About the UAYA Philly Branch Brief History Half a century ago, young Ukrainian immigrants, many of whom participated in the armed struggle for Ukraine's freedom, founded the Ukrainian Youth Association (UAYA) in America, on the patriotic principles of the original organization that was destroyed by Stalin's regime in Ukraine in 1930. It was in Philadelphia that the first UAYA branch in America was created in 1949; appropriately, it adapted for itself the name UPA, in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought against all enemies of Ukraine during and after World War II. The UAYA's slogan, "God and Ukraine," has become the guiding principle for three generations of Ukrainian-American youth. Our Branch About U.P.A. In June 1941, Hitler unexpectedly invaded the Soviet Union.  This caused the Red Army to retreat eastward.  On June 30, 1941, before German intentions had become fully clear, the Bandera factions of the OUN proclaimed the formation of an independent Ukrainian government in Lviv, the capital of Western Ukraine.  This was done without the previous knowledge of the Germans, who responded immediately by arresting Bandera and his closest associates.  There was to be no Ukrainian administration in any form: the only role the Germans were prepared to assign to Ukrainians was that of servants.  From there on, organized Ukrainian nationalism acted independently of the Germans and in opposition of them.  This found expression in the formation of various armed military forces of a guerrilla type.  Eventually, under the auspices of OUN these partisan groups united in October of 1942 under a single command known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).  The three letters, UPA, embody the whole epoch, spirit and content of armed political struggle of the Ukrainian nation during WWII and for a decade after its formal termination.

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 63246 Phila., PA 19114 Telephone: 215-663-0782 E-mail address: philadelphia@cym.org 2009-2010 Executive Board