Union of Ukrainian Emigré Organizations in France

Union of Ukrainian Emigré Organizations in France (Союз українських еміґраційних організацій у Франції; Soiuz ukrainskykh emigrantskykh orhanizatsii u Frantsii). An organization founded on 3–4 January 1925 in Paris. It consisted of groups that supported the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic, mainly political emigrants from central Ukraine. Notwithstanding its posture as an umbrella group for Ukrainians in France, the union maintained an intense rivalry with the Sovietophile Union of Ukrainian Citizens in France, the Ukrainian Hromada in France, and the Ukrainian National Union in France. In the 1930s the union co-ordinated the work of 56 community associations and seven groups of the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association. Fifteen of its affiliates offered Ukrainian language instruction for youth. It held 16 general assemblies and published the Biuleten' (later it provided columns in the weekly Tryzub). Throughout its existence the union was headed by Mykola Shumytsky; other activists included Yu. Batsutsa, Mykola O. Kovalsky, Ilarion Kosenko, B. Lototsky, M. Shulhyn, and P. Verzhbytsky. It belonged to the Supreme Emigration Council. The union ceased activities in 1940. In 1946 many of its former members established the Ukrainian Community Aid in France.

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