Union of Ukrainian Citizens in France

Union of Ukrainian Citizens in France (Союз українських громадян у Франції; Soiuz ukrainskykh hromadian u Frantsii, or СУГУФ; SUHUF). A Sovietophile organization founded in 1925 in Paris. It opposed other Ukrainian émigré groups, particularly circles of the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic (the Union of Ukrainian Emigré Organizations in France), and the state of Poland (for which it gained favor among some expatriate Galicians). Some members traveled to Soviet Ukraine and became disillusioned; others continued returning there even after 1945. Leading activists included Elie Borschak, A. Halip, M. Norych-Dzikovsky, N. Okhrym, O. Savchyn, Oleksander Sevriuk, and I. Zhahaidak. Its official organs were Ukraïns’ki visty (1926–9, edited by Borschak) and Vistnyk SUHUF (1929–30). It became particularly popular during the period of Ukrainization in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1927 it included 16 branches with approximatly 800 members, but its membership declined after the onset of the Stalinist terror in Ukraine. In 1929 the organization experienced a split during which leading figures, such as Borschak and Sevriuk, left, and in 1932 it ceased its activity.

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