Description
Recently discovered and, subsequently, deciphered, transcribed, and edited by the researchers of the Peter Jacyk Program for the Study of Modern Ukrainian History and Society at the CIUS, the diaries of eminent historian Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky span the time period from the mid 1930s to the 1970s. They provide unique personal insights of a perceptive and sophisticated intellectual into some of the key events of the turbulent history of Ukraine in the mid 20th century. They also feature intimate portrayals of many prominent people whom Lysiak Rudnytsky knew and worked with. The diaries deal with the his life as a young man in Lviv in the interwar Polish state in the 1930s and then, they describe the harsh realities of life under the Nazi regime in Cracow (1939–40), Berlin (1940), and Prague (1940–45). They vividly reflect the conditions of life and Ukrainian cultural and political activities in post-World War II displaced persons camps in Germany, followed by emigration to the United States and study and work in New York until 1954. Some of the later diary entries, dating from the 1970s, depict Lysiak Rudnytsky’s trip to Moscow and Kyiv and provide his general impressions of the USSR of that time. Throughout his diaries Lysiak Rudnytsky expresses fascinating, sharp, insightful, and often controversial views on important historical events and prominent personalities, as well as his general musings on history, politics, and the Ukrainian community and its intellectual elite. This important book was published by the Dukh i Litera Publishers in Kyiv.
This book was the winner of the First Prize in the category “Biographical Sources” in the All-Ukrainian Library Biographical Rating in 2020.
Marko R. Stech –
A Ukrainian-language article about Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky’s «Щоденники» was published in one of Ukraine’s most popular daily newspapers, «День» (Kyiv), by Ihor Siundiukov under the title «Про себе, про Україну і світ…» Here is the link: https://day.kyiv.ua/uk/article/ukrayinci-chytayte/pro-sebe-pro-ukrayinu-i-svit
Marko R. Stech –
Rafal Kolano’s review of Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky’s «Щоденники» was published in the UR Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, no. 3(16)/2020, pp. 176-81.
Marko R. Stech –
Ernest Gyidel’s review of Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky’s «Щоденники» was published in Ukraina Moderna, volume 32-33, October 2022, pp. 328-35.