Home from Home - Michael Drapan

Home from Home records the seventy-year history of an emigree Ukrainian community which established roots and gradually integrated into the life of a Yorkshire mill town, while nurturing deep ties with its homeland. By sharing its relatively unknown past, specifically at a time when Ukraine heroically endures an unprovoked and destructive invasion by Russian forces, it aids understanding of historic hostilities between the two.Initially covering harrowing, sensitive and hitherto undisclosed stories, Home from Home travels back to a traumatic era of enforced slave labour under the Third Reich, battles on the Eastern Front and survival in frightful camps during the bloody years of the Second World War.Then, from the late 1940s, the establishment of Ukrainian Clubs, like Huddersfield, enable the preservation of Ukrainian history, language, and traditions in the UK. Rich, vibrant Christmas and Easter traditions, Ukrainians’ love of music, dance, food and drink come to the fore; and yet in the background, the clamour for Ukrainian Independence endured and still shines brightly to this day.Home from Home provides a deep, empathetic view of Ukrainians settling in the UK, their past and current difficulties integrating, and their legendary resilience to overcome and survive as a free and proud people.