Zinovyi Knysh.History of Eastern Trade in Lviv.Toronto, [1965]

“...beneath this outer shell of gaiety and carefree bustle smolders a spark from which one day a bloody conflagration will flare up...”

Zinoviy Knysh. The Eastern Trade Fair in Lviv.

Toronto: Sribna Surma, [1965]. — 205 pp. — (Sribna Surma: Collection III). Index of names, list of sources, list of donors.

Softcover edition: dark grey-brown cover with a leather-like texture, author’s name, title, and publisher’s mark in silver print; back cover plain. Cover shows rubbing and light wear, most notably along the left edge and at the bottom of the back cover, with minor soiling. Cream paper, naturally yellowed and darkened at the edges; brown spots in the upper right and lower left corners of p. 5, light soiling at the bottom of the title page. Sound binding. Condition: good.

Lifetime edition. The book has historical and cultural value and is of collector’s interest.

INFORMATION

On September 7, 1929, in Lviv, during the Eastern Trade Fair, bombs exploded; the police arrested one of the perpetrators, Mykhailo Tereshchuk, and the investigation quickly led to other members of the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO). Knysh recounts the assassination attempt, its planning and execution, the investigation (the section “In the Police Inferno” is presented as a first-person account by Horta), the court speeches and verdict, and the aftermath of the trial in the diaspora—protest rallies in Brooklyn and other cities in the United States and Canada. Among the sections are “The Fight for the Paragraphs,” “The UVO Through Polish Eyes,” and “The Red-Light Room.”

Zinoviy Knysh (1906–1999) was a lawyer (doctorate from Lviv University, 1930), historian, and activist in the UVO and OUN. Born in Kolomyia, he worked for the district command from 1924, later in the UVO’s combat staff. He lived in Canada from 1949, where he founded and funded the Sribna Surma publishing house.

This is the third volume in the Sribna Surma series—memoirs and materials documenting the UVO’s activities. In the preface, the author explains that the volume was intended to be the tenth or eleventh in chronological order, but materials on the UVO’s early years were still being collected, so he did not wait. The next volume, about the time when the UVO’s Regional Commander in Lviv was Colonel Andriy Melnyk, will be published only when donations cover the costs; their list is provided at the end of the book.