Ivan Rohach ( uk, Іван Андрійович Рогач) (29 May 1913 – 21 February 1942) was a Ukrainian journalist, poet, writer, and political activist born in Velykyi Bereznyi ( hu, Nagyberezna),

Ung county Ung County (in Latin: ''comitatus Unghvariensis''; Hungarian: ''Ung (vár)megye''; also in Slovak: ''Užský komitát/ Užská župa / Užská stolica''; ro, Comitatul Ung) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(modern-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). From 1933 to 1938, he was the editor of the ''Novoyi Svobody'' newspaper in Uzhhorod, in Carpathian Ruthenia, then part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and today in western

. Between 1938 and 1939, he was the personal secretary to rev.

Avhustyn Voloshyn The Rt Rev. Avgustyn Ivanovych Monsignor Voloshyn ( uk , Авґустин Волошин, Августин Волошин, cs, Augustin Monsignore Vološin, 17 March 1874 – 19 July 1945), also called Augustin Voloshyn, was a Carpatho-Ukrain ...

, the nominal Prime-Minister of Carpatho-Ukraine during its several days of independence in March 1939 before it was occupied by Hungary following the First Vienna Award. Rohach was an active supporter and member of the Ukrainian scouting movement,

Plast The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine ( uk, Пласт Національна Скаутська Організація України, ''Plast Natsionalna Skautska Orhanizatsiia Ukrayiny''), commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply P ...

Political career

Rohach was a prolific writer of political pamphlets and short stories dealing with various aspects of religion, human morality, the nationality question, and the cause for Ukrainian self-determination. He was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and an avid supporter of the Andriy Melnyk faction. He moved to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

during the German

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

in order to aid in the re-establishment of a Ukrainian administration in the nation's capital. In January 1942, Rohach became the co-editor of the ''Nove Ukrainske Slovo'' ('New Ukrainian Word') newspaper and the magazine "Lytavry" ''(Tympani)'', which united those active in Ukrainian culture and arts in the Ukrainian capital.

Arrest and execution

In 1941, Rohach was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

for publicly voicing and publishing a negative opinion regarding the treatment of

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and psychiatric patients by the Nazis . He was taken to Babi Yar where, along with his sister, Anna (Hanna), and his entire staff, Rohach was executed.

Legacy

Poems from his collection of poetry "Brosti" have been set to music. A number of the songs have been included in the Plast song book "U mandry" (To wander) and continue to be sung by Ukrainian scouts today. In 1992, a wooden cross memorial was erected in memory of Olena Teliha and executed OUN members. It is located in Babi Yar south of Yuriia Illienka Street (formerly until 2018 Melnyk/Melnykov Street) at Oleny Telihy Street in northwestern part of

near Dorohozhychi subway station. Rohach's name is the 6th from the top on the right side marble plaque.

References

*Entsykolpedia Ukrainoznavstva Vol 7 p. 2547
ПОДІЇ НА ЗАКАРПАТТІ ДО 30 ВЕРЕСНЯ 1938 РОКУ
at exlibris.org.ua

at litopys.org.ua * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071215220842/http://www.kmv.gov.ua/ru/info.asp?Id=34961 Трагедия Бабьего Яра: массовые казни людей нацистами (1941—43)at www.kmv.gov.ua {{DEFAULTSORT:Rohach, Ivan 1913 births 1942 deaths People from Zakarpattia Oblast Czechoslovak writers Ukrainian murder victims Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists People murdered in Reichskommissariat Ukraine Ukrainian people executed by Nazi Germany 20th-century Ukrainian journalists Czechoslovak journalists