Americans. Although both groups shared a common heritage, there were fundamental dissimilarities in life style, experience, and community awareness. It is re grettable that no effort was made to discuss these dif ferences in an open forum so as to achieve mutual understanding; possibly the time was not right yet for women to involve themselves in theoretical debate. As time passed, older branches ceased to exist due to the advanced age of their members, and from the beginning of the 1960s, leadeship was gradually assumed by new immigrants. Although names and faces changed, there was basically no change in UNWLA’s operational methods. Increasingly, the lack of an all-encompassing concept made itself felt which would have provided a general sense of direction. Due to the fact that UNWLA 26 ’’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 1987 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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