Ukrainian prisoners’ of war worldview formation through printed word: national-educational mission of the magazine “Educational Leaflet” at Wetzlar Camp, Germany (1916)

The article analyzes the degree of influence of media texts published on the pages of the camp magazine “Educational Leaflet” on the process of instilling in Ukrainian prisoners the idea of national-state self-affirmation of Ukraine during 1916. The aim of the research is to establish the peculiarities of the formation of the worldview of the captured Ukrainians of the Wetzlar camp by means of the printed word on the pages of the magazine “Educational Leaflet” in the outlined chronological period. The historical method, source analysis and synthesis were used to effectively achieve the goal. As a result of the research it was established that the publication of the mentioned magazine became possible thanks to the organizational and financial assistance of the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, whose representatives were in the camp Wetzlar since September 1915. After a short preparatory period (when the newspaper was printed almost by hand on a typewriter) in early 1916, it began to be printed by the city printing house twice a month. It was established that the mentioned magazine truthfully recorded the everyday life of Ukrainian prisoners of war, recording both individual manifestations of their lives and giving a general picture of the activities of the Ukrainian camp community. At the same time, with its publications, the newspaper had a strong influence on the formation of the national and political worldview of the prisoners, publishing materials on the course of socio-political processes in Ukraine and Russia. Thanks to this, the magazine gained the support of the majority of Ukrainian prisoners, serving them as almost the only “window” into the world of politics, public life and art. The most important feature of the “Educational Leaflet” was the Ukrainian-centricity of all its materials, which helped the prisoners to learn national-state ideals. The novelty of the study lies in the introduction into scientific circulation of an array of sources on the specifics of the functioning of the community of captured Ukrainian soldiers in the camp Wetzlar (1916). The practical significance of the study is that its results will significantly expand the range of sources needed to reconstruct the holistic history of the functioning of the Ukrainian captive community in the Wetzlar camp in 1916.