History, Politics & Society
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Home from Home records the seventy-year history of an emigree Ukrainian community which established roots and gradually integrated into the life of a Yorkshire mill town, while nurturing deep ties with its homeland. By sharing its relatively unknown past, specifically at a time when Ukraine heroically endures an unprovoked and destructive invasion by Russian forces, it aids understanding of historic hostilities between the two.
Initially covering harrowing, sensitive and hitherto undisclosed stories, Home from Home travels back to a traumatic era of enforced slave labour under the Third Reich, battles on the Eastern Front and survival in frightful camps during the bloody years of the Second World War.
Then, from the late 1940s, the establishment of Ukrainian Clubs, like Huddersfield, enable the preservation of Ukrainian history, language, and traditions in the UK. Rich, vibrant Christmas and Easter traditions, Ukrainians’ love of music, dance, food and drink come to the fore; and yet in the background, the clamour for Ukrainian Independence endured and still shines brightly to this day.
Home from Home provides a deep, empathetic view of Ukrainians settling in the UK, their past and current difficulties integrating, and their legendary resilience to overcome and survive as a free and proud people.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
When my Ukrainian father died in my seventh year, a lot of the questions I asked him and later wished to ask remained unanswered. A great many of the gaps in my knowledge and understanding of the community I grew up in have been addressed by Home from Home, Michael Drapan’s book on The History of an Emigre Ukrainian Community. Wonderfully written and researched, it spans the roots of the West Yorkshire based Ukrainian diaspora and its development and integration into English society, whilst maintaining strong Ukrainian cultural links. It manages to weave a story of a small West Yorkshire based community with the wider expanse of Ukrainian history, political turmoil and cultural traditions, and thus should appeal to readers interested in Ukraine and its people. Anyone who doubts the merits of multiculturalism should read this book!
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