Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
UNWLA 100
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 2015 WWW.UNWLA.ORG 17 so-called “screenings” when we had to provide our life histories again and present our documents. We were vaccinated against typhoid fever. As mentioned, the camps were established in June of 1945 and by September there were al- ready functioning preschools, grade schools, and “Gymnasiums,” varied instructional facilities, and medical clinics. In October, the Scouting Organiza- tion Plast was formed and the following month an- other youth organization, SUMA, was established. Among the DPs there were many athletes, and they made sure that good athletic fields were built in all camps. They also made sure that there were “club rooms” where we could play table ten- nis—a very popular game in those days. They also obtained sports uniforms and equipment from the UNRRA. Chornohora was a soccer team in our camp, and among its favorites were Slawko Shmigel, Lutak, and others. Teams from Munich, Berchtesgaden, and other camps came to play. There were also track and field competitions. Once we even housed a finalist ping pong competition which lasted a few days. People used many methods to ignore their inner thoughts like “what’s next” or “what’s happen- ing with my family at home.” They had left families, sometimes even infants, because they had thought that they would return quickly. But life went on... In the Gymnasium, we had wonderful teachers who were professors from universities in Ukraine and Czechoslovakia. There were no printed books so the professors dictated lessons, which we wrote down and studied. Notebooks were of terrible quality and there were no ballpoints—real pens were used and as a result our notebooks were often full of ink stains. The famous Blavackyj Theater from L’viv was housed in our camp and in it our UNWLA member Nadia Sawchenko, then Jaroshenko, took her first artistic “steps.” Although camp surround- ings were quite primitive, this theater group pro- duced great shows by Ukrainian, British, and French producers. For instance, back during the war the French existentialist Jean Anouilh had written Antigone based on Sophocles, and Genia Vasyl- kiwska translated it into Ukrainian. The Blavackyj Theater presented it in the camps with the main roles played by actresses Liza Shasharivska and Vira Levytska. The action took place at the time when Germany occupied France and the audience re-lived these events on the stage with pain. Yet when ano- ther theater group, that of Joseph Hirniak from Bri- tish zone, visited us and put on a humoresque, The Travels of Mamaj in a Barrell around the World , all of the audience, especially young crowd, were enraptured and mimicked the paparazzi. The girls fell in love and wrote letters to the actors. One of the girls from the Gymmnasium ac- tually married an actor from the group. The cultural life in the camps was on a high level—writers and poets created masterpieces, his- torians and politicians wrote historical and political treatises, and only painters had a hard time because it was not easy to obtain paints. However, even they painted beautiful iconostasy in churches, icons, and prepared holiday cards. Frequently British and American (and pos- sibly German) films were shown in the theater hall. Popular actors were Stuart Granger and James Ma- son. In the same venue there were dances, and once even a masquarade ball. Popular then were the swing, foxtrot, tango, waltz, and polka. In the sewing workshop the women were embroidering laced tablecloths, blouses from parachute fabric, and they made shoulder bags from hard cartons and finished with fabrics from blankets decorated with lovely embroidery. Behind the buildings some planted vegetable gardens. There were many children and adolescents in the camps. As I now watch television and see tents and many unfortunate refugees from Syria or Iraq, I think how smart the leaders from the UNRRA, the IRO and our camp activists were, spending a great amount of time and effort on the youth. One might think that life in DP camps was wonderful. It was not wonderful, especially for those with small children, or those who had lost loved ones during the war. However, everything was done so that children were raised in a healthy environ- ment—to prevent them from becoming depressed, to protect them from immorality and criminal acti- vity, and to provide them with an education. What was happening in Ukraine at this time? The Soviet leadership took vengeance upon and doled out severe “punishment” on the popula- tion. The ones most affected were those who worked in local administrations during the German occupa- tion and those whose relatives were part of the UPA or the Ukrainian Division of the German army. Thousands of the latter were transported forcibly to the Siberia or Kazakhstan. More fighting was raging in the forests and in Western Ukraine between the UPA and the Soviets, Germans, and Poles. It is for these reasons that there were not many complaints heard in the DP camps. Our lives in the camps were by far better than the existence in Ukraine or the Siberia. It could have been different. Oleksandra Juzeniw, Branch 83 member
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
