Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau

Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau (CURB). Relief agency established in London, England, in late 1945 on the initiative of the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen's Association to assist Ukrainian refugees in Western Europe. It provided material relief, campaigned against forcible repatriation to the Soviet Union, and worked for the resettlement abroad of Ukrainian displaced persons. CURB was sponsored and financially supported by the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (through the Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund) and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (through the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee). It also represented Ukrainian relief committees in Great Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, Argentina, and Brazil. In 1946 the Ukrainian Information Service existed briefly as an adjunct to CURB, disseminating material on Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in the non-Communist world. Bohdan Gordon Panchuk was the first director of CURB, and Stanley Frolick was the first secretary general. Others closely associated with it were M. Lucyk, M. Kapusta, A. Crapleve, Peter Smylski, Joseph Romanow, S. Davidovich, George Stephen Nestor Luckyj, W. Byblow, A. Panchuk, and A. Yaremovich.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]