Vidrodzhennia society

Vidrodzhennia society (Українське товариство «Відродження»; Ukrainske tovarystvo Vidrodzhennia; Spanish: Renacimiento). A Ukrainian-Argentinian educational society established in Buenos Aires in 1939. The group had its genesis in a number of Sokil sports associations and Riflemen hromadas (modeled on the Ukrainian War Veterans’ Association of Canada) that were established from the early 1930s. In 1938 these groups organized an Argentinian wing of the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODVU). In order to deflect the possibility of suppression, the overtly political ODVU was dissolved in 1939 and reconstituted as Vidrodzhennia. After the Second World War the Vidrodzhennia society and the Prosvita society in Argentina established a relief committee to help displaced persons resettle in Argentina. The Vidrodzhennia society is affiliated with the OUN (Melnyk faction). In 1952 it founded the first Ukrainian credit union in the country, which later set up two additional branches. The association has published Nash klych since its inception, and it established a women’s section in 1974. In the 1980s the society maintained a central office with four branches. It has also sponsored choirs, drama groups, dance troupes, and Saturday schools.

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