Ukrainian Institution of Trust in the German Reich

Ukrainian Institution of Trust in the German Reich [Українська установа довір’я в Німецькому Райху; Ukrainska ustanova doviria v Nimetskomu Raikhu; German: Ukrainische Vertrauensstelle im Deutschen Reich]. An agency established by the German government in 1938 to aid stateless Ukrainians in the Reich. With a head office in Berlin, it had branches in Vienna, Prague, and Łódź. The agency helped individuals, particularly migrant workers, to contact government institutions and obtain passports, visas, and temporary work permits and gave advice on various personal problems. Owing to its intervention almost 50,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were released. The agency also kept track of the activities of Ukrainian nationals. Similar agencies were established for other non-German groups, such as the Russians, Belarusians, and Caucasian peoples. The agency was headed by Mykola Sushko until it was dissolved in April 1945.

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