Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky

Ivan Lysiak was born into one of the most famous Ukrainian intellectual families. His father, Pavlo Lysiak, was a prominent lawyer, editor and contributor to many Ukrainian publications, ambassador of the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO) to the Polish Sejm in 1938–1939. Ivan's mother, Milena Rudnytska, was an ambassador of the UNDO to the Polish Sejm (1928-1935), chairman of the Ukrainian Women's Union in Lviv (1928-1939) and of the Ukrainian Women's World Union (since 1934). The mother belonged to the so-called "Rudnytsky Five." Among them are literary scholar, publicist and translator Mykhailo Rudnytsky (1889–1975), lawyer and well-known public figure Volodymyr Rudnytsky (1890–1974) and composer and musician Antin Rudnytsky (1902–75). All of them have made an outstanding contribution to the development of Ukrainian political and cultural life.[1][2][3]

Ivan Lysiak received his school education in Lviv. In 1925–29 he studied at the Ukrainian elementary school, and from 1929 to 1937 he attended the Academic Gymnasium in Lviv, the oldest Ukrainian Gymnasium not only in Galicia, but throughout Ukraine. Then he studied at the Law Faculty of Lviv University (1937–39).

After 1939 he lived abroad after the outbreak of World War II. He studied at the Faculty of International Relations at the University of Berlin (1940-1943). He defended his doctoral dissertation at Charles University in Prague (1945); his academic supervisor was the well-known scholar Edward Winter, an expert on Slavic and Ukrainian subjects. The dissertation topic was Drahomanov's political views, and Lysiak's defense took place in April 1945, just a few days before Soviet troops entered Prague.[3]

In the 1940s he was a member of the Ukrainian Student Society "Mazepynets", the Ukrainian Student Community in Prague, and together with A. Bilynsky, V. Rudko, O. Pritsak — a member of the Nationalist Organization of Ukrainian Students of Germany (NOUS). After the war he moved to Austria, and in 1947 to Geneva (Switzerland), where he attended lectures at the Institute for Higher International Studies.

In 1949 he married the American Mary Joan Benton.

In 1951–71 Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky lived in the United States. In 1951–52 he interned at Columbia University and later received his Ph.D. there.[3]

In February 1956 he was promoted to assistant professor at a local Catholic educational institution — La Salle College (Philadelphia), where he taught courses in Russian history and recent Western European history. With the beginning of the publication of the Ukrainian current affairs magazine Suchasnist' (Modernity; January 1961) Lysiak Rudnytsky became an active contributor. Here, in addition to the original articles, he published Ukrainian translations of his major English-language scientific publications. These contributions lasted until 1967.[3]

In 1967 he co-authored the "Statement", sent from prominent American intellectuals of Ukrainian descent to the leadership of Soviet Union and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, with the political demands of establishing separate citizenship for the Ukrainian SSR and diplomatic relations between this republic and foreign countries, to ensure Ukrainian had the status of official state language in the Ukrainian SSR, to legalize the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, etc.

From 1967 to 1971 Lysiak Rudnytsky worked at the American University in Washington.

Starting in 1971, Ivan Lysiak Rudnytsky lived in Canada, where he received a professorship at the University of Alberta. He was a member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and UVAN. He became one of the founders of the CIUS - Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta.[4] He was also a prolific contributor to the Edmonton-based Ukrainian newspaper Ukraїns'ki visti / Ukrainian News.

• Rudnitsky I. L. Essays in Modern Ukrainian History. — Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, 1987. — 500 p. ISBN 0-920862-47-0
• Rudnitsky I. L. V. Lypyns'kyj's Political Ideas from the Perspective of Our Times — Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, The Political and Social Ideas of Vjačeslav Lypyns'kyj (December 1985), pp. 342–356
• Rudnitsky I. L. Mykhailo Drahomanov and the Problem of Ukrainian-Jewish Relations — Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer, 1969), pp. 182–198.
• Rudnitsky I. L. The Intellectual Origins of Modem UkraineThe Intellectual Origins of Modem Ukraine — The Annals of Ukrainian Academy of the Arts and Sciences in the U.S. (New York), 1958, vol. 6, No.3-4 (21-22).
• Rudnitsky I. L. The Role of the Ukraine in Modern History — Slavic Review. - Vol. 22. - No. 2 (June 1963). - PP. 199–216.
• Rudnitsky I. L. The Soviet Ukraine in Historical Perspective — Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. 14, No. 2, UKRAINE (Summer, 1972), pp. 235–250
• Rudnitsky I. L. Mykhaylo Drahomanov. A Symposium and Selected Writings. Compiled with the assistance of the Drahomanov Commission of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US under the Chairmanship of Professor Svitozar Drahomanov. /Ed. by Ivan L Rudnytsky //The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Art and Sciences in the US. — Vol.II. - N 1(3). - Spring 1952. -1,225 P.
• Rudnitsky I. L. Drahomanov as a Political Theorist // Mykhaylo Drahomanov. A Symposium and Selected Writings... The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy». - Vol.II - N1 (3). - Spring 1952. - P. 70-130.
• Rudnitsky I. L. A Bibliography of Drahomanov's Major Works (Compiled with Svitozar Drahomanov) // Mykhaylo Drahomanov. A Symposium and Selected Writings... The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy... — Vol.II — N 1 (3). - Spring 1952. - P. 131–140.
• Rudnitsky I. L. An American Study of the Ukrainian Revolution // The Annals of the Ukrainian Academy of Art and Sciences in the US. — Vol JI — N 2 (4). - Summer 1952. - P. 316-322 Rec. ad op: John S.Reshetar. The Ukrainian Revolution 1917-1920: A Study in Nationalism — Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952. — 363 P.
• Rudnitsky I. L. Status of Crimea. Recent Move is Seen as Concession to Ukraine Demand: (Letter to the Editor) // The New York Times. -1954. - March 16.
• Rudnitsky I. L. Ukrainian Scholarship in the Soviet Union Today — The Slavic and East European Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 251–257. Published by: American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages