A lost treasure trove of knowledge

The Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Berlin and its Library
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DOI:
Landkarte der Ukraine aus dem Jahre 1918
Photo credit:
Map of Ukraine from 1918. Signatur K 42 II L 5 / Kartensammlung des Herder-Instituts für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung, CC0 1.0
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The Ukrainian Scientific Institute (Ukrainische Wissenschaftliche Institut or UWI) was the central research centre for the Ukrainian émigré community in Germany between 1926 and 1945. At its height, Its library was the largest collection of specialist literature on Ukraine anywhere, but its contents was scattered during the war: in retrospect it serves as an example of how the Nazi regime controlled academic institutions in order to promote its own political interests.
During the First World War (1914–1918), the initiatives of Ukrainian organisations in Germany were primarily geared towards supporting and freeing the numerous Ukrainian prisoners of war who were held in German camps. Following the failure of the first period of the Ukrainian liberation struggle (1919–1921) and the integration of 
Ukrainian People's Republic
rus. Украинская Народная Республика, ukr. Українська Народна Республіка, deu. Volksrepublik Ukraine, deu. Ukrainische Volksrepublik, rus. Ukrainskaâ Narodnaâ Respublika, ukr. Ukraїnsʹka Narodna Respublіka

The Ukrainian People's Republic was founded in 1918 and stood in opposition to the Bolshevik USSR. After the conquest by the USSR in 1920, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established.

 into the 
Soviet Union
deu. Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, deu. Sowjetunion, rus. Sovetskiy Soyuz, rus. Советский Союз, . Совет Ушем, . Советонь Соткс, rus. Sovetskij Soûz, . Советий Союз, yid. ראַטן־פֿאַרבאַנד, yid. סאוועטן פארבאנד, yid. sovətn farband, yid. sovʿtn-farband, yid. sovətn-farband, . Советтер Союзу, . Совет Союзы, . Советон Цæдис, . Совет Эвилели

The Soviet Union (SU or USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe, Central and Northern Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It emerged from the so-called Soviet Russia, the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Russian Soviet Republic formed the core of the union and at the same time its largest part, with further constituent republics added. Their number varied over time and was related to the occupation of other countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Soviet republics that existed only for a short time (Karelo-Finlandia) or the division or merger of Soviet republics. In addition, there were numerous autonomous republics or other territorial units with an autonomy status that was essentially limited to linguistic autonomy for minorities.

Before its formal dissolution, the USSR consisted of 15 Soviet republics with a population of approximately 290 million people. At around 22.4 million km², it was the largest territorial state in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was a socialist soviet republic with a one-party system and an absence of separation of powers.

Sowjetunion in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Sowjetunion at Google Maps
, however, the focus shifted: in exile, Ukrainians established numerous institutions intended to secure the survival of Ukrainian identity. The most significant of these institutions in Germany was probably the Ukrainian Scientific Institute (UWI) in Berlin, which became a central focus for the intellectual life of the Ukrainian diaspora.
The UWI remained one of the most important research centres for the Ukrainian exile community for nearly two decades – from autumn 1926 to spring 1945. Its establishment was remarkable, since it was a joint enterprise between representatives of some very diverse Ukrainian fields, who would otherwise have been unlikely to agree on common goals. Among the “founding fathers“ were emigrants from the so-called Greater Ukraine, the heartland around Kyiv. These included Zu Pavlo Skoropadsky, a former hetman (a traditional Ukrainian military and state leader), as well as Dmytro Doroshenko, a historian and politician and a key figure in the Ukrainian diaspora. 
Soon they were joined by a group of humanities scholars from 
Galicia
deu. Galizien, yid. גאַליציע‎, yid. Galitsiye, ron. Halici, ron. Galiția, hun. Halics, hun. Gácsország, hun. Kaliz, hun. Galícia, ces. Halič, slk. Halič, rus. Галиция, rus. Galizija, ukr. Галичина, ukr. Halytschyna, pol. Galicja

Galicia is a historical landscape, which today is almost entirely located on the territory of Poland and Ukraine. The part in southeastern Poland is usually referred to as Western Galicia, and the part in western Ukraine as Eastern Galicia. Before 1772, Galicia belonged for centuries to the Polish-Lithuanian noble republic, and subsequently and until 1918 - as part of the crown land "Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria" - to the Habsburg Empire.

