Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky and Piotr Rawicz: Ukrainian-Jewish friendship

The article covers the history of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky's friendship with the friend of his youth, Piotr Rawicz, in a broader historical context. Given the fact that the major part of their communication took place between the two World Wars, this friendship is considered, among other things, in the light of Ukrainian-Jewish-Polish relations in Lviv of that period. The influence of these relations on the further course of life of their participants is also traced. Since both Lysiak-Rudnytsky and Ravichlater became known public figures, an important task is to explain the origins of their ideas and personal decisions. The focus is on the figure of Piotr Rawicz, who is much less well-known for a Ukrainian-speaking reader. The course of his life is covered with an analysis of its key moments from the issue of identities choice. This analysis made it clear that during the pre-World War II time, Piotr Rawicz was ready to accept Ukrainian identity to a great extent, which was quite atypical for a Polish-speaking Jew from an acculturated family in Lviv. At the same time, close relations with Rudnytsky's family influenced his vision of the “Ukrainian question” and partly his postwar interest in the affairs of Central and Eastern Europe. One of the indirect consequences is also his active promotion of the publication of the french translation of Vasyl Barka's “Yellow Prince”. An important aspect of this friendship, from the point of view of identities formation, was the fact that the Rudnytsky family itself was rather atypical in its context since they had Jewish roots that were the subject of attention and ridicule on the part of Ukrainians.Therefore, this article sheds light on who Piotr Rawicz was, why Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky dedicated to him his essay “Ukrainian Answers to the Jewish Question”, and how the youthful friendship between them influenced the further course of their lives.