Prisoners in the Promised Land

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

  As the Austro-Hungarian army was pushed back, Hungarian soldiers terrorized the local Ukrainian-speaking population, whom they assumed were Russian spies. One of the reasons for this was because people in Anya’s region called themselves “rus’ki” which means “Rusyn,” or “Ruthenian,” old terms used to refer to the inhabitants of the area, but the troops thought they were saying “Russian.” Thousands of Ukrainians were shot, hanged or herded off to internment camps in the west.

  Meanwhile, Ukrainians were considered enemies by the tsarist government, and so Ukrainian cultural institutions were closed. Russian was taught in schools instead of Ukrainian, and the Ukrainian Catholic Church was to be dismantled. Many priests, bishops, intellectuals and patriots were being executed, but then in June 1915, this abruptly stopped. The reason is that the Austro-Hungarian army, with the help of Germany, pushed back the Russians. Anya’s village of Horoshova, however, was in a small strip of territory still controlled by the Russians. They continued to hold this area for almost the whole war. Several Ukrainians somehow managed to thread their way into the local tsarist administration so that the Ukrainian population in the area did not suffer as much as they otherwise would have. However, there were Ukrainians in both Russian and Austrian internment camps.

  Nationally conscious Ukrainians in Galicia and Bukovyna wanted autonomy. They also wanted to separate the Polish part of Galicia from the Ukrainian part. Unfortunately, Austria and Germany were more interested in meeting Polish interests, so in November 1916, they announced that they were going to create a Polish state from the territories they had captured back from tsarist Russia. They said that they would deal with Ukrainian interests once the war was over. But everything changed in March 1917 when the Russian Revolution toppled the tsarist Russian empire.

  At almost the same time as the Russian Revolution, Ukraine had a brief period of independence, between March 1917 and October 1920, during which time they went through a number of revolutionary governments. After 1920, Ukrainians found themselves divided up between four different countries (Soviet Ukraine, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania). By October 1920, the Soviet government had firmly established itself throughout central and eastern Ukraine, but Galicia came under Polish control, Bukovyna under Romanian control, and Transcarpathia became Czechoslovakian. The country would not become free until 1991.

  Ukrainians, Canada and the First World War

  Approximately 170,000 Ukrainians immigrated to Canada between 1891 and 1914.

  Most of them came to Canada from the Austro-Hungarian provinces of Bukovyna and Galicia. Some came to avoid being conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army. Others came to get out of debt or to make a better life for themselves in a new country. The portion of land that most of these farmers owned was too small in which to eke out a living, so they needed to supplement their earnings by such methods as renting additional land. However, most of the land in Bukovyna and Galicia was owned by Polish aristocrats. These wealthy landowners did rent land to poor families, but charged unreasonably high prices.

  Through the years 1896–1905 the Canadian government had encouraged East European peasants to immigrate because they had a reputation for being good hard-working farmers, and the Canadian government in Ottawa wanted to open up Canada’s West. The vast majority of Ukrainians did settle in the prairie provinces, but some, like Anya’s family, settled in Montreal and other big cities. In 1914–1915, Montreal’s Ukrainian community numbered only about five hundred people, in a city of more than half a million. While the majority of Ukrainian immigrants came from Austria-Hungary, there were some who came from areas of Ukraine that were controlled by tsarist Russia.

  Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Montreal tended to become more politically aware than those who settled in the prairies, since these urban immigrants had different adjustments to make. Ukrainians who settled in the prairies struggled for daily survival on blocks of land that were close to each other and often far from other Canadians. In contrast, the small group of Ukrainian immigrants who came to Montreal worked as labourers, so their struggle was not for physical survival but to find a way out of their social isolation. Because they spoke neither French nor English and lived in the poorest of neighbourhoods, Montreal’s Ukrainians had a compelling reason to quickly establish several mutual-aid organizations. These first organizations were not church oriented, an element that is in stark contrast to the first organizations in the prairies. These Montreal groups all shared the ideology of the Drahomanov Society, which had an anti-church bias and advocated socialism and independence for Ukraine. Ukrainian immigrants in Montreal usually thought of themselves as “Ukrainian” years before an independent Ukraine existed.

  When World War I broke out, many Ukrainian immigrants didn’t know whether they should go back to the old country to defend their homeland, or whether they should fight for Canada, their new country. Many Ukrainians enlisted in the Canadian armed forces and fought for their adopted home. Ukrainians who had immigrated with Russian passports were allowed to enlist in the Canadian armed forces. Others changed their names to Smith or Jones or lied about their origins in order to fight for Canada. One corporal, Filip Konowal, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery.

  In 1914 the Canadian government implemented the War Measures Act. One result of the Act was that 8,579 immigrants were labelled “enemy aliens” and interned in 24 camps across the country. Approximately 6,000 of those interned were Ukrainians, but some Poles, Bulgarians, Turks, Rumanians, Jews, Croatians and Serbs were also interned. When these people were brought to internment camps, they were forced to give up their wallets, pocket watches and other items of sentiment and value. Another 80,000 individuals (mostly Ukrainians) were required to register with the authorities as “enemy aliens” and to report in on a regular basis. Immigrants who had already become naturalized British subjects were not slated for internment; however, in some cases, naturalized subjects were interned, contrary to what the Act indicated. In fact, even some children who were born in Canada were interned. Carolka Manko, who was born in Montreal, died at Spirit Lake internment camp when she was two years old.

