[SIGNED] The Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Fight for Freedom

New York, NY: United Committee of the Ukrainian-American Organizations of New York, 1954. Item #1608

First edition. Octavo. 223 pp. Original publisher's cloth, original dust jacket. Illustrated throughout with photographs, documentary reproductions, and examples of Ukrainian underground art and propaganda. Inscribed and signed on the front free endpaper. The striking dust jacket was designed by Yakiv Hnizdovsky (1915–1985), one of the most distinguished Ukrainian émigré artists and printmakers of the twentieth century. Paint spots, tears, and wear on the jacket. A few pages with pencil notes (contributors?), watermarks, and wear. Otherwise good.

A scarce and important English-language survey of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), issued during the early Cold War to introduce Western audiences to the Ukrainian anti-Soviet resistance movement. Published on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the UPA struggle, the volume combines historical essays, political documents, literary works, speeches by American political leaders, reproductions of underground publications, and photographs of resistance fighters.

The work contains contributions by many of the leading figures of the postwar Ukrainian émigré community, including Lev Shankovsky, Lev Dobriansky, Vasyl Barka, Petro Poltava, O. Hornovy, Bohdan Melodya-Kruk, and others. Particularly noteworthy are sections devoted to underground political literature, Ukrainian resistance art, the activities of the UPA Red Cross, and documentary materials originating from Soviet Ukraine. The volume also reproduces works by Nil Khasevych, the celebrated UPA artist and graphic designer who continued underground resistance activity until his death in 1952.

Price: $350.00