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physiographical conditions,” one that had, “from the earliest times,” found itself on the border

between the Western and Eastern worlds. At a fundamental level, its “distinct cultural face” was that

of its diversity. 105 As this chapter has shown, Fitzke shared this view of Volhynia with other

regionalists, all of whom sought a more tolerant alternative to exclusive right-wing nationalism and

believed that a true Volhynian would embrace, not reject, diversity. To do this, they simultaneously

championed the mythology of the early modern Commonwealth (in which different national and

religious groups had allegedly coexisted) and harnessed the power and methodologies of the

modernizing state.

It is difficult to know the extent to which people felt an emotional attachment to the kind of

Polish-led Volhynian identity that the regionalists sought to encourage. Certainly, for all the talk of

success in Józewski’s annual reports and the claims in regional journals that institutions like local

choirs would convince people that they were Volhynians, membership figures were not

encouraging. 106 By June 1935, the Volhynian Union of Rural Youth, one of the largest Polish-

Ukrainian organizations in the province, found that its attempts to recruit new members in

Zdołbunów province had proved largely unsuccessful, as young Ukrainians, distrustful of the

instructors, were unwilling to enroll. 107 Later that year, the head of the Volhynian school board

explained that youth who took part in the village-based circles, after an initial period of cooperation,

diverged into separate Polish and Ukrainian groups. 108 Moreover, because Józewski and his

regionalist supporters embraced only those versions of Ukrainian nationalism that they believed did

not threaten the state, the regionalist carrot was backed by a stick. Most notably, the administration

105 Jan Fitzke, “Znacznenie i możliwości rozwoju Muzeum Wołyńskiego w Łucku,” Wołyń, March 28, 1937, 5.
106 “Odezwa do zespołów teatrów i chórów ludowych amatorskich i szkolnych na Wołyniu,” Młoda Wieś, Molode
Selo, October, 5, 1931, 2.
107 “Kwartalne sprawozdanie z życia polskich związków i stowarzyszeń w II kwartale” (July 20, 1935), AAN UWW
30/8 [document page no.]
108 “Sprawozdanie z przebiegu kursu instruktorów oświaty K.O.P. w Wilnie w dniach 24, 25 i 26 września 1935 r.”
AAN MSW (Part 1) 173/4.

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