Ukrainian Civic Committee in Czechoslovakia

Ukrainian Civic Committee in Czechoslovakia (Ukrainskyi hromadskyi komitet u Chekho-Slovachchyni or UHK). An immigrant aid organization established in the summer of 1921 in Prague. The group was initiated by Mykyta Shapoval, who used his connections with the Czechoslovak authorities to secure government funds for the committee's organizational and relief work. The committee had a medical and sanitary department under the leadership of S. Litov that ran a clinic and provided aid to invalids. It also initiated the establishment of the Ukrainian Husbandry Academy in Poděbrady (1922) and the Ukrainian Higher Pedagogical Institute in Prague (1923). Initially the UHK represented all Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia, but eventually some émigré circles broke away from it because of ideological and political differences. In 1925 the Czechoslovak government withdrew its financial support, and the committee was replaced by several new organizations. The president of the UHK was Shapoval, and its most active members were Nykyfor Hryhoriiv and Mykola Halahan.

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