‘Father’ of Ukrainian community dies at 93
PETRO Dzedzora, the ‘father figure’ of Rochdale’s Ukrainian community, has died aged 93.
Mr Dzedzora was among the first wave of Ukrainians who settled in Rochdale in the 1950s, helping to establish a thriving community in the town.
The successful businessman ran the Continental Delicatessen grocers shops on Yorkshire Street and Milkstone Road for more than 50 years and was the driving force behind the establishment of Rochdale’s Ukrainian Club on Mere Street.
Mr Dzedzora, who was also known as Peter, became a leading figure in the Ukrainian society in Rochdale.
It founded Catholic and Orthodox churches in William Street and Water Street and was also a prominent voice for Ukrainian independence.
He was raised in Pidhajci in Polish Ukraine as the son of middle-class farmers. As a teenager he took up arms to fight with the Germans against the Russians in the Second World War for what he believed was a crusade to establish independence in the Ukraine.
In an interview with the Observer in 1975 Mr Dzedzora said he had no doubts about joining the 20,000 strong Ukrainian force to resist the Russians.
He said: “I was fighting for my country and I would do the same again given the opportunity. But we made it clear to the Germans we would only fight in the East against the Communists. Never against the West.”
Because of his youth he was in the reserve force, but he was trapped with the 20,000 other Ukrainian fighters when the Russians encircled Brody.
He was one of only 2,000 who escaped the trap, with the remaining 18,000 either slaughtered or disappeared.
The remnants of the army regrouped further West and surrendered to the British Army at Spital, Austria, in 1945.
They were interned in Rimini in Italy for two years while the Russians and the Allies argued over their future.
Salvation arrived when the Archbishop Buckho, then of Rome, successfully negotiated for the Ukrainians to be transferred to the UK.
Mr Dzedzora arrived in Liverpool in 1947, and was moved to Fakenham in Norfolk, where he worked as a translator in a prisoner of war camp, before after taking on a number of other roles, eventually moving to Rochdale in 1953, where he bought a grocers shop on Yorkshire Street.
Son Peter, 55, said: “He became the father figure of the Ukrainian community. One of my friends said he felt like one of his dads had died.
“He was the go to person when anyone needed help or assistance.
“He was diplomatic, almost like a politician, but he helped because he could.
“He spent many years in Rochdale, it became his home. He never criticised Rochdale. He always spoke of it as ‘our town’ or ‘our community’ - he was very inclusive.
“He was part of the generation of Ukrainians who integrated into the community in Rochdale.
“When the Second World War broke out he was studying in the Ukraine. He had been given a scholarship, which was very unusual in those times.
“He also had to turn down a place at Manchester University to study economics when he came to the UK because he couldn’t fund himself.
“I often wonder what he might have become if the war had not torn his country apart.
“It seems to be a common thing among the Ukrainians, Poles and Hungarians who came to the UK around that time - they made a success of their lives because they had to. There was no other option.”
Mr Dzedzora lived off Manchester Road and spent the last four years of his life in Leighton House care home on Milkstone Road. He is survived by his wife Pina, 88, son Peter, daughter Sonja, and three grandchildren.
The funeral took place at St Mary’s Ukrainian Church in Manchester yesterday (Friday) followed by a burial at Rochdale cemetery.