This collection reflects the essential dynamism of Jewish political and social life in interwar Poland from its development, following the reestablishment of Polish independence in 1918 through to the Holocaust. The collection focuses on one of the most politicized Jewish communities of interwar Poland: Eastern Galician Jewry and its capital in Lviv, which was then the third largest city in Poland.

Ukrainian Archives: Road to Palestine is comprised of materials in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Polish, and occasional English-language documents from multiple smaller collections. Most documents deal with the Lviv province and city where the Jewish population numbered nearly 100,000 and represented almost a third of the population. The Jewish population was surrounded by a Polish majority and a significant Ukrainian minority in the city, while the province itself was made up mostly of Ukrainians.

Similarly, the collection supplies information on youth, pioneer, and scout associations concerned with the education, upbringing, and professional training of young people for emigration to Palestine. Societies such as Hakhaluts (the Pioneer), Hano’ar Hatsioni (Zionist Youth), Hano’ar Ha’ivri (Hebrew Youth), and Hakhaluts Khaklai Tsioni (Zionist Pioneer in Agriculture) were all active in accelerating the politicization and secularisation of the Jewish generation born after World War I.

The history of the Jewish community in Lviv was rich and vibrant, but ultimately tragic. While a limited number of people were able to find their way to Palestine, the Jewish population in Lviv was almost entirely murdered in the Lviv ghetto from November 1941 to June 1943 by Nazi forces with the active collaboration of Ukrainian nationalists.