Liliia Tsyganenko
Doctor of Historical Sciences (habil.), Professor, Independent Researcher,
Gerda Henkel Foundation Scholarship Recipient (2022–2024, Germany),
«Denkraum Ukraine» Scholarship Recipient
(2025, University of Regensburg, Germany)
E-mail: liliatsyganenko@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000–0002–5014–9845
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2026.54.6
Halyna Kotsur
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor
Of the Department of Archival Studies and
Special Branches of Historical Science,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv,
Kyiv, Ukraine
E-mail: kotsurh@knu.ua
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4677-9003
DOI: 10.17721/2522-4611.2026.54.6
WOMEN’S TRAJECTORIES OF WAR IN THE LIGHT OF DP QUESTIONNAIRES (REGENSBURG 1945–1949)
The article examines the mobility experiences of Ukrainian women during the Second World War and the early postwar years on the basis of registration documents produced by the American military administration in Regensburg (1945–1949). The aim of the study is to reconstruct individual female trajectories and identify patterns of forced and involuntary displacement recorded in DP questionnaires, certificates, and registration forms. Employing microhistorical, biographical, and gender-sensitive approaches makes it possible to trace routes of deportation, evacuation, and flight, as well as to reveal strategies of survival and adaptation used by Ukrainian women within Nazi and postwar administrative systems. The article identifies three typical models of female mobility—deportation of Ostarbeiterinnen, family emigration at the beginning of the war, and flight from Soviet rule at its end. The study demonstrates that women’s wartime biographies constitute an autonomous layer of historical experience that offers deeper insight into the mechanisms of coercive mobility and postwar adaptation in Europe.
Keywords: Ukrainian women, Second World War, forced mobility, Ostarbeiterinnen, DP questionnaires, Regensburg, postwar adaptation.
Received 31.03.2026.
Revised 16.04.2026.
Accepted 20.04.2026.
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