MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF GALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
Institute for the study of Galicia (Halychyna)
NO MYTH OF EASTERN GALICIA
Interdisciplinary Projects: Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish Subjectivities in
Interwar Eastern Galicia, 1918 – 1939, (modern Ukraine). Digitization, cataloguing, and indexing of the
interwar periodical press.
- The Idea of Galicia in Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish Perspectives: Religious, Cultural, and Political Self-Identification
- Historicizing Eastern Galicia from post-Holocaust Historical Perspective
- The Future of Ukraine and the Future of Europe: always a Russian Factor. Geopolitics of Uncertainty.
Dr. Volodymyr Melamed
Interwar Eastern Galicia: Political and Cultural Discourse, 1918 – 1939
Selected Essays
The idea of this monograph lies with elucidation, analysis and interpretation of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish subjectivities in interwar Polish Eastern Galicia. The emphasis is on the interwar period that is on Polish Eastern Galicia. It was a distinctively different from the traditionally perceived phenomenon of Austrian Galicia. The social and cultural legacy of old Austrian Galicia still remained in effect but the geopolitical realities have irreversibly changed. Since the end of the First World War, Polish and Ukrainian communities experienced mutual enmity bordering with open confrontation. Polish and Ukrainian societies gained disproportional statuses, they were all but equal. The imperial center vanished, Poland gained independence and with international support managed to integrate Eastern Galicia into the Second Polish Republic. The Jewish community could no longer rely on suitable for them Austrian order and had to balance between the Polish state and Ukrainian ethnic majority of the region. It was a challenge of political choice: either unconditional loyalty to the State or solidarity with the territorial Ukrainian majority. Jewish leading Zionist political establishment could not take a definitive stance but continued to navigate through the course of their own politics. In real life Ukrainian and Jewish historical Subjectivities acting in bona fide, largely not in mutual solidarity, however, not diametrically apart. Both national entities, Ukrainian and Jewish, were engaged in evocative objectification of their ‘individually crafted’ political narratives.
Aspiring to largely opposite ideological premises, Ukrainian and Jewish societies faced and grappled with the strongly determined administrative and political apparatus of the Polish State. Conducting independent from each other political courses vis-à-vis the Polish State, the activities of Ukrainian and Jewish political establishments would often resulted in mutually unacceptable outcomes. On the other hand, dealings with ‘the third force,’ that is with the Polish State, could inspire a sense of solidarity that in turn would lead to the development of a less apprehensive approaches towards each other.
The new internal and external geopolitical realities substantiated the rise of hardly plausible for the Austrian Galicia political forces. Radicalization and authoritarianism characterized the Ukrainian society and the rise of authoritarianism – the Polish state. As for the Jews, the Zionist parliamentary parties continued to dominate in Jewish politics although with noticeable influence of Jewish communist and social-democratic forces present in mundane life. While Polish and Jewish societies became politically more polarized than before, it was the Ukrainian society that produced the most radicalized nationalist underground, namely the Ukrainian Military Organization (Ukrainian acronym UVO) and its heir the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Ukrainian acronym OUN). The latter created the new political narrative of integral revolutionary struggle to be waged until an independent Ukrainian state is attained. The OUN political narrative overlived the interwar period and stretched well beyond the end of the Second World War.
These selected essays reflect on the eventful and existentially marked developments, in which all three communities were engaged. In this regard the Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish daily press serve as our primary source allowing determine and trace evocatively influential and mutually affective situations. The interwar realities leave little room for mythologization of Eastern Galicia according to the patterns of the 19thcentury Austrian Galician history. The mission of Ukrainian Piedmont unfortunately has not been completed owing to the internal and external factors. A myth of cross-cultural mutual home for Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews, that actually never war realistically warranted in the course of the 19th century, had become illusory in the interwar period. Once fruitful process of Jewish emancipation, acculturation and rising of national awareness in the course of interwar time became deterred by unresolvable mistrust and antagonism withing the Jewish society. Cultural and social tensions between the Jewish – Poles (assimilators), Religious Orthodoxy (largely pro-government groups), the National-Zionist democratic block, and Jewish communist and social-democratic movement were vividly exhibited in Jewish periodical press.
