БОГДАН КЕНТРЖИНСЬКИЙ ТА ЙОГО ДОКТОРСЬКА ДИСЕРТАЦІЯ

The article reveals a page from the creative biography of the famous Ukrainian public and political figure, member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences Bohdan Kętrzyński (1919–1969), namely the history of the preparation and defence of his doctoral thesis. The thesis is devoted to the topic of coverage of the figure of Hetman Mazepa and Ukraine at that time in Swedish historiography. The primary focus is on the issue of the Ukrainian-Swedish alliance of the early 18th century. Bohdan Kętrzyński was one of the leading figures of the OUN(M), the head of the organization on the northern vector of its activities – in Scandinavia. He was a polyglot, a brilliant publicist, author of hundreds of articles about Ukraine and Ukrainian culture in the Scandinavian press. He was particularly active during the World War II. In addition to his publications in the Scandinavian press, Kętrzyński also founded Ukrainian magazines in Scandinavia, primarily focused on Ukrainian prisoners of war in Finland. In addition to journalism, the historian gave public lectures on the history and culture of Ukraine, with an emphasis on the history of the Ukrainian liberation struggle against Moscow. Thus, the main topic of Kętrzyński’s research – the study of the Cossack era of Ukrainian history – was formed from his journalism and lectures. The topic of Mazepa was especially useful for countering Soviet propaganda, in particular, refuting Soviet historical labels. The Great Northern War is also a sensitive topic for Swedish historiography and Swedish historical memory. Therefore, the choice of topic was successful and Kętrzyński was “heard” in Sweden. His doctoral thesis was defended at the Ukrainian Free University in Munich on 15 September 1951. The dissertation was supervised by the famous Ukrainian historian Borys Krupnytskyi. This thesis later formed the basis of Kętrzyński’s monograph “Mazepa”. The topic of the Swedish-Ukrainian alliance under Karl X and Bohdan Khmelnytsky would become the historian’s habilitation thesis, also defended at the Ukrainian Free University in Munich in 1957. Keywords: Bohdan Kętrzyński, OUN(M), Ivan Mazepa, Karl XII, Ukrainian Free University in Munich, diaspora historiography, doctoral thesis, diaspora.