ORAL HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ON THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION OF VOLYNYM WITH THE CZECH SETTLERS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Abstract

The aim is to analyze the coexistence of Ukrainians in Volhynia with Czechs, settlers in Tsarist Russia after 1861, during the Second World War, using the example of relations in the village of Vovokovia in Rivne Oblast (post-war Demydivsky District), Komarivka Khutor (Kremenetsky District, Ternopil Region, South Volyn) and a number of others villages, in particular Kupycheva (Turiy district of Volyn region). The methodological basis of the research is the use of general scientific and special-historical methods, in particular problemchronological, synchronous, comparative-historical. Scientific novelty. The study of the events of the public life of the village during the trials of the Second World War revealed mutual respect and mutual understanding in mutual relations between Czechs and Ukrainians. Conclusions. The possibilities of the oral history method used in the analysis, thanks to their expressiveness, gave an opportunity to reveal the unchanging benevolence of the Czech settlers towards the native inhabitants of the region, which was particularly evident in the attitude towards the defining factor of the social life of the region at that time – the aspiration of the Ukrainian people to national independence. To the credit of the Czech neighbors, they were unanimous about the naturalness of his aspiration. In turn, after the tragic loss of their historical homeland, the Czechs expressed gratitude to the Volhynians for the principled Ukrainian point of view of condemnation. Mutual actions against common occupiers became regular. We will especially emphasize the Czech sincerity in the much-desired, powerful help not only to the Ukrainian rebels, but also to the ordinary peasant neighbors who suffered from the terror of the occupiers. Therefore, it was then that it became natural to be born among the Volhynians when addressing their neighbors with words worthy of well-deserved respect: ‘Czechs, here are the matchmakers!’ (‘Czechs, you are holy people!’) It is pleasant that, as the researcher revealed the memories of grateful Volhynians, unforgettable words have been preserved in the region to this day - now, as a result of the current assistance of the Czech state to the warring Ukraine, having grounds for renewed life and for the future as well.