Ukrainian National Union in France

Ukrainian National Union in France (Український народний союз у Франції; Ukrainskyi narodnyi soiuz u Frantsii, or УНСФ; UNSF). A nationalist community organization established in 1932 (with Paris as its center) as an umbrella group for local bodies, Prosvita societies, and clubs active among Ukrainians in France. It supported the idea of a unified Ukrainian state and was active in preserving national consciousness among Ukrainian émigré workers (particularly in preventing them from becoming Polonized). It also strongly opposed the pro-UNR Union of Ukrainian Emigré Organizations in France, Mykola Yu. Shapoval’s Ukrainian Hromada in France, and the Sovietophile Union of Ukrainian Citizens in France.

UNSF began publishing the weekly Ukraïns’ke slovo (Paris) in 1933 and supported the cultural and educational work of the Paris-based Ukrainian Students’ Hromada in different parts of the country. It was formed initially by 13 groups; the number of its affiliates had risen to 50 by 1936 and to 87 by 1939 (with a total membership of 5,000). By that time it was the most influential Ukrainian émigré organization in Europe. The union was headed successively by Gen Mykola Kapustiansky (1932–8), P. Zavorytsky (1939–43), and Oleksander Boikiv (after 1943). Active members included Vasyl Fedoronchuk, L. Huzar, O. Kyselytsia, Myroslav Nebeliuk, Z. Riznykiv, Yu. Soroko, Ivan Stasiv, T. Tsvikula, L. Verzhbitska, and P. Zakusylo. In early 1939 the UNSF waged a successful public campaign to encourage Ukrainians of Polish citizenship to join the French Foreign Legion rather than the Polish army—a considerable achievement in light of Poland’s close ties with France. During the German occupation, UNSF activity dropped until the group was proscribed early in 1944. It revived after the Second World War, but because of difficulties in registration the group soon dissolved. Its former members created the Ukrainian National Alliance in France in 1949.

Arkadii Zhukovsky

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