Wandering the Edge

The modern Ukrainian currency is the hryvnia, but it is older than Russia! What was the hryvnia and how did it come to be Ukraine's currency? Find out in this episode about the various historical currency that Ukrainians used throughout their history in this episode of Wandering the Edge!

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• Mykhailo Hrushevsky, History of Ukraine-Rus (1954)

• Ellen Feingold, "How Medieval Money Shaped Ukraine's Modern Identity," in Smithsonian Magazine (2022)

• Christian Raffensperger, Reimagining Europe: Kievan Rus' in the Medieval World, 988-1146 (2012)

• Oleksandr Alforov, "Z Dnem Narodzennia, Hryvne!" in Ukrainska Pravda (2021)

• Volodymyr Zhyliaev, "Ukrainian Hryvnia: From the Ancient Jewelry to Modern National Currency" in Medium Online (2024)

There were thousands of Ukrainians who refused to be repatriated back to the Soviet Union after the end of the Second World War in Europe. These Ukrainians were placed in Displaced Persons camps where they created their own little Ukraine. They took those organizational talents and Ukrainian consciousness with them when they emigrated to various countries and have contributed to the Ukrainian Diaspora culture. Find out how they did this and why it is important in this episode of Wandering the Edge!

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Travel Suggestions:

• Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site (Pater-Roth-Straße 2A, 85221 Dachau, Germany)

Sources:

• Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History (2009)

• Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine (1996)

• Jan-Hinnerk Antons, "The Nation in a Nutshell? Ukrainian Displaced Persons Camps in Postwar Germany" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (2020)

• Jan-Hinnerk Antons, "Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany: Parallel Societies in a Hostile Environment" in Journal of Contemporary History (2014)

• Lubomyr Luciuk, Searching for Place (2000)

• Marta Dyczok, The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees (2000)

The Ukrainian Helsinki Group was filled with varied dissident Ukrainians who wanted Ukrainian independence, self determination and the safeguarding of individual human rights. They fought in their own, on their own terms and were imprisoned for it in the 1970s. Find out who they were, what they fought for and which Ukrainian grandmother had the KGB worrying about having heart attacks! Find out on Wandering the Edge!

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• World Congress of Free Ukrainians, The Persecution of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (1980)

• Ihor Perenesienko, "Ukrainska Helsinksa Hrupa ta Oksana Yakivna Meshko" on Ukrainian Helsinki Group Online (2008)

• Orest Subtelny, Ukraine: A History (2009)

• John Paul Subtelny, A History of Ukraine (1996)

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and supporters but how did they win their battles and how did they loose? And what role did women play? This episode will talk about that but also their importance in Ukrainian history and historiography! Find out in this 2nd episode dedicated to the history and influence of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army on Wandering the Edge!

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The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was an underground Ukrainian guerrilla army that was active during the Second World War and fought against both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. But how were they founded and why did thousands of young Ukrainians join their ranks? Find out in this 1st of 2 episodes dedicated to the history and influence of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army on Wandering the Edge!

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Did you know the Soviet Union's first show trial was in Ukraine? It happened in 1930 in Kharkiv against the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine and resulted in the guilty sentence of 45 Ukrainian intellectuals. It became the basis of all other show trials which also included those in the 1940s, primarily of western Ukrainians who were part of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Find out why they happened and what evidence was actually used against these Ukrainians in this latest episode of Wandering the Edge!

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• Hanna Bilorusets, "Slochyny SRSR na Zakhodi Ukrainy v 1939-1941 Rokakh: Uviaznennia, Tortury, Straty i Deportatsia" in Radio Svoboda (2022)

• Halyna Tereschuk, "Politychny 'Protses 59-ty': Rozstrilialy 19 Molodykh Ukraintsiv. Scho Stalosia 80 Rokiv Tomu?" in Radio Svoboda (2021)

• Halyna Tereschuk, " 'Za Ukrainu sche Treba Poborotys' - Lvivianka Olha Popadyn, Politviazen i Uchasnytsia 'Protsesu 59y'" in Radio Svoboda (2011)

