THE RIFLEMEN’S FRANKIANA OF YAKYM YAREMA IN THE INTERNMENT CAMP OF THE UHA (1919–1922)

Abstract

This article is the first to address the question of the «Riflemen’s Frankiana» of Yakym Yarema (1884–1964) as part of his broader Franko-studies legacy. The analysis draws on two of his publications that relate to the period of the Ukrainian liberation struggle in the scholar’s biography, specifically to his stay in the internment camps of the Ukrainian Galician Army (UHA) in the town of Německé Jablonné in the Czecho-Slovak Republic between 1919 and 1922. These are the popular scholarly essay, ultimately titled «Ivan Franko. 1916–1921», and the chronicle-type article «One Day in Josefiv – 12.VI.1921: Franko’s Celebration in Josefiv». Both were published in the camp newspaper «Ukrainian Rifleman», for which Yarema served as editor. The works are examined within the context of camp Frankiana – an area that has not yet been treated as a distinct topic in literary studies. This includes its narratives, organizational, educational, publishing, and cultural initiatives, as well as the existential conditions in which the Sich Riflemen found themselves during the period of geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the status of the Galician lands. The study reconstructs and outlines the ideological and aesthetic connections between Yarema’s camp publications and initiatives and his earlier Franko-related work, given his personal acquaintance with Ivan Franko, his involvement in organizing the poet’s jubilee visit to Ternopil region, and his earlier monograph «Moses. A Poem by Ivan Franko. A Critical Study. On the Occasion of the Fortieth Jubilee of the Spirit-Creator of Modern Ukraine» (Ternopil, 1912). It is shown that Yarema played a significant role in shaping an extensive memorial discourse concerning Ivan Franko’s life-creation phenomenon, reinforcing his name both within educational settings (lectures, reports) and in cultural-pedagogical activities (concerts, performances, declamations). Particularly noteworthy is the «Franko issue» of Ukrainian Rifleman, dedicated to the fifth anniversary of Franko’s passing. This issue represents the culmination of the camp Frankiana of the UHA riflemen and includes Yarema’s memorial essay along with a selection of Franko’s works that had imperative identity-forming significance for the riflemen’s generation («It Is Not the Time», «The Stonecutters», «Moses», «Sich March», «The Great Anniversaries», etc.). As evidenced by Yarema’s Frankiana, Ivan Franko occupied, in the consciousness of the interned riflemen, the place of an existential point of support, the first rifleman, a spiritual father and guide whose precepts the military youth followed. In presenting Franko’s life to the riflemen amid the dramatic struggle for Ukrainian statehood, Yarema offers the example of ultimate existential resilience – a steadfast intellectual and man of action who overcame circumstances, achieved self-realization as a self-made man, and became the Ukrainian Moses.