Ivan Svit: Difference between revisions

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'''Ivan Svit (John V. Sweet)''' (real name — Ivan Svitlanov) ([[April]] 27, near [[Kharkiv]] — [[March]] 8,  1989, [[Seattle]], [[United States|USA]]) was the main figure of the Ukrainian [[emigrant]] community in [[China]]. He was an [[historian]], [[journalist]], [[writer]], and enthusiastic [[stamp collector]] and part time dealer as well as a [[social activist]] in the [[Far East]].

He had been educated at a [[seminary]] and then studied [[mathematics]] and [[physics]] at [[National University of Kharkiv|Kharkiv University]]. In [[March 1918]], he moved to the Far East, originally intending to move to the United States. However, he ended up living between [[Vladivostok]], [[Japan]], and [[China]] from 1918 to 1949. Svit published a Ukrainian periodical in Vladivostok and, in October of 1922, immigrated to Chinese [[Harbin]], where he worked at a newspaper. He was a key figure within the Ukrainian expatriate community. When [[Manchuria]] was taken over by the Japanese in 1932 and Manchukuo was established, there were 11,000 Ukrainians living in Harbin, where a Ukrainian National House had been established. Ivan Svit was one of the founders and writers of the Ukrainian weekly paper in Harbin called the [[Manchurian Bulletin]] (1932-1938) which appealed to the substantial Ukrainian [[émigré]] population in Harbin. That publication lasted through the [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|Japanese occupation]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Хоменко |first=Ольга |title=Далекосхідна одіссея Івана Світа |publisher=Laurus |year=2022 |pages=584 |language=укрuk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Cipko |first=Serge |publisher=University of Alberta |title=Ukrainians in Manchuria, China: A Concise Historical Survey |url=https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/pi/index.php/pi/article/download/1419/961/4566 }}</ref>

In China, Ivan Svit ran a small stamp business, which, compared to other people, gave him a stable income and helped him to survive this difficult time, during which he was very active in the Ukrainian community. In 1944, he participated in creation of the first [[Ukrainian-Japanese Dictionary]]. Later, with the collapse of Manchukuo and the arrival of the [[Soviet Army]] to China, he moved from Harbin to [[Shanghai]], where he was a member of the Ukrainian National Committee of Shanghai. There, he helped produce documents to move about 200 Ukrainians out of China to the USA, [[Argentina]], and [[Australia]]. He was, in a way, a self-proclaimed consul and helped many people survive. I could even say that he was like the Japanese diplomat Sugihara, but for Ukrainians in China<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=John V Sweet (Ivan Svit) |url=http://manchukuostamps.com/John_V_Sweet.htm |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=manchukuostamps.com}}</ref>.

Ivan Svit himself moved to [[Taiwan]] in [[1949]] and then, in [[1951]], he continued on to [[Alaska]] and then to [[New York City|New York]]. He became a member of UWAN ([[Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Science]]) and researched the history of the Ukrainian émigré communitydiaspora. He regularly submitted articles about stamps to The China Stamp Society's journal, ''The China Clipper'' sending news from Harbin of new issues and varieties he had discovered. He was the Editor of the Journal of the ''Ukrainian Philatelic and Numismatic Society'' (Est. 1951) from [[1961]] until [[1972]].<ref name=":1" />

In 1972, he published a book on the history of Ukrainian-Japanese relations, which still today remains the only existing proper book on the topic. SvitHe was interested in many topics: he wrote about economic affairs, Ukrainians in Asia, Ukrainian activities in the Far East,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Khomenko |first=Olga |date=October 2022 |title=The History of an Invisible Diaspora: Ivan Svit and His Short History of the Ukrainian Movement in the Far East (Asia) (Harbin, 1938) |doi=10.3138/ukrainamoderna.32.116 |doi-broken-date=2024-09-05 |url=https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/ukrainamoderna.32.116}}</ref> and many other things. He was also a successful entrepreneur. He was never known during [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule in Ukraine and largely has been ignored by Ukrainian historians to this day, mainly because he represented Ukrainian émigré communities that left the Soviet Union for ideological reasons.

Ivan Svit was also a successful [[Entrepreneurship|entrepreneur]] who owned [[postage stamp]] shops in Harbin and Shanghai. He juggled his historical interests with running a business and owning a shop, allowing him and his family to survive through difficult years in China.<ref name=":1" />