Galizien in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Galizien at Google Maps
, a region which at that time still belonged to 
Austria-Hungary
deu. Österreich-Ungarn, deu. Donaumonarchie, deu. Doppelmonarchie, deu. Habsburgerreich, deu. Habsburgisches Reich, deu. Habsburgermonarchie, hun. Osztrák-Magyar Birodalom, eng. Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, eng. Austrian-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary (Hungarian: Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia), also known as Imperial and Royal Hungary Monarchy, was a historical state in Central and Southeastern Europe that existed from 1867 to 1918.

Österreich-Ungarn in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
 and which today is part of Western Ukraine. Among them were Ivan Mirtshuk, Zenon Kuzela and Yaroslav Rudnytsky. Over the course of the years nearly all notable Ukrainian humanities scholars collaborated with the UWI, including historian Borys Krupnytsky, geographer Volodymyr Kubiyovych and Dmytro and Mychajlo Antonovych, descendants of a famous academic family from Kyiv.
Like many similar Ukrainian organisations in 
Republic of Poland
eng. Second Polish Republic, deu. Zweite Polnische Republik, pol. II. Rzeczpospolita, pol. II Rzeczpospolita

The Second Polish Republic (Polish: II. Rzeczpospolita) is the common name for the Polish state (Republic of Poland) after it regained independence on 11.11.1918 in connection with the end of the First World War, following 123 years of partition. The territorial extent of the Second Polish Republic, especially to the east, was considerably smaller than that of the so-called 1st Republic (Republic of Nobles), which ceased to exist in 1795 with the third partition of Poland between the Habsburg Monarchy, Prussia and Russia.

The borders of the Second Polish Republic with the neighboring states were not established until 1921/22 and as a result of armed conflicts, although they remained controversial even afterwards (and in some cases for the entire existence of the Second Polish Republic). The German aggression on Poland on September 1, 1939 and the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 were followed by the capitulation in Warsaw on September 28, 1939, which was the functional end of the Second Republic. The withdrawal of recognition of the Polish government-in-exile by the British and US governments on 5 July 1945 is often regarded as its formal end, although the organs of the later People's Republic of Poland were already recognized by the Soviet Union as the official representation of Poland on 24 June 1944. The President of the Polish government-in-exile in London, Ryszard Kaczorowski, handed over the insignia of the Second Republic to the then President in Warsaw, Lech Wałęsa, on 22.12.1990 as the last symbolic act of the Second Polish Republic.

Republik Polen in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
, 
Czechoslovakia
ces. Československo, . Čehoslovakìâ, deu. Tschechoslowakei, slk. Česko-Slovensko, rus. Čehoslovakiâ

Czechoslovakia was a state existing between 1918 and 1992 with changing borders, names, and political systems. Its territories are now part of the modern-day states of Czechia, Slovakia, and Ukraine (Carpathian Ukraine, occupied by Hungary in 1939 and transferred to the Soviet Union in 1945). After 1945, Czechoslovakia came under increasing political influence from the Soviet Union. After the communist party seized power in 1948, the country finally became part of the so-called Eastern Bloc, a satellite state of the Soviet Union, and a member of the Warsaw Pact from 1955. Between 1960 and 1990, the communist country was officially known as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (abbreviated to ČSSR). The democratic political change was initiated in 1989 with the Velvet Revolution and culminated in 1992 with the founding of the independent Czech and Slovak Republics.

Tschechoslowakei in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Tschechoslowakei at Google Maps
, Italy, France and other countries, the UWI saw itself above all as a protector of Ukrainian identity. One of its central tasks was to prepare an educated national intelligentsia – that is, academics, scientists and cultural figures – for a future Ukrainian state. Originally conceived as a kind of “small academy of the sciences”, over time the Institute also developed political initiatives. Alongside standard research work it ran information campaigns to paint its own picture of Ukraine for the German and European public, in order to provide a counterweight to Soviet propaganda, which only represented the country in the context of the USSR.
Abdruck des Buchstempels der ehemaligen Bibliothek (heute Sammlung der Lenin-Staatsbibliothek Moskau)
Abdruck des Buchstempels der ehemaligen Bibliothek (heute Sammlung der Lenin-Staatsbibliothek Moskau)
Imprint of the letter stamp of the former library (now part of the collection of the Lenin State Library in Moscow). Panas Fedenko, „Der nationale und soziale Befreiungskampf der Ukraine" (Berlin 1923), Free access - no reuse
Imprint of the letter stamp of the former library (now part of the collection of the Lenin State Library in Moscow). Panas Fedenko, „Der nationale und soziale Befreiungskampf der Ukraine" (Berlin 1923), Free access - no reuse

