Portrait of a specific place and time: from the diary entries of 1939 by Olha Dolhun

Is submitted the part of the diary Olha Dolhun (Hryniuk) (1914–1997), who lived in the Sokal city, located in the north of Lviv oblast on the border with Volyn. She was educated at the Teachers Seminary in Sokal. Her diary is a kind of private and public coverage of Sokal in 1939 against the backdrop of a major global shift ‑ the outbreak of World War II. The first entry in the diary was made on March 17, 1939, and the last ‑ on October 17. During this time, took place the proclamation of the Carpathian Ukraine, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the invasion the Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union to Poland and the Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia. The author has shown a remarkable ability to correctly evaluate events, determine in them the place of their nation and own place. Has been published the part of the diary, with separate fragments from August 24 (information about the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) to the beginning of October (the author's first impressions about the new Soviet regime).In addition to global issues, the author draws attention to everyday life, social life, pre-war moods, national-patriotic orientation of Ukrainian youth. The diary is densely «populated» with multitude of Sokal people's names. The diary of Olha Dolhun, along with other examples of literature of this genre, make history alive, contribute to a deeper acquaintance of contemporary Ukrainians with the socio-cultural type of Galicia before and during the outbreak of World War II.KeywordsOlha Dolhun, Sokal, Poland, Germany, Soviet Union, occupation.