  It is still not known exactly why the government decided that there was a need to intern thousands of Ukrainian immigrants. The British government had assured the Canadian government that Ukrainians were not “Austrians” and thus were not the enemy. But as the war went on there was mounting hysteria against foreigners, resulting in some employers firing them for “patriotic” reasons, particularly in Canada’s West. This, in addition to a recent recession that had left many people jobless, meant that there were many Ukrainians out of work and homeless.

  It is even more difficult to understand why Canada decided to use these people — who had done no wrong — as forced labourers. Some municipalities simply wanted to take advantage of the forced labour that these people could supply, and to be spared the expense of providing relief for them. Several hundred men were still being held in internment camps nearly two years after the war ended.

  When the internees were released, they expected to get back their personal items, but in many cases this did not happen. Also, while interned, the men were told that they would be paid twenty-five cents a day, the rate paid to military POWs — that is, captured enemy soldiers — for the hard labour they were forced to do. This amount was well below the daily wage of the time. Even so, some were never paid even that paltry amount. Upon their release, many internees were very bitter. Some even left Canada.

  Some Germans were also interned in Canada during WWI, but while Ukrainian internees were considered “second class” and forced to do labour in often brutal conditions, the Germans were considered “first class.” They were not required to work, and some of them lived in small houses instead of barracks. They were allowed to bring servants with them and some had their own gardens. They were also given an allowance that they could use to buy tea, candy, tobacco and other luxury goods. One German internee was even able to bring in his own supp
ly of caviar.

  Of all 24 camps, it was only at Spirit Lake that Ukrainian women and children were interned. In the other camps, it was mostly single men. The internment camp at Vernon, B.C., interned some German women and children with their husbands, but because they were considered first-class prisoners they had comfortable conditions. The Ukrainian prisoners at the same camp were all male and were treated as “second-class” prisoners.

  In 1917, while the war was still in progress, the government took the right to vote away from Ukrainian men who had not been naturalized by 1902, because the government feared being voted out. These men did not get the vote back until 1919.

  Acknowledgment and Restitution

  Many people who were interned during WWI were so ashamed and bitter about what Canada had done to them that they hid the fact from everyone — even their own children. Also, the government destroyed the internment records except for internees’ release dates. The fact of Canada’s first national internment operations was brought into the public spotlight in 1977 by Lubomyr Luciuk while he was doing research about the historical geography of Ukrainians in Kingston. Since that time, an organization called the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association has been asking the federal government for acknowledgment that the internment operations were unjust, and for a promise that no one in Canada will ever again be jailed because of where they came from.

  For eight years, Inky Mark, the Conservative MP for Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette in Manitoba, has pushed for recognition of the Ukrainian internment. In November 2005, just before the fall of the Liberal government, Inky Mark’s Private Member’s Bill C-331 became law.

  This Bill “calls upon the federal government to acknowledge that thousands of Ukrainian Canadians were unjustly interned and disenfranchised in Canada during the First World War; to provide funding to commemorate the sacrifices made by these Canadians; and to develop educational materials detailing this dark period of Canada’s history.” In 2006 the Conservative government set aside two and a half million dollars for plaques and commemorative projects. The goal is to make us all aware of Canada’s first national internment operations so that never again will Canada imprison people because of where they came from.

  Images and Documents

  Image 1: A Canadian Department of Immigration poster, written in Ukrainian, promises 160 acres of land to immigrants who will come to Canada, saying that there are 200 million acres of land available in western Canada.

  Image 2: Galician immigrants at a train station after their arrival in Quebec in 1905.

  Image 3: A Ukrainian classroom in Alberta in 1920.

  Image 4: The open square used as a parade ground in the centre of Spirit Lake Internment Camp. In the foreground is an ornamental stone wall made by the prisoners. In the background are buildings for the soldiers, including two barracks.

  Image 5: Internees sawing wood close to Spirit Lake Internment Camp.

  Image 6: A work party at an internment camp in Castle Mountain, Alberta, in 1915.

  Image 7: Children interned at Spirit Lake.

  Image 8: Internees standing in front of one of the dwellings in the married prisoners’ camp at Spirit Lake Internment Camp.

  Image 9: Women and children interned at Spirit Lake. In the centre of the photo is one of the soldiers.

  Image 10: An internee shovels snow that’s higher than he is.

  Image 11: Militia Book No. 60 detailed the daily lives of the internees at Spirit Lake. Most of the government’s own records were destroyed. John Perocchio found this copy at a flea market in 1996 and purchased it for 50¢.

  Image 12: Entries in Militia Book No. 60 listed internees’ ages and heights and shoe sizes, the supplies they were given, and so on. In the register above, the name of one child who has died has been crossed out.