A place to exercise knowledge and power

It is no surprise that, as a result, the UWI also caught the attention of the German authorities. The Army and the secret services began to monitor the activities of Ukrainian organisations in Germany at an early stage. Particularly noteworthy was the fact that the first official curator of the Institut was Wilhelm Gröner, a former general of the Reichswehr, who even briefly served as defence minister after the First World War. Gröner was therefore by no means a marginal figure, but a member of the German military and power elite. His position makes it clear that the UWI was not simply a place for academic work but also a place that played a role in the political interests of Germany.
The political transformation that took place in Germany after the National socialists seized power did not stop outside the UWI. The systematic suppression and control of academic structures by the national socialist regime led to the Institut becoming unavoidably caught up in their ideological agenda. In the final phase of its existence, the UWI could hardly be distinguished from ordinary German academic institutions. The interest of the secret services in the UWI could also be seen as symbolic: during the Second World War, the Institut was managed by Georg Gerullis, a professor from the university of Königsberg, who was also active as an officer in the Abwehrdienst, the miliary intelligence service of the Nazi regime.
In spring 1945, the UWI suffered the same fate as many academic facilities in Germany: staff were forced to leave Berlin due to the allied bombardments and the approaching Red Army, and at this point the Institut effectively ceased to exist. In the chaos of the battles for the “Reichshauptstadt” and the subsequent occupation, the collections and archives that had been assembled over many years risked being lost completely. Sections of the material would later reappear, albeit scattered over several different countries. 
A large part actually remained in Germany and was preserved in the archive of the Humboldt University of Berlin after the war ended. Other parts later surfaced in the Preussischer Staatsbibliothek and in the Berlin State Archives. A small part ended up in Kyiv and formed the basis of the inventory (No. 4158) of the Central State Archives of the highest authorities and administrative organs of Ukraine – formerly the archive of the  October Revolution
October revolution
also:
Red Revolution, Bolshevik revolution, Great October Socialist Revolution, Bolshevik coup, Red October, October Uprising
 Second Russian Revolution of the year 1917, during which the communist Bolsheviks violently seized power and overthrew the ‘Provisional Government’, which had been established only a few months earlier as a result of the February Revolution. The October Revolution also marked the beginning of the Russian Civil War, after which the Soviet Union was founded (1922) following the victory of the Bolshevik Red Army. Following the Julian calendar, the October Revolution began on October 24/25, and according to the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced in Russia in early 1918, on November 6/7, 1917.  and the development of socialism. Individual documents that were once part of the Museum for the Liberation Struggle of Ukraine in 
Praha
deu. Prag, eng. Prague, lat. Praga, yid. פראג

Prague (population 2024: 1,397,880) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is located in the center of the urban area on the Vltava River. The first Prague Castle was probably built in the 9th century. In the 10th/11th century, immigrant Jews lived alongside the local population in what were initially two neighboring castle settlements. At the beginning of the 1230s, Prague was granted city rights, followed by Malá Strana in 1257, Hradčany as a castle town in 1320 and the New Town of Prague (Nové Město) in 1348. From the very beginning, Prague was the residence of the Bohemian rulers, at the latest from the 12th century within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. As the seat of the emperor in the 14th century, Prague developed into one of the most important centers of the entire empire, and the first university in Central Europe was founded here in 1348. In 1784, the four cities were formally united. Gradually, especially in 1920 and after the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, further towns were incorporated. Between 1938 and 1945, Prague became the capital of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which was dependent on the German Reich. After the Allies broke up the Reich in 1945, Prague was once again the capital of - now socialist - Czechoslovakia until 1992. After the collapse of Czechoslovakia, Prague remained the capital of the Czech Republic and one of the most culturally, economically and politically important cities in Central Europe.

Praha in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Praha at Google Maps
, which was closed down in 1948, are today preserved in the National Archive of the Czech Republic.
Die Aufnahme aus dem Lesesaal der Fachbibliothek des Breslauer Instituts, wohin später die ukrainischen Bestände teilweise ausgelagert wurden
Die Aufnahme aus dem Lesesaal der Fachbibliothek des Breslauer Instituts, wohin später die ukrainischen Bestände teilweise ausgelagert wurden
Photo taken in the reading room of the library of the Breslau Institute, where some of the Ukrainian holdings were later relocated. „Das Osteuropa-Institut zu Breslau" (Breslau 1941), Free access - no reuse
Photo taken in the reading room of the library of the Breslau Institute, where some of the Ukrainian holdings were later relocated. „Das Osteuropa-Institut zu Breslau" (Breslau 1941), Free access - no reuse

