Yaroslav Ilkovych Chyz (1894-1958) served as a non-commissioned officer and lieutenant with the Austrian Army during the First World War. After the Revolution of 1917, Chyz helped organize the Sich Riflemen and in 1919 served as a political officer on the staff of its Siege Corps. In 1921 he joined the Ukrainian Military Organization formed to overthrow Polish rule over the Western Ukraine. Chyz obtained political asylum in Czechoslovakia and graduated from Charles University. After immigrating to the United States, Chyz was editor-in-chief of Narodna volya, and served as associate director of the Common Council for American Unity. In 1956 he was one of the organizers and then the executive director of the Nationalities Committee of the President's People-to-People Program. The Chyz Papers contain personal documents, publications, telegrams, and photographs. The papers provide insights into events related to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in early 1917. The bulk of the collection consists of telegrams that were recorded by Chyz from March 1917 to March 1918, when he was a lieutenant in the radio-intelligence corps of the Austrian Army. The rest of the collection reveals Chyz's active involvement in the press, organizations, and cultural and civic affairs of American nationality groups.
Scope: 1912-1983
Size: 1.5 linear ft., 3 boxes
See also: Special Collection