Union of Ukrainian Journalists and Writers Abroad

Union of Ukrainian Journalists and Writers Abroad (Союз українських журналістів і письменників на чужині; Soiuz ukrainskykh zhurnalistiv i pysmennykiv na chuzhyni). A professional association founded in Vienna on 12 September 1919 to inform the Western press and public about developments in Ukraine, to defend the professional interests of its members, and to give financial help to needy writers. In 1920 the union set up a lecture program, which in the following year was reorganized as a series of university courses under the name of the Ukrainian Free University. In 1925 its head office was moved to Prague. In the 1930s it had 50 to 70 members and was active in disseminating information about Polish and Soviet repressions in Ukraine. Its presidents included Volodymyr Kushnir, Oleksander Oles, and Stepan Siropolko. The group was disbanded in 1940.

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