There is a common thread, a sort of a common denominator, connecting these essays together, notably the narratives of existential situations, relevant to all ethno-national and political entities. Traditionally, the literature on the subject presents a singular macro-history of the region within the Polish, Ukrainian or Jewish frameworks. Another larger group of works focuses on Lviv in historical and cultural contexts. While our work also significantly reflects on Lviv from the perspective of political and cultural histories thus making it a ‘centerpiece’ of the presented experience, although we are not seeing it as a mythological center of bygone civilization. Indeed, the events described and analyzed in these essays largely took place in Lviv while effected the entire region.
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF GALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
THE IDEA OF INTERWAR EASTERN GALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
A forthcoming monograph
Nowadays historical writings about Ukrainian past serves to the purpose of educated and unbiassed understanding of the current geopolitical situation in Eastern and Central Europe. The Ukrainian Question is truly relevant to the changing in front of our eyes world order. The ongoing Russian aggression and Ukrainian precarious situation brings up the same, unfortunately unresolved ages-long issues caused by the Russian imperial and then the Soviet claims on its sovereignty. Nowadays we can see a new imperial edition vigorously applied against Ukraine by the Putin regime.
The idea of this monograph Eastern Galicia in Interwar Period, Political and Cultural Discourse lies with the re-interpretation of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish subjectivities in interwar Polish Eastern Galicia (modern Ukraine). In a way I pursue the goal of de-construction and de-mythologizing of often applied populist stereotypes seen in relatively recent post-Holocaust historiography.
These selected essays reflect on eventful and existentially marked developments in the life of all three communities. In this regard the Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish daily press serves as our primary historical source allowing determine and trace the evocatively influential and mutually affective situations.
There is a unifying thread, a sort of a common denominator connecting all these essays together in a singular narrative, notably the narrative of existential situations, relevant and related to all ethno-national and political entities of the time. Traditionally, the literature on the subject presents a singular macro-history of the region within either Polish, or Ukrainian or Jewish frameworks. Oppositely, in my case, drawing on the microhistories I am attempting to re-create a broader, interconnected discourse.
Dr. Volodymyr Melamed
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF GALICIA (HALYChyna).
EASTERN GALICIA ON INTERWAR EURIPEAN POLITICAL SCENE
History of East Galicia is integral part of European History featuring a distinct regional experience. Galician cultural world is gone but it retained representation in literature, film, oral tradition, and urban landmarks. It has been memorialized by modern West Ukrainian society. In cultural sense, Galician past acquired some mythological features. It is typically described as a crossroad of three cultures; a Ukrainian Piedmont; a bulwark of Polishness; and a cradle of Jewish political institutions.
These designations are not untruthful if applied to the period of the late 19th century and until the beginning of the First World War. However historical truth could suffer if mythologized notions would be equally applied to the interwar period. It was rather the period of turmoil. The rise of authoritarian regimes, territorial disputes and the unresolved problems of national minorities became determining factors, shaping societal and political developments. East Galicia was an archetypal in all these regards.
Interwar period in East-Central Europe was the time of state and nation-building. Poland regained independence, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia emerged as the new states, Romania became a unified kingdom, while Hungary lost two third of its prewar territory and de facto was the most nation-state with only one sizable Jewish minority. All new states experienced common unresolved disputes with national minorities. Evidently Poland, was the most affected country in this respect where Ukrainians amounted to 15% and Jews to 10% of the population.
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF GALICIA (HALYCHA), WEST uKRAINI
West Ukrainian National Republic. Twenty-one Days of Struggle for Lviv: November 1918.
