In the heart of Manhattan’s East Village lies a neighborhood that pulses with history, memory, and resilience. Known as Little Ukraine, this cluster of streets has been shaped for over a century by the lives of immigrants who carried their homeland in their hearts and sought to reimagine it in exile. Here, amid the bustle of one of the world’s most dynamic cities, Ukraine's quiet but persistent voice speaks through church bells, community halls, bowls of borscht, and the letters of long-forgotten manuscripts.
The Ukrainian presence in New York City began earnestly in the late nineteenth century. The first arrivals were largely peasants escaping political repression, poverty, and imperial rule in a partitioned and stateless Ukraine. Many came from Galicia, a region straddled modern-day western Ukraine and southeastern Poland. Drawn by the promise of work in the factories, sweatshops, and construction sites of New York, these early immigrants formed tight-knit communities, seeking both survival and solace among one another. Though scattered at first, a significant number began to cluster around what is now the East Village, which is a largely working-class area with an ethnically diverse population.
What followed over the decades was a steady layering of community. Newcomers were welcomed with shared language, food, and Ukrainian civil society's growing infrastructure. Churches were among the first institutions to appear. The most significant of these is St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, which was founded in 1911. Its stately presence on East 7th Street became a spiritual anchor and a symbol of permanence for the fledgling community. St. George’s was not simply a place for liturgy. It was also a staging ground for cultural preservation, where Ukrainian identity was passed from generation to generation through religious education, community gatherings, and seasonal celebrations that mirrored those back in Ukraine.
The church was soon joined by a constellation of civic and cultural institutions that broadened the community’s reach and deepened its roots. In 1948, amid a fresh wave of immigration following the Second World War, the Shevchenko Scientific Society reestablished itself in New York. Initially founded in Lviv in the late 1800s, the society quickly became a hub for Ukrainian intellectual life in exile. Named after Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s national poet and a symbol of cultural resistance, the society was more than a scholarly retreat. It was an archive of memory, a center for political thought, and a gathering place for artists, scientists, and historians determined to document and defend the Ukrainian experience in a world that often misunderstood or ignored it.
The influx of displaced persons after World War II radically changed the makeup of the East Village. Many Ukrainians fleeing Soviet rule and communist persecution arrived in New York through the Displaced Persons Act and other refugee programs. This wave was marked by political fervor and a determination to resist Soviet propaganda about Ukraine. In the East Village, these émigrés joined older immigrant families and brought a new intensity to the cultural life of Little Ukraine. They created schools, choirs, newspapers, and social clubs. They marched in parades on Ukrainian Independence Day and organized political rallies supporting Ukrainian sovereignty.
As the neighborhood matured, its culture became increasingly visible to outsiders, primarily through its food. Perhaps no place exemplifies this more vividly than Veselka, a beloved Ukrainian restaurant opened in 1954 by Wolodymyr and Olha Darmochwal. What began as a humble newsstand and coffee shop became a full-service restaurant synonymous with Ukrainian comfort food.
Generations of New Yorkers, many of whom had never set foot in Ukraine, came to know the country through Veselka’s varenyky, holubtsi, and steaming bowls of beet-red borscht. Veselka is more than a restaurant. It is a civic institution that has adapted to the changing city while never losing its core identity. In times of crisis, such as during the Euromaidan protests and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Veselka transformed into a platform for fundraising and advocacy, connecting the people of New York with the struggles and hopes of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Museum, founded by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, is a cultural treasure in the neighborhood. The museum houses an extensive collection of folk art, fine arts, and historical artifacts and has played a critical role in preserving Ukraine's visual and material culture. Through exhibitions, lectures, and school programs, the museum has offered visitors, both Ukrainian and otherwise, an opportunity to understand Ukraine not just as a place of conflict but as a civilization with a rich and enduring artistic tradition.
Despite the seismic shifts in the East Village over the last few decades, the endurance of Little Ukraine is a testament to the community's resilience. Gentrification has altered the landscape, with rising rents and changing demographics challenging ethnic enclaves. Yet, Little Ukraine persists, not because it is frozen in time, but because it has adapted without erasing its past. While the Ukrainian population in the neighborhood has diminished, the institutions remain vibrant, often staffed by the children and grandchildren of earlier immigrants, or revitalized by new arrivals fleeing more recent turmoil.
The events of 2022 cast a sharp light on the importance of these longstanding institutions. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Little Ukraine responded with urgency. Church pews filled again with parishioners praying not just for relatives overseas but for the soul of their homeland. Community centers became command posts for humanitarian relief. Restaurants like Veselka organized benefit dinners and donation drives. The Ukrainian flag flew from windows, awnings, and lampposts. Even those unfamiliar with the neighborhood’s history were drawn into its orbit, eager to stand in solidarity and understand its legacy.
Little Ukraine is not merely a geographic designation. It is a living, breathing testimony to the resilience of a people determined to carry their culture forward no matter where they land. Through song, story, scholarship, food, and faith, Ukrainians in Manhattan have built a world within a world. They have turned exile into expression and displacement into community. As the city evolves around it, Little Ukraine remains a monument to a journey and a beacon of belonging, rooted in history but always reaching toward a future where Ukraine’s story is heard, remembered, and respected.
Add comment
Comments