Life in Trieste, Italy

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Peter and Katerina with his siblings and mother, like many other families from the former Yugoslavia, arrived in Trieste on 17 July 1952 and stayed there for a year and a half before emigrating to Australia at the end of 1953. The Trieste camp was a hub for refugees and was charged by international organisations with the care and the maintenance of refugees. For Ukrainians, it was the hub of cultural activities and the development of cultural traditions, heritage and transmission of their identity.

 

The Ukrainian Catholic Church and Plast (Ukrainian Scouting Organisation) played a pivotal role in this transmission. Besides the scouting activities, youth was taught Ukrainian and all traditional aspects of their heritage, for example, dancing and singing. Katerina joined the youth choir, since she already knew many Ukrainian songs, which her grandparents and parents taught her.

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In the Trieste camp, she was able to work as a dressmaker, as she learnt dressmaking before she got married. Also, her husband’s cousin, Stephanie Pawluk nee Moravski, recommended her to the master tailor of the camp and through that recommendation Peter also learnt tailoring. They both obtained official dressmaking and tailoring documentation before they left for Australia.