On October 31, 1918, Ukrainian National Council in Lviv was expecting a confirmation from the Austrian Government that official transfer of power in Eastern Galicia and Northern Bukovina would go into effect on the next. On that day the arrival of the currier from Vienna with the signed by the Emperor decree was expected. Oppositely, the Viennese Delegation of UNC (Yevhen Petrushevych) was not signaling of such decision as a fait accompli. The Galician Delegation of the UNC had to decide here and now in state of uncertainty. The members gathered at the location of Ukrainian Military Committee. They listened to Captain Dmytro Vitovskyi who was arguing of no other alternatives but a military action:
If the military takeover is not executed by the early morning of November 1, 1918, he will relieve himself from the further responsibilities for the further developments. Today we have everything ready for a military takeover and it is impossible to postpone the action. It is only today we can accomplish it. If we did not take over Lviv today, tomorrow it will fall to the Poles.
When asked by Chairman of Galician Delegation, Dr. Kost Levytskyi if they have substantial for the action Ukrainian military armed units, Captain Vitovskyi answered: ‘according to the current calculations we have it.’ He was asked about when and how the military were going to act. Vitovskyi: ‘Around 4 o’clock before down Ukrainian soldiers led by Ukrainian officers will disarm all non-Ukrainian military units and will take under their control all government, regional and city establishments. The same plan should be implemented in the Region.’[1]
Colonel Vitovskyi and other Ukrainian military commanders by the end of the first day were not in the state of victorious euphoria, neither were they overly confident about plausibility of holding the entire city under control if a longer combative scenario would develop. The November 1 takeover Act was a military and political success. It prompted the Ukrainian National Council to begin a legislative process for the state-building. Although the takeover went smooth and November 1st seemed to be a celebration of a rising Ukrainian statehood, the second day of November was somewhat sobering. The street-fighting were still rare but was becoming obvious that Ukrainian military did not control all the city. The extent and strength of Polish resistance was yet to be determined in combat encounters. Although the main railroad terminal and the cargo terminal were under Ukrainian military control. It was not sufficient to withhold imminent Polish attacks. Ukrainian Military Command was aware of Polish dominance over north-west part of the city. They, however, so far did not localize the actual pockets of building up resistance. As soon as from the second day of takeover the civil Ukrainian government would become more and more dependent on the positioning and military operations of the Main Ukrainian Military Command.
[1]Oleksa Kuźma, Листопадові Дні (The Days of November), Lviv: Chervona Kalyna, 1931 and New York, 1960, p. 51.
ARCHIVE OF EASTERN GALICIAN PERIODICAL PRESSS, 1918 -- 1939
UKRAINIAN, JEWISH AND POLISH SUBJECTIVITIES, eAST GALICIA (WEST UKRAINE), 1918 -- 1939
The titular Collection comprises five historical collections of Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish daily and weekly periodicals published in Eastern Galicia, Poland (present day Ukraine) in interwar period, 1918 –1939. What makes this Collection unique is that it serves to be a source for multi-disciplinary research and studies united by the common goal to facilitate studies of Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish Subjectivities in East Galicia in interwar period. We have selected and categorized thousands of newspapers and magazines according to five historical themes that reflect ethno - political, national and social discourses. Each of five aggregated collections is a digital repository of its own right bringing to public view under-researched and often stigmatized topics of the entangled and perplexed relations between Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish communities. Comparative reading and analysis of the documents should serve the purpose of understanding the viewpoints, decision-making and public opinions that drive Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish national paradigms. Periodical press of this period is a highly valuable historical source allowing us to delve into national identities, vicissitudes of political agendas and often antagonistic to each other societal trends.
We have digitized a great number of the interwar periodicals ourselves and added also a significant number of digital objects available in public domain, originally hosted by several academic institutions in Ukraine and Poland. Most of the Ukrainian newspapers have been microfilmed and digitized by us, Institute for the Studies of Galicia (Halychyna), non- profit organization located in Los Angeles. We have also been collecting microfilms from the interlibrary loans of several American universities. Please note that the core of the initial collections comprises microfilmed materials from Vasyl Stefanyk National Academic Library in Lviv, Ukraine. We have been microfilming Ukrainian and Jewish periodicals from the original newspaper binders at the premises of the Special Collections of this Library.
In the result we have collected thousands of digital objects which have been categorized and preliminary catalogued according to our Project. Our goal is to create five digital collections and have them indexed on a collection and document levels.
