The Prosvita circle in Stryy

[Guillaume]

Hello everybody,

First, I would like to post a big thanks to Vitaliy and also to Hannia. After many months of researches, I have now found a relative living in Stryy (all my family came from Dobriany). This is almost unbeleivable and unvaluable ! Nothing would have been possible without their help, thank you again

My relative told me that my great-grandfather was in a circle called "Prosvita" in Dobriany and/or Stryy before WW2. He also added that Konstant Tsiesliv (my ancestor) was mentionned in a book called "History of Prosvita".

Is there someone here able to help me about that ? What really is Prosvita ? Do someone have an history, a book about this organization, something to read ? Is this "History of Prosvita" a classical book, I mean a really standard source where I can refer to ?

Thanks for any help !

[Hannia]

Hello G,

Prosvita (ENLIGHTENMENT) Society of Lviv was first formed 12/8/1868. It was (and still is) an educational association of Ukrainophil intellectuals of the time, which promoted (and still promotes) the notions of minority rights, rescuing lost historical & cultural treasures, resolving identity & language issues & resisting tyranny.

"Prosvita" had an inhouse publishing group and also provided village reading rooms and town libraries for the purpose of adult education.

(From a historical perspective the 18th & 19th centuries were revolutionary times in France, South America, & Austro-Hungarian Empire.)

Within ten yrs after Prosvita Society opened in Lviv, there were branch offices throughout both Eastern and Western Galicia. At the turn of the century The Prosvita Society was one of many Ukrainian nationalistic fraternal organizations in what is Western Ukraine and SE Poland today. Even the Town Choral Groups promoted civic nationaliam.
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After accessing link below, type in PROSVITA in SEARCH (top right). The link will indicate that no info is available. Continue to scroll down to bottom of page. Click on to GOLD BAR that reads FIND PROSVITA IN FULL TEXT SEARCH.

Ukrainian Encyclopedia
http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/

Besides http://www.Google.com/, another good search engine is http://www.metacrawler.com/
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During a state visit to Ukraine in 1993, Polish President Lech Walesa presented six books of original protocols of the Prosvita Society (1868-1923) to Ukraine, and they are now held in the Historical Archive in Lviv (TsDlAL). Negotiations for the restitution of other parts of the collection are under way as part of the larger Polish-Ukrainian restitution efforts. Most of the materials have already been microfilmed, copies of which are available in Lviv.

Archival Ucrainica in Poland
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Poland.php
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The library here should be able to tell you what books might be available and whether there are translations.

Write library@shevchenko.org
Address Subject Line: Biblioteka - Pytannia (translates to Library - Questions)

[Guillaume]

Many thanks, Hannia, for these precious informations !