Churchill and Ukraine at Chartwell

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By Katherine Carter

Katherine Carter is Property Curator at Chartwell.

Among the thousands of objects on display at Chartwell are many of the books inscribed to Winston Churchill. These consist of gifts from family, friends, colleagues, and acclaimed authors. Churchill valued them so closely that he explicitly referred to them in his will: “All my Medallions, Trophies, Inscribed Books or Manuscripts which have been presented to me: and other personal souvenirs or trophies.”

The inscribed books, which were acquired by the National Trust in 2017, include a vast array of subjects and writers—from biographies and bestsellers to politics and poetry. Since the trust purchased this collection, we have had a revolving display. This enables me to curate a “rapid response” according to current events to show Churchill’s association with a particular subject during his lifetime. In February of this year, I quickly decided that Churchill’s interest in Ukraine was not only an interesting story to tell at his home but a vital one.

The new exhibit includes two remarkable books, the first of which is a post-war publication by Honore Ewach called Ukraine’s Call to America. Ewach was a Ukrainian-Canadian commissioned by the Ukrainian Cultural Society of Detroit to illustrate Ukraine’s cultural history and geopolitical importance in the aftermath of the Second World War. The book opens with the prophetic statement:

A free Ukraine may be likened to the Gospel cornerstone in the edifice of a peaceful and secure Europe, which to this day has been tragically neglected by the builders of a new world. To disclose this truth to the English-speaking reader is the main purpose of this book.

The second book is particularly heartening as it has its origins deeply rooted in Ukrainian culture. It is a book of poetry by Lesya Ukrainka, much of which touches on the theme of Ukrainian independence from the Russian Empire. She was writing and publishing in the Ukrainian language at a time when it was illegal to do so, and this courage has since made her a national hero in Ukraine, still the only woman ever depicted on Ukrainian currency.

This copy of her work, translated into English, was given to Churchill for his eightieth birthday by Dr. Roman S. Holiat, a Ukrainian-born journalist and community activist, who emigrated to the United States after the Second World War and became a member of the Ukrainian Journalists Association of America.

Both of these books have been brought forward from the bookshelves at the back of Chartwell’s Drawing Room to be at the forefront of our visitors’ route through the house. The labels for each are written in both English and Ukrainian. Among my proudest moments at Chartwell was showing the display in April to a Ukrainian family, which had fled from their home in Kyiv three weeks earlier and who were brought to tears by the display of solidarity at Churchill’s home.

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