• Ihor Dereviany, "Protses 59-ty. 70 Rokiv tomu NKVD Zasudyv do Rozstrily Kilkadesiat Yunakiv i Divchat" in Istorychna Pravda (2010)

• Volodymyr Noskov, "Sfabrykovana Sprava 'Spilky Vyzvolennia Ukrainy'. Sud Vlashtuvaly v Kharkivsky Operi" in Radio Svoboda (2012)

• Sviatoslav Lypovetsky, "Spilka Ukrainskoi Molodi. Yak 100 Rokiv Tomu u Kyivi Bulo Stvoreno, a Potim Znyscheno Studentske Pidpillia" in Istorychna Pravda (2025)

• Vyktor Vylysov, " 'Spilky Vyzvoliania Ukrainy' (SVU): Kak Byla Vybita Podlinnaia Yelyta Nashey Strany" in Delo (2015)

• Borys Antonenko-Davydovych, "Memoirs about the SVU" on Literaturny Yarmarok

Ukraine and Ukrainians have used political assassinations to push their agenda into the spotlight or protest grievances against Ukrainians. Ukrainians have also been targeted by some of the Soviet Union's best assassins and for glaringly obvious reasons. So, who were these high-profile victims and assassins? And how were the assassinations planned and carried out? Find out in this latest episode of Wandering the Edge!

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• Joanna Kakissis, "Ukraine's Security Service Confirms it was Behind Assassination of Russian General" in NPR (2024)

• Abdujalil Abdurasulov, "Ukraine's Spies Target Russian Figures in Increasingly Brazen Attacks" in BBC (2024)

• Mike Eckel, "The Ukrainian Fingerprints on a Shadowy Assassination Campaign on Russian Soil" in Radio Free Europe (2023)

• Serhii Plokhy, The Man with the Poison Gun (2016)

What is "soft power" and how did/does Russia use it not only in Ukraine but among other so-called "Western" countries? This question along with others is talked about in this interview with Dr. Lada L. Roslycky, whom predicted Russia using their Black Sea Fleet to annex the Crimea. She is now the founding managing partner of Black Trident, a defense and security consulting group based in Kyiv. Find out in this episode of Wandering the Edge!

Black Trident: https://www.theblacktrident.com/

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For more episodes, sources and extras, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wanderingtheedge.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Why is Mykhailo Hrushevsky so venerated among Ukrainian historians? And why are his histories so important to Ukrainian historiography? And how this seemingly quiet man become the president of Ukraine in 1918? And how did his life change after this? Find out in this episode of Wandering the Edge.

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• Michaelo Hrushevsky, "The Ukraine as a Russo-Austrian Problem" in The New York times (1915)

• Stephen M. Horak, "Michael Hrushevsky: Portrait of an Historian" in Canadian Slavonic Papers (1968)

• Roman Szporluk, "Ukraine: From an Imperial Periphery to a Sovereign State" in Daedalus (1997)

• Edward D. Wynot, Jr. "The Impact of Mykhailo Hrushevsky on the History of Russia, Poland and the Eastern Slavs," in The History Teacher (1987)

• Serhii M. Plokhy, "The History of a 'Non-Historical' Nation: Notes on the Nature and Current Problems of Ukrainian Historiography" in Slavic Review (1995)

• Johannes Remy, "'It is unknown where the Little Russians are heading to': The Autonomy Dispute between the Ukrainian Central Rada and the All-Russian Provisional Government in 1917" in The Slavonic and East European Review (2017)

• Iurii I. Shapoval & Marta D. Olynyk, "The Mechanics of the Informational Activity of the GPU-NKVD. The Surveillance File of Mykhailo Hurshevsky" in Cahiers du Monde russe (2001)

In 1947, the Polish communist state internally displaced the rest of their 150,000 Ukrainian minority. They spattered them among the now empty German territories they gained when Stalin moved Poland's borders west. Why did this happen? And how was the operation conducted? And was it a success? Find out in this episode of Wandering the Edge!

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For more episodes, sources and extras, please visit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wanderingtheedge.net⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