S8 Ep817: VFamily History and the Struggle for Western Ukraine The narrative shifts to Western Ukraine, specifically Galicia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. Unlike the Russian Empire's forced assim
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
The narrative shifts to Western Ukraine, specifically Galicia, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939. Unlike the Russian Empire's forced assimilation, the Austrians tolerated Ukrainian culture, turning Galicia into a center for Ukrainian nationalism. Finkel shares the story of his grandfather, Israel (Lev), who grew up in Poland and spoke no Russian until being drafted into the Red Army in 1940. Russia's historical anxiety over Galicia's influence was a key driver for World War I, as they sought to eliminate this "Ukrainian Piedmont." Guest: Professor Eugene Finkel. (2/8)
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Transcript
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| 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? |
| 0:33.5 | Grandfather. |
| 0:34.0 | Grandfather. |
| 0:34.0 | Grandfather. |
| 0:35.0 | 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. |
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