Polish-Ukrainian relations at Lviv University in the documents of the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw: “The Hrushevsky Case”

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to examine the heuristic potential of documents from the collections of the Central Archives of Historical Records in order to elucidate the nature and dynamics of Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s relationships with his colleagues at Lviv University. The methodological basis of the work is an interdisciplinary approach with particular emphasis on the structural-functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative-historical method based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. The scientific novelty of this study lies in its first dedicated attempt to assess the heuristic potential of “The Case of Professor Hrushevsky in Lviv” as a source for reconstructing Polish–Ukrainian relations at the principal institution of higher learning in the Galician region. Conclusions. As the analyzed documents from the collections of the Central Archives of Historical Records and the university fonds preserved in the State Archives of Lviv Region demonstrate, the fraught relations between Mykhailo Hrushevsky and his Polish colleagues were, in many ways, a mirror of the broader interethnic dialogue in the Dniester region. While both Polish and Ukrainian intellectuals were, at least in principle, united by an ideal of collegial cooperation and a shared understanding of the university’s lofty civilizational mission, they ultimately stumbled over their parallel visions of Galicia as a national Piedmont – a starting point for the restoration of their respective nations’ political agency. Accordingly, both the eminent scholar and his opponents viewed Lviv University as a forge for the national intelligentsia. Polish actors therefore sought by all means to marginalize Ukrainian influence within the institution, tolerating their presence only insofar as it was required by state legislation. For his part, the Ukrainian historian, pursuing a project of “catch-up” modernization for the East Galician community, strove to expand – at any cost – the limited opportunities available for national culture within the region’s principal academic institution, opportunities that had already been curtailed by a long history of discriminatory policymaking by local elites. The mutual exclusivity of these discourses drove the conflict from a chronic into an acute phase. Although Polish elites largely succeeded in restricting the sphere of activity of their opponent, the traditions of cultural resistance he fostered, along with the cadres of the national intelligentsia shaped by his historical vision, exerted a significant influence on the course of Polish–Ukrainian relations in the interwar period.