  Image 13: A grave marker written in Polish, with letters punched into a piece of tin: Here lies Jan Babi, died March 29, 1916. The marker was taken from the internees’ cemetery at Spirit Lake in 1945.

  Image 14: Tents of the Pikogan community situated near Spirit Lake Internment Camp.

  Image 15: A portion of the release certificate of Maksym Boyko. The second condition of release was a promise to “abstain from espionage or any acts or correspondence of a hostile nature.”

  Image 16: A monument put in place at Spirit Lake to honour those who were interned there.

  Image 17: Europe in 1914, as World War I began. The shaded area indicates the boundaries of Ukraine established in 1991. Galicia and Bukovyna are the areas of present-day Ukraine, then part of Austria-Hungary, where many people spoke not Russian or Austrian, but Ukrainian.

  Image 18: Twenty-four internment camps across Canada held Ukrainian and other internees. Only at Spirit Lake, Quebec, and Vernon, B.C., were families also interned.

  Glossaries

  Ukrainian

  baba: grandmother

  babka: a rich, sweet egg bread traditionally baked for Easter

  borshch: beet soup

  chytalnya: reading room

  dido: grandfather

  gerdan/gerdany: an intricately designed glass beaded necklace

  holubtsi: cabbage rolls

  kamizelka: vest

  kasha: cooked buckwheat

  khrustyk/khrustyky: sweet fried dough crisps

  kolach: a round braid of egg bread

  kolomyika: a lively traditional dance where onlookers crowd around, clapping, while others come forward and try to out-dance those who danced earlier

  krashanka/krashanky: boiled eggs that are dyed in solid colours for Easter

  kutya: a Christmas dish made with boiled wheat, poppy seeds, honey and nuts

  kystka: tool for applying hot wax to eggs

  Mnohaya Lita: a greeting song wishing one a long life

  nalysnyky: crepes

  provody: a religious procession to commemorate the dead

  pyrohy: stuffed noodles, called perogies in English

  pysanka/pysanky: Easter eggs, unboiled, decorated using a wax-resist method of dyeing

  Rizdvo: Christmas Day

  rushnyk/rushnyky: cloth for special occasions

  studenetz: jellied fish

  Svyat Vechir: Christmas Eve (literally: Holy Night)

  tato: father

  toloka: a building bee

  tsymbaly: stringed instrument

  Veselykh Svyat: Happy Holidays

  Vichnaya Pamyat: lament sung at Ukrainian funerals and commemorative services

  vushka: mushroom-stuffed noodles

  German

  kronen: Austrian coins

  Irish

  maimeo: grandmother

  Acknowledgments

  Every effort has been made to trace ownership of visual and written material used in this book. Errors and omissions will be corrected in subsequent updates or editions.

  Cover portrait: detail from Young Galician immigrant holding envelope labelled “Red Star Line”. Saint John, NB. May, 1905, Library and Archives Canada, C-063254

  Cover background: Officer standing at train station with gun resting on his shoulder, watching as train approaches the station, R. Palmer/Library and Archives Canada, PA-170492

  Image 1: 160 Acres of Free Land, Library and Archives Canada, C-006196

  Image 2: Galician immigrants c. 1905, John Woodruff/Library and Archives Canada, C-005610

  Image 3: School children at School District No. 1515, Frank, Alberta, ca 1920, Gushul Family Fonds/Glenbow Archives, NC-54-4198

  Image 4: Hundreds of prisoners standing in open square of internment camp, R. Palmer/Library and Archives Canada, PA-170457

  Image 5: From the documentary film “Freedom Had a Price,” directed by Yurij Luhovy

  Image 6: Prisoners of war at internment camp, Castle Mountain, Alberta, 1915, Glenbow Archives, NA-3959-2

  Image 7: Children of prisoners of Spirit Lake Internment Camp, Library and Archives Canada, PA-170470

  Image 8: Prisoners of Spirit Lake Internment Camp with their
family members, Library and Archives Canada, PA-170623

  Image 9: Women and children prisoners of internment camp, Library and Archives Canada, PA-170620

  Image 10: A prisoner shovelling a pathway through snowbanks, Library and Archives Canada, PA-170641

  Images 11 and 12: Militia Book No. 60 cover and one interior page, courtesy of John Perocchio

  Image 13: Grave marker, courtesy of Sandra Semchuk

  Image 14: Camp of prisoner tents on shore of Spirit Lake [actually the Pikogan camp near the internment camp], R. Palmer/Library and Archives Canada, PA-170467

  Image 15: Portion of release certificate of Maksym Boyko, courtesy of Otto Boyko

  All sketches, and image 16, courtesy of the author

  Images 17 and 18: Maps courtesy of Paul Heersink. Canada map: data © 2002 Government of Canada with permission from Natural Resources Canada.

  The publisher wishes to thank Barbara Hehner for her careful fact-checking of the manuscript, and Sophia Kachor for checking the spelling and translation of Ukrainian words and terms.