Some of our documents for UKRAINIAN, JEWISH AND POLISH SUBJECTIVITIES, eASTERN GALICIA (WEST UKRAINE), 1918 -- 1939
About INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF gALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
Our Directors and Advisors
Directors:
Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg,President and CEO of Research and Education, Rabbi of Hollywood Temple Beth El
For his background go to:
Dr. Vladimir Melamed, Chief Executive Officer, noted Historian and Researcher of Modern European History
For his background:
Bill J. Greenberg, Director for Technology
and Marketing , who brings his experience in web technology and archiving documents.
President of Net Data Systems, Inc.
Advisors:
Richard Hirschhaut-expert on Jewish communal affairs
Regional Director, American Jewish Committee, Los Angeles
https://www.ajc.org/bio/richard-s-hirschhaut
Douglas Workman, Technical Advisor
Edward Melamed, Content Manager
He graduated from Columbia University with degree in Psychology. His work experience includes applied research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and University of Southern California
Alex Holt, Consultant on advanced education, literature, and film
Archives and Collections
The Online Archives will be available for research and education. We will be cataloguing, indexing and digitizing the documents for our Projects: official records, daily press, literary work, personal correspondences, memoirs and family photo-documents.
We are focusing on the documented history in the regions of interest: Los Angeles, East-Central Europe, Middle East and on the oral histories of a broader personal experience.
See also articles by our staff on Academia.edu and Academia and Academia Letters in this regard: https://www.academia.edu/50926698/UKRAINIAN_AND_JEWISH_VICISSITUDES_EAST_GALICIA_1918_1923_OBJECT_SUBJECT_RELATIONSHIPS_AND_INTERSUBJECTIVITY_Existential_Analysis
Article and Essays
Literary and Arts Section
From Academia Letters
ACADEMIA
Letters
Dr. Vladimir Melamed
Keywords: Eastern Europe; Ukraine; Austro-Hungary; collective memory; historical narrative
Other Articles and Essays
https://independent.academia.edu/VMelamed
Literary and Arts Section
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Literary and Arts Section
Literature of European and American Modernism: literary and comparative analysis
Polish-Jewish Literature: Literature in Polish written by Jews
Polish modernist literature by Jewish-Polish authors
Existential Central European Literature in German before and after the First World War
The Art of Weimar Republic and the European reflections
Bruno Schulz, Polish-Jewish writer and artist. Explore his inner circle of the non-ordinary world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/02/bruno-schulz-nocturnal-apparitions-benjamin-balint/
Joseph Roth, writer and philosopher. He was a man of few possessions and a haunted, lonely mind, whose life stands out for unrepentant self-destruction.
Hans Fallada, modernist literature in the Third Reich
https://lithub.com/hans-fallada-the-anti-nazi-writer-who-reluctantly-served-the-reich/
Albert Camus, Existential philosopher and author
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1958/05/albert-camus-a-good-man/640286/
Cinematic Discourse
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Independent
Cinematic Representation of Existential Pages of Human Experience in the 20th century
Ida, Drama, 2014, Director Pawel Pawlikowski, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeaXwufbOlc
Son of Saul, Drama, 2015, Director Laszlo Nemes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ktMOyfD8k
Wolyn (Hatred), Drama, 2016, Director Wojcech Smarzowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-zOOjTO7U&t=246s
Pianist, Drama, 2002, Director Roman Polanski
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Pianist+film+
Ashes and Diamonds, Drama, 1958, Director Andrzej Waida
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuqhCAZSo3Y
The Zone of Interest, Drama, 2024, Director Jonathan Glazer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vfg3KkV54
Golda, 2023, Biographical Drama
Director Guy Nativ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJETvSNa178
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Enjoy a Tour of Historic Hollywood Temple Beth El
In 1851, the new Jewish settlers organized in Los Angeles a congregation Beth El, but they did not have neither a cantor or Rabbi and assembled for religious services only on New Year and the day of Atonement (I.J. Benjamin, Three Years in America, 1859 - 1862, trans. Charles Reznikoff (Philadelphia, 1956), II, 101.
