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Samuil Kaplan (1921-1978) was a productive and famous astrophysicist. He was affiliated with a number of scientific centers in different cities of the former Soviet Union. During the earliest 13 years of his career, namely in 1948-1961, he worked at the Lviv University in Ukraine. In the present paper, the Lviv period of his life and scientific activity is described on the basis of archival materials and his published studies. Kaplan arrived in Lviv in June 1948, the same month when he obtained the degree of the Candidate of Science. He was a head of the astrophysics sector at the Astronomical Observatory of the University, a professor of the department for theoretical physics, as well as the founder and head of a station for optical observations of artificial satellites of the Earth. He was active in the organization of an astronomical observatory outside the city. During the years in Lviv, Kaplan wrote more than 80 articles and 3 monographs in 9 areas. At that time, his focus was on the stability of circular orbits in the Schwarzschild field, on the white dwarf theory, on space gas dynamics, on cosmic plasma physics and turbulence, on the acceleration of cosmic rays, on the physics of interstellar medium, on the physics and evolution of stars, on cosmology and gravitation, and on the optical observations of the Earth's artificial satellites. Some of his findings are fundamental to the development of theory in those fields as well as of observational techniques. The paper presents a complete bibliography of Kaplan's works published during the Lviv period and reviews his respective scientific achievements in the light of the current state of research in those areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper constitutes a concise overview of the Lvov/Lviv (and also Western Ukraine) artistic life during the Soviet times and after the regaining independence by Ukraine. Author focuses on the informal or semi-informal art of this former part of Poland (and partly of Hungary), as it was one of the latest "additions" to the Soviet Union, hence it was more independent artistically and prone to European influence than the east parts of Soviet Ukraine that were heavily influenced by the Socrealism doctrine of official art imposed already in 1932. The only official way to practise non-figurative abstract art was by means of objects of decorative and applied arts based on the folk motives. During the Thaw period Lvov was one of the few regions in the USSR with the ample supply of foreign (albeit Eastern bloc) art periodicals that influenced the local community. The artisan glass and ceramics were appreciated abroad (France, Italy). After the fall of the USRR, in the independent Ukraine, the Nonconformist artists (who were barely tolerated in the Soviet era and frequently persecuted) took the place formerly occupied by the loyalist Soviet creators. The artistic community of Lviv returned to the abstract art. There were also expressionist and surrealist trends as well as postmodernists. The independence meant also a possibility of more active contact with foreign art and frequent participation of the local artists in international exhibitions. Lviv continues to be an active and important art centre although it has become a provincial one, as the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv is leading the contemporary art scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research issue is to describe the tourist accommodation used for specialised tourism, including its types, distribution and scale, in the northern part of the Eastern Carpathians in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The authors focused on the 1970s and 1980s which were the 'golden age' in the development of tourism in the Soviet Union. As a result of the analysis, 51 accommodation facilities were identified offering nearly 7,300 beds in the mid-1980s. It was the time when the development of that area reached its peak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attitude of the clergy and faithful of the Catholic Church during the Soviet regime (1945-1991) had a great influence on the preservation and survival of religiosity and the national identity of many people in the territory of the USSR. Thanks to the heroic attitude of the clergy and laity, who, by exposing themselves to the danger of arrest and labor camps, were able to be martyrs of the 20th century of the Soviet regime, the faithful received sufficient spiritual support and kept their faith. The article aims to present selected aspects of the social and religious life of the Roman Catholic community of Lviv in the Soviet Union in the years 1945-1991. The main question is the presentation of the attitude of the Lviv clergy towards the Soviet authorities in 1945-1991 and the covert pastoral activity among the faithful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the role the Soviet Union's western borderlands annexed during World War II played in the evolution of Soviet politics of empire. Using the Baltic Republics and Western Ukraine as case studies, it argues that Sovietization had a profound impact on these borderlands, integrating them into a larger Soviet polity. However, guerrilla warfare and Soviet policy-making indirectly led to these regions becoming perceived as more Western and nationalist than other parts of the Soviet Union. The Baltic Republics and Western Ukraine differed in their engagement with the Western capitalist world. Different experiences of World War II and late Stalinism and contacts with the West ultimately led to this region becoming Soviet, yet different from the rest of the Soviet Union. While the Soviet West was far from uniform, perceived differences between it and the rest of the Soviet Union justified claims at the end of the 1980s that the Soviet Union was an empire rather than a family of nations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]