Ukrainian Relief Committee in Rome

Ukrainian Relief Committee in Rome (Український допомоговий комітет у Римі; Ukrainskyi dopomohovyi komitet u Rymi). A body formed by Bishop Ivan Buchko at the end of the Second World War (1945) to help Ukrainian refugees, displaced persons, prisoners of war, and students in Italy. Headed by Bishop Buchko, it included Rev Ivan Prashko, Yu. Mylianyk, Mykhailo Vavryk, and Petro Polishchuk (secretary). The Vatican provided funds for material aid in the form of clothes, food, and spending money. The committee helped the members of the Division Galizien interned at the prisoner of war camp in Rimini by establishing contacts for them with the Vatican and with Italian and international circles, by providing postal services, and by supplying camp schools with textbooks and equipment. The committee ceased functioning in 1970. Thenceforth, the apostolic mission for Ukrainians in Western Europe, under Archbishop Buchko and Rev Myroslav Marusyn (secretary), fulfilled whatever charitable responsibilities remained.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]