From treasure trove of knowledge to spoils of war

One of the most important departments of the UWI, which is often neglected, deserves special consideration: its well-organised reference library. In the time before the Internet, the printed book was the only source of reliable information. As a result, specialist literature was very highly valued, and some research institutes had particularly broad and sometimes unique collections. In the official activities report of the UWI, the book collection was thus described as the “Central Library for Ukrainian Studies”. The library was open from 9am to 3pm on business days, closed at weekends and on national holidays, and had on average 550 visitors per month, which is an indication of the liveliness of academic life at the Institut.
The role of academic librarian at the UWI was filled by Zenon Kuzela. He was the central point of contact between authors, publishers and academic societies, acquired literature and organised the exchange of books between institutions. It was thanks to him, for example, that the collections of Volodymyr Hnatiuk, a famous Ukrainian ethnographer, and Axel Schmidt, co-founder of the Deutsch-Ukrainischen Gesellschaft Deutsch-Ukrainischen Gesellschaft The German-Ukrainian Society is an institution founded in Berlin in 1918 by the German-Baltic conservative publicists Paul Rohrbach and Axel Schmidt, whose purpose was “to establish and maintain friendly relations between the German and Ukrainian peoples in the political, economic, and cultural spheres.” The society published its own journal called “Ukraine.” The commitment of such enthusiasts contributed significantly to spreading knowledge about Ukraine in Germany. in Berlin, found their way into the library of the UWI. It was because of Kuzela’s dedication that the reference library became the “largest book collection among the Ukrainian academic institutions in Germany”  – a unique treasure trove of knowledge from the diaspora.
It is interesting to observe that historians working on the activities of the UWI typically only mention it in passing, to note that it was destroyed in 1945 in the chaos that accompanied the end of the war. However, a few remnants of the collection did actually survive and find their way into a wide-ranging collection of pillaged literature, which ended up in the Lenin State Library in Moscow after the end of the Second World War. There they were shelved together with the books from the  Osteuropa Institut in Breslau (OIB)
Osteuropa-Institut
also:
Osteuropa-Institute, Osteuropa-Institut in Breslau
 Founded in 1918 and destroyed in 1945, the “Osteuropa-Institut” (Eastern Europe Institute) in Breslau was a non-university research institution that developed into one of the most important German research centers on Eastern Europe during the Weimar Republic. It had a unique library that was also the largest of its kind in the German Reich. As early as 1933, the National Socialists began to influence the work of the institute, which ultimately served the political objectives of the Nazi regime and devoted itself to ethnic research on Eastern Europe and, eventually, research on enemy nations. , an institute that was established as early as April 1918 and was considered a leading research centre for East European studies. One of its main tasks was to compile as complete a collection as possible of literature that covered the countries and regions between the Baltic Sea and the Aegean. A careful examination of this collection led to the rediscovery of numerous works from the former stock of the UWI library.

Academic doppelgangers and ideological control

One obvious question is, how and under what circumstances did the books from the Berlin UWI end up in 
Wrocław
deu. Breslau, lat. Wratislavia, lat. Vratislavia, ces. Vratislav, deu. Breslaw, deu. Bresslau, deu. Wreczelaw, deu. Wrezlaue, lat. Vuartizlau, lat. Wrotizlaensem, lat. Wortizlava, deu. Brassel

Wrocław (German: Breslau) is one of the largest cities in Poland (population in 2022: 674,079). It is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in the southwest of the country.
Initially under Bohemian, Piast and at other times Hungarian rule, the Habsburgs took over the Silesian territories in 1526, including Wrocław. Another turning point in the city's history was the occupation of Wroclaw by Prussian troops in 1741 and the subsequent incorporation of a large part of Silesia into the Kingdom of Prussia.
The dramatic increase in population and the fast-growing industrialization led to the rapid urbanization of the suburbs and their incorporation, which was accompanied by the demolition of the city walls at the beginning of the 19th century. By 1840, Breslau had already grown into a large city with 100,000 inhabitants. At the end of the 19th century, the cityscape, which was often still influenced by the Middle Ages, changed into a large city in the Wilhelmine style. The highlight of the city's development before the First World War was the construction of the Exhibition Park as the new center of Wrocław's commercial future with the Centennial Hall from 1913, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.
In the 1920s and 30s, 36 villages were incorporated and housing estates were built on the outskirts of the city. In order to meet the great housing shortage after the First World War, housing cooperatives were also commissioned to build housing estates.
Declared a fortress in 1944, Wrocław was almost completely destroyed during the subsequent fightings in the first half of 1945. Reconstruction of the now Polish city lasted until the 1960s.
Of the Jewish population of around 20,000, only 160 people found their way back to the city after the Second World War. Between 1945 and 1947, most of the city's remaining or returning - German - population was forced to emigrate and was replaced by people from the territory of the pre-war Polish state, including the territories lost to the Soviet Union.
After the political upheaval of 1989, Wrocław rose to new, impressive heights. The transformation process and its spatial consequences led to a rapid upswing in the city, supported by Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004. Today, Wrocław is one of the most prosperous cities in Poland.

