Chyz, Yaroslav J., 1894-1958

Yaroslav Chyz (1894-1958) was an outstanding authority on American nationality groups and on the history of immigration, especially of Ukrainians. Born in Dubliany, near Lviv, he was a civic and military leader. In 1921, he became a member of the leadership of the Ukrainian Military Organization. He then immigrated to Prague and in 1922 graduated in philosophy from Prague University. In the United States, Chyz edited the paper Narodna Volya, and in 1942 became a member of the Common Council for American Unity. He acted as advisor to the American government on ethnic affairs, and was an organizer and executive of the Committee of the President's People-to-People program.

Yaroslav Ilkovych Chyz was born on February 17, 1894, in Dubliany near Lviv. He completed his secondary education in Peremyshl State Gymnasium in 1912, and then went to Prague to study at Charles University. His studies were interrupted with the outbreak of the First World War. He served as a private, non-commissioned officer with the staff of the Austrian Seventh Army and then with General Headquarters assigned to radio monitoring. 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. Following the defeat of the Ukrainian forces, he came to Lviv where he edited the journal Strilets'ka dumka, and pursued further studies at Lviv Ukrainian University. In 1921 he joined the Ukrainian Military Organization formed to overthrow Polish rule in Western Ukraine. Chyz participated in an unsuccessful plot against Jozef Pilsudski, and then fled to Czechoslovakia. He obtained political asylum there and resumed his studies at Charles University. He graduated from its philosophy department in 1922 with a specialization in Slavonic languages and literatures.

Chyz came to the United States on September 3, 1922, and was granted citizenship in February 1929. From 1923 to 1924 he was assistant manager of the Ukrainian Bureau of the Foreign Language Information Service in New York. From 1924 to 1942 he was editor-in-chief of Narodna volya, a Ukrainian newspaper published in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Chyz joined the staff of the Common Council for American Unity in 1942 as head of its foreign language press division, and from 1952 until his death served as associate director of the Council. He acted as adviser to the United States government on foreign language press and ethnic affairs. 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.

Among his civic and professional affiliations, Chyz had been a member of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences, the One World Award Committee, the American Academy of Social and Political Science, the New York Health and Welfare Council, and the International Committee of Non-Governmental Organizations Interested in Migration. He was the 1954 recipient of the National Citation of the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission.

Chyz was also the author of numerous publications on American nationality groups and on the history of immigration. He contributed articles to The Ukrainian Review (New York), Ukrainian Life (Scranton, PA), Common Ground (New York), Slavonic Review (London), Journal of Central European Affairs (Boulder, CO), The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Philadelphia), and other journals.

Chyz died on December 13, 1958 in Elmhurst, New York