Letters of Mykhailo Hrushevsky to Olaf Brock (introductory article and publication by V. Telvak)

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to highlight the peculiarities of M. Hrushevsky's relationship with O. Broch on the basis of letters from the Ukrainian scientist, deposited in the Norwegian National Library's manuscripts department in Oslo. The methodological basis of the work is an interdisciplinary approach. At the same time, methods of philosophical, general-scientific and specific-historical character are applied as well. Particular emphasis is placed on the structural and functional system analysis of historiographical facts, the comparative-historical method and the method of critical analysis of documentary material, based on the principles of objectivity and historicism. The scientific novelty of the article is that it publishes the correspondence between Mykhailo Hrushevsky and Olaf Broh, deposited in the archives of scientists at the Norwegian Library of Manuscript Department in Oslo, for the first time. Conclusions. The epistolary illuminates the little-known contacts of scientists during 1923-1927. The immediate cause for the commencement of correspondence was then the tragedy of the Ukrainian people – the first Holodomor (1921-1923) on the Dnipro lands. Having known about O. Broh's friendly relations with F. Nansen, M. Hrushevsky intended to direct the rescue mission of the latter to Ukraine, as it was famous for its essential assistance to the Russian intelligentsia. Having been driven by this cause, the scientist personally met with the Norwegian Slavist in the capital of Norway, and also corresponded with him in matters of assistance to starving Ukrainians. Under the influence of meetings with M. Hrushevsky and his letters, O. Broh became involved with the tragedy of the Ukrainian people by organizing a collection of funds. In addition, in the letters to M. Hrushevsky there scientist discusses purely scientific problems. The scientist informs O. Broh about the activities of the Ukrainian Sociological Institute, asks to borrow the books he needed for work, consults on the possibilities of distributing emigration publications in Soviet Ukraine through the Nansen Mission, and gratefully sends him his and his daughter's works. The published letters allow us to claim that it was M. Hrushevsky who initiated the election of O. Broh as a valid member of the VUAN in June 1924. The last letters contain a discussion of the problem of establishing cooperation between O. Broh and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.