Wrocław in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Wrocław at Google Maps
? The answer can be found in the history of the Osteuropa Institut Breslau. Although the Institut was originally established primarily to provide information and analyses for existing power structures, like many similar academic institutions in Germany, it strove to maintain a degree of neutrality in its research, even under the Nazi regime. In order to change this situation, the Nazi government eventually authorised the establishment of a network of loyal “Thought Centres”, which over the course of time developed into academic “Doppelgangers”, that is, institutions that officially worked on academic projects while at the same time supporting the political interests of the regime.
Any organisations that insisted in adhering to their own ideology were deprived of their research basis or simply closed down. One example of this is the Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Studium Osteuropas (DGSO) Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Studium Osteuropas (DGSO) The German Society for the Study of Eastern Europe was an association of German academics that had been engaged in the study of history, politics, regional studies, and other subjects related to Eastern Europe since 1913. After the National Socialists seized power, the society was dissolved for political reasons. , led by Professor Otto Hoetzsch – a leading expert in the field who was also a political opponent of the Nazi regime. The book collection of this society was subsequently divided up between “ideologically relevant” institutions. It is worth noting that the Ukrainian part of this collection was originally earmarked for the UWI. At least one volume in the UWI library can be shown to have previously belonged to the DGSO.
During this time, the UWI also had to undergo “Gleichschaltung” several times – that is, synchronisation with Nazi ideology and control. One aspect of this process was the development of Auslandswissenschafta mixture of regional and cultural studies and political analysis, which reflected current political interests.. For example, between 1935 and 1936 the Seminar für orientalische Sprachen was merged with the private Deutsche Hochschule für Politik (DHfP) that was founded by German conservatives at the beginning of the Weimar Republic. This merger created a kind of “Foreign Studies University“ that was meant to bring together the study of other countries within the guidelines of Nazi ideology.
At around the same time, another research facility was opened: the Russia Institute. This was ostensibly an independent institution, but it actually developed into a pseudo-academic Doppelganger, which functioned as a kind of facade for the  Wannsee Institut
Wannsee Institute
 The Wannsee Institute was a Nazi front organization that, under the guise of a scientific institute, collected and processed information about Eastern Europe for the intelligence services and party and state authorities. The results were communicated in the form of special reports and publications “for official use.” After the war against the Soviet Union began, the Wannsee Institute was responsible for, among other things, the occupation policy in the East. , a non-public research unit that prepared material for the SD (the Sicherheitsdienst, the security services of the SS) and other intelligence agencies. An investigation of the former library of the Russia Institute, based on volumes from this library that ended up in the Lenin Staatsbibliothek after the Second World War, showed that books from the UWI were included in this collection. It is no longer possible to establish whether the UWI donated these books voluntarily or under duress. However, taken together, the circulation of the same books between different libraries provides a graphic illustration of the gleichschaltung of academic institutions in Nazi Germany, that is, their forced adaption to ideological guidelines and the control of their academic resources.
It should be stressed that the book collections of the UWI, which were confiscated in 1945 by the Red Army were not preserved in their original form. Even in the Soviet Union they were likely to scattered arbitrarily, stored separately or passed on to other libraries. Against this background, the discovery of volumes that originally belonged to the UWI in Berlin and are today located in Moscow opens up new possibilities for the systematic exploration of this collection and its historical holdings.
English translation: Gwen Clayton
Igor Barinov
Igor Barinov
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Literature
  • Golczewski, Frank: Deutsche und Ukrainer. 1914-1939. Paderborn, Wien 2010.
  • Kumke, Carsten: Das Ukrainische Wissenschaftliche Institut in Berlin. Zwischen Politik und Wissenschaft. In: Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 43. p. 218-253.

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