Rzeczpospolita uczonych. Powstanie studiów ukraińskich i polsko-ukraiński dialog historyków w Stanach Zjednoczonych 1939-1991

This publication offers an in-depth exploration of the academic dialogue between Polish and Ukrainian intellectuals in exile, conducted in the United States between 1939 and 1991. During this period, shaped by Cold War tensions and the Soviet Union’s dominant influence, the West – particularly the U.S. – viewed Ukraine solely as part of the Russian Empire. This perception marginalized Ukraine’s history and national identity. The author highlights the efforts of Polish and Ukrainian scholars in exile to challenge this simplistic, Russia-centric viewpoint and advocate for Ukraine’s recognition as a distinct subject in studies of East-Central Europe.

At the heart of the book is the concept of the “Republic of Scholars” – an intellectual community that, despite national and political differences, united Poles and Ukrainians in their pursuit of dialogue and academic collaboration. This reference to the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth symbolizes the shared heritage and solidarity that these scholars sought to harness in order to overcome political divisions and historical conflicts. The publication also sheds light on early attempts to “decolonize” the historical narrative of the region – an effort that has gained increasing relevance following Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022. It offers a critical voice in the ongoing debate over shifting the Western perception of Ukraine, emphasizing the need to break away from the country’s long-standing marginalization in scholarly research.

Oleksandr Avramchuk – PhD in history, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Ukraine) and Warsaw University graduate. Since 2022 he has been a post-doc at the Department of History and Historiography of Central and Eastern Europe, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. His areas of interest include Polish-Ukrainian relations, the history of political thought in East-Central Europe, the history of émigré intellectuals from the region, and U.S. public diplomacy towards the Socialist bloc during the Cold War. He is currently a member of a research team carrying out an NCN grant on the contribution of Eastern European Sovietologists to American scholarship on the Soviet Union in 1945-1991. He is co-author of the Ukrainian history podcast “Undeclared War”.