The study focuses on four dimensions of OUN activity: fundraising, consolidation, networks, and radicalization. Fundraising efforts will examine mechanisms for securing financial support, allocation of resources, and conflicts arising over money. Consolidation strategies will be analyzed to reveal how the OUN tried to attract diaspora members, what narratives and values it emphasized, and how these differed from propaganda in Europe. The project will also explore the OUN’s penetration into émigré institutions, using elements of social network analysis to trace connections on the individuals and organizational level. Finally, it will consider the role of rhetoric and violence, asking how the OUN’s use of terrorist tactics in Europe shaped diaspora attitudes and contributed to radicalization.
The research draws on a wide range of primary sources from archives and libraries in the United States, including émigré newspapers (Svoboda, Vistnyk ODWU, Nationalist), correspondence, fundraising and financial records, propaganda publications, and personal memoirs. These materials provide insight into both official OUN strategies and grassroots responses within the diaspora, allowing for a multi-layered reconstruction of attitudes, debates, and conflicts.
The study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how OUN's efforts affected the socio-political landscape of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. By focusing on this specific historical period of growing support for fascism in 1930's and the outbreak of World War II, the project seeks to provide an understanding of the dynamics of political radicalization and its impact on diaspora. Its findings will contribute to research on Ukrainian nationalism, diaspora studies, and the broader history of radicalization and political violence.
