The Holodomor and the Informational Work of the Ukrainian Bureau in London during 1932–34

The Ukrainian Bureau in London was small yet among the most influential of Ukrainian civic institutions in disseminating news of the famine in Ukraine as it occurred. It was the work of its small of employees that many British politicians learned of the scale of the catastrophe. Most of the Ukrainian Bureau’s documents remained in London after its dissolution and are now held in the archives of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum (PISM) in London. The materials stored there form a collection of 454 items that illustrate the internal functioning of the London Bureau and include correspondence with various Ukrainian and international groups. Although only one file is dedicated to the “famine in Soviet Ukraine,” other files with material related to the Holodomor include correspondence with Olgerd Bochkovsky and Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. The scope of Holodomor-related materials in the collection is even greater, however, as many archival units contain information about the campaign to publicize the Holodomor in the West. Analysis of these records reveals the extent of the Ukrainian Bureau’s efforts to disseminate information about the Great Famine (Holodomor) outside of the USSR and deepens our understanding of Ukrainian civic diplomacy and the means employed by Ukrainian émigré communities of conducting international publicity campaigns.