Ukrainian Public Nationalism in the General Government: The Case of Krakivski Visti, 1940-1944

Most research on Ukrainian nationalism in the 20th century focuses on the OUN and UPA and their armed struggle for Ukraine’s independence. Ernest Gyidel’s book stands apart. It deals with a little-studied page in the history of nationalism, namely its public expression in the legal press under German occupation in World War II. He uses Krakivski Visti (Cracow News)--the leading Ukrainian newspaper of the General Government--as a case study due to its unique status of being less constrained by German censorship.
Gyidel walks us through a variety of nationalistic expressions from articles attacking Poles, Jews, and Russians to texts celebrating great Ukrainian writers, commemorating the national sacrifice, and discussing the threats of mixed marriages in Ukrainian national life. He reminds us that the history of Ukrainian nationalism was written not only by people with guns and bullets but also with typewriters and printed words.

Dr Ernest Gyidel studied history in Uzhhorod, Budapest, New York, Toronto, and Edmonton. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University. Previously, he was Research Associate at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and sessional lecturer at the Department of History and Classics of the University of Alberta. His articles and reviews appeared in Ab Imperio, Austrian History Yearbook, Canadian Slavonic Papers, Journal of Ukrainian Studies, Russian Review, Ukraina Moderna, and Ukrainskyi humanitarnyi ohliad.