Hollywood Temple Beth El, the first synagogue of Hollywood, was founded just as the burgeoning film industry was setting roots in Los Angeles in 1922.
In 1952, the members of Hollywood Temple Beth El built the magnificent edifice at the corner of N Crescent Heights and Fountain, in the heart of what would become the City of West Hollywood.It was designed by noted architect, Harry Hiller, and it has since been on the tour route of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles for its unique design. It seems to have been influenced by artist depictions of the ancient Temple of Solomon in JerusalemThe structure also houses three sets of stained glass windows depicting the twelve tribes. The large windows in the Main Sanctuary were crafted by Francis J. Dunham in 1967. The most recent set, on the doors to the sanctuary lobby, were designed by Joe Young, architect of the Holocaust Memorial in Pan-Pacific Park.The magnificent structure now serves as the headquarters of the Iranian American Jewish Federation.
This historic building has served as a social and communal home for people in the West Hollywood and Hollywood Hills environs for over a century.
For a stunning 360 degree visual of our Main Sanctuary, go to:https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/hollywood-temple-beth-el/
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Image from Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"
Russo-Ukrainian War.
If Ukraine have reliable allies
European Union and NATO: if there will the new leaderships
Institute for the Study of War
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Memory in Action: Lecture Series
Themes for the future pennels and discussions:
Anticipatory Anxiety: Literary and Cinematic Models
Does anti-semitism stands for anti-Jewishness: social and political dimensions
Collaboration in the Holocaust:
Everlasting existential discourse
DISCOURSE AND PERSPECTIVES
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1149584349412544
Memory in Action: Lecture Series
Memory in Action: Lecture Series
Future Topics:
Biblical History: Modern Historical Narrative
Jewish - Gentile Discourse in the Context of Ethno-National and Political Developments in Los Angeles: from the Civil War to the end of the Cold War
Temple Beth El as a Reflection on Social, Economic and Cultural Experience of the Jews in Los Angeles : 1920s -- 1990s
Russo-Ukrainian War: Ukrainian anti-colonial national narrative versus Putin's postcolonial expansionism.
Breaking the Russian Geopolitical Dominance
History of Jews in Los Angeles, 19th --20st century century
This is the History to be written yet
Preliminary tenets and conclusions:
Limited historiography on the Subject
Vague categorization: Cultural or Political History?
History of the Institutions, Societies or Religious organizations?
Integration, disintegration and unification on the notion of American patriotism and support for Israel
Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Research and Discourse of what remains beyond and forgotten
THEMES OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Architecture of the Final Solution
Collaboration with Nazi-German administration and the role of Local administrations
Judenraete (Jewish Councils) and Jewish order police in the ghettos: phenomenon of survival
To survive or to resist?
Oral Histories of the Holocaust
The Genocides: Memories and Politics
Uncover MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE's Hidden Gems
The Lost City
Historic Homes Tour
Historic Homes Tour
Discover the fascinating story behind MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE's Lost City, a hidden gem that was rediscovered by our society after decades of being lost to history. Join us for a tour and learn about the people who once called this place home.
Historic Homes Tour
Historic Homes Tour
Historic Homes Tour
Step back in time and explore some of MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE's most beautiful historic homes. Our guided tour will take you through the streets of our town, showcasing the unique architecture and design of each home.
Preserving Our Past
Historic Homes Tour
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Our society is dedicated to preserving the rich history of MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE. Learn about our efforts to protect and restore historic landmarks, and how you can get involved in our mission.
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Discover the stories and battles that took place in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE during the Civil War. Our society has collected a wealth of information and artifacts that provide an insight into this turbulent period in our history.
Local Legends
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Virtual Museum
From famous figures to unsung heroes, our town is home to a variety of local legends. Join us as we explore the stories and myths behind these fascinating individuals.
Virtual Museum
The Civil War in MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
Virtual Museum
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Help Our Cause
Arching and indexing of digitized collection of periodical Galician press of 19th-20th centuries
Publishing a series of essays reflecting Galician existential discourse of the 19th -20th centuries
Geopolitical analysis of the continuity of Ukrainian strife for sovereignty and self-determination