- Title:
Title Pages of Never Published Editions of the DP Journal KHORS, 1945-1951
- Year:
- 1945-1951
- Source:
- Archive of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (FSO), 01-242 Kostetskyi.
- Original language:
- Ukrainian, German
Related sources:
Testimonies of Ihor Kostetskyi’s Fate under Nazi Rule
Ihor Kostetskyi was just one example of several hundred thousand individuals who were taken by the Nazi Army from occupied eastern European territories and had to work as “Ostarbeiter” in the German war industry. Before the war, Kostetskyi was an intellectual who – though born in Kyiv, Ukraine – had little consciousness of his “Ukrainiennes” before the fall of Carpatho-Ukraine in 1938 and was involved in several cultural, artistic, and creative projects and initiatives. When he was mobilized to the Soviet Red Army at the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Kostetskyi was already in the process of changing his Russian-sounding name “Ivan Merzljakov” to his, since then...
Testimonies on the Material Situation of the Culturally Active Ukrainian Diaspora in Germany, 1946-1951
The Ukrainian DP journal KHORS was initially planned to be quarterly. However, the first KHORS edition in 1946 was also the last. These documents provide an insight into the reasons for the non-publishing of further editions and deliver indicators for the material situation of the Ukrainian diaspora in the American occupation zone of Germany in general. A second and third editions of KHORS were seemingly planned shortly after publishing the first edition. The indicator for this thesis is the handwritten list of planned content for these two editions. On the back of this document, it is visible that it was initially an old document of the German Air Force from World War Two....
Principles and Future Aims of the DP Journal KHORS, 1946-1951
The Ukrainian DP journal KHORS was, first and foremost, not a political publication. Published by a small team around the dissident Ihor Kostetskyi, its focus was on arts, culture, and film. In its own statutes, KHORS was not only displayed as a journal. Instead, it should be somewhat of a worldwide movement, that people could join or leave if they wish in the future. The overriding principle is to accept the “primacy of the artistic form,” that art should be created to be art and not for economic, political, or popular reasons. If one does accept this very principle, this core principle, “every artist is allowed to belong to [KHORS] - regardless of...
Reviews of Film Art as an Instrument of Independence by the Ukrainian DP Journal KHORS, 1946-1951
The Ukrainian DP journal "KHORS" was planned as a quarterly on arts and culture, written by a group of editors around Ihor Kostetskyi. Even though a second edition was never published, the editor's notes and pre-written articles, ready to be published in a long-planned second edition, tell a lot about the potential of the project. In the statutes of KHORS, the journal, as well as the attaching, desired worldwide idea, distanced itself heavily from Communism and the Soviet Union. The reason that was provided for this positioning was the Soviet understanding of art and the fact that art had to serve a purpose under Soviet Realism. Such distancing from Soviet influence in world...
Worked on the material:
- Research, comment
- Photos
Archive of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (FSO)
Comments and discussions
The idea of the Ukrainian DP-creation KHORS as a movement and a journal was kept alive for many years, even though the continuous publishing of the journal, initially planned as a quarterly journal, could never be realized beyond a first edition in 1946. The title pages listed here were never published, but they can provide us with a view of the senses put by journal creators, used design and materials.
In 1945, immediately after the war, the first planned cover was drawn by the artist Halyna Mazepa with simple paint on a piece of cardboard. Its design was intended to reveal the idea of the future edition. On this cover, the title of the journal is written in wheat, which is an important symbol in Ukrainian culture. The wheat inscription stretches towards the sun: it is to this sun that KHORS refers, personifying the ancient Slavic sun god of the same name.
Second title page was planned on the culture of Spain. Ihor Kostetsky as the editor collected materials and planned the publication for the end of 1950 and the beginning of 1951. This time, the cover was to feature three photographs: photos of a Spanish church, a cultural dance as well as a bullfight arena. This time, the cover was to feature three photographs: a Spanish church, a Spanish folk dance, and a bullfighting arena. These images were pasted onto a thin yellow sheet of paper with the headline “Z duchu ESPANIÏ” (from the spirit of Spain).
The third cover is the result of the journal’s publishers’ settlement in the town of Dinkelsbühl, and can be seen as the most successful attempt to publish the second issue. This issue was conceived as a ‘Ukrainian-German almanac’ and was to be published in the second half of 1951. For this edition, its creators used a simple design, decorating it with calligraphic elements. The cover was also drawn on a piece of cardboard.