Reception of the Chornobyl Disaster Consequences by Ukrainian Emigrants of Germany

Author

Perha Tetiana

a Ph.D. in History, a senior researcher at the Government Agency Institute of the World History of the NAS of Ukraine

Reception of the Chornobyl Disaster ConsequencesReception of the Chornobyl Disaster Consequencesby Ukrainian Emigrants of Germany

Abstract

The article investigates the reaction of the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany to the Chornobyl disaster. It has revealed that a peculiarity of scientific research of Ukrainians emigrants in Germany is the focus on the periods of the 1920s–1930s and the 1950s; the 1980s still stay beyond the interest of Ukrainian scholars. It has also found that the low activity of the Ukrainian diaspora, especially in the case of Chornobyl disaster, was due to its small size, lack of political influence in the German society, as well as shortage of sufficient material and financial resources.

The authoress concludes that, although the diaspora had taken part in all activities developed by the foreign Ukrainians, by the 1990s its activity had focused on participating in silent walks, protest actions, joint public prayers, preparation of humanitarian aid, charitable and scientific events, and explanatory work on the subject of the current situation in the Ukrainian SSR. The organizer of this activity was the Central Mission of Ukrainian Emigrants in Germany (CMUEG). Some Ukrainian families have also participated in the health improvement programmes for Ukrainian children from the affected regions. It has proved that, unlike Canada and the USA, the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany did not initiate large-scale support actions, nor did it create charitable organizations and relief funds for helping the affected territories’ population in the Ukrainian SSR. Reasons for this policy have analysed as well.

At the same time, the Chornobyl accident was widely covered in the diaspora press, in particular, the newspaper The Way to Victory, especially during 1986–1987. Since 1988, interest in the accident has considerably diminished due to the extension of the perestroika processes in the USSR and the emergence of a number of new topics being of interest to the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany: glasnost, democratization, the first informal associations, the activities of the RUKH, the Ukrainian culture’s revival, etc. While researching, the authoress introduced into science a number of new sources on the history of the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany, in particular some issues of the CMUEG’s Bulletin of the mid- to late 1980s.

Keywords

Germany, CMUEG, Ukrainian diaspora, Chornobyl disaster, Ukrainian SSR.

References

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