West Ukrainian National Republic
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The West Ukrainian People's Republic (Ukrainian: Західно-Українська Народна Республика, Zakhidno-Ukrayins’ka Narodna Respublyka or ЗУНР, ZUNR) was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia and included the cities of Lviv, Kolomyya, and Stanislav. According to the Austrian census of 1910, the territory claimed by the West Ukrainian People's Republic had about 5.4 million people. Of these, 3,291,000 (approximately 60%) were Ukrainians, 1,351,000 (approximately 25%) were Poles, 660,000 (approximately 12%) were Jews, and the rest included Germans, Czechs and others. The cities and towns of this largely rural region were mostly populated by Poles and Jews, while the Ukrainians dominated the countryside. This would prove problematic for the Ukrainians, because the largest city, Lviv, had a majority Polish population and was considered to be one of the most important Polish cities. Conflict between the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland was thus inevitable.
The coat of arms of the West Ukrainian People's Republic was a yellow lion on the blue field looking to the right. The colors of the flag were yellow and blue.
left
The West Ukrainian People's Republic (also wrongly translated as "West Ukrainian National Republic" , because national in Ukrainian is Національна, note that second Ukrainian country was Ukrainian People's Republic ) was proclaimed on October 19, 1918. Shortly after the republic proclaimed independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire a popular uprising took place in Lviv, most of whose residents were Poles who did not want to part of a non-Polish state. A few weeks later Lviv's rebellious Poles received support from Poland.
The government of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic united with the Ukrainian People's Republic on January 22, 1919, although this was mostly a symbolic act because the western Ukrainians retained their own army and government structure. After a fratricidal war Poland took over most of territory of the West Ukrainian People's Republic by July 1919. Part of the defeated army found refuge in Czechoslovakia and became known there under the name Ukrajinská brigáda (in Czech), while most of the army, consisting of about 50,000 soldiers, crossed into the territory of the Ukrainian People's Republic and continued the struggle for Ukrainian independence there. In 1920 Poland and Ukraine agreed to a border on the river Zbruch.
Government
The West Ukrainian People's Republic governed an area of approximately 4 million people for much of its eight month existence. Elections on Ukrainian-controlled territory were held from November 22-25 for the 150 member Ukrainian National Council that was to serve as the legislative body. Approximately one third of the seats were reserved for the national minorities (Poles, Jews, and others). The Poles boycotted the elections, while the Jews participated and were represented by about 10 percent of the delegates. Evhen Petrushevych, the chairman of the Council and a former member of the Austro-Hungarian parliament, automatically became the Republic's president. Despite the war, the West Ukrainian People's Republic maintained the stability of the pre-war Austrian administration intact, employing Ukrainian and Polish professionals. The Western Ukrainian People's Republic passed laws that confiscated vast estates from private landlords and distributed the land to landless peasants. It was also able to mobilize 100,000 soldiers in the spring of 1919, but due to a lack of military supplies only 40,000 were battle-ready.Postage stamps
The republic managed to issue about one hundred types of postage stamps during its brief existence, all but two of which are overprints on existing stamps of Austria or Bosnia.
The first were four stamps overprinted in Lviv, with a design of a lion and the inscription "Zakhidno-Ukrainska Narodna Republika", but these were in use for only two days there. Another four Austrian stamps were surcharged with "УКР.Н.Р" (ukr.n.r in Cyrillic), and a new denomination in shahs (шаг), one with 5 sh and three with 10 sh. These are rather uncommon today, with prices for collectors ranging from €80 to €800 ($100–$1000 USD), and forgeries are plentiful.
In March, officials in Stanislav surcharged sixteen values of 1916 Austrian stamps with "ПОШТА// УКР.Н.РЕП." (POSHTA UKR.N.REP.) and denominations ranging from three shahs up to ten hryvnia. The same surcharge was also applied to Austrian military stamps and postage due stamps, as well as to the 1904 postage dues of Bosnia.
In May, Austrian stamps were overprinted with the Ukrainian trident-in-shield arms with the letters "З. У. Н. Р." (Z. U. N. R.), one at each corner, for "West Ukrainian National Republic". These saw very little use, and forged cancellations are commonplace.
The sole non-overprinted issue was a pair of registration stamps issued in Kolomyya, having the form of a label used for registered mail, but unlike most labels, denominated with values of thirty and fifty shahs, in order to pay registration fees.
Of the stamps issued, only the trident overprints are common, costing about €1. Of the other, some are quite rare, with prices ranging up to four or five thousand euros.
See also
- Galician Soviet Socialist Republic, short-lived state in 1920
References
- John Bulat, Illustrated Postage Stamp History of Western Ukrainian Republic 1918-1919 (Yonkers, NY: Philatelic Publications, 1973)
- Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine, University of Toronto Press: Toronto 1996, ISBN 0802008305
External links
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