3: 2. Galicia, World War I, and the Finkel Family's Soviet Incorporation This segment explores Western Ukraine (Galicia), distinct from the Russian Empire until relatively late. While Russia used forced assimilation and violence against Ukrainians, Galicia u

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

2. Galicia, World War I, and the Finkel Family's Soviet Incorporation This segment explores Western Ukraine (Galicia), distinct from the Russian Empire until relatively late. While Russia used forced assimilation and violence against Ukrainians, Galicia under the Austro-Hungarian Empire practiced tolerance, allowing Ukrainian language and nationalism to flourish. St. Petersburg deeply feared this, viewing the small region as a "Ukrainian Piedmont" that could spread nationalistic ideas and eventually unite Ukraine against Russian control. This anxiety—the desire to seize and Russify Galicia—was a key, often overlooked reason for Russia's entry into World War I. Russia occupied Galicia briefly but failed to keep it; however, in 1939, following the division of Poland by Stalin and Hitler, Western Ukraine was finally incorporated into the Soviet Union. The professor's grandfather, Israel/Lev Finkel, fought bravely for the USSR in the Great Patriotic War despite his Galician background, demonstrating the complex loyalties resulting from shifting imperial projects.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm John Batchel, visiting with Professor Eugene Finkel.
0:08.4	His new book is intent to destroy Russia's 200-year quest to dominate Ukraine.
0:12.6	The war in Ukraine now, a tragedy for Europe.
0:16.4	In 1940, a young man named Israel is Finkel, changes his name to Lev and joins the Russian army bravely and goes off to war for several years.
0:29.1	Eugene's grandfather.
0:31.1	Grandfather or great-grandfather, professor?
0:32.9	Grandfather.
0:33.9	Grandfather.
0:34.9	And a demonstration that though he was Jewish, though he was from Galicia, which is back and forth between Poland's empire and the Russian Empire, he fights nobly for the Russian great patriotic war. That is important to fix because the imperial Project had periods of peak and periods of valley.
0:59.0	We're probably in the valley of valleys right now.
1:02.2	Your grandfather, what was his relation to Moscow?
1:05.7	How did he think of Moscow, professor?
1:08.5	Well, for, you know, first 20-something years of his life, he had absolutely no relations
1:14.4	to Moscow.
1:16.3	He grew up, he was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1:20.5	He grew up in Poland.
1:21.7	He didn't speak a word of Russian until he was drafted into the Red Army.
1:26.7	And his story is not unique, right?
1:29.4	We talk about Ukraine and Russia, but there is also a part of Ukraine, which was not part of the Russian number until relatively late until World War II, essentially.
1:44.6	And that's the Western Ukraine, Galicia, area around three, which was part of the Polish
1:51.9	kingdom and then also Hungarian Empire.
1:54.4	But the majority of the population in this area were Ukrainians.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.